JediDefender.com Forums
Collecting => Customs => Customizing Tips and Tricks => Topic started by: Bobafett77 on September 13, 2005, 10:59 AM
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Hey guys/gals,
I'm really just starting to get into the idea of customizing and wanted to find out how you guys match the color of your paints. Of all things this is probably where the highest degree of difficulty lies for me. Is there a paint chart or something that can be referenced to?
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Well, what I did when I started up was go to Walmart, and get about 15 different colors of those small bottles of cheap acrylic paint, this should run you less than $20.00 for all of them.
Then you could experiment on your own mixing colors, which is what I do to this day. Started this almost 10 years ago and it's still how I do my painting.
:P
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What he said. ^^^^^
You should also buy a bunch of "buddy cups" to store your paint mixtures in. I started out with the smaller ones, but now I buy the ones that are about 1.5 inches tall x 1 inch in diameter. With the bigger ones, make large amounts of colors that you will use frequently, and use the smaller cups to store mixtures that you will only use on a few figures.
I found them at Michael's, and Ben Franklin Crafts, but they're at just about any craft store.
B
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Ok - the lack of vehicles has me a bit frustrated, especially for dioramas.
What I have decided to do is pick up some of the mini-rig type GI-Joe vehicles and give them different paint-ops.
My first one is going to be this vehicle:
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007PGJEO.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
The great thing about the newer figures is that they have enough articulation to even sit at the controls perfectly. I bought this toy yesterday and was pleased to see that the ROTS Black Clone Pilot, SA Clone and #6 Clone all fit in this vehicle AND hold the two control sticks perfectly.
So what I was thinking was to get rid of the dark gray and replace it with a dark-blue and then add decals for the Republic or Empire.
The next project I want to do is to take this one:
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007PGJEY.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
and make a Clone mini-fighter
and then after that, I want to take this one:
(http://www.kbkids.com/g/toys/big/119634F.jpg)
and make a Wookie ground vehicle out of it.
So basically, here's my question - what types of acryllic paints should I use? Does anyone find that one brand works better than another? Should I give the vehicle a clear-coat when I'm done? I've seen some custom stuff before and the paint always ends up being sticky after a while, is there anything I can do to prevent that?
Any and all help/suggestions/ideas would be great.
Thanks.
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Hmmm... I've done a little experimenting with spray paint on vehicles. I would suggest if you do that, do use a nice brand (not the cheap 99 cent stuff).
Also, acrylic paints seem to be a good way to go too. I do use the cheap stuff for that though, and always use a clear acrylic matte to seal it.
:P
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I've only used spray paints for 1:32 model cars, but not enough to be a pro. For the vehicles you'll be doing, use acrylics, like Chewie said. Especially since they are small and you don't have to cover a ton of surface.
I've never used the more expensive acrylics like Tamaya. I've found Apple Barrel and FolkArt brands work just fine.
For the sealant/clear coat, I use Testors Dull Cote. It works great and isn't sticky when dried or aged. Always spray it on outdoors or in a WELL-ventilated place like a garage with the doors open. Be sure to spray it on in thin coats, and let it dry before spraying on more. I usually do 2-3 thin coats per side, and it takes about 1 hour from start to finish.
If you spray it on too thick, it will get sticky and you can get globs of it in crevices.
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The great thing about the GI Joe vehicles is that they are put together w/screws so I can easily take the them completely apart, give each section their own individual paint applications.
Where is a good place to buy Tamaya Acryllic spray paints? Model/hobby shops or can you get something like that at Home Depot/Lowes?
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I've never used acryllic spray paint, just the brush-on kind, which can be found at any craft store (Michael's, Robert's Craft), and even Walmart.
I think Darth Delicious gets Tamaya paints, but I don't know if he gets the spray kind.
B
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I was actually thinking about trying this out after I saw the cheap price of these things at KB.
I'm working on a "civilian 'Hog" from the Halo lines and have been having trouble with the paint. Here's what I have been told/done so far...
I always use a layer of Games Workshop Spray primer (although any primer should work fine). This makes things a lot easier when it comes to paint application. I've also tried out the Scotch brand masking tape (blue tape) to cover the windows and stuff that I don't want to paint. I have only been able to effectively use masking tape when I spray paint; it doesn't seem to work for me when I paint by hand...
I looking at various spray paints and I have not found "acrylic" spray paints - do these exist? The lady at The Rag Shop said that spray paints are always enamel, any ideas on that? I end up using my Primer spray and then hand painting the vehicle; it takes a lot of extra work, but the results are the same as if I had used spray paint.
