Bones: Frequently Asked Questions - Unofficial!

[gnrrrg]

I usually scrub mine down with an old toothbrush before painting.  I have heard that they spray the molds with a substance to keep the figures from sticking after being cast and if there is any residue of this spray on the figure then it the paint won't stick as well.  I don't know if this is true or not, but I have had less problems with my base coat since I started scrubbing the figures down first than I had before doing this.

[uncleVimes]

[first post here on forum.rm]

Recently did spraying and testing with some primers and varnishes:

Most of these recent tests performed on: light gray bones, mid gray bones, white bones, and bones black. Will note if a specific test did not examine all four.

 

>>Firstly, bones black plastic is much more typically resistant to tackiness...

 

Titan's Hobby by Mig (Miguel Jimenez from Spain, the same guy that does "AMMO by Mig" line of paints and supplies): this was also in my original test that interacted with AP anti-shine varnish (see way down below), used the Light Grey I think it's called, -no tack-. Can also be used to cover up tacky sprays to de-tack the tack of Army Painter for example, this was tested multiple times. Worked well on all four bones. These bottles are very light, but the spray is very diffuse, which is my only complaint, like everything else about them, albeit hard to get in the states sometimes, like when shipping lanes are blasted and demand skyrockets.

 

Citadel Zandri Dust (color splash on front is like a desert gray-tan, but is more like a rust brown when applied): maybe a tiny bit of tackiness on one of the white bones, but nearly unnoticeable. I found this stuff really came out in quite a fast concentrated -and- large cone. I liked that! It's a heavier can, and bigger, and more expensive, and needs more shaking, but it sure coats stuff quick and a bit more evenly than the others I'm using.

 

Liquitex water based artist acrylic sprays (one of the grays, I think a mid-dark one it's fairly close to primer-gray for most minis lines, a bit darker than titans hobby above, this is totally not marketed for minis or even as a primer for other media, they have a whole huge line of these, thinking of getting some green/brown for terrain especially, see why in just a few words, they're cheap if you can find them ~6USD for ~400ml): coats pretty well and thick, but tends to leave a very "toothy" texture as non-mini artists (weird species, j/k, I'm dabbling in that now too) say. In other words slightly rough finish compared to minis/fine model sprays. No tack on the bones dark/mid gray mini (only one tested with this (aside from a metal bones not part of this test, had same roughness to it then as well).

 

Army Painter "Zenithal" style black from below, white from above, or just black all over: significant tack on light-gray bones, less on the white ones, -almost none- on the bones black, but I would say it came out feeling sort of rough albeit not tacky on the bones black, almost like the Liquitex mentioned above but less even of a coat, so really quite rough to the touch compared to what you want on a mini, so it seems to still -react- with bones black, just in a slightly different way, that is, perhaps sans the tack but still almost beading.

 

Vallejo Matte & Satin Spray varnishes: these didn't really add any tack, even straight on unprimed naked bones, and certainly not over the primers and colors mentioned above. The only exception was the Satin on the white bones bare (not over a primer/colour), BUT, it's satin, not matte, and it's quite typical for satin and especially glossy stuff to be more tacky within many model/artist lineups of paint/varnish products.

*One weird thing with these two, at random intervals a huge gout of concentrated foamy varnish will shoot out... rather annoying (maybe I'm not shaking enough, or possibly too much??), because I like them aside from this.

 

*****

An older NON-test I did last year had me trying Army Painter Anti-Shine Matte Varnish Spray on finished minis. This stuff actually made -everything- a little bit tacky. Even some hard plastic minis from another brand. Everything I tried it on was completely or mostly painted and primed, some were primed years ago and recently discovered and painted, some were primed weeks before with the Titans Hobby mentioned above then painted... some were bones (various grays), some bones weren't primed and not completely covered by my 5 year old in his first painting expeditions... the really kicker was this: the medium fire elemental translucent orange... what a nice sculpt btw... so incredibly tacky! (granted it was not completely covered). Basically it came out like it had been covered in a kids craft glue stick! I rubbed it off, and then I did brush on varnish... I tried some paint over it, then varnish brushed on... didn't matter, it kept coming through the layers like a glue elemental through a sieve (or something else that makes sense). It was one of his first minis, and painted better than some of his others, so I'm begrudged to try to strip it... but tacky it remains, not fun. His grandma without work for some months also painted one up, but luckily it wasn't in my "live test" spray. I only did a handful just to make sure it didn't matte everything to pieces on the metallic side... which it did!

*To fix that everyone knows, then you just go over those few metallic details with some paint on gloss varnish (obviously you don't use ultra matte varnishes on a knight in shining armor... but to quickly varnish things that hav only a couple small metallic details).

****

 

*I do not mention the specific paints used in any of this for the following reason: I have 2 gens of ancient GW, a couple reaper, a bunch of Vallejo ancient and new (model and game color), inks, washes, mediums, varnishes, metallics from various brands, etc., also a couple AK, a couple scale 75, lately my FLGS has a good selection of army painter, so many of my new paints are those.  (returning to the hobby after like 15 years, or whenever confrontation was going).

**is it possible that the various paints/generations/ages react differently? For sure, but I think what was most noticeable having multiple similar minis, including the non-bones hard plastic stuff painted differently with different brands of paints, and sometimes by different people, there was more a link to non-paint materials in this case, although I do believe they had some effect as well that perhaps I could barely sense tactilely.

 

Sounds like some people are getting latent tackiness, even through base coats and varnishes? @shadefoundry 

[SirShanty]

Quick question has anyone gotten the new bones USA kobolds and also have the bones 5 kobolds. I know some of sculpts are the same and since the materials are different I know there is some kind of difference.  Is it worth getting the new bones USA if you have the bones 5?  Is the difference really pronounced?  Thanks in advance

[Little_Valkyrie]

Any tips on using watercolor paint? I use the daniell smith watercolor primer and that works but I was wondering if anyone had tried anything else for that medium?

[haldir]

On 2/13/2022 at 6:31 AM, SirShanty said:

Quick question has anyone gotten the new bones USA kobolds and also have the bones 5 kobolds. I know some of sculpts are the same and since the materials are different I know there is some kind of difference.  Is it worth getting the new bones USA if you have the bones 5?  Is the difference really pronounced?  Thanks in advance

 

This depends on what the B5 kobolds are made from. Bones or Bones Black. If you wanna discuss stages per se, Black is one step under USA as far as details go. It's little bit more fragile then USA, but not fragile, like you look at the piece & it falls off kinda fragile. If they are made from regular Bones, then the USA are a definite upgrade.

 

[haldir]

Has anyone sprayed Acrylic spray paints onto Bones (mainly Bones original material)? I was at Joann's today & saw they had a line up spray cans that were acrylic based. I can't recall the brand name as tbh, the name was obscured by the way they wrote it on the can. They were like 10 bucks a can, but with their coupons it would reduce it at the least 40%. These are also Krylon size cans so at least you'd get quite a bit of paint. There was a variety of colors including a white primer.