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I had a bit of a window at the weekend when the youngest was playing with his Lego and the other 2 were away.  Gave me an opportunity to cram in some quality time with those stubborn T34/85s.  You know what it’s like.  A lot of little jobs that need doing in a short period of time.  Anyway, I was in a rush.  Painting done, had to seal the tanks before the big MON-DAY. Popping outside into a windy afternoon, I took out my preferred matt varnish, Testor’s dullcote, and began spraying.  A few squirts here.  A few squirts there.  Missed abit there.  The wind is blowing this stuff everywhere, better give it abit of welly. Before I knew it, the lacquer had gone on a bit heavy. No big deal, I thought.  I’ll let them dry. 

Next evening, I sat down to look at my handy work.  Couldn’t quite believe my eyes.  Stomach crunched up.  There’s a speckled white patina covering the flats surface of 1 of my tanks.  And if it’s on this one, is it on the…OMG.  I couldn’t quite believe my eyes, hours of painting ruined:

The flat surfaces of 4 tanks looked blanched.  Frantically, I tried to conceal it with pigments, but this didn’t really do the job.  The damage was widespread and over large areas of the models where heavy layers of the varnish had settled. 

The room rotated.  Before I gave up entirely, I Googled removing dullcote and found some sites that recommended using Isopropyl Alchohol  (where was I going to find that on a Sunday afternoon?) or, at a push, turpentine.  It was then that I thought I’d give MiG Thinner for Washes a try.  After all, there didn’t seem much to loose and it’s kind of like turpentine, right?  I dipped in a cotton bud and rubbed the affected areas firmly, but carefully.  As the Thinner dried, I looked nervously at the result:

Sanity restored.  Phew.

The moral of this story? 

Never rush. 

Always spray successive light coats of varnish. 

And if all else fails, pop to the chemist.