Actually, Gents, the oven can be used to speed curing times of paint, and varnishes, with some caveats…
I cast mini's using Prince August molds, with Model Metal, and Lead, back at the beginning of this millennia: melting point of the metal was 700 F. I 'cured' my mini's in the oven, after applying Minwax Polyshades urethane stain, oil-based, not water. I did this with both my home cast mini's, as well as plastic mini's, including soft, Army Men figures.
The trick is to know the physics of the materials you are working with:
Model Metal melts at 700 F;
Injection Molded Plastic melts at 300-400 F.
I set my oven at its lowest temperature setting: 170 F. None of my mini's melted -- ever. Will work with all types of metal, and plastic, as well as resin materials which can withstand 170 F temperatures (most can… try a test piece, first, to be certain).
I switched to using a Slow Cooker/Crock Pot, as I was concerned with the fumes which posed a small flash-fire risk in the oven -- the fumes also stunk up the house, really badly! [Note: I baked 200+ mini's in my oven, without any fires. I was extremely fortunate, and I was using an electric oven, not gas, so no open flames to ignite the fumes!] The Low Temperature Setting on most slow cookers, is 170 F. The slow cooker works superbly: 'bake' on Low, for 30 minutes, and they come out fully cured -- in the garage, where fumes dissipate without offending the wife! Just make sure to open a window, or the main door, to let the fumes escape.
The only thing I melted, was pink insulation foam terrain pieces I baked in the Slow Cooker (the foam was completely sealed with latex paint, so no foam was directly exposed to the solvent-based urethane stain). That stuff cannot tolerate 170 F: it shrank, around 50%, and it deformed, of course… Fortunately, I only ruined two terrain pieces gaining that bit of wisdom. For all foam pieces, I let it air dry for several days. Slow, but non-deforming.
I don't see anything about a 200 Watt bulb… The author refers to a 1600 Lumen Daylight bulb: this would be an LED, to get the Daylight color (around 4,000 K). The 1600 Lumen bulbs I found online, run at 15.5 Watts, putting out the equivalent light of a 100 Watt incandescent bulb. I did not see anything about a 200 Watt bulb in the article. Did I miss it? Cheers!
begins to think about terrain for Team Yankee.
