I actually use an air fryer that has the dehydrator mode and use heat setting from 105-112f. It works great. I dry enamels at about 112f for 4 hours if I just want to handle the parts and let air drying do the rest over time. That 4 hours does shorten up the overall time to full cure. But full cure in the dehydrator is 6-8 hours or basically just leave it overnight. I’ll give lacquers 10-15 minutes at around the 108 setting. Acrylics tends to be around 30 min to an hour depending on brand. But all my acrylics tend to have retarder in them. Acrylic get anywhere from 105-110, it’s not a specific plan the just actually need the airflow and warm is faster than cold. You can actually flash off manycrylics with air from your airbrush between coats or use a hair dryer. But full when using retarder takes longer. I’ve seen Tamiya acrylic with retarder take three days to be fuller cure if not using the dehydrator.
Edit: I seem to notice with Tamiya acrylics in gloss, addition gloss when drying with heat between that 105-108 setting, going to 110 doesn’t really change that much. Could be my wild imagination but it’s something worth observing and see what you all think for yourselves.
Like you guys are saying with RMP lacquer, Tamiya LP in the bottles don’t really need the dehydrator even with Mr Leveling thinner which has some retarder in it. But my disclaimer there is it depends on your environments drying conditions, dew point etc. The dehydrator levels that playing field a lot. These are nice paints and my local hobby store stocks them.
Thanks for taking the time to share specifically some of your routines, OMG, very helpful.
Any particular reason for 108 (vs 113) on the lacquers? And also lower on the acrylics?
Speaking of airflow, I’ve been pretty routinely drying stuff in moving air for quite some time. But the heat and also increased airflow in the new machine sure makes a big difference.
My most notable test result so far has been Vallejo Model Air on 2 spoons, one in paint booth with fan on (so it has had airflow about half of the time), other in the dehydrator at about 110 degrees.
Vallejo is interesting to me cuz I use it all the time, it remains ‘rubbery’ for up to 3 weeks, depending on how heavily it’s sprayed, and never cures rock hard like some paints.
The test spoon Vallejo was definitely handle-able in an hour, in two it ‘felt’ fully cured, even though I doubt it was, not quite. Now 5 days later, the air/fan dry control is approaching almost fully cured. Even more interesting, the dehydrator one is almost impervious to scratching off. The other one, not so much. (no primer, right on the spoon).
Lacquer just doesn’t need much heat, my kits range in age from modern plastics to really old original Entex and Minicraft and such. If I don’t really need the extra heat I don’t use it.
Vallejo for me gets an hour. It doesn’t feel sticky and as you say ( and actually you bring up an awesome point I hadn’t thought too hard on) it’s more hard shell finish with some heat. I’ve done acrylics at 108 and 110, pretty much the same result which makes sense. it my craft paints that I use quite a bit of that I just don’t feel matters how hot so much. I’ve even done those at 100 from time to time. But that is about the lower limit where I use retarder in my thinners and if I want accelorated long term dry without airing a couple of days.
So back to that point though of the harder finish. I’ve had no issues with Vallejo scratching overly easy but always have used both primer and the dehydrator. Now I’m wondering if the heat setting up of Vallejo is the difference in what we are getting from the product and those whom we hear complaints from on the same product ? Could be, which makes sense because those folks get to making me scratch my head lol.I just don’t have that issue.
On another note I added an edit to my previous post.
Thanks for your additional thoughts, and additional info on your 2 posts up.
Back to the Vallejo for a sec, I’ve never, ever had a situation where unprimed Vallejo Model Air has passed an aggressive scratch test, and I almost fell over when I did it on the one that had been in the dehydrator.
Important disclaimer: that wasn’t after just 2 hrs in the dehydrator, though. It was, as I said, as ‘hard’ as VMA gets, but it didn’t pass a very aggressive scratch test. I surely did pass a regular scratch test, and after 2 hrs, that surprised me.
It is now 5 days later, and it’s been sitting inside the dehydrator cycling with everything else all week, 5 days later that I can hardly get the Vallejo to scratch off. It’s nuts.
Sure is interesting that you’ve never used Vallejo without using a dryer/dehydrator.
Not that I recall Greg. I started using Vallejo MA though 4-5-6 years ago and more recently added the MC to the list.All my acrylic adventures in fact have been tons of experiments and also actual paint jobs using acrylic on some of them for about 8 years or so. And the dehydrator drying came in about the same time the Valljo MA came into my life. But prior to 8 years ago all the way back to around 1960 I shot all solvent based paints. So ya, Vallejo is fairly new to me, especially MC and the dehydrator in place at the same time. So I never questioned it, into the dehydrator it went and still does to this day.
Course I use other paints too including solvent based.
