Well, after a week of prepping, priming, and painting I was able to finish up last friday. For all the interior pieces I used a degreaser and alcohold to clean and scuffed/lightly sandedall the pieces before painting. For the plastic and fiberglass peices I used Krylon Fusion for plastics, and for the metal doors and dash I primed with Rustoleum spray on gray primer, and followed it up with NPD's color matched spray paint. For all pieces I applied about 7-8 coats.

So this week I decide to start reassembling the car and notice the the paint is very vulnerable to scratches, to the point where I can almost lightly scrape against it without leaving a mark.

If my dog gets in here, its going to be all over....

The question is, what do I do, do I need more time for the paint to cure?

I just put thecar is outside in the sun to bake a bit, but shouldn't it be dry and bonded by now?

Please help....

 

7-8 coats of paint seems like a lot to me for interior peices that aren't going to be wet sanded etc. Also, the more coats, the more time it will take to fully cure.

 

Un-catylized enamal can take 30 to 60days or more to fully cure, especially if you have a heavy application. The heat of the sun will for sure help to speed the curing process. 7 to 8 coats will take a while to really set up.

Most spray paint is enamal, and all spraypaint is un-catylized.

What is happening is that the top layer of paint is "skimming over" or drying first. This traps many of the solvents in the lower layers of paint. You have a condition where the top layer apears to be dry, but the botom is still soft, so the paint will want to "skin off", kind of like when a wrench slips and you bust your knuckle. Eventually it should dry throughout.

It is a common thing that people believe that if some paint is good, then more is better. This is usually not the case. Once you cover an object with paint, and have the desired surface sheen stop painting!!! A thicker film will be more likely to chip off later, especially at the edges.

 

Hmmmm, well i hope it just needs more time....i would be devastated if Ihad to do that all over again...

 

Was the primer enamel (most common now due to VOC). I believe the NPD paint is lacquer. If so.... read
http://www.rcboataholic.com/faq/painting.htm
It's best to stay with one paint type.

 

If you decide that you want/need to repaint these areas, make sure that you give the paint some time before starting to sand, or you might end up with a huge mess, if the paint is still soft, it will "ball up" instead of sanding off, this really sucks.....

I think with time you will be ok though.