Tamiya Clear over acrylics

[Jay!]

I know we've gone over and over Tamiya TS-13 Clear over other TS lacquers, but have we ever established a routine waiting time for using the clear spray over acrylics?

In my experience, acrylics dry much faster, so is it safe to assume the cure faster, too?

[TheSyndicate]

I assume so, acrylics dry in under 20 minutes. I'd still wait about an hour or two before adding clearcoat.

[djmr2]

well lacquer thinner strips acrylics like it's nothing, so u might want to use the Tamiya spray carefully... mist it for a a few coats then put a thicker coat on

[hiver77]

For acrylics, I'd wait at least a day / overnight before spraying lacquer clear coat. I've tried hurrying it once and waited only 2-3 hours. The whole paint job melted

[lotus_man]

I agree, the longer you wait the better. I'm just repainting an F360 I had to strip cuase I rushed it and the Tamiya clear spray trashed a rather tastey red/gold pearl paint job I was working on. It's a mistake I won't be repeating

[Vric]

I work often with acrylic paint and clear coat.. i wait 1 day before clear coat, but you can make it 1 or 2 hours after the last paint coat....

[daggerlee]

Just to be on the safe side, I'd wait a week. As you can see, plenty of horror stories from rushing but none from waiting!

[Vric]

Originally posted by daggerlee
Just to be on the safe side, I'd wait a week. As you can see, plenty of horror stories from rushing but none from waiting!

1 week is a bit long.. since Acrylic paint is 99% dry after 1 hours

[Gainsbourg]

The longer you wait until you apply the clear coat the better.
Not all the acrylic paints are equal. You can wait 3 days with one and all goes well and you can wait the same 3 days and the paint reacts with the clear.
Five days to the maximum of a week is the ideal. And since normally this is the final step while building a model wile it rest for the clear coat you can start preparing your next project.

[daggerlee]

1 week is a bit long.. since Acrylic paint is 99% dry after 1 hours

It may be dry to the touch, but the paint still has to cure, the paint pigments and carrier have to "crosslink" with each other on the molecular level to form strong bonds. You can leave fingerprints in gloss paint that's dry to the touch, for example, because it hasn't cured yet, but not if it has cured.