"Paint "little soldiers."" Topic

Can anyone explain the best paint system on soft plastic figurines?

First of all, the most important thing is that the painting remains on the figurines of course …

Hi,

I first thoroughly wash the figurines with water and detergent or soap. Next painting step is to apply a primer. Then paint (I use acrylics).

Last step is to seal the figurine (matt varnish).

This washing-priming-sealing proccess works perfect for my miniatures. Nothing special.

Hope it helps.

Washing plastics (Airfix) is what I've always done
too. I don't know about modern manufacturing techniques
but there used to be a parting agent used in the molds
which needed to be removed so the paint would adhere.

I've some Airfix painted back in the mid-1960's on which
the paint is still good, no flaking or separation.

A local gamer who's painted thousands of 1/72 plastic Napoleonics (many of which I bought) said he washed them in the top rack of his dishwasher. I thought that was brilliant.

I've only painted a handful. Gesso seemed to work okay as a primer, but I have since settled on spray primers specifically formulated for plastic. The cheapest of these (around here) is Rustoleum 2x Ultracover, but the spray primers by Tamiya and Testors work really well on polystyrene, and probably stick really well to polyethylene figures too.

The few I've painted were sealed with "the dip" method, so have a very thick layer of durable, flexible polyurethane. This seems to hold up really well, but it does yellow over time. I've had them for about 15 years, no flaking or separation yet.

- Ix

I have read of folks priming them with PVA to stop the paint flaking.

Agreed. Wash first--hot soapy water overnight, rinse off with hot water and air dry.
Attach any parts--shields, for instance--and probably cavalry to horses.Use special soft plastic glues if you can.
Primer coat--ideally a formulation made to adhere to soft plastics, or brush on about a 50-50 mix of acrylic paint and PVA glue.
Paint with acrylic paints.
Clear seal with either Woodland Scenics Terrain Cement or about a 50-50 mix of PVA glue and clear water.

Done that way, I've had very little trouble with flaking, even when castings are just dumped loose in a bag between games. But don't skip any steps!

Ok thank you we'll see …

Key point, don't handle them a great deal, the figures are very flexible the paint, hmmm not so much!

Yes and then it often lacks quality or choice to make armies of wargames, it seems economic, but this is not the case, in fact it's misleading …

Key point, don't handle them a great deal, the figures are very flexible the paint, hmmm not so much!

I think with a proper primer and topcoat, handling isn't a problem. Acrylic paints are pretty tough, and as long as the primer coat continues to adhere to the plastic and the clearcoat keeps the acrylic from being abraded directly, there shouldn't be any peeling from normal use. I have deliberately tested the durability of some of my paint jobs on plastic miniatures, and I have to flex things like muskets and poles to extreme angles multiple times to get the paint to start flaking.

On bright side – if you do flex the miniatures that much, they just lose paint, they don't break. If I flex my metal miniatures that much, the metal cracks and miniature becomes a true casualty. The resilience of plastic miniatures is a huge benefit. They are light, flexible, inexpensive, and almost impossible to damage without sharp tools or high temperatures.

- Ix

Yes but there are fewer choices with the plastic figurines, they are not necessarily at the right scale – the ones that are traditionally used for wargame – and there are more uniform errors on plastic figurines than on "lead" ones , which is weird …

If the plastic figures were so good that the figurines "lead" would be endangered … No?