Built my first kit but had a minor concern


VTRailway

VTRailway

Active Member
Built my first kit ever after reading a lot on this forum. Felt pretty confident. Started off by washing with warm soapy water and leaving to dry for hours. Then grabbed a can of rustoleum gray primer. Dusted all the parts on the sprues. These were hung and allowed to dry for 24hrs in my shop. The primer felt dry to the touch but very slight tack on some parts. Not enough to be concerned with. Painted the walls with a satin red rustoleum paint. Two light coats were applied, just enough to cover but not obscure the details Allowed the parts to dry for 24hrs again. This time the parts were still quite tacky. These were left for another few hours but still tacky to the touch but not enough to leave finger prints.

Has anyone had any experience with paint taking forever to dry on plastic kits? I've used rustoleum paint around my shop for years on automotive parts without this issue.
 
Rustoleum has thinner that can soften and melt some plastics. Be careful using it. If you want to use it on another project, find a piece of what you're using that isn't going to be used, and spray the paint on that before trying it on the "good" pieces.
 
I've run into this problem lately with some Rustoleum primers, both gray and red oxide. And I don't believe the problem is just with plastics, I'm thinking it's the same problem no matter what material you're spraying it on. The stuff never seems to fully dry. I sprayed something a while back, and after letting it sit for a full WEEK, it was still somewhat tacky.

I'm wondering if Rustoleum changed their formula, and this is on purpose. Maybe it's supposed to remain tacky, for a final color coat to stick better? Or are the batches of primer just defective? I dunno, but I'm not fond of it, because I've also used Rustoleum primers and paints for years myself without this issue.

One thing I have noticed is, Rustoleum makes two different types of primers. Read the spray cans carefully before you buy them. One type says "Fast Drying/Wet or Dry Sandable", in fine print and close to the bottom of the can. The other type says "Fast Drying", but nothing about being sandable. The "Wet or Dry Sandable" is the one to get, as it truly does dry fast, hard, and is sandable. The other type, the "Fast Drying" only type, is the one to avoid. It doesn't dry all that fast in my opinion. It's the one that dries tacky and gums up sandpaper in no time flat if you try and sand it.

Thanks to this, I'm trying to wean myself off of Rustoleum spray paints altogether.
 
My observations -----

Paint on some plastics take longer to dry than on others.
Room temperature can affect the time paint dries.
Older paints take longer to dry than new ones.
The change in paint formula is (mostly) a PITA.

I just have to 'go with it'.
 
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