4oz. Bottle Gloss Black Enamel Base

Changed my rating from 2 to 4 stars. *Please read update below*I purchased this gloss base after doing extensive research online about Alclad II's paints. I mean, a _lot_ of research. I watched hours of videos, read the manufacturers website, asked folks questions, and finally determined that this was the base I wanted. So when I write this review, please understand that it's coming from a position of knowledge and research.I am building a full size R2D2 from scratch and some of my parts are printed on a Form2 SLA printer. So they need to be sanded and primed before I put the Alclad Aircraft Aluminum paint on. This base is ideally meant to go over Alclad's sandable primer so I bought that as well.First off, my experience with the Alclad sandable primer (note: NOT the gloss black enamel base here) was good. It went on well, dried quickly, and sanded out to a nice dull shine. I could have gotten it shinier I think but as this was just a first test piece on some 3D printed squares I didn't go crazy. I only sanded it up to 7000 grit.After letting the primer dry overnight and then sanding, I cleaned off the surface with water, dried it, and then set to work with the Gloss Black Enamel Base. As instructed to online, I airbrushed it using the recommended pressure with the tip of my airbrush about 3" from the surface. I gave the surface a light "dusting" coat and let that dry for a minute or so, then followed up with a second coat that I build up with several very light passes. The end result was a slightly glossy coating that looked like it would polish out very nicely.Here's where I ran into problems. I brought the test piece inside and let it sit for about an hour and then felt the very edge of it with my fingertip (I know, I know, don't touch it or you might leave prints but this is just a test). The surface still felt tacky. So I left it for about 8 hours and it _still_ felt slightly tacky. Now, many of the instructional videos say that you can start sanding this primer after a few hours but this isn't anywhere near dry.So I waited overnight and checked it again. While the surface seems slightly more dry there's still a bit of tackiness to the paint, especially around the edges. I put the piece under my microscope at 40x and could clearly see the atomized paint blobs on the surface (normal at this magnification). However, when I touched a speck of paint with the tip of an Exacto blade it "popped' and liquid paint oozed out everywhere. I would absolutely NOT sand the surface with the paint in this condition. It's just not dry. Nowhere near it. It's like it got to a certain dryness and then just....stayed there.Please note that I performed the same Exacto-and-microscope test on the sandable primer and saw rock-hard paint flecks that stood up beautifully to sanding. They were dry as a desert after waiting overnight. The Gloss Black, however, seems to have reached a certain dryness and then just stayed there.My initial impressions are not good. I'm not about to apply this product to two dozen pieces only to have it permanently gum up the finish and ruin the parts. At this point my plan is to wait another few days and see if the paint ever dries (at which point I'll revise this review).I really wanted to like the Gloss Black enamel. I've seen some amazing results online from other users with this same product. I have also seen the exact same complaint from other folks (failure to dry). I don't know what is going on with Alclad but the don't seem to be able to put out a consistent product here.I've got a message in to Alclad to see what they say. I'll report back about that as well.__________*UPDATE*I never heard from Alclad, but after waiting several days for the base to dry I was able to sand it down and get a very nice gloss finish. I sanded with Micromesh up to 12000 grit. I checked the particles under a microscope and they were not as durable as Alclad's Sandable primer (no surprise, really), but they did give a nice finish. However, I also got a bottle of Tamiya gloss black and sprayed it on another test piece. After a single night of waiting not only did the Tamiya appear stronger, but the gloss was incredible. I never had to sand it (nor would I want to--- I doubt I could have improved it and would only have messed it up). I sprayed Alclad Aircraft Aluminum over both the Alclad Gloss Black base as well as the Tamiya Gloss Black and got just about the exact same results. The Alclad just took a lot more work. I have raised my review by two stars since the product does do what it says but you have to wait a long time for it to dry.Takeaway. The Alclad Gloss Black is a good base coat for undercoating Alclad's metallic finishes but the Tamiya Gloss Black in the 100ml rattle can gives equivalent or superior results with much less work.