# Good acrylic paint retardant?



## Silverblade The Ench (Jun 30, 2008)

Anyone know of a good acrylic paint drying retardant, that works with Citadel paints? (My Mum has several artist retardants for acrylics, Windsor & Newton etc but no idea on suitability for Citadel paints)

I don't use soap for retardant, sorry, never got that idea, as soap surely knackers any varnish you put on top, won't it?


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## Olaf the Stout (Jul 1, 2008)

I haven't tried it but I imagine that any acrylic drying retardant would work with the GW paints since they are also acrylic.

Olaf the Stout


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## Silverblade The Ench (Jul 1, 2008)

Hm, I guess I should test them out, been very retiscent about it though. 
Usually the problem with artists acrylics, is that they are far too thick and rubbery for model work, IMHO.
I found they didn't adhere well to the minis. Fine for a "museum" piece, useless for a gaming one that you handled as regardless of varnish, the underlying paint would just slough off.


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## frankthedm (Jul 1, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Anyone know of a good acrylic paint drying retardant, that works with Citadel paints? (My Mum has several artist retardants for acrylics, Windsor & Newton etc but no idea on suitability for Citadel paints)
> 
> I don't use soap for retardant, sorry, never got that idea, as soap surely knackers any varnish you put on top, won't it?



Citidel have more pigment than craft paint, but both are still acrylic paint.








Silverblade The Ench said:


> Usually the problem with artists acrylics, is that they are far too thick and rubbery for model work, IMHO.
> I found they didn't adhere well to the minis. Fine for a "museum" piece, useless for a gaming one that you handled as regardless of varnish, the underlying paint would just slough off.



Washing the mini with a degreasing soap {dish soap] then giving the fig a thorough rinse and dry worked for me. Thinning any paint is a must, though this means many craft paints will need extra coats due to low pigment ratios.

I had some trouble with soap myself. Too easy for washes to wake up the soap!


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## ThePromethean (Jul 1, 2008)

For a drying retardant I have tried a number of them from different companies and found no real difference in their performance. I most often use either the Windsor and Newton one for minis and the Delta Ceramcoat one for terrain. I mix these with Citadel, Vallejo, P3 and other paints and they seem to do just fine. 

Another thing I use sometimes is Future Floor Polish. It is a liquid acrylic so since the paints are acrylic they mix together well and it extends the drying time. It also sticks better to minis and terrain and flows well into the cracks without getting air bubbles. 
http://www.floorcareproducts.com/floor-finish/index.asp

Last but not least if you are worried about your paints drying up during painting you might look into a wet palette. It is basically a wet sponge with a vellum paper on top. The water will osmose through the paper and into the paints keeping them from drying out. It comes in a container that you can close and then open the next day or several days later and still have wet paints.


I wash mine with cleaner called "Simple Green" http://www.simplegreen.com/ which you can get at most department and hardware stores. I do this before painting and the nice thing is you can soak minis in it for days even weeks and then paint will just scrub right off of them, so it makes a great stripper as well.


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## Fraisala (Jul 1, 2008)

Silverblade The Ench said:


> Anyone know of a good acrylic paint drying retardant, that works with Citadel paints? (My Mum has several artist retardants for acrylics, Windsor & Newton etc but no idea on suitability for Citadel paints)
> 
> I don't use soap for retardant, sorry, never got that idea, as soap surely knackers any varnish you put on top, won't it?




I generally use glazing medium on minis, just as I do on canvas. Acrylic paint is acrylic paint, after all. It's medium-body stuff, not unworkably "lean" for most minis applications. If for any reason my paint ends up too thick, I usually just water it down with, well, water. 

I've had no adhesion problems using this method so far, unlike the soap-as-retardant experiment, which I will never speak of again. (At least not in detail, anyway...)


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## Silverblade The Ench (Jul 2, 2008)

thnak you folks, very helpful thread, this!


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