Painting MOTU heads

Posted in Custom Workstation

I'm new to this site, so firstly hi all!

My question is regarding painting vintage MOTU heads. Basically, I want to give one a gloss finish for a project I'm working on, but am having some issues.

Firstly I tried gloss enamel, but this stayed all sorts of sticky. I then cleaned it off, primed it with acrylic, then tried the enamel again. Same problem.

I then spoke to Hunter Knight (some of you may know of him), and (after berating me for even thinking about using enamels!) he recommended using good old Citadel paints, specifically Ardcoat varnish. I bought some the other day, and having cleaned off the offending enamel, I started again. But alas the same problem (I.e. it's still dried a bit sticky).

However, this might not be a massive problem, as I'm my goal is to make a silicone mould of the head which I'll then cast in resin. So if I can get it through the moulding process, I'll be happy enough, but I have a fear though that this will rip the varnish off and I'll be back to square one.

I may well be making some rookie errors here, so if anyone has any advice, PLEASE HELP!

Cheers