How long do you leave an undercoat to dry ?

[Rod Hull]

I almost always allow 24 hours for undercoat to dry, be it GW or Halfords spray, or gesso.

What I'm wondering is if that long is really necessary. How long do you wait before you start painting ?

[grahknar]

20 minutes tops, there's certainly no need to wait 24 hours in my experience. I'd never get anything finished at that rate.

[chromedog]

Usually 6-12 hours, sometimes up to 24. I wait until the paint stops smelling (I use automotive primer) and the lack of smell means the paint has cured properly - the outgassing is part of the curing process.

Then again, I never really had any issues with impatience. Things take as long as they take. You can't rush perfection and all that.

[tk7]

I've painted over GW chaos black after about half an hour in warm weather. In winter i'd probably leave it an hour or two. If in doubt, best be safe and leave it a while, don't want anything funky to happen after painting I guess.

[Steel_Legion]

Usually 30min, or until I can't be bothered waiting any more! For other things where you are ment to wait a while (car body paint) I don't skip time, but I can live with 1 28mm model looking a bit iffy occassionally!

[NealSmith]

I'm usually doing things in batches/assembly line, so I'm priming one group while painting another. It is usually at least 24 hours until I can get to the newly primed guys.

[Kymmerus]

I'm in the batch assembly/painting process camp myself. I don't think I've ever undercoated and then painted a miniature within a 24 hour period...

[Commissar Bone]

What? You let it dry first? Man, that answers so many questions...

I was undercoating some minis just a few minutes ago (the second side is drying now). They were dry enough to flip after 10 minutes, and I think they'd do just fine in another half an hour.

Flat black Krylon-type paint here.

[N810]

There are probaly some recomendations right on the can...

[Rod Hull]

Actually there isn't. Well, not counting the advice to wait two weeks before sanding.

[bomblu]

Well i dont have a 'rule' but i like giving my minis a good day when painting an entire unit. When i'm painting one single mini it's about 5mins (i always undercoat with chaos black + paintbrush...never sprayed) cos the temperature in my country makes paints dry quite fast...which tbh is quite annoying as i never manage to mix only one portion of a specific colour as by a max of 10mins it's dry and hard as rock :'(

[take19]

15 minutes, but just now im spraying them individually with chaos black, so they are usually good-to-go in 7 minutes.

[CrownAxe]

Well they really only need like a 1/2 an hour to be dry but i like to give them a few hours more to make sure (if i can spare it of course)

[Tommygun]

12 to 24 hours. I think you need to wait until it stops out gassing.
It nothing else, it is better for your health.

[Codsticker]

I allow 24hrs. for a primer to dry but it isn't neccessary, just better.

[Number 24]

If you paint over primer before it fully cures (24 hours) then your paint is not guaranteed to look worse or fall off or otherwise fail.

If you paint over primer before it fully cures, the odds of your topcoat failing are increased. It may happen, it may not. But your odds of a happy ending are better when you wait 24 hours. You buy your tickets, you take your chances.

At the very least, wait until the primer stops off-gassing. If you can still smell the primer when you hold your nose more than 6-8 inches away (or so), wait a while longer.