Topic: Painting woes - help/suggestions/pointers needed

[DocOutlands]

What's the most effective way to repaint joints so that the paint doesn't scrape off the first time the joint is worked?

It occurred to me last night - *after* I'd disassembled, basecoated, and painted a figure - that my experience at repainting was before ball-joints.  Oops.  Well, here's the parts laid out early in the painting process:



You can see how I broke the fig down into components - the arms were also separated into upper and lower with the hands removed.  So I painted and painted until I liked what I had.  Paint was Krylon ultra-flat black basecoat, followed by craft acrylics of various makers.  The paints - acrylic *and* Krylon - scraped right off with joint movement.  Then, of course, reassembly by boil-n-pop probably made things *worse*! 





I can see I need to shave down the insides of the hip areas so they don't rub on the waist-piece.  I'm guessing some Dremel-work inside the armpits will help eliminate scraping on the shoulders - same thing in the knee recesses.  Now... the questions...

- how the snot do I prevent the inserts from scraping?  Do I need to separate them from the rest of the legs and carve/sand them down some?
- should I hit each part with sealer before reassembly?  Would this protect the acrylic paint from being removed by a dunking in the boiling water?
- should I have left the limbs assembled for painting?
- wtf am I doing wrong?  I've got this one and three more to go and I *really* want eye-popping results.  I'm sure I'm missing something basic.  I always do.

[Reconsgt]

I would seal the paint with a clear, I have used deft spray poly before with good results and use it as and end seal on my custom ships, get it in gloss, semi or flat. Test on a junk fig forst as I don;t know teh compatability with the type of paints you are using

[DocOutlands]

Thanks, Sarge!  I've also gotten a ton of suggestions and help from folks on RS and Yakface, so I'm thinking I'm back on track and will be improving the look and fit of my figures.

[spudafett]

I have yet to find a shurefire way of preventing this problem.  MOST of my figures wind up having worn off joints.  I tend to plan ahead and make sure I'm using joints that have the color I want in them so that if the paint does wear it won't matter.  The other thing I do is that if I have taken the figure apart before painting (something I usually don't do) is sand down everything around the joints with fine grit sand paper.  sand it down alot so that the rubbing is at a minimum when you put the pegged ball joints back together.  I've found that the joints at the ankles and the knees are the worst at rubbing and paint chipping.  Occasionally i'll have problems with the elbow joints as well.   A final clear coat may help as well.   I would recomend letting it sit overnight to make completely sure all layers of paint have cured completely... Idk how many times I've thought it was dry just to find the first layers of paint still hadn't cured and it flake off.  DONT RUSH is the first and foremost rule of course. 

the guys at st6 scream primer primer primer at any painting question.  I tend NOT to use primer but it does help.  a cheap can of spray primer from the wallmart spray paint eisle is what I've been using and it realy does make painting alot quicker and smoother.  of course if you spray paint the figure together you'll have to do it a few times making sure to move the joints and getting all the spots that are covered by movement.

I probably wouldn't do the boiling after painting... if absolutely necessary to get the figure back together I would put it back together before painting.

good luck!

[XizorsVirago]

Hey, I have a couple of questions...

Does anyone know how to replace the non-metal stuff under paint jar lids? Mine tend to fall to crap, and it's kinda frustrating. I tried tin foil and wax paper, neither work very good. I use Model Masters paint for the most part, so if anyone knows, let me know. I just want something that's maybe one solid layer (ad won't separate with time), and keeps the paint from drying out. Which brings me to my next question:

Is there a way to thin down acrylic paints that have dried up some (not solid, just pasty) that doesn't involve adding water? I added some to my flat white jar some time ago, and it's never seemed quite right since. It seems like the water makes it a lot less viscous (beyond just bringing it back to normal paint thickness), and it has trouble holding on to the part I'm working on. Did I just add too much water, or should I have added some kind of acrylic paint base instead? I have some clear coat I bought (which looks kinda milky-white), but I don't know if that will restore the paint or just make it transparent.

Also, How do you go about making paint transparent-ish? I was wanting to do a candy apple color (gold / silver base with a tinted clear coat on top), but the only clear coat I could find looks very thin and milky instead of clear. Does this sound like the right stuff to use?

Any help is appreciated, and let me know if I posted this in the wrong thread so I can re-post it in the proper place. Thanks!

[Reconsgt]

Try adding a the color to a clear poly ( polyurathane) for wood working, rather than clear "model"paint. You can find small cans of Deft brand at Walmarts, choose clear gloss.

[XizorsVirago]

Ooh, good idea! I'm pretty sure I've seen little 8-oz mini paint can sized ones that are pretty cheap, might have to try that!

[maunster]

I need some tips on doing some dark weathering and dark scorch marks.   Any ideas or suggestions?

[Clonehead]

Dry brushing might work for those dark scorch marks and for some dark weathering. that involves dipping your brush into the color and then wiping most of the paint off of the brush. Then, lightly drag the almost dry brush accross reaised areas of your figure like the raised part of a wrinkle on a piece of clothing. If your brush is wet enough it will likely leave just a bit of paint where those raised areas are.  Another technique called a wash works pretty well for adding shadow and dark details to recessed areas and involves brushing on thinned paint to fill in cracks and recessed areas and then wiping off the excess lightly from the raised areas with a cloth. I used to use this technique on military model figures.

[Kaleb]

Got a reallt big problem with paints. I use Academy paints, and when I try to reasemble the parts by boiling them, it get a really mess. Now i got my figure reasemble and reading the posts I find out I have to use a clear. The only was I was able to find were HUMBROL MODELCOTE SATINCOTE (gloss and matt too).  Also find in my house ACRILFIX and polyurethane varnish  spray (they are not for model but I was thinking they could work).  Anyone got an idea wich one of these are gonna work and resist the bpiling water figure re asemble?

[hemble]

Hi All

DocOutlands - For the joints you can use clothing dye. Pour some dye into a container and then add the parts the dye will slowly soak into the plastic and once dry you can paint over them.

Kaleb - Mate I found Vallejo paints will not come off, crack, fade or even melt in boiling water. When you painted the figure did you give it a warm soapy wash before applying the paint? the one reason the paint went crappy could have been the residue on the figure.

This residue can saty on a figure for a very long tim so washing them is very important.

Ron

 

[Kaleb]

Thanks Ron! Actually, I forgot to wash the figure.  I will try to found Vallejo, if i don`t, i think i will buy humbrol. For now my figures are only protected with acrilfix spray. It helps againt the crack and fade, but it is far from been perfcet.