inexperienced airbrusher - after painting, my parts feel tacky

About all you can do with an overnight dry of enamel is move the parts to another safe location to dry, especially with their own ( MM)thinner.I've been known to let freshly painted parts done in enamel sit a month. Unless you have a paint dryer or dehydrator you can use as a paint dryer, then enamels you can let sit and air dry for several days to a couple of weeks to cure and not leave finger prints and such when handling for assembly. And then it still needs to finish curing.. Enamel has to cure not just dry. Really depends on weather, humidity, temp and such. I've seen it some what ok to handle in 4 days when thinned with lacquer thinner.

How did they turn out though ?  I bet nice.

Enamels take a great deal longer to dry in most cases. They tend to be more durable than acrylics, but take a different method to use. For many builders the acrylics are more friendly and allow for quicker building, in many cases. Enamels are also less friendly to your health than most acrylics as well. Overall, if you spray with enamels, have something else to do for several days while you wait for them to cure properly.

BK

Easily a week, minimum.

Thanks for your replies, everyone! I had used acrylics once before on my old airbrush, but it tended to clog if I left the airbrush for a long time without cleaning it. It did dry fast, but not as durable, tending to peel or scratch more easily. I'll let these sit under some paper towels for a week to keep the dust off.

Jose

Jose Gonzales

Thanks for your replies, everyone! I had used acrylics once before on my old airbrush, but it tended to clog if I left the airbrush for a long time without cleaning it. It did dry fast, but not as durable, tending to peel or scratch more easily. I'll let these sit under some paper towels for a week to keep the dust off.

Jose

 

Don't let those paper towels come in contact with the enamel surface this soon in.

What, were you not thinking not cleaning your airbrush ? They really need to be cleaned and don't let that Stynylrez harden up in there or it will be a real chore.

Yes, I've learned my lesson.  I even clear out the airbrush between coats of the same color. 

Wow, a month, a week? I have been using Testors enamels for decades and I mask using masking tape the following day over flat finishes and silly putty after a couple of hours.  Must be the warm Florida weather? This is while using Testors MM flat enamels. The only time I let it cure for a week or longer is if I polish the gloss enamels as in my recently posted F102 or 106 builds.

Your flat  enamel should be dry to the touch  (not cured) in a couple of hours. Gloss enamels take longer to dry.

 I wonder if you did not throughly stir the paint or if you had a bad bottle. 

Jose Gonzales

Yes, I've learned my lesson.  I even clear out the airbrush between coats of the same color. 

 

Never put the ab away without cleaning and flushing it. It will not only perform properly but will last a lifetime. My oldest ab is a Badger 150 from the mid 70's and still works like a new one.

I find enamels are touch dry in 24hours max, i leave 48 before masking just to be safe, thats in the UK climate and useing Xtracolor gloss.

Most primers dry pretty quick, but enamels take several days.   I let Testors gloss enamels dry three days if I do not use my heated drying box on them.  I let the flats dry for 24. If flats are not dry by that time you may be putting on the paint too thick.  Several thin coats give better results than one thick one.  How long did you let the primer dry before the color coats?