aw crap.. how screwed am I?

That sucks man. What an easy mistake to make when you're distracted or in a hurry. Here's hoping that in a month you can report a disaster averted.

 

I have sped up acrylic enamel with a little lacquer thinner in the mix. I have also used lacquer thinner in synthetic enamel before. Lippy

 

Inside with plenty of air moving around.

 

I had a brain fart and done something like this myself. I let it cure out in the garage. Just be careful not to get it too dirty and watch where you lay your tools/beers until it hardens.

 

Ive done this same thing..twice so dont feel too stupid. Ive had 2 different cures. The first I was doing a pattern...a mold for a mold if you want to call it that, and we shot some stuff called duratec. Well guess who forgot the MEK? This guy. Came in the morning...whats the first thing you do for some reason. Touch it. Stuffed my finger deep into it. So i freak out naturally. I ended up putting MEK in the gun and did a really really thin coat of it on there. That worked very quickly. Then i was shooting ppg single and last coat forgot the catalyst. It hardened fine. BUT my coats were pretty much back to back with little flash. So its your call, but i wouldnt worry single stage doesnt need catalyst anyways. Its very reccommended though.

 

Been there, done that. Put some fans in there and let em run 24/7. You should be fine.

 

It will be just fine. Looks good!

 

Just give it time to dry, sand and rub it out. The worst that could happen is that you'll have to reshoot it. It should turn out fine.

 

Dude, that sucks.

Wait it out. I've done many a job (personal stuff, not for money) with paint that "experts" say will never work. They all seem to come out fine and a few times I did everything right (so I thought) I have had total disasters. Let the sucker dry out and leave it alone. It will probably harden just fine.

 

ive done this before and the guy in the paint shop said mix up some more paint with too much hardner and give it a dusting over and it will help cure it.

 

Geez I love acrylic lacquer!

Your colour looks great. Hope it works out for you.

 

Like most paint guys have said...acrylic will dry without a hardnener. It was made like that before isocyanate hardeners came out.
The only worry I'd have is that chemically, you have 2 different paint jobs on the car. It will most likely decrease the longevity of the job. The outer layer will be softer, take longer to dry, so cut and buff will be a waiting game.
The WORST thing that has happened, is that you won't be able to paint over the outer layer for a long time. Uncatalyzed acrylic will craze if painted over too soon. And your outer layer IS ucatalyzed, so you would either need to wait a year to repaint, or be sure you sand off the entire last coat of paint before doing anything else to the car (flames, scallops, clearcoat, whatever)

 

I can only share your trouble

I did my first paint job last year, BASF Limco Synthetic Enamel. I mixed per instructions. Since a few choice runs didnt come out I had to 400 the back half of the body and try again. Long story short, its done, and its a 10 footer, but the hood sides are still kicking my ass.

I think most of the encouragement about not adding hardner is correct. From what I remember, its not needed to "cure" the paint, but adds some stregnth and shine to the finished product. Worse comes to worse if it wont color sand out ok, 400 it in a month and reshoot.

Let us know how it comes out

 

Look on the bright side. If it was straight this time, it will be really straight after you sand the paint down again.

 

A buddy of my always swore that hardener/catalyst was unnecessary in acrylic enamel. He always painted without it. His cars never had a mirror finish, but the paint always hardened and he drove the cars for years without any paint issues.

You'll probably be OK, but I would expect that the paint might require a little more effort to keep it shiny.

 

It's been a few days. What does the paint look/feel like?
The suspense is killing me.

 

You should of waited.That happened to me once ,Painted a car outside One rain cloud came by and screwed up the paint job.Spent the next 2 days rubbing out. Customers car 2 days labor free.First day wetsanding 2 nd day buff If it's enamel without hardener wait a month and block car and re shoot.2nd time is a charm and watch the weather forecast.

 

Correcto, it'll cure. Hardner merely speeds up what comes naturally, oxidation of enamel. Wait, don't put any more finger prints on it, don't get it wet for a month or so. Patience is golden. Actually, without washing it or distressing it, the color pigment platelets will flow to the surface and it might shine better than if you had added hardner. Ask my how I know this.

 

How did it turn out?

 

can you say-"start over!!"

 

Let it dry for a month it will be just fine

 

Don't put hardner in base coat either. I wasn't thinking and did that once, paint was like gum. Doh!

 

Everyone who says "just wait" is correct. I bought a '50 Ford coupe about 12 years ago that had been painted maybe a day or two before I bought it. Single-stage enamel with no hardener. The paint was so soft that a couple weeks later you could still scrape it with your fingernail. I spilled gasoline on the rear quarter on the very first drive and panicked and wiped with those rough brown gas-station napkins. Of course, it scratched the hell out of the paint.
I drove it that way for a couple months, and the car then sat in my garage with no glass or dash for most of the winter. In the spring I got the car back together, took it to a local paint guru, and he buffed out the scratches and it looked like new.

The lesson: the paint DOES dry, but it takes a few MONTHS to get hard enough to buff.