What spray are you currently using to seal your card models?

[Lex]

Cardmodel is very survivable in hot and dry weather without any treatment whatsoever. I don't see a need to do it on a finished model...

[Damraska]

Last night, I finally had a chance to try out the Rust-oleum Semi-gloss Clear Lacquer spray.

First, I gave the ruined pages of parts from the Halinski P-40 Warhawk a coat in hopes the semi-gloss lacquer would fill the frosted surface left by the Krylon UV-Resistant Matte Clear Acrylic. The former easily filled the matte surface left by the latter, bringing back the three ruined pages.

In doing this I made another mistake. Over the last month, much of California burned and I live in a place that funnels all the ash out to the ocean. Ash, dust, and spider webs accumulated in the spray box and in my rush to experiment, I forgot to clean. As I sprayed I managed to deflect the spider webs but it still sealed in some of the fine dust. After letting the newly sprayed sheet dry for about 30 minutes I buffed it with a folded paper towel. While all these missteps left the page with some very fine scaling, the paper towel buffed out all the issues.

After properly cleaning the spray box and surrounding area, I sprayed the Rust-oleum on 10 more fresh pages. As expected, and contrary to reports on Amazon, the lacquer went down very smoothly and dried very quickly. I showed the finished pages to my brother, an artist, and we both agree the Rust-oleum works very well and produces a very pleasing finish. As I showed him one of the pages I accidentally scattered some water droplets on it. The water beaded quite nicely, never penetrating the surface, allowing me to wipe it up. In my opinion, the Rust-oleum looks as good as Testors Acrylic Clear Coat sprayed with an airbrush.

After about 90 minutes I began cutting parts from the formerly ruined pages. So far, that goes well. The sheen on the formerly ruined pages matches the sheen on the fresh pages so I remain hopeful the finished model will not look mismatched.

[Kevin WS]

Damraska - great that you have fpund a solution that works for you.

I used to use the Citadel (Games WOrkshop) Satin but it eventually became too expensive and in inspiration I tried a cheap can from our local hardware shop - one of those cans out of the racks of spray cans you often see.

And to my surprise, it worked extremely well - as good as the Citadel spray. But I guess I was lucky and just hit on a good formulation!

Using a spray makes for much easier modelling, and the waterproof aspect you mention is important for touchup. I use water colours or water colour penicils to touch up edges and blemishes etc. With the model pre-s, without damage to the model.

Spraying the model when finished also seals the water colour, and acts as a barrier against invasive insects.