Good sealants for vinyl?

It's been a few years since I last tried faceups, and I hear that MSC is crap now?

I'm searching for alternatives and most of the reviews/discussion I see of those other sealants is specific to resins. (And when I do see discussion related to vinyl, it tends to be an offhand reference, not something as thorough as DoA's mod stickied thread.)

 

DoA suggests Testors Dullcote, Army Painter Matte Varnish, and Model Master Lusterless Flat Lacquer Overcoat as "tried, tested, and true", and provides Vallejo Clear Matte and Liquitex Matte as "trusted non-toxic alternatives" - but that's for resin, and vinyl discussion seems to be hard to find. (I've also heard of Liquitex Matte in aerosol form, but I think they meant the airbrush version.)

Anybody have suggestions or past experience sealing vinyl with something that isn't MSC (or brush-on Liquitex Matte), or know what ingredients to look for or avoid in a sealant? Should I just try DoA's suggestions and hope they work for vinyl? (I've heard seriously mixed reviews on the Dullcote.)

Please help a guy out I'm inclined to experiment but I don't want to ruin anything by accident. (Plus, a good comprehensive thread can't hurt!)

I can vouch for Testors. It has it's ups and downs; I feel like it takes a bit more coats to seal or get started on but I guess maybe it's the way I've been doing it. Brush on Liquitex is great but is for more smaller areas. It's best to do a spray rather a paint on because if you're not totally precise then youll have brush strokes

Basically test stuff on, say, the back of your DD's head just in case.

What's wrong with MSC? I still use it...

I can vouch for Testors. It has it's ups and downs; I feel like it takes a bit more coats to seal or get started on but I guess maybe it's the way I've been doing it. Brush on Liquitex is great but is for more smaller areas. It's best to do a spray rather a paint on because if you're not totally precise then youll have brush strokes

Basically test stuff on, say, the back of your DD's head just in case.

Thanks for the info! I've heard that some people have issues with Testors yellowing - have you experienced that?

(Michaels ended up only having the glossy Testors, so I'll test out spray Liquitex, but I'll track some Testors down eventually. I just like to have all the information I can first )

 

What's wrong with MSC? I still use it...

Don't quote me on this, but a few resin faceup artists that I keep up with have switched to other sealants because they found MSC to be getting even more unreliable. (I forget if the formula changed or not...) YMMV, I guess, but I didn't really feel like getting sealant ground-shipped to freaking Canada if there's the risk of it not working.

How old is your MSC, and what kind of climate are you using it in?

My only experience is with spraying Testor's Dullcote on HO scale model trains and airplane models ~45 years ago but I've read practically this entire forum over the past year and tend to remember things so I found some relevant threads:

 

MSC techniques:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16722

 

Faceup artist jadepixel has commented a few times on issues with MSC cracking after apparently the formula was changed:

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=16350&p=221008#p221008

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7722&p=223398#p223398

 

Finally, and take this as hearsay since I know I read it but can't find it again. I saw it suggested either on this forum or somewhere else that the problems with MSC were confined to the regular matte and not the UV-Cut version. But as I can't find that now I'm not sure if there were any followups or conclusions on that.

Don't quote me on this, but a few resin faceup artists that I keep up with have switched to other sealants because they found MSC to be getting even more unreliable. (I forget if the formula changed or not...) YMMV, I guess, but I didn't really feel like getting sealant ground-shipped to freaking Canada if there's the risk of it not working.

How old is your MSC, and what kind of climate are you using it in?

I get my MSC luckily from a hobby store in my city in Canada. Mine's from last year. I only use it if the humidity is under 40%; I've had a bad frosting effect on any surface when the humidity is too high.

I only use it if the humidity is under 40%;

I'm not sure it's ever that low here in my part of Texas.

I get my MSC luckily from a hobby store in my city in Canada. Mine's from last year. I only use it if the humidity is under 40%; I've had a bad frosting effect on any surface when the humidity is too high.

It's nice to see numbers put to the sealant-humidity thing - more easily quantifiable than "I live in ___" or "it was raining and the sealant fogged"! Thank you

 

I only use it if the humidity is under 40%;

I'm not sure it's ever that low here in my part of Texas.

Same here, orz. Futzing muggy Ontario...

I wonder if indoor spraying (with a spray booth, safety first) could work better in humid regions? It does get a bit gross inside in buildings without A/C, but it can't be above 40% if there's air conditioning... keeping up the MSC hunt in my city could be worth it if the workshop on campus has a spray booth (!!)

I only use it if the humidity is under 40%;

I'm not sure it's ever that low here in my part of Texas.

You might be able to do over 40% but not over 50% I think. When I had issues, it was an unusually humid year and it was often over 50% and 60%. As you can guess summers here are very dry ^^; I'm not sure what folks in Japan and other places do to get by.

I only use it if the humidity is under 40%;

I'm not sure it's ever that low here in my part of Texas.

You might be able to do over 40% but not over 50% I think. When I had issues, it was an unusually humid year and it was often over 50% and 60%. As you can guess summers here are very dry ^^; I'm not sure what folks in Japan and other places do to get by.

 

I think the exact number I was given when I hunted around was that 60% humidity was the cutoff for spraying before it fogs and cracks. It's usually around 50-58% where I am in the summer. I've been spraying above 50% with no issues. Though I am using a can of UV cut MSC from last year. Though I tend to not spray if it goes over 55%, too close for comfort then.