How Water Resistant Are Sealed Miniatures?

[Rosierex]

Hello there!

 

I was wondering if anyone would have any idea how water resistant a properly sealed painted miniature might be? I'm asking because I was wondering if it would be completely disastrous to display them in an open top terrarium where they would probably be exposed to a bit of humidity and might get slightly wet sometimes.

 

I'm entirely new to this, so I'm not sure if this is a silly question, but I'd really like to be able to put my minis in my mini forest where they'd look right at home. But I also don't want them to start getting gooey after a while or anything. They aren't masterpieces, but I've grown quite fond of them and would be sad if their faces melted off.

 

If anyone has any experience with this or something similar or if you have any other suggestions, I'd be super grateful!

 

 

 

 

[TGP]

The most practical thing you can do is grab a mini that you ruined or broke or something...and use it for a paint test dummy.

 

Paint it up, put it in there, see what happens.

 

Model ships and what not get created, painted, sold at PetsMart, and then dropped into AQUAriums. So, waterproof paints are a feasible thing. But, people strip minis to start over by immersing them in fluids and leaving them awhile.

 

I would bet a double coat of sealer would do the job. (But send Paint-Test-Dummy in to find out.) Terrarium doesn't sound as bad as aquarium. What fauna lives in there?

Edited April 21, 2016 by TGP

[BLZeebub]

TGP's right.  A little humidity is exactly what sealers protect against.  Double coat of clear, then possibly a coat of spra urethane if it's going to really be getting wet--but that tends to yellow with age I believe so be careful (ie:  experiment!).  Testor's Dullcote is not water-based, so I'd bet Nethyrmaul it would be water tight.  Just make sure whatever you use, you make a complete bubble around the mini--that is, seal the bottom well too.

 

TL;DR:  Try double sealing something you won't miss, and leaving it in/near/half-submerged in water.  And seal the bottom of course.

Edited April 21, 2016 by BLZeebub

[Morihalda]

Ah! I'd love if you could do some testing too!

 

I'm currently testing Reaper sealer and a weird silicone in this thread here. I actually bought a few other sealants as well, but when they came in the mail, all the packaging was like "DANGER DANGER DANGER" and I'd rather not touch them... The stuff I'm testing is completely underwater.

 

From that thread -

 

Anne from Reaper - "...being immersed in water over a long period of time will often cause acrylic paint to come off of a model. I have seen this more with Bones, so if the models are metal it may not be an issue. ;) "

 

She's not saying yes or no, which is probably a safe thing to do when you work for a company but it's encouraging enough for me to test it out myself.

 

I hope we get some great results!

[TGP]

This bloggist sounds like he knows things:

 

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatfishblog/2014/12/23/decoration-diy-materials-aquarium-suitability/#.VxkVivkrK00

[Rosierex]

Thanks so much for the advice! You all are awesome! I'll double coat them (bottom too) and give one of them a good soak to see what the damage is, if any. Just using the MSP brush on sealer, so if that doesn't work I guess there's lots of other stuff I can try. I really like the idea of snowglobes, Morihalda! I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Don't currently have any fauna in my terrarium. It's really more a vivarium as there's a water feature. I wanted to get some dwarf crayfish for the "lagoon" but apparently it's illegal to ship them to where I live :/ I guess I might get some guppies instead, but I did have my heart set on "giant crayfish". Oh well... if the minis work out, I guess they'll work out as "fauna" :)