tamiya cure rates...

[kaho]

Originally Posted by MPWR

I always do my best not to touch a recently painted surface, but I've found that with acrylics, even if the paint will take fingerprints, it can be polished out. I like to spray it on in multiple layers, smoothing any texture out with a polishing stick before applying more. I find that acrylics seem to respond just as well to being rubbed out once with micromesh or a polish stick to remove surface texture, and then using Tamiya type polishing compound- instead of multiple grades of micromesh. 6 sandings with micromesh will remove more paint than is necisary, and the acrylic is soft enough that polishing compounds seem to do just as well removing scraches.

It is softer than laquer, or fully cured enamel- but this is not really a disadvantage. It just requires different handling than harder finishes.

Thanks for clearing that up. Yea the fingerprints were not too hard to remove, but it was just a scary experience when I had to redo the polishing after some small parts like mirrors/lights/windshield were already glued on, and I wasn't careful enough to avoid leaning fingers onto the hood
When you smooth the surface after every light coat, was it easy to burn through the acrylic and onto the color? It would be annoying to lose some CF texture while trying to work on the clear coat.

[MPWR]

I've always been carefull to use a light enough touch when rubbing intermediate layers to avoid it. I guess I've kinda figured that if I'm applying more layers overtop, any particular layer doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, but any obvious texture/orangepeel, I've tried to remove. I'm sure it's easy to burn through, but with a bit of care and discresion, I've managed to avoid it.

[mgt]

how long do you have to wait for tamiya spray lacquers to cure before you can handle them for assembly, etc.? second, say i spray paint (tamiya lacquer) something like a seat, interior tub, engine peice, etc. should i carry out the regular procedure (see faq) given for the body, or do i just spray and leave to cure?

thanks,
mgt