"painted reaper bones are sticky???" Topic

I got some of my painted reaper bones miniatures out this evening, they have been in a box for 4 months. they are so sticky that the paint is coming off some places when they are touched.
I understand that you are not supposed to put primer on these, I have not but I have covered them after painting with a brush on sealer. So sealer is also a no-no.
Any ideas on how to fix this? -Paul

Sorry for your loss – there is hope, though!

First things first.

Yes, you can primer them, and after my first experiment with the bones material, have **always** done so (spray primer.) Give it longer than normal for drying.

Next, after you paint the whole thing, there is no white "bones" material showing… so there should be the normal reaction you have with sealer with any other kind of (metal, plastic, resin) you have used in the past… you are not sealing the "bones," you are sealing the PAINT.

I would venture that the problem you have is lack of paint adherence to the bones material. Which I HAD experienced the first bones figure I experimented with.

Washing new bones to get rid of release agent (Simple Green or Dawn dishsoap are my fav's), fully dry and then spray prime and paint (after giving longer for the prime to dry than normal), then seal (I very rarely use a brush-on seal, and even then it is only to pick out certain areas for glossiness) and you should be just fine.

I have a perpetually sticky shield due to my using an enamel paint – stick to acrylics.

I've done them both with and without primer. As far as I know they never got sticky, but I don't have any of the figures anymore.

And there is plenty of information on the Reaper forum with stickied topics on painting Bones

Can you give some specifics: Brand of paint, sealer you used, where the box was stored (hot or cool place)?

This happened to some of my Zombicide figures (not the same plastic as Bones -- just making mention.)
I sealed (I think) some of them with Testors Dullcote (I'm guessing the culprit), and they became sticky months later when the weather got more humid.

Stickied topics…

The specifics are undercoated with black folkart acrylic, painted with a mix of folkart and americana acrylic, coated in water based minwax polycrylic then clear coated with treehouse studio clear acrylic matte coating. this is my standard way of painting.
Stored in plastic photo storage boxes.
My wife keeps the house at 72 degrees year round.

some of the bones miniatures painted at the same time with no sealers put on are not sticky so I am guessing the minwax or the clear acrylic matte coating spray are the causes of the stickyness.

-Paul

If they are a type of vinyl then you should never use any oil based paint or varnish on them.

It's either the spray (brand?) or minwax, though you mentioned the minwax is water-based, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'm pretty sure it's not the craft paints; those are pretty stable. I also basecoat my Bones in craft black (Delta Ceramcoat.) But I don't seal any of them; none are sticky.

So I think the next question for everyone is how do we solve the problem? Would a brush-on sealer over the spray coat work? I've used Vallejo matte brush-on sealer to kill the stickiness of some of my figures -- seems to work ok.

I've never had any issues with Acrylics. Painted roughly 100 of them now. Weird. I never use primer and also use Ink Washes.

I wish Reaper would do a PDF explaining all the stuff one has to do to paint their bones figures. I understand it is in the Forums but when I went to look it seemed to be spread out through a thread. I would rather have the ANSWER not the discussion.

I haven't painted a lot of my bones yet but did have a couple go sticky. One was the Pathfinder red dragon. I hit him with a heavy coat of varnish after finishing and he's ok now. The other was a necromancer and even the varnish rubs off with the paint easy now. I use GW and Vallejo paints usually with a white Krylon spray primer. I figured it was a reaction to the primer but it doesn't happen with every mini. No solutions from me just confirming you're not the only one.

Just had this happen to me this past weekend. I did conversion work on the Bones Cthulhu and afterwards washed it with warm water and degreasing dishwashing liquid. Then I rinsed well in warm water and let completely dry. I always prime my figs, so I did the same using my typical go-to choice of Krylon Flat Black (which I've used on hundreds of figs both plastic and metal with no problem).

I sprayed it using "dry" thin coats to avoid any possibility of the plastic softening because of reacting with any solvents in the spray. That particular model comes in several parts, including the head, which is separate. All the body parts came out perfectly--except the head, which reacted and came out sticky.

So, I used an old trick I've used before on plastics that became sticky after spraying. I filled a plastic cup 1/2 full with baking soda and covered the entire head in it. Once coated, I let it sit overnight covered in the baking soda. I took it out the next day, shook off the excess and let it sit for another 1/2 day with just the thin coating of baking soda on it and exposed to air. After that I just brushed off the excess baking soda and the head was bone dry to the touch. For the final coat I used black acrylic gesso and it came out perfect ready for painting.

Like I mentioned, I've used this trick before successfully each time, so I'm sold on it when it comes to "saving" a model that has a reaction problem. Hope this helps.

For Bones, your best bet is to never use an oil based spray primer. Sometimes the solvents in these will react with the pvc and you'll get stickyness. It won't happen every time, but almost every time I've heard of stickyness, there has been either an oil based spray primer or a spray varnish involved somewhere in the process.

Stick to acryilc primers (or gesso) and acrylic brush-on varnishes and you'll be fine. If you must use a spary primer, use an acrylic spray. I think that Army Painter sprays are acryilc but I don't know for sure.

I use regular spary paints (oil based) both the dollar cheapies and Krylon fusion (for soft plastics) for most everything. Metal, plastic, resin, etc, but when I'm dealing with Bones, it's Gesso all the way. I do dip (Minwax oil based polyshades) my Bones painted minis sometimes, and I do it because it's quick and it's a top layer, but I know I'm rolling the dice every time.

So, I've been told the Warzone Resurrection figures are PVC of some sort. It seems to vary in hardness from one set to the other. Any experiences out there in internet land with sticky Warzone Figures?

I had this with resin once

Baking soda?
well, next time around I will give that a try.
31 of my bones figs are sticky so I have covered them again in a coat of water based minwax, then after this dried for a day I have put on two coats of army painter water based anti-shine. so at the moment they are not sticky but I will wait and see how they are several moths from now.

-Paul

My Reaper Bones are sticky due to the gloss clear coat I use after painting them. Based on that experience, I'm willing to bet that the acrylic matte coating is your culprit. That's also likely why the stickiness went away after you used he army painter anti-shine.

For all my miniatures I generally start with a gloss clear coat and then use Testor's Dullcote. Testor's Dullcote does not make the Bones sticky, so that goes a long way toward reducing the stickiness of the gloss coat. In the future I think I'm going to skip the gloss coat and just use the Testor's dullcote.

As a warning, not all primers work on the bones, either. Some crack. I haven't tried many, but the one that I know works is the Armory brand spray primer. I've had very bad luck with all the brush-on primers I've tried.

I've had success recently with the following:

1) Some washed with dish soap, some not…
2) Army Painter Black Primer
3) Vallejo Paints
4) Army Painter Dip.
5) Army Painter Anti-Shine

However, it's only been 3-4 months. So far, nothing tacky or sticky or coming undone. I will report back if this changes over the next year or so.