pudel and peper learn to paint on plastic...

So I tried a number of different techniques gleaned from the internet on how to keep acrylic paint on plastic figures. Special soaps and glues, chemical brews, plastic etching shenanigans. None passed my rather gentle scrape test, I might add.

So after a couple of weeks I finally decided that the most successful stories seemed to have two themes in common: either a flexible base coat, or a flexible top coat. It seems the most successful advocates of this technique use Plastikote to seal their figures. But there did appear to be some application risks in using Plasticote and, furthermore, I was too impatient to order the substance. So looking around my humble abode I had an inspiration: Aleene's Tacky Glue... gift of the gaming gods.

The figures on this page were cleaned well with hot soapy water, and then coated with watered down Aleene's. They were then painted with typical hobby acrylic paints (Ceramcoat and Apple Barrel brands with a touch of Vallejo and Tamiya for the metals). Dry brushing techniques work well, but washes are still problematic since Aleene's is water soluable. Too much water and you wash off your base coat. You've been warned! After the paint dried the figures were given another good slathering of Aleene's which goes on white but dries crystal clear. Aleene's also works well for gluing the arms and weapons to the figures. In fact, it felt really weird to just slap the glue on without regard to spoiling the paint job! The finished figures have a rubbery feel to them and are fairly shiny--which personally I don't mind, but I think a quick spritz with a matte sealer will tone that down. So far, the paint jobs seem quite durable. I've tossed the figures in a box and given them the Shake-and-no-Bake treatment; gently bent arms and weapons to see if the paint would flake off; provided lots of handling; passed them around at a recent game to see how they'd hold up. So far, so good. Sure, it's possible to scrape the paint off. But it's durable enough to encourage me to buy some more figures and put on a game and see if they can handle the stress. So, big-fig- Very Civile-Actions... here I come.