Yes, sorry I forget this is an international forum and not everybody knows what words such as “nuke” mean. To avoid further confusion, a “flashlight” is a torch, “football” is always the American version of the game, and “gas” means petrol, not propane [swg]
I agree with Graffen. Last year I discovered dullcote solved exactly the problem you are having.
markalan
Hello Ben, thank you for the additional infos they will be very useful and they are noted.
Hello Jack, when you cure the paint in the microwave what is the “power"setting”? Minimum ox Maximum ? And is the paint you are curing on plastic or hydrocal ?
Thank you and have a nice day [;)]
Well then, how long is a piece of string? It depends. Every microwave is different so some experimentation is in order. I suggest taking some odd bits and pieces and painting them with a random color, then nuking for 30 seconds at the lowest setting. The plastic should be warm to the touch and the paint slightly hotter. Nuke again for 30 seconds at the same power level. If the paint is now dry to the touch and the plastic is no hotter than what is comfortable to hold in your bare hand, then you have the right settings. If not, then up the power to the next level and try again. You should never have to heat the stuff more than 2 cycles of 30 seconds. Let the paint stand for about a minute or so to cool off and you are good at that point. The object is to heat the paint to cure and harden it without heating the plastic parts to the point where they distort. It’s the same concept that auto paint shops use with the heat lamps on a fresh coat of paint, only we can’t use the radiant heat because it will melt the plastic, but plastic is immune to microwave heat energy where the paint is not.
The caveat is that the model must not have any metal parts in it, no etched metals or lead castings. I have done this for 20 years with plastic and resin with no problems. Hydrocal should be thouroughly dry before any heating is done, and once again it is very wise to test on a scrap piece before trying it on a finished model. For mixed media m
Hello Jack, thank you for the infos [Y] . All I have to do now is to experiment as you mentionned in your post.
No problem Serge. Not to hijack the thread, perhaps another post on the topic would be good, but paint is the most misunderstood aspect of model building out there today. In a nutshell, it takes the average model paint less than an hour to dry, but up to 6 months to fully cure and harden.