I use alot of Vallejo paint. It’s a pretty delicate paint and scratches or rubs off easily. Since I started drying with my dehydrator I have had nearly no issues with it like I had before. I’m sure some of that is the dehydrator curing the paint fully, but also my learning to handle those paint jobs with more care. I will never go back to air drying any of my work now that I’ve seen how much better dehydrators make painting.
I’ve experienced all the issues shared with Vallejo paints. I still like using them but when they came off it can be like peeling latex paint. if curing them with a dehydrator creates the hardness/chip resistance suggested then it’s completely worth the investment.
Absolute next item on my tool list is to get/build a dehydrator/drying box.
Just a heads-up, not sure you should ever expect a rock-hard finish with Vallejo, even with a dehydrator. But perhaps. I’m starting to question myself if I’ve been failing to mix thoroughly and I think I already said I have tended to lay it down way too thick. Neither would lead to a nice hard finish.
11 yrs later and I’m still testing. Never said I was the fastest learner.
I like the results I get with Vallejo paint but the durability has been it’s achilles heel Even a slight increase in durability will be a win.
I’ve mixed the snot out of this stuff and put it on nice and thin and still had it peel right off. I won’t itemize the lengths I go through to help improve adhesion and durability, but it can be a pain.
I’ll probabaly try something like what Don did and cobble something together with a lightbulb as a heater for testing.
You probably know this, but although I think Vallejo adheres pretty well (for an acrylic, that is …if allowed to cure), I always use a good primer under it. Tamiya, Stynylrez, Mr Surfacer, etc. I’ve never had great luck with Vallejo surface primer.
I still use Vallejo because it self-levels like no other acrylic I’ve used, and the good color selection. (not to mention that I went goofy buying the stuff back in '13 when I got back into the hobby).
Hope you let us know how the dehydrator/dryer experiments work out.
Hah ! I NEVER STOP TESTING as it’s a hobby in itself for me, seriously !
But a casual observation much as your own, say I spray a plastic canvas roof with Stynylrez and top coat with MA, then dehydrate ( I have done this). That roof is then likely to sit a week before I get back to this piece. But I notice it feels truly cured, it’s really dry. That just confirms what you already stated in another post. I just do fingernail scatch tests personally and never would do that straight out of the dehydrator but rather after cooling and probably the next day. Vallejo MA passes a solid moderate scratching at that point. Within a few days it just feels all the more dry and hard shell. This beats what you have said about room temp air drying by quite a margin. And I’ve only ever shot Vallejo over Stynylrez ( also dehydrated but only 30 minutes) so I can’t speak for it’s ability to stick to bare plastic at all.
I’m an advocate of dehydrators or those paint dryer cabinets,some of which are not priced bad at all imo… Even the home made one mentioned within this thread ( if they employ moving air with something like a computer fan just to keep the air fresh and some form of temp control). Even to lift the box an inch and use a box fan to pass air by the dehydrator might be sufficien to change air supply inside the box continually.
By the way, I believe craft paints benefit from similar treatment. I’ve found them to be quite hard shelled and durable in my tests when heat set in the dehydrator. I have no qualms about using craft paints in my builds as long as things are primed and I dehydrate them. The same can be said for Goldens High flow artist paints and Liquitex Soft Body, even Liquitex Basics line acrylic artist paints can be thinned and airbrushed. These all airbrush great when mixed right.Golden High Flow and Liquitex Soft are both rated for either brush or airbrushing anyway. They even make an airbrush medium for them, though that tends to addsheen to the paints so I don’t always use it… Nuff said today lol.
Interesting you mention that. As I’ve been messing with paints and techniques and the new dehydrator and lots of plastic spoons the past couple weeks, it occurred to me that I think I enjoy fiddling and testing as much, if not maybe more, than building.
I must say that even that process is more fun with the dehydrator, because of getting to see results faster. I’ve even taken a liking to square bottle Testors enamel again.
I found another modeling use for my paint dryer. I created a base and modelled some ground cover using celluclay. I make it fairly wet, so it dries slow. Putting it in my paint dryer sure speeds things up!
Which reminds, keep forgetting to ask. Will a dryer/dehydrator speed up regular plastic cement drying time? I would think no, since the joins are internal (well, mostly)
Seems like it might shorten the time a little bit. I would think the higher temperature would accelerate the evaporation of the solvents. Whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing, however, is another story. It might serve to weaken a cement weld by not giving it enough time to work.
Yes. I’ve been decanting and mixing colors in mostly solid pastels and such with the intent of using those in future classic car builds. Namely Rustoleum Painters Touch and 2x spray paints. It’s 12oz of paint per can almost ready to airbrush for basically $5. I’m gaing a small collection of these enamels. I add a bit more lacquer thinner and they spray every bit as nice as the little Testors bottles or the old MM enamels. I shoot them through the Paasche H with #3 tip. Great gloss and smoothness for old cars, pretty much a ready to build finish with slight buffing once cured. Well, to my eye anyway.
