"Painting Armies in Plastic figures" Topic

Anyone have advice on painting these? Should I soak in water with detergent for painting? How should I seal--the dip method or some other sealant?

I am wanting to introduce my kids to painting and while I paint 15mm metal, I am at a loss regarding bigger plastic figures.

Clean in water as above then paint or dip with a water/pva glue solution. Then undercoat and paint as normal and either finish with another coat of pva/water or a dip, my 1:72 ACW survive being thrown around the room for losing a combat with no problems!

Tally Ho!

It is worth your time to degrease them, since mold release agents can be found on some sets.

If you're using softer, non-polystyrene plastics and can find Rustoleum plastic primer or some similar plastic primer, use it. For hard plastic, this isn't so important.

Sealing with Future/Klear or something similar is highly recommended. You can finish with dullcote if you don't like a gloss finish.

With a lot of the 1:72nd plastics out there, you can paint direct onto them without primer, just use a good sealer afterwards. None of our Nappies get primed, and come out fine.

Has anyone used the minwax tudor stain dip for plastics?

I painted several boxes of those few years ago. I wouldn't waste my time degreasing them. Just prime/undercoat whatever color you always use and paint them normally.

It helps to temporarily glue them on some kind of bases so you can hold bases, not figures, when you paint. Use white glue for that and wait overnight. 3mm or thicker wood pieces, floor tiles or corrugated cardboard will work for that.

After you done painting, use PlastiDip clear spray to varnish them. White glue or Future/Klear DOESN'T work when sword or rifle bend few times. With PlastiDip spray you can step on them and nothing will happen. Just search for it on the Internet.

Minwax stain will stain plastic figures, but will not protect them as Plastidip. Tried all that already.

I dunno, I have Hat and Zvezda DBA armies that have been used for nearly 10 years without paint loss. I used Minwax on them. The only loss so far is a Teutonic Knight that lost the horse's tail. But the paint stayed on.

Am I the only person that puts them on their base before painting?

M.

I never base any figures for painting, just carefully hold them!

Give them a good wash, prime with PVA (looks scary when its wet but shrinks as it dries to form a thin skin over the figure. The PVA will flex stopping "flaking" and provides a key that acrylic paint can stick to. It's also extremely cheap and easy to get hold of (I'm pretty certain you already have some).

I shade with Army Painter which is itself a strong varnish. I'm sure a couple of coats of any varnish will do the job. My figures painting this way are bullet proof. As an experiment I once bent a painted figure back and forth and its legs snapped off before the paint came away.

You can just paint on the bare plastic, I've got Airfix figs from the early 70s still as good as the day did them, however these days what I usually do is:

i) wash them in detergent (don't always bother)
ii) undercoat in undiluted PVA/White glue
iii) paint as normal
iv) varnish

The PVA both gives a key to the paint and stiffens the figure up. Some modern plastics are cast in very bizarre materials and they really need a bit of help, I'm just doing some HaT WW1 French guns and gunners who seem to be cast out of Plasticene! The most digusting plastic I've ever handled. Anyway, PVA has worked its usual magic, and on some Revell infanty I can bend the bayonets 180 degress back and no paint flaking.

Sorry, forgot to add, I base them on painting bases first (strips of card 12" x 1"), makes them much easier to handle, but fumble fingers here still drps them occasionally. Spent a long time last night lookng under my painting table for a missing figure after I dropped a strip. Horizon Bleu is a surprisingly effective camouflage.

If you want them completely protected, use Plasti-dip as mentioned above. I normally just use Future but the tips can chip (normally bayonets or rifles). My Plasti-dip NEVER chips or flakes. I get mine at Ace Hardware in a spray can.

Thanks,

John

I read somewhere that soaking in vinegar for 12 – 24 hours changes the properties of the plastic surface, making the paint adhere. Not sure if that is true.

At a minimum, I would wash in detergent and then prime with either PVA or Gesso and then undercoat white or black depending upon oainting style.

I was looking at a pack of Zulus and thought 'What a shame to waste such natural brown skin color.'

So how do you clear prime plastic and paint non-flesh areas? Is it possible?

Just prime them in PVA, it dries clear. Give the flesh an inkwash, paint the shields etc and you are good to go.

I'd varnish them when you are done though.

Thanks

I soak my AIP in pure simple green, then soak them in cheep vinegar for a day. The figures are primed with Rustoleum plastic primer and painted in acrylics. Usually finished with a magic wash and dullcoated.
Mine are done for sale and this gives a pretty robust figure.