Tackiness on clear coat

Teejay ;

 If you can find it .I have had very good luck with Rustoleum Clear Gloss and Design Master Gloss clear  . I still prefer the Rustoleum

Here's why - big can last longer and cheaper. Although I have used other brands as well. :)

First off, why use Krylon clear when you can use Testors flat or gloss which is made for the hobby and dries super fast?  I do use Krylon primers decanted and they work fine, specially on the soft rubber tank tracks. I don't like using Krylon sprayed from the can cause it doesn't give me the control I get with an air brush.

Another factor is how well you shook and mixed the paint, otherwise it may take longer to cure. I suggest putting on a fan and let the air circulate for a day or two and then check for any progress.

I've used Krylon Satin Black once and it left an orange peel surface on a Tomcat kit I was working on. Ended up tossing it out. Never did have a problem using clear coat for I spray several fine coats over the finished kit.

Thank you all for your info. Being recently back to doing models and actually spray painting them for the first time I still have a lot to learn about these things. Tankerbuilder, would you recommend rusteoleum or design master clear coat instead?

Okay TeeJay ;

   Here's the biggest part of your problem .You are using Krylon Paint ! This is one brand I studiously avoid , just for that reason . I have found greater satisfaction using Rusteoleum products .They gas out quicker and no matter what you are spraying it over it doesn't take a week .

 Krylon ,I believe is a hotter product and without doing damage, it still affects the product underneath. Thereby requiring longer gas out times . We can't know the molecular interactions involved , but I bet that's it !     T.B.

I once used Model Master IJN Green (it's glossy) on a Tamiya Seiran that I built a few years back. Took about a week for it to completely cure. During the curing time, it was doing exactly as you described, Tee Jay - felt ok unless I held it for a few seconds, then fingerprints appeared. I had always thought that two days was enough for any paint to dry, but I thought incorrectly......

I've had mostly negative results with using Krylon paints, period. I've sworn off them after too many swear words poured involuntarily from my mouth. They're just too finicky.

I've sometimes experienced this problem with Krylon gloss coats. Not just clear.

An orange color took almost a week. A red 3 weeks.

To many variables to determine why this sometimes happens. Environmental, the paint batch, how long I shook the paint, the base coat, etc.

Krylon Crystal Clear will take about a week to cure  

The strange thing is when you slide your hand on the paint it feels smooth but if you hold the model on your fingers for a few seconds it will feel as if your finger is warm and tacky.

I find the Krylon clear coat acrylic definitely slower drying than Testors clearcoats, but I found it took about a day to thoroughly dry.  Something sounds wrong.