SVC01 White Matt for Soft PVC Figure

A white matte for soft vinyl

White is the busiest shade in this line, because it is almost always used twice: once in its own right and once as an intermediate coat on which red, yellow or blue only then come alive. Castings in soft vinyl tend to be tinted in a saturated shade, and without a light intermediate step no color will stand out of them the way the builder imagined.

Why an ordinary paint will not dry on soft vinyl

Plasticizer is slowly pushed out of the softened compound, and together with mold release agent a thin greasy film stays on the surface of the casting. It is exactly that which is behind an ordinary modeling finish staying tacky on such a figure weeks later. The casting is therefore washed in lukewarm water with a drop of dish soap, rinsed carefully and left to dry completely. Paints intended for this material are moreover mixed so that the coat stays pliable and does not break when the part is squeezed.

How many coats white needs

The covering power of white builds up slowly, so reckon on three or four really thin applications instead of one thick one. A heavy application on a flexible surface readily wrinkles and leaves a pool in the hollows which takes a long time to set and stays soft. Between passes it is enough to let the paint go off, not to cure completely. Once dry, a matte surface forgives unevenness of brushwork better than a gloss one and hides the boundary between the color of the compound and the finish well. Anyone working with an airbrush holds a low pressure and runs the stream from a greater distance than on hard plastic.