"painting plastic" Topic

do you need to prime them first?
i use floquil and polly paints
i was told to put them in soapy water then dry them once a long time ago but forgot the rest.

robert

Depending on the manufacturer you can get by with cleaning the figure with soap and water, and applying paint directly to the miniature. However I generally prime mine first. You can prime them with something like Krylon. They make a primer that bonds to plastic on the molecular level. Polly s and Floquil paints will work fine on them. Here is a link to some articles that will get you started painting soft plastic figures.

link

Get hold of me if you need any help :)

Cheers.
GeorgeD

Yes, plastic needs to be primed. I've always used a spray auto primer for plastic. but I'm currently experimenting with Gesso. The jury is still out on that.

The propose of priming is to give the surface to be painted the right "tooth" (i.e. roughness) to pull the paint from the brush and make it adhere well.

Gesso is specifically designed to have tooth, but whether it adheres well enough to the plastic remains to be seen. Of course any spray primer will work. So choose your favorite primer color: black, white, or gray and go to the local DIY store and get a rattle can.

BTW, the reason you wash plastic (while still on the sprue) is to remove any mold release agents that might be lingering. As you might expect, mold release makes the mold slippery so the sprue won't stick and can be removed and any left on the plastic will keep your primer from sticking as well.

I've never washed plastic figs before priming and painting them and I've painted thousands of them.

Of course these have all been hard plastics not the 1/72nd scale soft ones.

As far as priming goes I use the cheap $.99 USD cent cans from wal mart. You can't find a better spray paint to prime figures with. It doesn't coat very well so it is perfect for miniatures because it is thin enough to get into the details without obscuring them, something you have to watch out for with Krylon and other more high quality spray paints.

Another interesting thing I noticed just today about plastics: I had a batch finished but when I was at wal mart they didn't have the satin coat I usually use to clear coat them, so I bought a gloss coat. Since they were all for me, as opposed to for sale or for an order I sprayed them with this.

Then I used the testors dull coat afterwards as normal.

There were three metal figs mixed in with the plastics, probably 20 some figs total. I wasn't keeping track of which were which. When I was done the metal figures were still shiny but none of the plastics were. Yet another reason to go plastic.

thank you,
i have painted 1000's of metal fig's and i am trying to paint barzso's roger's ranger's for the first time.i have used primers before.
thanks again;

robert

Soft plastics – give them a god wash in hot soapy water to get the mould grease off and when dry, undercoat in undiluted PVA or similar. Having said that I've got plastics 30+ years old which never had any of this faffing around and were just painted in enamels straight from the box and they are as good as the day I did them originally.

I prime my 54mm soft plastic figures with one of the relatively new spray paints made specifically for plastic, such as from Rustoleum and Krylon.

A PVA undercoat is the trick – costs next to nothing and prevents any flaking. It looks alarming when you first apply it but it shrinks to form a flexible skin over your figure as it dries.

I prime with enamel matt black but don't wash. I do, however was resin!

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Barzo early figures, like your rangers, are notoriosly hard to stick paint to. They were made from this kind of hard resiny plastic, still counts as "soft plastic" anyway. I painted their pirates long time ago.

Wash them with houshold cleaning liquid like Fantastic, I am afraid that soapy water will not do. Prime and paint them as you did yout metal figures, spray or brush primer – doesn't matter. Use Plastidip clear spray to varnish your figures or the paint eventually will rub off.

People paint plastic figures? I don't get it. Why?

Cheers,

The Bandit

Martin,

Using PVA as an undercoat, do you just paint them with no top coat?

I've been priming mine with artists acrylic black, then painting with a variety of acrylics. Then I've been trying to apply 1/2 & 1/2 water and PVA as a protective coating. My problem is that I am getting a gloss finish. Am I using too much PVA in the mix? Too little?

People paint plastic figures? I don't get it. Why?

Cheers,

The Bandit

Because (hard) plastic is a superior material for wargaming miniatures?

you would not need to prime it at all – especially when the plastic is of a light colour, like white or light grey, the paint covers the plastic better than metall, where you would need two layers of paint to prevent the metal shinning through.

Hard plastic, yes a very good material.

Hmmm. I paingt my soft plastic toy soldiers because they are very nice figures and take paint well. I have no flaking issues.

