Humbrol 155 on bombs refusing to dry

[georgeusa]

Am in the middle of building an Invader and using Humbrol 155 matt for the bomb color. I brush painted it about 24 hours ago and it is still tacky. It is one of the tins made in England, one of the newer batch. I am also using other Humbrol paints and they seem to be drying normally. Usually for a matt paint, it is not tacky after about 1 or 2 hours. After 24 hours, the paint is still tacky. Any suggestions. Since the other Humbrol paints are behaving normally on the kit, do not think it is something on the plastic or a reaction with the plastic. Did not use a primer, but didn't use a primer for the other parts. Any suggestions would be helpful, otherwise, thinking about stripping it all off and redoing the bombs with another brand.

[MilneBay]

I've had that problem with some Humbrol colours at times - #29, #30 and Matt Black in particular taking an inordinate amount of time to dry. Usually it was a freshly opened new can. I could only put it down to insufficient stirring. But I found that it did dry eventually - in a couple of days. There is anecdotal evidence that some batches of Humbrol paint in the last couple of years were prone to slow drying times and it may have been a problem at the factory.

[MrPitotTube]

Deja vu?

http://www.armorama.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=36147&page=1

[Black Knight]

I've had this happen on occasion.

One way I've dealt with it was to simply give the part a coat of a paint which I knew would dry quickly. The fresh mixed with the sticky and dried ok. Then I painted the part with the correct colour from a different tin.

[Tbolt]

Like others I've had this problem, mainly with 155, though it's not good news that you're getting it with a new batch which is meant to have better quality control.

[StephenMG]

Am in the middle of building an Invader and using Humbrol 155 matt for the bomb color. I brush painted it about 24 hours ago and it is still tacky. It is one of the tins made in England, one of the newer batch. I am also using other Humbrol paints and they seem to be drying normally. Usually for a matt paint, it is not tacky after about 1 or 2 hours. After 24 hours, the paint is still tacky. Any suggestions. Since the other Humbrol paints are behaving normally on the kit, do not think it is something on the plastic or a reaction with the plastic. Did not use a primer, but didn't use a primer for the other parts. Any suggestions would be helpful, otherwise, thinking about stripping it all off and redoing the bombs with another brand.

George, I've had exactly the same problem and it's absolutely maddening! I can't remember which colours I had trouble with now but Dark Earth (29) and Black (33) spring to mind. Also one of the blues recently had the same problem. As well as taking an age to dry, they didn't dry matt like normal either.

All I can say is that they do, eventually, dry. Sometimes they take many days though which is ridiculous. The last time I had this problem was when painting a pilot figure with the blue I mentioned above. I wanted to crack on so in the end I painted a coat of Matt Cote over it. That worked fine and I carried on regardless!

[Seahawk]

Last time I was at Cosford the Airfix rep, having told us that production had been moved back to UK, said Airfix were keen to hear chapter and verse on this so they could investigate any faulty batches. So why not drop them a line quoting the batch number and anything else you think might be useful (eg just how long you stirred it for before use).

[georgeusa]

Deja vu?

http://www.armorama.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=36147&page=1

This mirrors exactly what has happened to me. The paint has been drying for 48 hours and is still tacky. The other Humbrol colors are working fine and predictably. For brush painting, I just don't think there are finer paints. However, I think I shall find other alternatives for this color. It is not like olive drab (in all of its infinite shades) is not an uncommon paint. I am going to chalk it up to the mix for this particular shade of paint. I have a tin of matt black (33) that I bought at the same time; seems to be produced around the same time period and it is behaving just like it always has.

[cossack52]

i had a few problems with humbrol about 3 years ago.i use a craft tool to stir my paints;always works well,but i had a run of various humbrol paints that separated immediately,back into pigment/thinner.i also bought 3 bottles of mattcote,from 3 different shops,that gave only a gloss finish.a month ago i bought a tin of 118 us tan;that was just a solid lump of pigment!

[Seahawk]

i bought a tin of 118 us tan;that was just a solid lump of pigment!

To quote the old "waiter, there's a fly in my soup" joke, "shush, they'll all want one". I've bought, even quite recently, several tims that barely had any pigment in them at all. I hope those days are receding into the past.

[sprue]

Here's my penny worth; I'm finding that even with diligent care i.e. making sure lids are clean and well fitting that Humbrol Paints are drying up in the tin. I don't think I've managed to use up a full tin for as long as I can remember. By the same token some tins from my stash are upwards of 20 years old and still as good as the day I bought them.

Mike

[The original Kit Builder]

I've been finding that many Humbrol tins are too thick in the tin, lately and that includes some of the new UK made stuff.

Getting it into the mixing pot is more by runny slice than by dropper. I can't say I've had any slow drying examples though.

Chris