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Easy question, how long do you need to wait after oil washing before applying an acrylic/enamel/lacquer varnish to protect it?

I normally wait ages but I'm wondering if it's necessary. I have some models that were oil washed yesterday and I'd like to finish them off before the end of this weekend, the only way that's going to happen is if I throw a varnish over them soon so I can apply the last few details.

A minimum of 24 hours before even touching the model, a week before varnishing or doing any other painting. It's just too easy to wipe off oil paints if you aren't extremely careful and patient, so why risk it?

I normally leave oil washes a day or ideally over a weekend (so about 24-48 hours) before airbrushing on the varnish (usually a couple of light coats) to seal them. I do not touch the washed areas until those coats are dry - fingerprints are extremely easy to leave, and hard to work away!

I do generally use a lot of thinner for washes - this evaporates off a lot faster than a thick oil filter (dot filters for colour modulation etc). If doing a filter coat or heavier oil work, much longer drying times are advisable.

I guess I'll wait another day or two then. I applied the wash reasonably heavy.

 Peregrine wrote:
...so why risk it?

Well I was hoping to play a game with them this week, which would only happen if I finished painting them this weekend, which would only happen if I varnished them before the end of the weekend so I could finish off the details and basing.

I'm sure commission painters would not want models floating around longer than they'd have to, so I figured someone on here would have tested the limits of how soon you can varnish over an oil without it causing problems.

I thin the oils with lighter fluid and it drys in a few minutes and is over paintable too

 CURNOW wrote:
I thin the oils with lighter fluid and it drys in a few minutes and is over paintable too

Great tip.
Not being funny - Swann or Zippo? I know they're different 'cause I find that Swann leaks from my lighter while the Zippo doesn't.
Ta

Um the yellow one Zippo ? Maybe a..was from poundland

Never heard of using lighter fluid. Depending on the type of fluid I think it's either butane based, naptha based or a mix of light weight hydrocarbons?

I've been using humbrol enamel thinner. Humbrols enamels themselves take a couple of days to cure, haven't checked to see how fast the thinner itself evaporates off.

I rattle can dullcoted one of the guys about 48 hours after and it seems to have come out fine. The oil was still able to be rubbed off before dullcoting but afterwards it seems resilient and at this stage it doesn't seem like there's been any bad reaction.

I guess I was concerned there'd be a bad reaction or possibly the acrylic varnish would prevent the oils from curing properly.

I used it first with oils and rubber cement to paint up latex masks the cement makes the oils flex and adhere to the latex and the lighter fluid acts as a activator so the glue/paint can be thinned and blended and so it makes the oils and the glue cure super fast . I then used it with weathering powders and to do oil washes worked great .

 CURNOW wrote:
I thin the oils with lighter fluid and it drys in a few minutes and is over paintable too

Why would you want to do this? A huge part of the point of using oils in the first place is the long drying times allowing you time to blend and fine-tune your work before it's dry. If you're going to change them to dry in a few minutes then why not save yourself the hassle and just use acrylics instead?

You'd use it because it still gives you the very high flow working properties for panel lining and so on. I've seen it used more with enamels for washing (same principle as oil washes, but faster cure and usually much 'harder' lining).

And yeah, lighter fluid over here is normally butanol.

Does it actually make the oil cure faster or does it just evaporate off faster? If it's the latter then you could still reactivate it with some thinner if you needed to. I think oils cure by crosslinking in the linseed oil carrier, something I didn't think you could speed up without a catalyst.

I ususally apply it then wait one full day before going over it with a Q tip the next day. give it a few hours then varnish by night time.

never had any issues.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Does it actually make the oil cure faster or does it just evaporate off faster? If it's the latter then you could still reactivate it with some thinner if you needed to. I think oils cure by crosslinking in the linseed oil carrier, something I didn't think you could speed up without a catalyst.

It just evaporates faster. I usually use a hair dryer to speed that part along and just regular Odorless Mineral Spirit/white spirits to thin the oil wash and a q-tip dipped in the same spirits to remove the oil or enamel wash. I prefer premixed enamel washes like Humbrol or AK Interactive for mechanical objects with a lot of panel lines and oil washes over a gloss varnish for natural/rounded shapes that need to be feathered and blended into the basecoat. With a hair dryer it only takes about 30 seconds to go from glistening "wet" to tacky and begin removing and blending the excess oil paint or enamel wash, the white spirits works as an excellent solvent for both and won't lift the acrylic paint. I usually leave it overnight before sealing it with varnish, but I haven't had any issues if I do it the same day. I use Future floor finish for the gloss varnish, usually through an airbrush, then airbrush on some thinned matte medium (not varnish, medium) to knock down the shine to the exact level I want. Just be mindful that you have soft uncured paint under the varnish and don't handle the figure itself for a few days, grab it by the base if you don't use painting sticks.

 Desubot wrote:
I ususally apply it then wait one full day before going over it with a Q tip the next day. give it a few hours then varnish by night time.

never had any issues.

Basically this, the stuff actually dries pretty fast, but take a while longer to cure so 24 hours is a decent time to wait before the clean up stage.

Have found issues with over spraying varnish that acts like water colours over crayons though - wondering on an alcohol based varnish but not tried it.

Seems to be easier to over varnish if you leave it a few more days, then a very light varnish, like a light mist, left to cure before over painting with more varnish.


Seems to be a form of magic talent for panel washing, heavier coat is good for weathering as well (mix dark brown and black)