Painting heads... Help!

[ctc]

>sometimes they do seep a bit

Consumer resins have a life expectancy of about one year; less if you live somewhere humid. When they start going bad they'll sometimes refuse to mix completely, and you get seepage.

Lots of good advice here; I'd add that some acrylic paints are pretty fragile' especially ones made for an airbrush. Sealing them helps. Matt varnish is good, but it doesn't protect as well as gloss, and if the parts are gonna get handled a lot you should probably use a gloss varnish on them. Once it's dry you can take off SOME of the shine with a coat of matt.

And yeah; the Testors varnish is my fave too.

Don C.

[SeattleEd]

I seal with two types of coat and three steps.
I use FolkArt's Clearcote Aerosol glaze and Testor's Dullcote aerosol glaze.

First one light coat of Testor's. Then when dried, one medium coat of FolkArt. When that coat is dried, I spray a light misty coat of Testor's. I spray from a distance of about a foot and at horizontal level making sure the can doesn't nozzle/can doesn't angle so as to avoid getting chunks of paint that will clump on the surface of the object.
I noticed this combination gives is a resemblance to the Mego head look, not too shiny and not too matte. Plus it gets sealed an no loss of detail. I do all this in low humidity warm environment with ventilation.

[lilbrosj66]

My favorite matte finish is Testor's Dullcote. It comes in a small spray can and is near the modeling supplies. It takes away any unwanted shine and gives the surface a more uniform texture.

Good to know. I always wondered what matte finish people used. I could never find small bottles of brush on matte finish. Only gloss and semi-gloss. Does the spray dry fast?

[Bizarro Amy]

It dries very fast, just don't spray it on too thick. Light layers work best. I just finished painting two parts of a custom before company arrived. I stepped out to spray the custom, and sat it down to dry. My nephew picked it up without asking because he thought it was broken and wanted to fix it. It was maybe 15 minutes after I sprayed it and there was no damage.

[C.H.O.A.M.]

I got a few of those "seepy" heads... didn't notice at first and painted one with acrylic. parts of it stayed sticky so I tried to scrape all the paint off. where it was sticky it didn't come off completely.
I then sealed the others but it looks like the "seepage" is seeping thru the sealer.
I don't have an oven so boiling them would be the way to go for me.
can I boil them with the sealer on? (don't know if that stuff comes off. it's a water based acrylic primer/sealer for use with wood, masonry, plaster, plastic, ceramic etc etc)
also will boiling the one that was painted cause any problems?
thanks in advance for any advice.

[bleit1701]

Boiling with a sealer one. I'm not sure.

I don't know if sealing it changes how the paint is affected but boiling will probably lift the paint. Maybe getting close to a boil will be enough. The paint will definitely be softened so let it cool before handling it.
If it does come off, I've used an old toothbrush and hot water to remove it and started over.

[C.H.O.A.M.]

thanks Brian. I didn't seal the painted head- I painted it unsealed and parts of the paint remained sticky.
after seeing that I sealed the other heads but they also had sticky spots.
I was wondering if boiling the head after it's been sealed will still work.
also, should I drop the head in or should I just dip it in the water?
I don't want to deform the head by contact with the hot metal.