"How to speed up drying time?" Topic

Any tips on how to speed up drying time? Do I pop my plastics in the oven for a wee while? A lamp?

hair dryer works for me.

hair dryer or lamp should work. it depends on the paint you use. experiment first. sometimes, the faster something dries, the LESS flexible it is.

You need to be pretty careful when exposing plastics to direct heat such as a lamp. I once popped a minitanks/premo T-26 into the same light-globe heated shoebox that I use to hasten milliput curing. The result? A T-26 with a melted and buckled turret even before its first action!
A hair dryer sounds much safer
Kosta

I used 100W light bulb for painting, old style, and it gave out a lot of heat. That helped with drying time as well, a lot. Now I use energy saving light bulb and it doesn't give out a lot of heat for the same light output. I noticed, however, that having gentle breeze from the fan behind me have the same drying faster effect.

With plastics I just use a fan

I've used a hair dryer too. Be careful that it tends to dry the surface before the underneath.

I used it to get the figures hot, and then let that do the drying.

Open window, sun a fan…

I use a fan for plastics as well.

What kind of paints are you using or how thick are you applying your paint that you really need to worry about this?

I use acrylic paints and I seldom have any problems with paint not being dry. Even if I'm only painting a single character model, the paint on one section will be dry by the time I can get my next color paint out on my pallate. If I'm assembly line painting (usually ten models at a time), by the time I'm done with the last one the first is well dried already. That being said, I find that when I need something to be dry, like when trying to paint on a watered down highlight, I just gently blow on it for a few seconds and it will be dry in short order. A hair dryer would work I guess. I should also state that I paint with very thin layers of paint.

If you are using oils or enamels, the hair dryer will definitely help.

What is the humidity like where you live and paint. That has a lot to do with drying time. Dry air from a dehumidifier will help dry the best.

Hood fan works great for speed drying figures. Any fan or blow dryer will help with the drying speed, but be careful with plastics as you can warp or melt them if they are too close, exposed for too long, or you apply too much air and blow the figure across the table!

Why the need to speed up drying time? I have used both enamels and acrylics for years and never had a problem with slow drying.