Alright. I’m building a Revel F-86D and the instruction sheet is filled with complicated paint colors like Anthracite, mouse gray, tank gray, and patina green. I couldn’t find a reference to match these Revell Colors to my good ol’ Tamiya colors so yesterday i bought a few tins of Revell paint. I dipped my brush in Tamiya Thinner to get things started (as i always do), and went painting over a previous coat of tamiya dark gray.
That was last night. This morning, the paint is still… sticky. it seems dry, but strangely sticky, like scotch tape. Is it really supposed to be this way?!? It’s been in my airconditioned room since last night, so the air is a bit dry.
I’m rather upset, and have a good mind to strip the parts, chuck the paint in the rubbish and go at it again with tamiya. Where did I go wrong and What should i do?
Here is the cockpit tub, stuck to the end of my finger, being held up by the paint… it’s rather funny, actually. [:D]
I don’t use Revell Colors so I assume those are oil-based enamels. Enamels go tacky when they have not sufficiently cured, specially gloss formulas – they can cure to as much as a week! It takes longer if you’ve got significant humidity (are you sure you didn’t have cold moist air in your room?). Just leave your painted parts alone for a few days and that may do the trick. The experts here may have good advice on how you can speed up the drying time. I remember a thread recently on this topic so you might want to look that up. Till then, good luck on your project.
Strangely enough, it isn’t supposed to be gloss - it’s supposed to be a matt finish. My room is rather dry, besides my tamiya enamels don’t take nearly as long! I’ve given up on it, and i’ve plunged all the parts in a container of bleach to strip the paint. I would still like an explanation for this, though…
Sounds like the Tamiya thinner and the Revell colors are possibly not compatible for some reason. You run into that now and then.
Of course I don’t live in your climate either so I can’t comment on how paint dries there. [;)]
Try that on a scrap piece again and see if you can accelerate the drying time with a hair dryer and see if that tackyness of the paint goes away. Sometimes that extra heat and air blowing across it can cure the paint better.
I was standing outside last week watching paint dry and listening to my air conditioner run. Then I realized there is a large volume of relatively hot, dry air blowing out of my air conditioner this time of year. I had the parts taped down on a piece of cardboard so I held it over the A/C compressor so the air would blow on them and the paint dried almost immediately.
