# How long does it take for paint/washes to dry ?



## Tyr852

Title says it all , I'm trying to learn how to paint white (well more just learning how to paint in general still but white is the color at hand) and I think I keep poking at it before it's ready, as I'm not really sure how long a wash would take to dry ( I do know that they take longer then regular paint it seems). 

It's just regular mini's that I'm painting and the paints are watered down a little and the washes left as is. Are we talking leave it over night to dry or an hour .. or 10 minutes ? it seems I didn't seem to have these issues with my darker models when I painted them :threaten:

Thanks in advance , everyone's advice on the forum has been great and the models I have done have gotten positive comments from the people I game with and it's thanks to you. 

Cheers.


----------



## Mortarman178

alot of times id give it a good 24hr to fully dry but that is just me. i have noticed at least for me the more coats of color you put on it the long it takes to dry.


----------



## khrone forever

i would say 20 mins max probs 10 for unwatered down ones, my guard have several washes on them, and they dont more that 2 hours to do all the layering and washes on the cloth (for 10 guys) so...no not 24 hours IMO


----------



## 18827

how long is a piece of string? 


paint drying times vary depending on how much you water them down or the temp of the room your painting in.

A puddle of water in winter will take longer to dry then a puddle of water in summer.

It's trial and error mate, there are no set times at all :biggrin:


if there drying really slow, try using a heater or find a warm spot to rest them while drying. but don't set the heater too hot as the plastics will melt.


Edit; stevey293 (below) has a good point, and it's a good idea to use his advice when painting any of the lighter colors, it will look a lot cleaner and crisp this way.


----------



## stevey293

With white water it down quite a bit it needs to go on in layers of it looks horrible.


Try 1:1 wateraint. That for me dries enough for a second layer within 5 mins.


----------



## bitsandkits

jimmy gunn said:


> how long is a piece of string?


twice the distance from the middle to the end


if your wash is taking ages to dry i would hazard a guess you are applying far too much in one go, should not take longer than a few minutes for any wash to dry in a normal room temperature room, if its taking too long then put less on your brush and "paint" it where is needs to go, you dont have to flood the area.
Also have a fan handy movement of air (even cold air) will dry it faster than leaving it on your desk, some people have also employed hair dryers to speed things up on larger surfaces like game boards, but on fine detail models that might be over kill.


----------



## khrone forever

ye...the hair dryers dont work  bad times


----------



## Mortarman178

ok 24 might be a bit long but i was only going by models i have done (not just GW things) i tend to let them sit and dry for a while.


----------



## Silens

Acrylic paints and washes will take 30 minutes in a worst case scenario (In my experience) unless you're painting it on centimeters thick. Enamel paints, however, take a VERY long time to completely dry. They're the sort of things you leave over-night. I don't like enamel paint very much.


----------



## Tyr852

Thanks for the replies everyone , I will give them a bit more time to dry in the future


----------

