"Reaper Bones have arrived-first impression." Topic

I opened the box on July 3rd and it is a ton of stuff.

The variety and sculpts are very nice. I think the value is extremely good. The large monsters are great.

BUT…….I do not like the soft rubbery material. A lot of the models are bent all over the place. I read I need to boil them in water, straighten, and plunge into cold water. I will do this. The smaller pieces are very bendable. I tried painting one with the usual acrylic craft paints I buy from AC Moore and the paint does not want to cover very well and takes forever to dry. ( black base coat still wet this morning 12 hours later!!!) I might need to buy the Reaper Bones paint set for them.

I like the fact that this is an attempt to bring down the cost of minis. For a lot of the larger figures I think there is enough material that it will not bend and they are usable. I would prefer metal for the character size models though. It reminds me a lot of the soft plastic 1/72 scale models I played with as a kid.

I really like Reaper minis and have quite a few of the metal ones.
I am going to investigate some new paints and primers at my local store and post a further review. For now my thoughts are that I will pay the extra for metal in the future.

However, for the money, the kickstarter was a great bargain. I think for me a lot of the smaller models will wind up getting re-sold or given to my nephew to play with. And it will still be a great value just for the hydra and dragons and giants I got!

I only found a few of mine that were bent, which is nice. I agree that some of the staffs and swords are a bit wobbly, but the metal versions are easily bent too. I also agree you might need to get some higher quality paint, washing them might help too.

I fixed a couple dozen figures in 15mins. nuked water for 4min, stuck bent part in water for 30secs, repositioned and plunged in ice cold water. It set immediately when hitting the ice cold water, but i left it in there a few minutes just in case.

As far as painting goes, you absolutely should wash the figures first, just as you should with all resin. The mold release stuff is a pain in the a…

Make sure you are not diluting your paint with water for the first coat. Apparently the Bones material is "hydrophobic." Supposedly, you can dilute subsequent coats of paint with water, but the first needs to be "neat."

Worst case scenario may be that craft paints are made with water, I don't know.

Read these pages, they have a lot of helpful information.

link

link

DO NOT USE ENAMEL BASED SPRAY PRIMERS! The material used is vinyl based, and most spray primers are enamel based and will never dry. I learned this the hard way, through experimentation with some of their initial releases.

Personally, I airbrushed a coat of Tamiya Flat White on all of mine, to serve as a primer coat, and works a charm.

Damon.

Got mine yesterday as well.

OMG @ 350 figures with the Add Ons

My buddy has some and they look great – who can argue the value. What I hope is they add WHFB Empire stuff

Thanks for the tip Garand / Damon. I was planning on using Testors enamel primer but will definitely test it first.

Of course that's assuming mine arrive some day… <sigh>

I've had good results after washing then priming with wal-mart brand spray paint. It didn't hurt the plastic at all. Before doing that I tried painting right on the mini and the paint did not stick well at all and I use Reaper paints.

I have had success just priming them with Home Depot's "Quick Color" spray paint. I have noticed no chemical reaction or tacky inability to dry.

I used GW Black primer (brush on kind) and it worked great.

Gesso also works just fine. Better than on metal or hard plastics, possibly.

Plastics???????

A shame.

I've had good results after washing then priming with wal-mart brand spray paint. It didn't hurt the plastic at all. Before doing that I tried painting right on the mini and the paint did not stick well at all and I use Reaper paints.

Here is what I tried with my minis:

Krylon Red-brown
Wal-mart Flat White
Wal-mart flat black
Testors Enamel Flat Black

The results were all the same: while the paint went on, and dried to a matte finish, over time the vinyl material reacted with the enamel solvents, and became tacky. One figure took 2 weeks to become tacky, but it definitely did so.

I also tried gesso (Liquitex white gesso), and I don't really understand how people can like this stuff as a primer: used out of the bottle it is WA-AY too thick (leaves brushmarks!), or thinned down and it beads up on the surface of the figures. I rate gesso as a failure IMHO. I also used Testors Acryl Flat Black, thinned around 50% with rubbing alcohol, and that worked well. It's just that I dislike black as a primer most times.

About the only thing that worked reliably as a primer was Tamiya Flat White, airbrushed. Although it IS true you don;t need to prime, as long as the paints go on a little thicker than normal.

Damon.

I used Krylon Flat Black Camo Paint with the "Fusion" designed specifically for use on plastics, and it went on fine and dried unsticky and matte. It's only been on for a few days now, so I don't know if it will react in a week or two… But since it's for plastics, hopefully it won't.

For those I don't want to black prime I have had good luck just painting the figures with regular craft paint after soaking in some water and dish soap for a few hours and then giving a quick scrub with an old toothbrush and rinsing well.

I also have had no problem straightening figures and weapons by just holding them in the steam stream from a simmeirng tea kettle for a few seconds, and then bending how I want.

My Bones painting blog:
allbonesabout.blogspot.com

I tried our usual Walmart flat black and had the same results as Garand. Cell Vinyl's flat black brushed on worked great. Will try Vallejo surface primer this week through the airbrush. I have four sets to do for customers so if I can find a way to expedite the process that would be great.

Also, Krylon flat clear coat remained tacky for days. I have to check the figure to see if the problem ever corrected itself.

