Finally Matte Spray Weather

Finally, we had:

- humidity under 50%

- temperature around 70 (but feeling like 75+ in the sun)

- no rain

- and no real wind.


So I was able to matte seal 37 minis, including:

- finally re-sealing my frosted 6-man gladiator set. That still didn't work out well, but see below.

- two 100 Years War archers (they'll make good hirelings)

- an old AD&D priest figure turned armored wizard

- a Reaper Battle Nun

- fully-to-somewhat-intact Star Frontiers robots.

- some Hundred Kingdoms minis I'd been meaning to finish for years.

- a re-paint of a 70s-era mini I'd inherited but wanted to fix. You'll see him when I bust him out next game session - he's a perfect volunteer hireling.

- my Spanish sword-and-buckler men.

It was about time, really. I hope we get some days like this, since I'm all caught up on the finishing and the next batch of minis need to get finished painting.

Speaking of those Star Frontiers robots, I have another boxed, shrinkwrapped and new. I keep waffling between "sell it!" and "paint them!" It's a tough call because I really don't need 6 more robots, especially when they're just not-damaged versions of the ones I have now. Broken ones are pretty Gamma World, too. But they're fast to paint and pretty fun, and I don't have a lot of robots. We'll see how I eventually decide.

And speaking of frosted, sandpapery minis, I've tried a few methods:

- re-sealing (no effect)

- gloss sealing (looked fine) and then re-matte sealing (reverted to frosted, snowy, and sandpapery)

- the olive oil treatment. This had some effect. I basically covered the mini with olive oil (I used the cheap stuff, not extra virgin), rubbed it a bit, then washed the mini off in warm, soap water. It dramatically improved one mini, and noticeably improved another in the patches I was able to abrade a bit with my fingertip.

I kind of doubted it, and so I just tried the warm, soapy water on two other minis from the set. No effect at all on those. So the olive oil is clearly having some kind of effect - possibly stripping off the finish without stripping off the paint. We'll see, as I will repeat the treatment. I will also try brush-on varnish once I get some. But although I've read a few people saying the olive oil treatment can't work and doesn't work well, it;'s at least moved some of my minis into a better state. I may ultimately leave them in that state and not spray-seal them, I may try one mini again, we'll see.

But at least those minis are starting to get better. Had I only waited for a day like today in the first place. Oh well, I didn't realize the weather wasn't sealing weather until it was too late last time.