Don't Buy Army painter products

[White Tiger88]

Well its safe to say i have tried\tested lots of army painter brand items and now i have had the ultimate kick in the balls a can of there matt sealer just ruined my WHOLE DEMON ARMY when i went to seal them so thats time,money and a whole damn army down the tube unless i can figure out how to fix the frost effect they gave my models! So as a suggestion to all painters i will say do not buy any of there crap products.

[Maelstorm]

I've used several Army Painter colored primers with great effect. I have no experience with their matte sealer.

For matte sealer, I stick with Krylon products. They make/sell more paints than all of the little toy hobby companies (GW, P3, Army Painter, Reaper, etc.) combined and their product is always consistent.

Sorry I have no advice for repairing the dreaded frost effect...

Send the company a polite/well-worded note expressing your problem and see if they have a recommendation.

[ElectricPaladin]

I have the ultimate fix for Frosted Army Syndrome (FAS). Here it is:

1) Re-seal your army with a high-gloss spray sealant (I recommend Testor's).
2) Once that's dry, spray again with a matte sealant that you trust (again, I recommend Testor's, though I've also had luck with GW's Purity Seal... except for that one time that my can got old and funky).

Seriously, the layer of high-gloss sealant will kill the frost, and then the layer of matte sealant will give you the satiny effect you were originally going for. I just used this technique to save a squad of ten Eldar warp spiders I had entirely given up on. It will work.

[Sly]

I've found Testors matte sealer to be the best, though it only comes in cans too small for 40k armies :(.

As for the frost effect, I fixed that once on an army with a light wash of heavily thinned black ink.. but you do end up with a significantly darker army than you started with. Also, it was a Legion of the Damned army, based on a black primer, so a black ink worked well with it. If your original primer was gray or white, I'm not sure that it will work nearly as well.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

I personally use vallejo's matte finish sprayed through my airbrush, it goes on very well and I havent had any issues, it is very matte.

[lobster-overlord]

a lot of the time, a frosted effect comes from poor use of the product (not to say you didn't know what you were doing, or that you didn't get a bad can) but I've done the above post's same instructions for resealing with gloss and using the matte again and it turned out just fine. And that was with GW's old Matte Varnish (before they renamed it purity seal).

temperature and humidity can cause a can of matted to wreck an army. also, i test first on a model then go whole-hog a squad at a time to make sure this isn't a problem

John M>

[White Tiger88]

Eh i am ordering some Vallejo next time...... Also it was 18 outside, bit of wind, no rain or anything and sunny as hell so i get the feeling my can might just be a bit old.

[ElectricPaladin]

Eh i am ordering some Vallejo next time...... Also it was 18 outside, bit of wind, no rain or anything and sunny as hell so i get the feeling my can might just be a bit old.

That's what happened to me. Old can.

[White Tiger88]

That's what happened to me. Old can.

Lovely........I will take some pictures when i am done scrubing, they look much better now but still some of the items on the base are frosted :(

[Deadlift]

I personally use vallejo's matte finish sprayed through my airbrush, it goes on very well and I havent had any issues, it is very matte.

Same, I stay clear of Army Painter products tbh, I had a few bad experiences with the coloured primer that ended up powder coating some trolls. When the primers work well they are great, but won't risk them again. I stick with Vallejo and I'm about to give Badgers new Minitaire range a try.

[White Tiger88]

Same, I stay clear of Army Painter products tbh, I had a few bad experiences with the coloured primer that ended up powder coating some trolls. When the primers work well they are great, but won't risk them again. I stick with Vallejo and I'm about to give Badgers new Minitaire range a try.

Note to self ask other's before buying something.......... *is scrubbing models with a tooth brush*

[Brakkart]

I use Army Painters colour primer sprays to basecoat my army with and have used their Matte Sealer on every model to finish them with. All with no problems at all. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with their stuff, but I certainly can't say the same.

[Tyrendian]

same here - Army Painter is dead to me... buying a can of primer spray that clogs up the second I try to spray anything doens't instill a lot of trust in the company...

[Magpie]

Never tried Army painter myself.

if your wanting a reliable spray can paint then Tamiya is by far the best in my experience.
Colours as well as clear coats of Matt, Semi-gloss and gloss. I've painted 100's of minis with them and never had a problem.

[Cpt Codpiece]

well i bought the red spray for my blood angels, and apart from a little cracking (paint pulled as it dried, no biggie. most rattle cans do when applied too thick as was the case), and i have the paint set with brushes.

brushes i find to be great. triangle handles are very nice indeed and the points stay nice and sharp paint load is fine too, not masses of paint but enough.

the paints themselves are great, the metallics especially (and alien purple.... i love it).

OP, sounds like a bad can. i now its a burn but why did you do the entire army? one or two minis till you figured out can was a dud..... saves a load of grief.

