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Author Topic: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?  (Read 1140 times)

Offline FramFramson

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Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« on: July 23, 2018, 12:02:34 AM »
I used up the last of some gloss varnish on a set of figures. I did what I usually do and cut it with some flow improver (basically just brand name Future) and a few drops of water. Both of them were Windsor & Newton, so I have no major cause to doubt their reliability.

When I applied it, it was very frothy in spite of the flow improver (this not something new, though it's worst I'd ever seen in terms of sheer quantity of froth), so I used copious amounts of blown air to make sure there would be no bubbles and that the coat would not be too thick. This was successful and I had a nice coat which was applied evenly and not too thickly (maybe slightly thicker than my usual gloss coat, but not dramatically or alarmingly so). No frosting or clouding or anything like that. 

Usually the stuff dries in 24 hours tops. Well, it's been four days now and there's a slight tackiness to the figures which just won't go away. It has been humid here so that could be the culprit (though we have air conditioning which prevents this from being too bad), or it could be the slight over-concentration of the varnish given it was the bottom of the jar, but even if either of those were true, I would have thought they would only extend drying time a little. I've never heard of acrylic failing to air-dry for days.

I know flow improver is actually very similar to dish soap. Can using too much delay drying or actually CAUSE bubbles instead of cutting them? I mean, I don't THINK I used too much, but I don't want to rule anything out.

I still have to apply the matte coat (also acrylic, the Vallejo stuff). So should I just slap it on? I'm kind of leery about doing that. Is there anything else I can do to nudge the figures towards fully drying out?
« Last Edit: July 23, 2018, 12:13:42 AM by FramFramson »


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Offline jeffreythancock

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2018, 01:07:04 AM »
What material is the model made of and what type of primer and paints did you use

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2018, 01:12:37 AM »
What material is the model made of and what type of primer and paints did you use


Hard plastic as far as I can recall. But even if they're resin, they'd been sitting primed for months before I painted them and were stable and dry to the touch all that time (no weeping or tack). The paint used was acrylic as well, my usual mix of mostly Vallejo and GW.

Offline jeffreythancock

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2018, 12:03:35 AM »
Fram:

You got a new one on me!  I've only had those problems with soft vinyl figures (Reaper Bones and Caesar Fantasy) and poorly cured resin, although the vinyl was not tacky after priming or painting with acrylics, just after applying a non-acrylic varnish.

Did you try the old hair dryer or oven on low temperature tricks to try to accelerate drying?

If you figure it out, I'd like to know what it was!

Thanks, Jeff

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2018, 02:56:28 AM »
Didn't try any of the heat methods, though I do have a hair dryer. Kind of leery about doing so though! It's cheap and only has two settings: No heat and Hot Hot Hot.

Still tacky today by the way. Surprised no one else has chimed in... can't be just me this has happened to!

Anyway, I will try shifting the figures to the bedroom, which has the strongest A/C (and therefore the least damp).

Offline HerbyF

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2018, 03:47:30 AM »
I have had some gloss acrylics that seem to stay a bit tacky no matter what. I have had to put some kind of finish coat on them. Dulcoat or a wash of some kind.
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Offline FramFramson

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2018, 04:56:31 AM »
Well, I still need to put the matte coat on. I just don't want to be permanently trapping moisture in doing so.

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2018, 07:32:00 PM »
Didn't realize permeation would continue through he second acrylic layer. They're going to Albuquerque, so if they don't completely and totally dry here, they certainly will down there!

And yep, not just same brand but exact same pots and all. not one new item was used here.


Offline FramFramson

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Re: Acrylic gloss drying extremely slowly?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2018, 04:33:45 AM »
Putting them directly under a fan for hours had a non-negligible effect (so, gone from about 90% dry to... 95%?). Hopefully another day or two of the same will finish things off.