Had no Idea what a crock pot was till joining this site,so apparently its a slow cooker.
the last time i did any serious modeling some people were just beginning
to put figures in the oven so i tried this with a just finished mounted Ray
lamb dragoon, figure only, the horse stayed out.
It seamed to work ok and everything went matt but I felt it lost something
possibly the nice sheen you get off of oils which comes with age,the "figure I mean and not me" it takes a few whiskies to give me a sheen

So on to crock pots the do's and don'ts ,and to crock or not.

Ronnie T

I've heard of some crazing to the surface of the paint, when using a crock pot to force it to dry, but I have not used a crock pot myself for that purpose, so I can't say. I use a 60w bulb, when I need to accelerate the drying time.

Prost!
Brad

You do lose sheen, but that's what heat-drying oil paints is for Ron. Ideally you achieve a uniform and very matt finish this way. This will be accompanied by a drop in contrast (perfectly natural) because matt paint is usually slightly lighter in value than the same paint with a satin or gloss finish.

If you want some sheen to remain on a large enough area then it's probably best to let the oils dry on their own.

Einion

I use a 75-watt bulb in a simple drying box. I made it from the plans that were in Shep Pains book "Painting military miniatures". I found it to be much better than using a crock pot.

Hi Steve

That sounds a lot better and not so aggressive on the paint.
Think I misplaced Shep Pains book last centuary

Since the normal light bulbs are banned here in Australia now, and we can only buy those new fluorescent type ones, my stock of the old bulbs is running low, and I have been thinking about trying a Crock Pot.

What temperature do you guys that use them normally run them at for drying a figure?

Cheer's,
Jeff.

The 75 watt bulb heats up the box to around 85'F/29'C in a very short time. For most oil colors; leaving the figure in the box overnight is more than sufficient for drying them. The colors do dry to a matt finish--but if I want a slight sheen to them; I dry brush on a very thin glaze of Linseed oil afterwords.

I used a crockpot years ago, and had a few metal figures that turned into a glob of molten metal, and on others the glue and seem filler would melt and ooze out from the joints---even though the crock pot I was using had a variable control setting...It could unexpectedly, become to hot at times. The light box is more stable.

I built a wooden lightbulb oven some years ago. It is lined with aluminium foil with an adjustable shelf. I use a 25 watt light bulb for the heating source. The heat generates from a 25 watt light bulb is more than enough to dry a figure overnight. My drying box has two openings/chimneys one at the top and one on the side for the extra heat to escape. It can accommodate up to a 1:5 scale resin figure.

ron, can probably get shep`s book on ebay. i still refer to it at times. bill

Yellow Cat...what is the height, width, and depth measurements of your drying box ???