How to Keep Paint on Plastic Figures
by Matt Fritz
To Paint,
or Not to Paint: A beautiful,
detailed paint job is great and will impress everyone, but it
isn't necessary. The opposing sides in the battle have to be easy
to tell apart, which was the whole point of uniforms in the first
place. Fortunately the figures are often molded in different colored
plastics (blue for Union infantry, gray for Confederates) so you
can use them right out of the box! The next step up is to simply
color the figures yourself with spray paint. Serious hobbyists
will want to do better. One speedy technique is to spray paint
the figures the correct color based on their uniforms, then go
back and paint in the flesh, and maybe a few other details. This
works well for armies in simple uniforms - like WWII Germans in
field gray. The final step in complexity is hand painting the
whole figure. Even then it isn't necessary to paint EVERY detail.
Paint as much or as little as you want. I often just paint over
belts, straps, canteens, and other small details when I'm in a
hurry.
Before you Paint
1. Clean - The figures must be cleaned with warm
soapy water. This is to eliminate the slippery stuff they put
on to get the figures out of the molds. You can do this in the
sink but I like to put mine on the top rack of the dishwasher.
The excessive heat from the drying cycle can melt plastic figures,
so be sure to turn it off and let the figures air-dry.
2. Cut and Assemble - Most of the time the figures are attached to the sprue at the head and base. I cut them free at the head but leave them attached at the base. Then I cut away the frame of the sprue leaving four or five figures attached to each sprue stick. It's much easier to handle and paint a stick of figures than to pick them up individually so I leave them on their sprues whenever I can. This is a big time saver! Cavalry figures need to be cut off the sprue so you can glue the riders onto the horses. Often the figures will require some assembly. Glue them together using rubber cement. I like to use paper flags to make standard bearers for my command stands so I generally cut the flags off the standard-bearer figures. If there are no standard bearer figures I usually make my own by selecting some suitable figures, removing their weapons, cutting up a paper clip to make a flag pole, and gluing it into the figures hands. I suggest cutting a small hole in the base to hold the bottom of the flag; this will help keep it in place. Some people like to paint their figures before gluing them together. I like to assemble them first.
Painting
The Heart Break of Paint Flaking: Paint does not readily adhere to plastic
figures. The paint will rapidly flake off of your figures; especially
parts that are flexible like spears and rifles. I vividly remember
painting my first bunch of figures - a platoon of WWII American
infantry. After their first taste of combat I was horrified to
see the paint was already beginning to flake. It broke my heart,
and almost put me off painting for good. There are solutions.
Keeping paint on plastics is like curing hiccups; there are 100
different remedies. Check out the Nick Grant's DBLCHM
(http://www.geocities.com/dbplastic/) website for some other suggested
methods and some good links. This prep work is essential if you
don't want your paint job to be wasted. Don't skip it. You've
been warned.
3. Krylon
Fusion Paint: Bill Molyneaux
told me about Krylon's
Fusion paint (which is designed for use on plastic). It comes
in sixteen colors. I tried using it as a primer and had excellent
results. First I used it as a primer for some plastic trophies
a gave out after a battle with the students. One of the students
use the figure as a keychain and carried it in his pocket for
a month. When he told me about this I asked to see the figure
and there was NO paint flaking! The paint did wear off on some
of the edges, but it didn't flake. Then I tried a test. I used
it as primer and painted another figure. I bent the figures rifle
back and forth about a hundred times, until it was about to fall
off. Again, no paint flaking, just some wear at the point where
the rifle was bent. Check out the picture. Bill has been using
it for "speed painting," painting the whole figure the
color of the main uniform, then going back and picking out some
of the details like flesh, weapons, etc. From what I can see it
goes on a bit thin, which hasn't been a problem when using it
as a primer, but for speed painting you might need a heavy coat
to get complete coverage or the color of the plastic will show
through.
4. Paint - I paint my figures using cheap acrylic paint from the arts & crafts store. The brand I favor is Folk Art, which come in 2 oz bottles and only cost about $1. Folk Art paints are quite thick, and I normally thin them with water when painting so 2 oz will last a long time. I always seem to be in a hurry, so I paint a bunch of figures at the same time, assembly line style. Get some skin tone and paint all the flesh, then do the uniforms, weapons, packs, etc. If I'm really in a hurry I simply paint over some details, like belts and straps.
5. Sealing: I haven't been using a sealer since I started using Fusion Paint as a primer, but if your figures look too shiny spray them with Testor's Dull Cote. I love Testor's Dull Cote, even though it's expensive. It'll take the shine off of anyything.
6. Basing - Cut the figures off their sprues. I make my bases from Illustration Board, which is lightweight and cheap, but also sturdy. Generally I mount the figures two per stand. Infantry stands are 1.5" x 1" rectangles; cavalry are mounted on 1.5" square bases. I glue them to the bases using undiluted Elmer's glue. This is a good method because you can pull them off their bases later if you decide to use a different base size. I simply paint my bases green or brown rather than using static grass or flocking. When the figures are finished I print out paper flags and attach them to the standard bearers. You can find some great flags, and instructions on how to use them, at Ian Croxall's Warflag website (http://www.warflag.com).