Can you force-dry enamel paints?

[jackroadkill]

Hi all, just hoping to glean a little knowledge; I have a model that I base-coated in Humbrol  Met 27002 (a sort of polishable chrome colour) and whilst it looks fine it's still ever so slightly sticky a few weeks after application.  I'm wondering if it will juts slowly cure over time or whether I need to do something to it to force it to finish drying.  I thinned it with white spirit and there is now no smell of this at all, which leads me to think that all of the VOC's might have evaporated.

 

If anyone has any suggestions or has had similar experiences, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks,

 

JRK

[Black Knight]

With slow drying enamel you can add some Terebine Dryers which speeds it up.

In the past I have added the Terebine to a tinlet then over painted the coat on the model which is not drying. This usually works

I add Terebine as a matter of course to all my Humbrol tinlets. It means that even a gloss coat will be dry in about 20 minutes, or less if I use my paint drying lamp.

[Guest]

Years back a lot of car modelers use to paint their model bodies and then put them in Dehydrators

bought at Wal Mart or any general merchandise store. I am not sure if they still do it, was quite the fad.---John

[jackroadkill]

Thanks @Black Knight and @Johnv, both of those methods sound like they would be useful with this model.

[BlueNosers352nd]

Back before I started using Tamiya and Mr Color, all I used was enamels.  I sped up all my drying with a Food Dehydrator on the lowest setting. 🤣

[jackroadkill]

Thanks to @Black Knight I have some driers on order; I'll experiment with it as soon as it gets here.

[dnl42]

5 hours ago, BlueNosers352nd said:

I sped up all my drying with a Food Dehydrator on the lowest setting.

Was that a food dehydrator repurposed for paint drying or did you make sure SWMBO was out of town? 

[BlueNosers352nd]

16 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Was that a food dehydrator repurposed for paint drying or did you make sure SWMBO was out of town? 

Specifically bought for paint drying.  Don't recall if it was during the SWMBO phase or after.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

A warmer, dryer environment with some positive ventilation is all you can do now.

 

White spirit is probably the worst possible thinner you can use for enamel if fast drying is what you're after. It has a long chain average molecule length and correspondingly a glacial-paced evaporation rate.

 

It's good for cleaning brushes because it stays wet and oily and it can be good for doing things like figure face painting where you may want to do lots of blending and therefore you don't want paint like mine drying whilst still brushing it around.

 

Terebine dryers can work, but you need to use them before painting rather than after but better still is to use a shorter chain hydrocarbon to thin the paint with.

[jackroadkill]

5 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

White spirit is probably the worst possible thinner you can use for enamel if fast drying is what you're after. It has a long chain average molecule length and correspondingly a glacial-paced evaporation rate.

 

 

Thanks Jamie; yes, I only use white spirit for brush-cleaning these days.  For thinning I use CC thinners, which does a really good job.

[Black Knight]

On 17/09/2020 at 20:46, jackroadkill said:

Thanks to @Black Knight I have some driers on order; I'll experiment with it as soon as it gets here.

You only need about 6 to 8 small drops from a pipette to a 14ml tin of Humbrol enamel

Although on some tins I've had to go to as much as 30 drops.

Just don't squirt a load of terebine into the tin of paint!

Start with six drops, test and go from there

[jackroadkill]

10 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

You only need about 6 to 8 small drops from a pipette to a 14ml tin of Humbrol enamel

Although on some tins I've had to go to as much as 30 drops.

Just don't squirt a load of terebine into the tin of paint!

Start with six drops, test and go from there

I saw the instruction about using a capful in one litre of paint, so I knew that sloshing it in wouldn't be the way forward - I'll make a note about non-squirting!

 

Can one use the driers with thinned paint?  I'm guessing so.

[Black Knight]

11 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

I saw the instruction about using a capful in one litre of paint, so I knew that sloshing it in wouldn't be the way forward - I'll make a note about non-squirting!

good man, as you were, carry on

 

12 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

Can one use the driers with thinned paint?  I'm guessing so.

yup, in proportion of course. I only use Humbrol enamel thinners in their enamels now so there's no problem such as Jamie has mentioned but a drop or two in thinned paint helps.

btw 99.9% of my painting is by hairy-stick brush

[jackroadkill]

13 hours ago, Black Knight said:

yup, in proportion of course. I only use Humbrol enamel thinners in their enamels now so there's no problem such as Jamie has mentioned but a drop or two in thinned paint helps.

btw 99.9% of my painting is by hairy-stick brush

That's grand - thanks very much.  I'm a brush-pusher too.  I keep thinking that getting an airbrush would be a good idea but things like MOT's and buying bass guitars keep getting in the way.

[jackroadkill]

On 16/09/2020 at 22:26, jackroadkill said:

I thinned it with white spirit

 

On 18/09/2020 at 20:19, jackroadkill said:

 I only use white spirit for brush-cleaning these days.  For thinning I use CC thinners, which does a really good job.

Uhhhh, well, this wasn't too clever, was it?  For the record, the second statement is true, and I must have been having a brain-fart when typing the first.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their input - I'm very grateful for the advice and help I continue to be given by the kind members of this forum.  An especially big thank you to @Black Knight for the tip about driers; some arrived today and it instantly sorted my problem.