primer still tacky....?

Speed up the drying time... warm dry air would help a great deal.

If you were too close/applied too much, there should be puddles or runs visible - anything like that going on? If not I'm thinking that the primer is either faulty or not mixed well - was the can well shaken before you sprayed?

Re-prime with a well shaken can..

Or, get some testors dullcoat lacquer and spray it on. That is flat, and will harden pretty fast so you can get on with your life. I use that method to deal with enamel gloss paints that never seem to fully harden.

No runs or puddles.....I made quick passes but too many of them I think.

 It's a brand new can so I don't think it a quality issue....it provided some very good coverage.

 I shook the can for at least two minutes maybe three.

Three days is a long time for Testors primer to dry.  Has your weather been very humid?  That and cool temperatures combined with a thick coat of paint would extend drying time.

I'd give it another day or so.  (My way to gauge whether paint is cured is by smelling it.)

I'd be reluctant to apply either more primer or any clear coats until I was sure the first coat had  completely cured.  That's just asking for a bigger mess, IMHO.  You might be better off stripping the original primer off and starting over.  

Good luck,

Mark 

RedCorvette

...

I'd be reluctant to apply either more primer or any clear coats until I was sure the first coat had  completely cured.  ...

If it's not cured & a coat of something else is put down on top, you could get some "unexpected results".

my experience with Testors is that their primers and most rattle cans are garbage....goes on thick and takes forever to dry.... ....give it time...next time try Tamiya primer...

GRL

Well it's been another day or so and still no sign of it drying .  Not keen on stripping it...I've done that before and it sucked. Any super-glued parts come right off.

The weather's been nice lately...not too humid. So that's probably not it.

What I'll do is put it aside and start another kit.    If it isn't dry by the time I finish then I'm  gonna go ahead and base coat it. I'll be using Tamiya acrylics.

If it then reacts badly I guess I'll just have to strip it.

I only use acrylics and never prime models but I've had a similar situation in the past. I painted a F-104G Jabo G33 with Testors Yellow from a rattle can. Days later still smelled and had a tacky feel. Give paintsniffer's suggestion a try. I did covered my model with a coat of Gloss Cote and problem solved.

I think I will give it a try....I'd rather not have two kits going at once.  I've got a can of flat coat some where.

Thanks guys.

Perhaps this is not applicable to this situation-  but a few years ago, I had a nice resin figure of Vampirella.  I could not get any kind of paint to dry on it- I tried primer, acrylic, enamel, laquer, nothing worked.  I finally figured out the only reason could be that I cleaned the resin with alcohol thoroughly, before painting.  Apparently, that stuff soaked into the resin and caused the problem.  I sadly had to through the nice sculpture into the trash.  $100 down the drain.

Anyhow, I hope this will warn you guys about using alcohol to clean resin parts.

Cadet Chuck

Perhaps this is not applicable to this situation-  but a few years ago, I had a nice resin figure of Vampirella.  I could not get any kind of paint to dry on it- I tried primer, acrylic, enamel, laquer, nothing worked.  I finally figured out the only reason could be that I cleaned the resin with alcohol thoroughly, before painting.  Apparently, that stuff soaked into the resin and caused the problem.  I sadly had to through the nice sculpture into the trash.  $100 down the drain.

Anyhow, I hope this will warn you guys about using alcohol to clean resin parts.

I'm curious Cadet Chuck, are you referring to resin of vinyl?