Rattle-Can, Spray on Sealant/Varnish Cure time

[MarauderD]

Hello community!

My local hardware store has quit carrying the Krylon Fusion Gloss Clear sealer I've been using these past 4 years.  No problem, they now carry Rustoleum, so I bought the similarly named product. 

After using it, it did the job adequately and I'm now letting it cure before I hit these minis with two coats of a flat clear sealer.  There is an amusingly contradictory line in the instructions, about how it is ready to use after 24 hours, and then also says you should wait 5-7 days for it to fully cure. 

Question time:  should I take it seriously and wait a week before spraying on my flat sealer?  Or should I take that as a mere suggestion and assume that 24 hours is plenty of time to wait before putting on my flat sealer. 

[schoon]

I can't speak to a specific brand, but most sealants will be dry to the touch and ready for light handling in 24 hours or less.

However, for full protection and heavy handling, wait the extended "drying" time to let everything set up fully.

[Crimson Dynamo]

I have a few Robotech Tactics minis that have some VERY basic painting on them (like zenithal spray basic) that I keep just to test sealers on. I've had some bad luck with humidity and temperature messing up sealing before, so I have a few sacrificial lambs to test on. Maybe you'd want to try it out on something like that before you commit to hitting up your minis...?

[MarauderD]

Waited 24 hours, then sprayed on some Flat clear sealer.  No problems. 

So I guess the 5-7 day cure time is for maximum durability, not for regular use. 

[abou]

With sprays, it depends on what they use and their solvents.

So lacquers dry super fast. Enamels take longer.

The idea is that you can do a fast re-coat once dry OR wait for a full cure. Those are two different things. If you hit it within that window between dry and cure, you might get wrinkling of the surface as you reactivate partially cured paint.

Worth taking seriously.