I spray painted a bunch of parts yesterday (ME GI Joe, Retro GI Joe, and Marauder parts of all kinds) with a Krylon Fusion spray paint. It's been a full 24 hours and most of the parts are still tacky. Any chance they'll be less so with more dry time?

As for counter-measures, I've heard applying a thin coat of Modge Podge can help. Any other tips/techniques for making painted parts less-tacky?

i've struggled with this a lot. my #1 paint was 88c walmart generic flat white, which disappeared a couple years ago. it never got tacky. the 88c flat black was available longer, but now seems like is gone for good too.

i've had krylon and rustolium get tacky on some pieces. also "flat" clear will be "frosted" sometimes from brand to brand. i can't afford the expensive hobby spray paints, but i have suffered some tragic fails so maybe i should.

i think the last bad time i had was with my he-man getting tacky with either tustolium or krylon flat white. iirc i did a lot of gentle rubbing with a wet brush. that lessened the tack from glue like to just barely sticky. then i painted acrylic over everything (skintone) and it all worked out.

it has been so long since i sprayed anything i forget which can is which on my shelf, so that will be fun.

spray paint and super glue are both evil.

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I think after 12 hours if it's tacky....its going to stay that way. Modge Podge can help in some cases... but also it can end up being temporary. Modge podge, paint, modge podge again...and then probably another layer or paint.

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The firs thing I ask is it the weather? High humidity can cause longer drying times. A day like today where it is 99% humidity as storms apporach, nothing is curing today.

Second thing I ask, how tacky? Like sticky to the touch with fingerprints only where I hold it? Or when your finger across it, the paint rubs off? One can be fixed by hand painting over it or like 2DARK mentioned, clear coating over it and then hand painting. The latter though, you are SOL and need to strip the paint. No amount of layering is going to save it.

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Thanks for your input, everybody. I'm going to strip all the pieces this evening and never use spray paint again.

For the sake of documentation, though, some answers to pluv's questions:



I'm in Phoenix, so temps at mid-90s with 10-15% humidity. (I left it in an outdoor shed to dry, so average temp was probably in the mid-80s.



There's a lot of variance. A couple of pieces have very little tack. Some Marauder legs I had in the mix, on the other hand, are as sticky as a post-it note. (Oddly, the Marauder legs also look much glossier than the other parts, almost a high gloss even though I used a matte spray paint.)

did you wash all the parts with soap and water and dry before paint? i've never painted marauder figures, but maybe some kind of sealant or lube from the factory in play. same thing that seizes joints etc. ?

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I didn't. That one's on me. I knew they needed to be washed, but I blew right past that step. Very dumb.

i don't usually wash first, but i don't work with primo figures like marauder and boss fight either.

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With the Krylon Fusion, I've gotten pretty good results by letting the projects sit for a week.

This is unavoidable on newer plastics, like the ones used for the NS and 25A figures. ARAH figures tend to dry to the touch.

I’ve found two effective work arounds:

1. Wear rubber gloves when handling the parts
2. Put a wash of a matching or close-to-matching acrylic paint over the parts after you’ve spray painted them. Keep wearing the gloves until you’re done w the custom.

This will keep you from pulling up the paint and/or leaving the fingerprint impressions on the paint.

I've used Krylon short cuts and Fusion for years and generally had pretty good luck on 25th and later Joes or MU parts. When I started using non-Hasbro figure parts (including Marauder parts) is when I started to see more tackiness.

The solution that's worked pretty universally for me is starting with semi-gloss sprays (a couple of light coats - each allowed to dry completely) topped with a Testor's dullcoate. Before I started applying the Testor's, a multi coat of flat Krylon would seem to cure/dry completely in temperate weather but when things got above 85 degrees, those figures would get a slightly sticky feeling if handled too long.

For detail painting I've found that if I mix the Krylon semi-gloss with the Testor's (usually on a paper plate at about a 3-1 ratio) I can get complete/durable coverage of an area with a few brushstrokes.