Painting onto Plasticard

BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Artists,

I am trying my hand at some freehand. I'm choosing some pretty challenging stuff, simply because I'm confident I can pull it off. Hey, I drew it on paper without any problems. :p

A birdie advised me to practice my freehand on some styrene (he's rumored to be heavily invested in the product), and so I went out and got some flat sheets of plasticard from Gale Force. It came with nine sheets, the thickest about 1/8" and the thinnest feels like high quality printer paper or poster board. I chose one of the thinnest sheets because I thought, if the freehand comes out really good, I can simply affix it to a greenstuff banner or something (need ideas here).

Well, I don't know if the Plasti is too thin or what, but I primed it perfectly and it just doesn't want to cooperate. I'm trying to rough out the shape with a watered down white, but it just doesn't want to adhere to the surface, and pools terribly. This leaves wicked brushstrokes and it generally looks gunky. Is it the fact that this particular sheet is so thin? Is it my consistency incorrect for just shaping the outline of the design? Should I varnish it first? Thanks!
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Birdie indeed!

OK questions first off:
What was the texture / feel of the styrene like? Kinda waxy? If so might have needed a wash?
What primer? Make colour Etc. (Personally I've just come to prefer automotive primer above every other)
Now paint, since this is practise you can afford to start thick and then work out to thin until you find your "sweet spot" for the outlining and details.


HEHE more profits for my shares.......Oooops what a giveaway!
 
H

Humanitarian

New member
FWIW, the Styrene at work has one really smooth side, and one less smooth, rougher side.

Styrene itself will almost always benefit from an isopropanol wipe -- reason being that lots of liquid plasticizers (for flexibility) which migrate to the surface and kinda sit there, not letting things stick or wet out well. You could wash with soap and water, too, although a quick wipe down with a little IPA would be way more efficient.

One other thing to just be aware of -- (canned) spray primers often contain aggressive solvents, that may attack and em-brittle the styrene. Not such a big deal until you try to bend it a little too much.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
BloodFather of Kharnath said:
Artists,

I chose one of the thinnest sheets because I thought, if the freehand comes out really good, I can simply affix it to a greenstuff banner or something (need ideas here).

Well, I don't know if the Plasti is too thin or what, but I primed it perfectly and it just doesn't want to cooperate. I'm trying to rough out the shape with a watered down white, but it just doesn't want to adhere to the surface, and pools terribly. This leaves wicked brushstrokes and it generally looks gunky. Is it the fact that this particular sheet is so thin? Is it my consistency incorrect for just shaping the outline of the design? Should I varnish it first? Thanks!
Click to expand...


1. I would cut the styrene to the shape of the banner, then use light heat to bend it into shape, attaching it to greenstuff or building up around it with greenstuff may be more trouble than it's worth.

2. As DR and Humanitarian said, what primer and did you wash the styrene before priming? If those aren't the culprit, you might try roughing up the surface a touch by lightly sanding the styrene with some 800 grit sandpaper.
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Dragonsreach said:
Birdie indeed!

OK questions first off:
What was the texture / feel of the styrene like? Kinda waxy? If so might have needed a wash?
What primer? Make colour Etc. (Personally I've just come to prefer automotive primer above every other)
Now paint, since this is practise you can afford to start thick and then work out to thin until you find your "sweet spot" for the outlining and details.


HEHE more profits for my shares.......Oooops what a giveaway!
Click to expand...

yes it's is kinda waxy I suppose. Sounds like a wash would have been the idea.
I use P3 Black Primer. It left a very smooth finish and I love it on miniatures. Also have in white.
I thought it wise to outline and rough sketch with a glaze, that way mistakes are less noticeable and it's easier to clean up. Then again, diluting DOES by it's nature make paint tougher to control, so maybe LESS dilution is in order. Thanks.
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Humanitarian said:
FWIW, the Styrene at work has one really smooth side, and one less smooth, rougher side.

Styrene itself will almost always benefit from an isopropanol wipe -- reason being that lots of liquid plasticizers (for flexibility) which migrate to the surface and kinda sit there, not letting things stick or wet out well. You could wash with soap and water, too, although a quick wipe down with a little IPA would be way more efficient.

One other thing to just be aware of -- (canned) spray primers often contain aggressive solvents, that may attack and em-brittle the styrene. Not such a big deal until you try to bend it a little too much.
Click to expand...

Hmm...I'll have to take a very close look at it to determine which side is rougher. I can almost guarantee I am painting on the waxier side.

I will start from scratch, this time I'll find the rougher side, and give the whole thing a light wash with isoprop.