So what's the problem Bandito? Why paint metal figures – flex a metal spear and the paint will flake and the spear will break. Are you saying not to bother?

Radical!

Again – no overcoating? Just PVA primer and no flakes? Hard to believe.

WS – personally, I would always varnish – Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium, followed by Klear (but I like the gloss look)

"As far as priming goes I use the cheap $.99 USD USD cent cans from wal mart. You can't find a better spray paint to prime figures with."

I couldn't agree more. The WalMart 99-cents primer is terrific. I love the stuff.

Always, always, always prime your figures. I use a white, and stain over it. It brightens the colors and gives a good base on which to allow the paint to adhere. I soak my figures in soap and water overnight, dry them well, and go at it.

I varnish with two coats of Krylon satin, then a light dusting of Testor's dullcote. Does the trick perfectly.

This is how I paint Perry's plastics and metal figures
1. Clean up the mold lines.
2. Wash in warm soapy water and rinse clean.
3. Let air dry on paper towels.
4. Put on latex gloves, to prevent any grease from my fingers getting on the clean figures.
5. Mount the figures on the lids of Foundry paint bottles, that I' not using, with "Blue Tack" (so I never touch the figures while painting them. You can also use corks from wine bottles.
6. Paint a thin coat of PVA (Elmer's School Glue) all over the figure. This looks crap at first but quickly work the glue into the figure. Start at the head and work down to the feet. Remove any excess glue where it pools and keep cleaning your brush (use a cheap #3). Set the figure to one side to completly dry. I normally work on 3 figures at a time moving back and forth between them.
7. Once dry I paint a undercoat, in 2 – 3 thin coats, of Reaper (master series) black primer 09214. Let each coat dry before applying the next and don't let it pool. Too thick of a undercoat will hide the details on these figures. This gives you a nice flat black figure to paint on.
8. I paint the figure using a mixture of Foundry, Vallejo model colors and Reaper master series paints. I use Winsor and Newton series 7 sable brushes (sizes 0, 00 and 000). Always water your paint down with water (using an eye dropper) and paint in several thin layers. To conserve paint and prevent it drying out use a wet palette. To make a wet palette wrap a moist kitchen sponge in parchment paper and secure with rubber bands.Place the aponge on the lid of an air tight container.Apply your paint and water and gently mix on the paper. As water from you paint evaporates into the air it is replaced by moisture from the sponge. When you are finished for the day cover the lid with the container. Your paint will remain wet and workable for over a week. Every now and then you will have to apply more water to the sponge, Eventually you will have to change it due to mold.
9. Let the figures air dry. Blow off any dust.
10. Apply a 2nd coat of PVA glue mixed 50:50 with water in several thin layers as described in step #6. Make sure you use Elmers school glue and not Elmers glue all multi-purpose glue. The first will dry matt the secound seams to have a bit of a shine to it. These are the names of the glue in the U.S.A, I can't remember what I used to use in England.The 2 layers of glue form a protective sandwich between the primer and paint and prevent chipping and cracking. I have even bent the baynots back on themselves and the paint job remains intact. This particular glue does not yellow with time and it also protects your figures from grease on your fingers. I find varnish to leave the paint job brittle.
11. I mark the figures positions on 1/8" balsa wood and then slighty recess the figures bases into the balsa, with Dremel drill and egg burr, so the figures base is flush with the top of the balsa base.
12. I apply a coat of PVA glue to the top, bottom & sides of the balsa to make it more rigid and prevent warping. I then paint it dark green or dark brown.
13. If my dremel drill skills were accurate then I can normally press fit the figures into position. If the resulting recessed hole is too big I use PVA glue to attach the figures, filling in the gap with flock.
14. The last step. I use PVA glue mixed 50:50 with water and an eye dropper to apply stones, gravel and grass flock.
This sounds long winded I know but it gives great results, and it actually sounds like more work than it is, I just wanted to give a detailed account of how I do it. I only wish I had a good camera to show the end result.
Cheers

Why would you PVA hard plastic, soft plastic yes but Perry's are hard like model vehicles (tanks, haft tracks, trucks…) and ships…seems like a wasted process as I have never had any problems with chipping just by priming them. This is only my opinion you do what you feel is best.

Regards
James