Hello everyone, I’ve got a question and i would like to see if anyone has an answer to it. Recently I’ve been working on my academy 1/350 scale bismark and to give the deck (a very large deck in 1/350 scale) a wooden appearance I’ve use burnt umber oil paint with no thinning, just paint on straight out of the bottle. It has been about a week and a half since I’ve done this and its still wet. So, my question is can i dry it any faster or could i clear coat it and seal it in.
If you’re referring to artist oils then it can take a very long time for it to dry. If you used hobby type enamel paint then a week plus is excessive. Either way putting an additional coat of something on top of still wet paint will cause nothing but trouble. Heat will speed up drying which is why some people use drying boxes that are warmer than room temperature.
Artist oil need to be mixed with gum turpentine in order for it to dry, otherwise it will stay wet and tacky for a very long time. Make sure its pine gum turpentine for oil painting and not the spirits thats used for stripping furniture.
You could do another wash with the gum turpentine and it should dry out the oils.
The paint was in a tube. It was regular artists oil paint not enamel paint. Also, I’m sorry if this message takes a while. Im new to this site and I’m still in a 24hr trial period (which seems to be lasting forever ).
It will take a couple of weeks. Definitely you should not add any coatings. Not only heat but as important, air circulation will help.
For this reason artists oils are not always a good choice unless they’ve been thinned down quite a bit with either spirit turpentine or odorless turpentine (turpenoid).
Artists oils are also very thick, which obscures details and shows brush marks.
Artist oils are terrific for making a natural look for wood. Winsor Newton makes a product called Liquin that speeds drying to the point where I’ve been able to handle things within 24 hours. Using this negates the need for turpentine.
You need to let the oils dry before sealing. Otherwise, they will never dry, and you’ll have a mess.
As was mentioned in another post, you can speed up the drying, either by adding agents to the paint to accelerate drying, or by using a drying box, essentially, a 60w lamp.
Since you already applied the paint, it’s too late to cut it with drying agents. I don’t use them anyway, myself, and I use oils on figures. So the other choice would work best-using gentle warmth to accelerate the drying time.
Basically, you can use a 60w lamp (bulb) to do this. It can be as simple as placing the model under a desk lamp and shining it on the model. Or you can make a drying box, as some figure painters do. A wooden box with a socket base to hold the bulb, and wired for power.
For figures, too, or small pieces, some oil painters use those little potpourri crocks that were popular back in the 90s. They also produce a gentle warmth that speeds up the drying time without endangering the piece, or without warming too quickly, which can cause crazing or cracking in the finish if the layer of paint is thick.
I have an old goose-neck desk lamp that I keep on my bench for this purpose, too, those a box is more efficient, because it keeps the warmth in. But the lamp serves in a pinch, because I can adjust the position based on the size and shape of the piece.
Thanks to everyone for there help. I’m definitely going to try using a 60w lamp. Also, after waiting a week for it to dry i notice it was to dark so i went back and redid it with thinned down oil paint, that did dried a little faster. I still have a lot of decking to do so im going to try them with the lamp.
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