Interesting what hat you say about the solvents in canned primer. After I primed, the edges actually curled up a lot. So much so that I placed the sheet in the pages of a thick book to straighten out the next day. When that STILL didn't fix the curling, I rolled it I'm the opposite direction to try to straighten it out. So it received a lot of bending.
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Bloodhowl said:
1. I would cut the styrene to the shape of the banner, then use light heat to bend it into shape, attaching it to greenstuff or building up around it with greenstuff may be more trouble than it's worth.

2. As DR and Humanitarian said, what primer and did you wash the styrene before priming? If those aren't the culprit, you might try roughing up the surface a touch by lightly sanding the styrene with some 800 grit sandpaper.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice on the banner. I'll just have to find a way to make it a little wavy, it will just lack the folds that banners can have. I think some people use milliput. I thought about painting straight onto primed green stuff, but I didn't think the paint would respond that well to it. However, if I continue to have issues with the styrene, then GS makes a lot more sense.

Great advice about roughing it up if the washing doesn't do it. I think Ill do it either way just as a precaution. I've got some 600 grit here.
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Bloodhowl said:
There's a great article on plastic banners here:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1251
Click to expand...

Good article. I read it a long while ago but I must have brain dumped all that knowledge at some point. But it affirms for me that I am going about things all wrong. I need to shape the banner before I clean it or prime it. But at this stage, I am purely just seeing if I can make decent freehand designs on the plasticard I am using, and for the reasons mentioned above, I am not. I am using plasticard of the same dimensions as this tutorial. So it is very helpful to me in that regard. I don't like that he uses brass wire as the banner shaft. He goes trough all that trouble to make things look good and then uses wire. Anyway, thank you. I'll practice the tips provided above, and when I am ready I know what to do.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
This is only a hypothesis, but I think that if you paint the design on the flat plastic, and then apply just enough heat to soften the plastic, you should be able to shape the plastic without damaging the paint. Hmmmmm, I may try that if I can get some time this week to confirm. I only need to figure out how to convince CINCHouse that this is a viable scientific experiment that requires her stove and would greatly benefit the miniature painting community...

Hooray for science!!
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Bloodhowl said:
This is only a hypothesis, but I think that if you paint the design on the flat plastic, and then apply just enough heat to soften the plastic, you should be able to shape the plastic without damaging the paint. Hmmmmm, I may try that if I can get some time this week to confirm. I only need to figure out how to convince CINCHouse that this is a viable scientific experiment that requires her stove and would greatly benefit the miniature painting community...

Hooray for science!!
Click to expand...

Good luck, indeed. My hypothesis is that this will NOT work. What brand do you use?
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
I've got VGC, VMC, VPA, Reaper, P3, Andrea, Tamiya, GW foundation paints, Misterkit, and some Liquitex acrylics. So to test, I should probably paint stripes from each of the different brands and then try heating and bending the styrene...
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Bloodhowl said:
I've got VGC, VMC, VPA, Reaper, P3, Andrea, Tamiya, GW foundation paints, Misterkit, and some Liquitex acrylics. So to test, I should probably paint stripes from each of the different brands and then try heating and bending the styrene...
Click to expand...

Sorry I mean who made the styrene and how thick is it?
 
I

iconsam

New member
BloodFather of Kharnath said:
While this is a super cool method with unlimited potential for some extremely badass banners, I really just want to freehand my images. Mainly because a good freehand separates the men from the boys around here.
Click to expand...
You can freehand on the waterslide decal paper. :)

Although I would test it with a simple design first. Hoping that dunking the finished work in water wouldn't ruin the freehand skillz.
 
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BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
iconsam said:
You can freehand on the waterslide decal paper. :)

Although I would test it with a simple design first. Hoping that dunking the finished work in water wouldn't ruin the freehand skillz.
Click to expand...

Hmmm....theoretically, no, dunking it wouldn't hurt water-based acrylics, especially if they were sealed first. However, it becomes a question of how well the water slide decal paper takes to being painted. My guess would be not so well, as the operative word is "paper." Although this is worth exploring. Might be useful for small insignia type designs.

Although if one were to put a nice layer of Matt varnish down on the paper first, it would likely work well.
 
BloodFather of Kharnath

BloodFather of Kharnath

Active member
Okay folks. I have done a better job prepping a new sheet of Gale Force Nine plasticard. I tried to use the less shiney side, though this was admittedly hard for me to distinguish. But I first gave each side a good rub down with some 600 grit sand paper. Then I put some isopropyl alcohol on the sandpaper and applied, and then just the alcohol on a paper towel. I applied a nice even coat of P3 black primer. It went on smooth and matte. I'll let it sit 24 hours and apply some VMC Ivory mixed with ceramite white tomorrow. Wish me luck...
 
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