I painted 2 pairs of Kadee couplers with some Rustoleum primer yesterday and today, they still feel a little tacky. Is there a solution for drying these quicker and eventually putting them back into service?
You can try a blow drier if the are #5’s, or any of the other all metal types. If they have plastic shanks, you might be forced to wait.[sigh]
Is it humid right now where you are? I usually wait for a cool, dry day before doing any painting outdoors.
I used a fine brush and just brush painted mine, within a short time they were dry enough to go back and paint the ‘air hose’, and a few more hours and I could use a silver paint marker to touch the ‘glad hand’. Haven’t used Rustoleum spray cans on any train items, but I do paint weights with the cheap store brand black spray cans. I usually do two coats per side , even weights that will be hidden inside a box car, and I usually paint one side, wait an hour, flip them over, paint the other side, wait an hour, repeat. The paint is dry to the touch in that time. Perhaps Rustoleum just has a longer dry time.
–Randy
I’m familiar with that same Rustoleum primer. Especially the “Rusty Metal” variety. It always seems to stay tacky even in the best conditions. I have left parts in full sun and baked in ovens and the darn stuff is still tacky.
Try an other brand, even the bargain bin stuff is OK for couplers, wheels and car weights. I always have a variety of primers on hand since there are several shades of oxide colors ranging from a bright red through dark brown. I use a variety of shades when painting brick or ties or car wheels.
Be sure to just lightly dust the couplers with the paint so they don’t gum-up.
Ed
I use the Rustoleum Painter’s Touch “UltraCover” primers because that’s mostly what the Home Depots around here carry, and the paint seems dry to the touch within, I guess 15 minutes; leaving it overnight (8 hours, to be safe) its ready to be coated with the final color (or weathered if you are using the primer for your base color). Can mask w/ tape at that point too. Never had the primers be tacky (either grey, red, or white) after a few hours, even in humid conditions.
Are you using the Painter’s Touch brand?
I’m just wondering how you managed to control the flow from the spray can so that the couplers are not totally gummed up.
Any time you paint couplers, especially Kadee’s, I’d be careful not to get paint on the face of the knuckle. When coupling, the faces of the opposing coupler knuckles are expected to slide against each other. Paint on those surfaces can make it harder to complete the couple up. Bare metal against bare metal is more reliable.
Using Rustoleum to simulate rust…Fascinating.
This is true, even heavily brush painting can cause the knuckle to jam/ stick. I will only dry brush or burnish in weathering powders. The factory slippery knuckle face allows for far better coupling. Many times my “painted” knuckles would actually bounce off scooting the car away instead of coupling. Needed to burnish in powder or graphite