Anyone know if Testors Dullcote is safe? That's what I used on my first few figures, and am now wondering if I should continue…

A week later and the figure is still tacky when clear coated with Krylon Flat.

The figure I painted with a base coat of black has not yet dried. (2 days) I will have to buy the Reaper paints and not use the craft paints I have been using in the past.
Thanks to all the guys offering advice on primers. I usually line up a lot of guys and primer all at once. I could have ruined all my minis at one time.

After looking at how soft the plastic is I am thinking that these figures might best be used as unpainted models in role play games. They are like the figures in Battlelore.

Is Reaper going to still offer metal? I would really like to have the option in the future.

AFAIK Reaper will not discontinue the metal lines. Bones and the regular lines will coexist side-by-side.

I plan on painting ALL of my Bones. Personally I do not see the point in using painted minis alongside unpainted, even for an RPG.

Damon.

The plastic seems the same from the figures from the Gears of War game we did for a customer. Had the same exact problems with those as well. If things pick up speed here today I'll try out the Vallejo primer, though I'm little behind today since Battlefront produces really crappy decals and I have to make a run for some more to finish a project for a customer.

Still waiting…
But these tips are helpful.

Painting right over the tacky primer worked during my experiment last year. You can't use the primer as your base coat, but paint will stick to the sticky.

Try it on only one, first, though.

I have a bunch of earlier, commercial released, Reaper Bones figures. Never had a problem painting them with (inexpensive) craft paints. They're not finished, but they've been at around 70% for many months -- no issues yet. I did not prime them, either. I just painted them after washing, briefly, with dish soap and water, and a scrubbing with an old toothbrush -- same routine I apply to all figures: resin, metal, and plastic.

The issues some of you seem to be having, makes me wonder if Reaper changed the formulation of the plastic, in order to meet the high demand? High pressure often leads companies down the path of shaving corners -- not accusing, just musing out loud. I love Reaper's stuff, and I plan to buy several of the Bones series products, when they become commercially available over the next year, or so. The issues some of you are having with painting, seems uncharacteristic of the successful history of the product line's painting ability, prior to the Kickstarter campaign. Cheers!

I've also painted Bones with Craft Paints.

Wash the fig first and then use undiluted paints and things should be fine.

One thing on the craft paint – don't dilute it with Future. Turns out it doesn't flex, which works fine on models that don't, and not so well on models that do. And a coat of PVA sealer (Delta flat sealer, for instance) will fix the tackiness of PVC that's been sprayed (made that mistake with polymer clay many years back).

I've sold hundreds of Reaper Bones since they were launched and I've never had anyone come back and complain about them, regarding taking paint or anything else.

Occasionally some are miscast, but then so are metals and its a straight matter of replacement. I've painted my Ogre Chieftain with very old citadel colour paints with no problem.

Not had a problem using Testors Dullcote on the finished piece either.

I primed a few with Krylon Plastic/Fusion white
and a few with my standby Krylon sandable grey Primer

all done on a rainy day with 90%+ humidity
all have dried within hours and are non-tacky
I've started painting them up and the paint is
doing fine on the primer

Chris

I *AM* having trouble figuring out how to paint the translucent red and green figs…
even a straight ink wash pools and puddles badly…

I sprayed mine with a 3 part alcohol 1 part gesso. Then painted them as normal. I have had no problems with tacky paint or working oils over them.

Here is a video of me washing Cthulhu in oils

YouTube link

I am posting another video on Monday or Tuesday that shows me detailing the tentacles and spines

NOLA Chris: I kind of like the pooled black spots on the Fire Elemental, as it shows small parts are cooler/darker. It would be quite effective if he were to represent a Magma or Lava Elemental, as they actually do have darker areas of solidified magma/rock. I don't think that is a bad thing at all. YMMV, of course. Cheers!

Since the fire elementals are already red-orange, I might try darkening the tips and outer edges a bit more. Inner areas should be brighter, not darker.

I use rust-oleum painters touch paint + primer spray with no problems

SGT Slag – thanks, I like the idea of lava elemental!

Farstar – I thoght of that *after* I did the black ink…
(doh!)
so I'll probably order up another one to try with brighter inner and darker outer,
and keep this guy as-is

The Reaper Bones sub-forum has a thread (has the words "red / green" in it) where someone used a Magic Wash of 2:1 H20:Pledge Future Floor wax + paint (or something like that) with VERY good results.

Skip the primer. Some primers cause tackiness. Bones can be painted directly after cleaning with most hobby paints and some craft paints. Again, on the Bones sub-forum look for the "First Coat is the Difference" thread. Myself, I washed with Army Paint QuickWhatever Ink, with not too bad results, though not as good as on white primer. fwiw, A micron pen works fine on Reaper Bones.

For flash, I've used a jeweler's engraving pen. Files might not work well against the soft plastic, but I had no problems after washing. Again, see the Reaper Bones sub-forum.

Kaladrax may be spongy, but differences in the consistency of plastics is intentional. Wyrmgear (?) has stiffer wings which should not be bent in hot water.

Inventory first, then remove from bags. Buried in the Bones Inventory thread is a spreadsheet that breaks down contents by the bag.