{rant}

Anyone know a sure-fire way around getting a cloudy hazy filmy milky stupid chalky finish after spraying on dull coat? It happens with Army Painter, it just happened with Citadel. I live in FL, so I know humidity is a factor, but is it the ONLY factor in this? Cause I sprayed this last set and immediately moved them into a room with a dehumidifier running constantly - still have a haze...

The only thing is that I put them under an air vent by mistake, and I'm thinking either the air was humid, or there's another factor (like airflow or something) that causes this stupid hazy miniature-hard-work-ruining finish...

I'm a little upset about it, have I mentioned? lol

Anyway, there's gotta be a way to control this - I'm tired of undoing the painstaking work I do to get the colors right when they come out looking like they've been fighting in a pit of flour...

{/rant}

Is it possible to spray in the room with de-humidifier running?

If not I've been using Vallejo paint on Matt varnish, I'd use that or something similar as it's the spraying process that causes the misting when in humid atmosphere

I've ruined 1 stormtrooper with Army Painter's Anti-Shine matte varnish. Also one of the E-Web Engineers's right side is looking rather bad. However, I've since corrected my techniques and the results have been better. Basically when I'm done painting the figure, I let it dry overnight so the paint is completely dry and settled. Then when I spray the varnish I do one quick spray into air to make sure it sprays right. Then I move the can constantly when spraying and I keep my distance kinda like with the primer. I'm closer to the 30 cm than the 20 cm. This has worked well for me. I've had no problems with the varnish since then. Of course when applying the varnish like that, more of it is going to waste so to speak.

I did look into how to fix a miniature ruined by varnish and the best way seems to be to use spray-on gloss varnish which will activate the lacquer. Then let that dry and settle completely and then spray another layer of matte varnish on top of that to kill the shine. Apparently, matte varnish on matte varnish doesn't work as well (I tried that and it didn't work. Nor did painting gloss varnish or matte varnish on the frosted effect).

Of course if it all fails, you have just sprayed more protective layers on your miniature so it's going to be even more difficult to clean of paint and start again.

So, spray-on gloss coat and that should melt down the haze? That seems legit - I'll try that. Cause my sabs look like they've been crawling around in rubble - which I suppose is thematic, but I might as well have just used gray for everything for all the color detail you can see through the frosted finish...

Thanks!

There are so many advices on how to remove frosting / hazing. One works for one person but the same method doesn't work for another person.

Here's a link to Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic about removing frosting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa7MyQl6c28

Another method using olive oil: http://dusttears.blogspot.fi/2011/12/matt-varnish-frosting-solution.html

Collection of different methods to prevent frosting and to remove it: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.fi/2009/09/varnishing-without-frosting.html

Hopefully these are of help. Those are the sites (among many others) I've looked at for advices and tips after I ruined my stormtrooper. Eventually the stormtrooper's fate was to go into a window cleaning solution for a week before getting the paint brushed off. It's still waiting to be repainted. Maybe I'll paint that figure as the very last one. I started with stormtroopers and finish with a stormtrooper.

Thanks for the help, folks. My sabs thank you as well.

The olive oil trick worked great. Surprising, but effective.

Thanks very much for the input, peeps!