Painting WOTC plastics minis
- Thread starter MClimbin
- Start date
I think a few have tried, I remember hearing a bit about Hero-clix being repainted.
I know that if you would want to strip them first, you would need to use some sort of acetone to remove the hamfisting paint jobs.
I would try just priming over one first to see if it is too blobby to just paint over. They don\'t seem to have fine detail anyhow (at least the ones I have seen).
Tell us how it goes!
I know that if you would want to strip them first, you would need to use some sort of acetone to remove the hamfisting paint jobs.
I would try just priming over one first to see if it is too blobby to just paint over. They don\'t seem to have fine detail anyhow (at least the ones I have seen).
Tell us how it goes!
I\'ve tried this once, just painting over the old paint job. It can be done on some but others are just to hamfisted to paint over. Some acetone can be used, applied with a q-tip, to strip the old paint from the figures. Supriseingly some actually have a good bit of detail under the thick paint but don\'t expect any fine details.
Ok, s\'more questions. I suppose I could get the answers to these by experimenting, but I\'m at work now (working really hard, as you can tell) and can\'t do any experiments at the moment--so I\'ll ask you!
I\'m assuming the plastic figs need to be primered like any other fig, right? Just wondering because the original ham-fists who did the painting did not use any. Maybe that\'s why they look so bad?
Will green stuff stick to them? I have a feeling it won\'t. Do you know of any other modeling clay/putty that would work? I\'m thinking that the baking aspect of Sculpey would be problematic, if not downright melty, for these minis.
Jeez! You have no idea how much I\'d rather be working with metal minis. Ok, maybe you do have an idea.
I\'m assuming the plastic figs need to be primered like any other fig, right? Just wondering because the original ham-fists who did the painting did not use any. Maybe that\'s why they look so bad?
Will green stuff stick to them? I have a feeling it won\'t. Do you know of any other modeling clay/putty that would work? I\'m thinking that the baking aspect of Sculpey would be problematic, if not downright melty, for these minis.
Jeez! You have no idea how much I\'d rather be working with metal minis. Ok, maybe you do have an idea.
Talion
New member
Hi
I\'ve sucessfully stripped paint and re-painted WOTC star Wars minis.
As for stripping old paint off Acetone is the right stuff, do this in a ventilated area otherwise you\'ll get high. And don\'t leave the mini in there too long. The crappy rubbery stuff WOTC use starts to lose strength and go floppy.
Give the mini a 5 min wash in Acetone give it a scrub and repeat this 2 - 3 times. This should remove virtually all the paint.
Paint the mini yes undercoat (prime) the mini, as with all mini\'s this helps give a smoothe colour and helps the other paint adhere to it better.
Converting, Greenstuff, Milliput any of these will happily stick to the mini so use to your hearts content.
Hope this helps
Talion
I\'ve sucessfully stripped paint and re-painted WOTC star Wars minis.
As for stripping old paint off Acetone is the right stuff, do this in a ventilated area otherwise you\'ll get high. And don\'t leave the mini in there too long. The crappy rubbery stuff WOTC use starts to lose strength and go floppy.
Give the mini a 5 min wash in Acetone give it a scrub and repeat this 2 - 3 times. This should remove virtually all the paint.
Paint the mini yes undercoat (prime) the mini, as with all mini\'s this helps give a smoothe colour and helps the other paint adhere to it better.
Converting, Greenstuff, Milliput any of these will happily stick to the mini so use to your hearts content.
Hope this helps
Talion
Seeing as this is kinda related, does anyone know where I could get my hands on some of the old WoTC metal minis, specifically the Star Wars ones. My local minis store has a few boxes of Chainmail left but no SW. I\'m specifically after the male human padawan if anyone knows where I can find some. Ebay has several thousand of the plastic ones but theres too many to search for any metals.
vincegamer
Active member
it does as long as it doesn\'t say \"non-acetone\" on the label. I went to use some of my wife\'s nail polish remover and it was the non-acetone kind and didn\'t do a thing to paint.
A friend of mine alowed me to take his old D&D
minis for painting, and some of them in fact are surprisingly good, once you got rid of the paint and primed them, almost as good as GW plastics. The Treant model and the Gnoll archer I got right now are really detailed, clean and fun to paint.
Well, the stripping is not going well. I\'ve let it sit in the acetone for over an hour, taking it out ever few minutes to see if the paint was coming off, but it is not. I\'ve been able to scrape some of the paint off of the raised corners, but I think I\'d damage the mini if I tried to do the whole thing like that.
I guess I\'ll experiment with simple green, but it might melt it. I might have to just paint over the whole mess at this point...
I guess I\'ll experiment with simple green, but it might melt it. I might have to just paint over the whole mess at this point...
Talion
New member
If you are using Nail Polish Remover then this is probably your problem. They put a lot of other stuff in modern nail polish remover to keep your nails look 20 years younger.
If you go to your chemist you can ask for a bottle of pure Acetone. They may ask why you want it, but should give it to you.
If you go to your chemist you can ask for a bottle of pure Acetone. They may ask why you want it, but should give it to you.
Simple Green will not melt the plastic. I have used it to strip some HeroClix figures for use with SuperSystem. Those were left in the Simple Green for more than a week because I was so busy and forgot about them...
It may not take ALL of the paint off, however...
If you have an old toothbrush, you can scrub the minis under some warm running water after pulling them from the acetone. This might help get more of the paint off.
You will need to scrub the minis if you use Simple Green.
It may not take ALL of the paint off, however...
If you have an old toothbrush, you can scrub the minis under some warm running water after pulling them from the acetone. This might help get more of the paint off.
You will need to scrub the minis if you use Simple Green.
Ebonbuddha
Active member
NSA told me about using acetone and it didn\'t work for me. I haven\'t seen Simple Green in Korea in three years. I really miss it.
Temperance
New member
Acetone didn\'t work? I\'m surprised. For the ones I\'ve done Acetone has worked fine. I bought it from the hardware store; probably cheaper than what you\'d find at a pharmacy.
Hadn\'t thought of using Q-Tips before; I\'ve scrubbed with a toothbrush (and as a result I have damaged some figures...)
I have a decent selection of repainted D&D Minis in my gallery.
Hadn\'t thought of using Q-Tips before; I\'ve scrubbed with a toothbrush (and as a result I have damaged some figures...)
I have a decent selection of repainted D&D Minis in my gallery.
Ahhhhh, acetone!
I went out and got some pure acetone from the hardware store, and you are right, it works like a charm. Beautiful!
I even got some experience of leaving a mini in the bath for just a little too long, so when I brushed it I messed up some detail.
That\'s what I get for not listening to advice (or at least not being more careful).
Thanks all!:flip::bouncy:
I went out and got some pure acetone from the hardware store, and you are right, it works like a charm. Beautiful!
I even got some experience of leaving a mini in the bath for just a little too long, so when I brushed it I messed up some detail.
That\'s what I get for not listening to advice (or at least not being more careful).
Thanks all!:flip::bouncy:
Originally posted by MClimbin
Funny, I was just noticing that, Talion. Thanks for the tip, I\'ll go by the chemist, or failing that, the pharmacy
If you can\'t get it at the chemist or at the pharmacist, you might be able to find it at the apothecary.lollol
