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Repainting pre-paints


matsumoto
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Okay.

 

how do you re-paint those plastic pre-paint guys from WotC...

 

i know their platsic is really basic crap. more like semi-vulcanized gloss ruber...

 

i tried putting a bunch of the blue/orange stripe clones in plain white armor. the enamel spray i used turned into a sticky film even after drying....ruining all models!!

(and i hate loosing clones...even one!)

 

i accidentally pulled the Darth Maul champion super rare...with a real crap tattoo scheme, barely even accurate.

 

my Testors master series re-touch paint job, brushed on, is somewhat sticky...

 

and i really DO NOT expect acrylic to stick to that semi-gloss Hud.

 

so,

 

what can i try?

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I don't know much about this topic, so I searched the web for advice. I found this article:Repainting pre-paints

 

The author suggests applying a cover paint (he suggests black) and painting on top of that. I'd suggest taking some commons you don't care about and trying this with them. Might be a good use for those old Mage Knight figs you've got laying around.

 

Customizing and repainting pre-paints is fairly popular. I've heard of people who make side income doing this, just as some mini painters take commissions. Check the web and you should find more information on this.

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I've repainted alot of mage knight and mech warrior stuff for people in the past. I just based them in black interior/exterior off the shelf spray paint and it worked fine. Had no problem repainting them.

Gave them a wash in soap and water to get the oil off first of course.

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I've done a huge amount of Dreamblade repaints for the local champion here, and all we do is give it a light wash, dry it completely, and use brush on primer. I've taught a few people and kids at the local shop and everything has always worked fine...as well as used brush on sealer. For the clears, use the clear paints and inks very carefully, and don't prime the clear bits. Reaper brush on primer, Reaper brush on matt sealer. Play with the bases by using a sharp exacto to lift the figure from the base. Be very careful not yo cover up the word and info part of the base.

 

Some of these were very well worth the effort of repainting and look dang good now. Some weren't so worth it, but still look better than they did.

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I repaint about 30-40 HeroClix a week and I give 'em a bath in Dawn dish soap, let dry overnight, a light scuff sand with 400 grit sand paper, prime with flat interior/exterior spray paint, let that dry, and paint happy. Seal with your favorite mini sealer.

 

Nothing fancy..

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ok, so, treat it like a new model out of the blister...this seems to be the general consensus...

 

and go 'lite'....arright. why brush on, and not spray? something in the aerosol? i'd bet.

 

i am very experienced in washing models...wilco...

 

 

(PS: Helltown, your quote is awesome. it's sad when you not only know that, but love them for it, and then put it in your mouth after rinsing off the paint to sharpen it..... :blink::blush::upside: )

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A couple of things I've found repainting WotC plastic minis:

1. It's not worth trying to remove the original paint - anything that softens the paint will also soften the plastic. Just wash the mini, and prime over the top. (I use a brush-on primer, mostly for weather reasons).

2. Test your primer or sealer first - one of the sealers I tried just never dried where it touched the original mini (it was ok where it just touched the paint).

3. I'd probably stick to acrylic paint - it tends to be more flexible when it dries, which is a good thing when the mini is so bendy - and, it's less likely to chemically react with the mini.

Have fun - there's a lot of really nice sculpts hidden under the bad paint :;):

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ok, so, treat it like a new model out of the blister...this seems to be the general consensus...

 

and go 'lite'....arright. why brush on, and not spray? something in the aerosol? i'd bet.

 

i am very experienced in washing models...wilco...

 

 

(PS: Helltown, your quote is awesome. it's sad when you not only know that, but love them for it, and then put it in your mouth after rinsing off the paint to sharpen it..... :blink::blush::upside: )

 

Use a degreasing type dish soap when you wash, I've found prepaints to be kinda oily. I use a spray paint on the ones I repaint but test to see if what will work best for you.

 

As for the quote... it made Anne giggle, so I felt it to be worthy of sig file.

I actually prefer synthetic brushes.

 

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With some of the prepaints I have in my possession, I can't imagine slapping on some primer (no matter how good and thin it is) to paint over the factory paintjob. Some of those paintjobs have the paint slapped on pretty heavy, and every layer you add onto the base has a net effect of reducing the detail on the figure. Until there's a method of stripping these things, I think I'm just going to leave them as-is...

 

Damon.

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True, you do lose some of the detail but not much. Any repaint will still generally look better than the origonal. As long as your carefull with the amount of paint you put on it's still good. Also seems like most of the detail is larger and not as hard to loose in the repaint if that makes sense.

 

Never tried stripping one before but I would think anything that would take the paint off might also damage the plastic? :unsure:

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