Modelers, I have myself in somewhat of a pickle. I airbrushed an aircraft with Testors enamel gloss gray about two days ago and it still seems to me to bit a slight bit tacky. If I press fairly hard on the paint, it will leave finger prints. I can also still smell the paint coming from the surface…which, to me, means it’s still not cured. Masking you can forget. Pulls the paint right up. Is there anything I can do to speed up the cure time? If not, how long am I going to have to wait? I’ll admit that it’s been a long time since I used one of Testors old gloss colors, but I don’t ever recall it taking this long to dry!
BTW, this is one of the old square bottles of Testors, not Model Master.
Thanks.
I got a drying booth made by Gunze for that purpose.
I had one take about 4 days or so once… if I am not mistaken it was a grey or white as well… freaked me out! I thought it would never dry!!!
—edit—
oh yeah I put mine under my swing arm desk lamp… not too close (about 12 inches or more) but enough to hold a fairly constant warmer than ambient temperature… (probably over 75 deg at the time as it was very cold out) that was on the third day and by the 4th day it seemed dry… took the lamp away and let it sit another 2 days to be sure!
Four days? Oh great! I hate to say it, but this is one of those very rare cases for me where this build is on a schedule. I’m building this kit for someone for his collage thesis and I’m not sure I have that kind of time. It’s going to have to be sprayed with this again (remember the mention of tape pulling it up?). Any ideas on how I can speed it up? Maybe thin it with something different? I used Testors thinner on the first coat and min sprits on the second coat. At the time, I was hoping the sprits would level better since it doesn’t evaporate as quickly. Maybe that’s where I screwed up!
Any ideas on this one?
hmm maybe… I would keep it at a constant warm temp, not TOO warm, just a degree or two over room temp… and dont touch it! haha I know that’s what I would be tempted to do so thats why I said that…
Beyond that, someone more knowledgable may come along… I’ve only had it happen once or twice to me… so the second time I just waited… (first time just threw it away as it was a cheap kit and I was about 13 yrs old and wasnt patient enough)
Try to find a small fan and keep air flowing over it. Don’t put the fan right up next to it, but close enough where you can feel air moving by the model. If you try to speed up the drying time to much, the surface will dry and then soften again as the solvent underneath continues to bleed off. If you can smell any solvent, it isn’t dry
Is it possible you laid down too thick of a coat in one go? if that is the case, unfortunately you will just have to be patient. 48-72 hours is not an uncommon time to let a basecoat dry, especially during the winter months.
That old Testors square bottle enamel is some slow drying stuff. I try to avoid it whenever possible.
In addition to what Hatewall mentioned, take a box big enough to sit over the model, cut some large holes in it and tape some coffee filters over the holes. They will filter out dust and lint but will allow the air to circulate freely.
Also, if the model is in a place of high humidity such as a basement put it into some place drier if possible. We have gas heat so finding a place that will cause fast evaporation is easy to do 