Painted Helmet. Still Sticky. Help!

[MisterToy]

Hi:

Ok, so yesterday I started painting a helmet liner. I used Testors Spray Enamel Glossy Black. Unfortunately, it doesnt seem to completely dry. It remains "tacky". Is there anything to fix this? Can some Dull Cote fix this?

Thanks in advance.

Eric

[4dEFCON]

Enamel paints can take ages to dry, might be worth stripping it off and using acrylics instead?

[Casual_Collector]

Seconded. Games Workshop or Taimya paints should be good.
It'd be worth a shot dullcoting it though. I dunno, spray paint has been sometimes very GOOD or very BAD for me. Hard gear - good to spraypaint. Soft gear - comes out shitty. I wouldn't thought that that helmet liner would've been good though.

[MisterToy]

Will do. Live and learn

Thanks.
Eric

[Phssthpok]

If it's soft PVC, then the paint won't dry, or may take months. Soft PVC has plasticiser in it which inhibits paint curing. Stops ink drying too.

[major.rod]

I have often had the tacky experience when painting soft plastic parts.

I bought a can of flat black paint at an auto shop specifically designed for plastics. I use that as the base and haven't had a problem since.

[MisterToy]

If it's soft PVC, then the paint won't dry, or may take months. Soft PVC has plasticiser in it which inhibits paint curing. Stops ink drying too.

It is soft plastic. Will brushed on acrylic paint react the same way?

Eric

[4dEFCON]

Eric in my experience acrylics won't cause you any problems. I just use normal artist acrylics then seal with humbrol matt 49 varnish spray.
Steve.

[nikoniko]

Never use enamels directly on any soft plastics or vinyl materials, as the paint will not dry. You could use enamels if you primer first with a good lacquer based primer. In the alternative, you can just use acrylics or lacquers directly, but acrylics work better with a good primer coat.

[Broadshore]

Tamiya paint has changed there ingredients in there paints. It's not sticking on as well as the original Tamiya paint. So heads up on the Tamiya paint.

[ali032373]

When needing to advance drying I've used a heat gun at a good distance. It's worked so far for me.

[cazadornocturno]

Eric, I did run into a similar problem when I tried to prime a pair of tall boots that I wanted to use for a Cobra Trooper bash. I primed them using a Flame of War spray primer in grey to use as a base. The end product became a tacky mess. I did use Games workshop paints to give it the black color and the detail that I wanted. To finish it off, I used a Model Master Enamel Flat Clear varnish to coat it and protect the paint. The tackiness was no longer a factor as the GW paints covered it nicely. You should be able to use the Testors as a base and paint over it using an acrylic or the GW paints. Good luck with this!

[new_world_order]

you can't go wrong with acrylic paints...
i often had problems with enamels to... stopped using these...

tamiya worked always fine for me...
but normally i use standard acrylic paints..

[JTFazz]

I always use acrylic paint for this very reason. I have used Taimya, but I prefer Testors Acryl. It is usually easier to find locally.

[AV8TORJoe]

Like many, I too uses acrylic paints instead of enamels unless you are using an
airbrush to apply enamel paint, I generally stay away from it.

[gooseman]

Enamels - uck... Strip it off. never worth trying to dry it. If its going tackey then the finsih will be affected. The only thing I have done is undercoat first with acrylic. However acyrlic with a sealer or varnish gives just as good affect I believe.