[Digitarii]

AP sprays are not typical sprays. AP has specific instructions for their use. Temperature, distance, a whole host of specifics. They work perfectly when you follow the instructions, far less so when you don't. They recommend agitating for 2 minutes, temperature over 50 degrees fahrenheit, at a distance of no more and no less than 10"/25cm.

[Maelstorm]

Eh i am ordering some Vallejo next time...... Also it was 18 outside, bit of wind, no rain or anything and sunny as hell so i get the feeling my can might just be a bit old.

You sprayed outside at 18 degrees with an "old can" and didn't expect issues??

[templarboy]

You sprayed outside at 18 degrees with an "old can" and didn't expect issues?? I suspect the 18 degrees was in celsius which is like 64 degrees F.....

[Magpie]

AP sprays are not typical sprays. AP has specific instructions for their use. Temperature, distance, a whole host of specifics. They work perfectly when you follow the instructions, far less so when you don't. They recommend agitating for 2 minutes, temperature over 50 degrees fahrenheit, at a distance of no more and no less than 10"/25cm.

Sounds like how most spray cans work mate.

[White Tiger88]

Sounds like how most spray cans work mate.

Bit of an understatement i know people with fresh can's that have had the same issue, Mind you we all got them from the same store so ya never know.

[templarboy]

I only use Testor's Dullcoate. I have never had it frost on me. Anyone had it frost on them?

[ElectricPaladin]

I only use Testor's Dullcoate. I have never had it fronst on me. Anyone had it frost on them?

Once.

I was literally spraying in a rainstorm - inside the garage, but it was raining about five feet away from me. I was such an idiot.

[White Tiger88]

I think i will have to pick up some Testor's to try......

[Deadlift]

I think i will have to pick up some Testor's to try......

I can't stress this enough but if your ever in a position to buy an airbrush, this is the way to go. You will never look back. Even a basic brush just to prime and varnish is infinitely better than aerosols. The control is so much better and the risk of fugging up models is non existent.

[White Tiger88]

I can't stress this enough but if your ever in a position to buy an airbrush, this is the way to go. You will never look back. Even a basic brush just to prime and varnish is infinitely better than aerosols. The control is so much better and the risk of fugging up models is non existent.

I do have an air brush i just don't use it much right now since i have lots of GW paints and they don't feed through so well. As it is right now i need to find some good fair priced air brush colors to base coat with. (A Flesh light pink would be nice)

[PaD]

I used Army Painter "desert Yellow" on my Tau. Did one batch with no problems, but when I went back to do another load - with new cans of spray - the colour didn't match. Several emails (with photos) later and they sent me three new cans free. Unfortunately these were the wrong colour as well! More emails and a few weeks later ANOTHER three free cans. These were fine and matched the original batch just fine. I now have six cans of desert yellow spray that I have no idea what to do with! LOL

I only ever had a problem with the colour match - the quality of the spray was fine. They covered well, with a nice smooth finish. Although they can be a little thick if you apply them too close. The colour matched pots of paint are really useful to (and yes - they did match! :)). Overall good products - and you can't fault their customer service, they couldn't be more helpful...

I've not used their sealer though.

[PaD]

Oh yeah - another vote for Testors Dullcote. Best sealer ever!! Bit pricy though....

[mathhammer]

frosting occurs for 2 reasons.

The #1 reason:
1) Temperature differential.
If the models / sealant/ standing air are at different temperatures the drying process will draw the water out of the air.
It sounds like from the post above the poster brought the models and paint from a warm environment to a cooler environment and thus the whiteness was born.

Let your models and sealant sit in the standing temperature for at least an hour to avoid this effect.

The less frequent case:
2) failure to shake can and being to close which causes the white paint in the can to clump ( this is the dull in most of the sealants.)

Note: I only use testors and am testing some satin sealants, so no dog in this hunt.

[ElectricPaladin]

Oh yeah - another vote for Testors Dullcote. Best sealer ever!! Bit pricy though....

Also, the can is really poorly designed, such that there's this lip that catches some of the spray so that it sloshes all over your hand and gives you horrible hand tumors. Or something. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. Even if you're not, though, it isn't pleasant.

[Deadlift]

I do have an air brush i just don't use it much right now since i have lots of GW paints and they don't feed through so well. As it is right now i need to find some good fair priced air brush colors to base coat with. (A Flesh light pink would be nice)

You might want to have a look at badgers Minitaire range, as much as I like Vallejo model air paints, everyone seems to be raving about these new Minitaire paints as they seem to have a broader range of bolder colours that suit fantasy / 40k more than the vallejo colours in the VMA range. I have just bought some for my Nurgle army but not used them yet.

[dwez]

A quick brush with Olive Oil will mitigate the frosting completely. The Oil will eventually evaporate, 3-6 months, and require a recoat as well as look a little glossy but it's a really easy solution for such a dire issue.