After doing the brick painting on several walls of Walthers American Hardware Supply kit, it appeared to me the bricks were just a little too shiny. No problem, a little dull coat would take care of that. I sprayed them and set them aside to dry last night. This morning, I gathered them up and was surprised to see one of the walls had turned white, almost as if I had sprayed it with white paint. I can only guess that I sprayed the dull coat on a little to heavy. I have used dull coat a number of times over the years without any problems and always thought of it as a no-brainer product. Apparently, that is not the case. It can be overdone. My solution was to try to remove the excess by spraying it with diluted alcohol. As soon as I sprayed it, the white film disappeared and the color returned to the brick. I blotted up alcohol with a paper towel and set the piece down. It seemed to do the trick. After a few minutes, the alcohol dried and the white film returned, not quite as thick as before. I reapplied the alcohol and this time, rubbing lightly so as not to disturb the base coat of paint. This time when it dried, on much of the brick surface, I had one of the best mortaring jobs I’ve ever scene. Unfortunately, in the corners where I didn’t rub as thoroughly, I still had some white film. A third application seemed to do the trick although much of the mortar lines were removed also.
I am wondering if I haven’t discovered by accident a technique for mortaring brick. The trick will be if I can apply and remove the dull coat uniformly so as not to leave a white film. I’m going to continue to experiment with this to see if it can be done.
This is not the definitive answer… but… I’ve heard of dullcote misting white before… as far as I recall if you leave it alone for some time ( a day or two maybe) it will clear/disappear.
Ah, yes… It’s been documented in the hobby press and these forums before. Alcohol and Dullcote react to form a film. If you Dullcote something that had alcohol on it, all you need do to remove the film is add more alcohol. I’ve used this technique before. Actually, you can do a decent “faded paint” weathering job on a freightcar by Dullcote-ing it and then washing it with alcohol (it works both ways). The white film looks like chaulking paint.
If you want to avoid the hassle altogether, PollyScale makes an acrylic matte (flat) finish you can either brush on or put in an airbrush.
That would make sense to me but to the best of my knowledge, no alcohol was applied this piece prior to the application of dull coat. I did four wall sections at the same time and this was the only one that turned white. My guess was that I must have inadvertently applied a double coat to the one piece.
No, I don’t even have any of that. The white film was thick and fairly consistent over the entire surface. That leads me to believe it was not due to something being accidently applied to the surface.
It’s happened to me several times, no rhyme or reason I can see. I didn’t use ACC or alcohol on the model. I’ve ruined a few models, thinking I had everything done and then as you describe, it looks like you accidently picked up gray primer instead of flat finish. I’ve tried various remedies but none worked.
Someone suggested it had something to do with the temperature and/or humidity. That could be, I don’t remember it happening on warm, dry days.
I’ve switched to using acrylic gloss and flat spray cans (from Michael’s art supply store) instead, doesn’t seem to be a problem with the acrylics.