What do you guys think? After airbrushing or gloss/flat coat, do you put a fan in front of your model to accelerate the drying process?
Only if you want to cover it in fluff & dust!
Although acrylics go to touch-dry very quickly, thay still take 1-2 hours to be hand safe, or or at least overnight before masking etc.
Best thing to do is to cover with a tupperware type container to keep the dust off.
Especially if you live in a dusty climate like I do (Phoenix, Arizona) or don’t do as great a housekeeping job as you should (like me[proplr]).
Yuma AZ! I use acrylics so its not really needed but I did it anyway! It came out ok.
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
that’s IMPOSS-ible!
Ok i had to get that out.
I dont care if it takes two weeks to dry, the paint takes what the paint takes.
I have frakked up enough paint jobs in the past to learn my lesson trying to hurry with fans, hair dryers, warming boxes and the like.
Two words: FOOD DEHYDRATOR!
They are fairly inexpensive. Cut out the trays, and you have a great way to speed the curing/drying of your paint/coatings. Most have adjustable temperature, allowing you to control the temp, so you can have better control and not melt your project, or create a hazardous situation… Hope this helps!
David
Greetings,
Many years ago I started using acrylic craft paint for all my models. After a few tries with my wife’s hand held hairdryer set on LOW heat I discovered that the paint dried evenly and kept the shine if the paint was glossy. I found that the paint will not crack or crinkle if you gently go back and forth across the model keeping the hair dryer about 6" away from the surface. Also the paint dries rock hard and is very durable.
johncpo
I sometimes use a blow dryer to spot-dry small pieces that have light coats of paint. Otherwise, I sit the piece in my spray booth under two 75 watt lamps to accelerate the drying and curing process. Generally, time is the best determining factor for drying & curing of paint.
I know several guys who have bought one of those food dehydrators. I am afraid to try it, because some of them run pretty hot and I am afraid they might warp parts, but some of the guys swear by them.
Better than a food dehydrator is a dehumidifier. If you have a small enclosed space they are perfect for drying models…just vent the exhaust out of the area to avoid heat build up.
In the AF we used to take our freshly washed and starched (added during the rinse cycle) fatigues downstairs into the missile support building (Minuteman ICBMs) and hang them in the brine chiller which was a huge air conditioning unit. A few minutes in this unit the uniform was completely dry and hard starched then we’d give them a quick ironing to whip them into shape…sharp creases.
Wet water logged boots too were quickly dried using this method. When you only have one pair of jump boots and your deployed for three days, you don’t want to slog around in wet boots after having been out in the rain inspecting missile silos.
Of course once we put someones rather ripe and smelly boots in there, the capsule crew didn’t find the stench so pleasing as this air was used to cool the launch crew capsule.
Food dehydrators circulate ambient or heated air through the food to dry, if the air is moist it takes longer.