I recently started using Testor's Dull-cote and I love it; it's much better than the Acrylic Matte Sealent that they sell at A.C. Moore.
I hope my comments helped more than confused everybody. I'm still trying to figure all of this stuff out so any help is appreciated!
Also, when I sprayed the primer on the Warthog vehicle, the tires were covered in primer as well. Now they are sticky, but the rest of the car is fine. The tires were a little more flexible than the other parts of the car so I assume they were made from a different type of plastic. Any idea what happened and how I can fix that? Should I use Goo-Gone to try to take the paint off of the wheels? :-\
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Greg, maybe you could paint over the tires to get rid of the stickyness with black acrylic and a brush.
:P
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I didn't know acryllic spray paint existed, but I read on a model-building forum that some builders use "acryllic auto body" spray paint. Never used it, nor did they elaborate as to the brand names or vendors. *shrug* I'd go back and ask them about it, but I can't remember where I saw it. Just google for that term, I guess.
As for masking for paint jobs done by hand, I get the pin-striping tape found at a local hobby store. One brand is Pactra, the other I'm not sure of. It provides the best seal, so long as you handle it carefully with needle-nose tweezers. I've seen it in withs from 1/16th", up to 1/2".
B
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Yeah - I picked up a couple of these vehicles on the cheap from a KB ToyWorks. I've had my eye on them for a while and I figured "what the heck, give it a try"
My ultimate goal is to make a "New Empire" version of the ARC-170. Since the Empire wouldn't immediately transition to TIE type fighters, my EU idea is that the ARC-170s would start to sport the same gun-metal blue colors that the TIE comes in.
Basically, I want a version of the ARC-170 for my Black Clone pilots and R2-Q5 to fly! ;D
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I looking at various spray paints and I have not found "acrylic" spray paints - do these exist? The lady at The Rag Shop said that spray paints are always enamel, any ideas on that? I end up using my Primer spray and then hand painting the vehicle; it takes a lot of extra work, but the results are the same as if I had used spray paint.
Krylon has just started making a water based spray paint. i saw it at Wal-mart the other day, and saw it at Hobby Lobby too. i haven't used it as of yet, so i don't know what the results would be like. i personally prefer using the Krylon Fusion spray paint which is specially formulated for Plastics and does not require priming. it sprays easily and doesn't chip when cured, i have had real good luck with it on my 12" scale Imperial droids.
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I looking at various spray paints and I have not found "acrylic" spray paints - do these exist? The lady at The Rag Shop said that spray paints are always enamel, any ideas on that? I end up using my Primer spray and then hand painting the vehicle; it takes a lot of extra work, but the results are the same as if I had used spray paint.
Also, when I sprayed the primer on the Warthog vehicle, the tires were covered in primer as well. Now they are sticky, but the rest of the car is fine. The tires were a little more flexible than the other parts of the car so I assume they were made from a different type of plastic. Any idea what happened and how I can fix that? Should I use Goo-Gone to try to take the paint off of the wheels? :-\
You can find acrylic spray paint at most train and model shops. Tamiya makes it for sure. If you want to use another type of spray paint, I would suggest automotive spray paint just make sure you use automotive primer first. With the overspray problem with the tires I would suggest removing the primer with acetone or paint thinner in a well ventilated area. After you remove the paint make sure to wipe it down with soapy water. You do not want to just add paint over the primed surface if it is sticky since it will make it's way back to the surface eventually.
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Thanks MasterYogurt, I think I will try that!
Darth_Ripley - I saw some of that fusion paint, if I can't find the hobby store acrylics, I'll probably try that stuff out. ;)
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I just did my first painting ever. I wanted to try a few Tac Ops paint jobs on the #41s so I picked up some acrylic paint at Walmart. I see mention above of sealing with clear paint. Does it render this stuff significantly more permanent? Because this stuff I bought seems about as permanent as cheese spead. As soon as I moved the joints, the paint started coming off easily.
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Any pics of your figures?
And to answer your question - I wouldn't say that after you seal your figures you won't get any paint loss from scratching, but it will cut down on it significantly. And I'll just repeat what's been said a few times on this board by a few people - I know Gregorbian has told a few people this. The paints you buy at the craft stores and at Wal*Mart are good, but when you are painting figures and other items that are going to be handled more than a little bit, you are better off buying a more quality paint. I tend to like the Citadel brand, as well as some of the acrilyics from Tamiya. Both companies make paints that are meant to be used to paint model kits and metal miniatures, so they are able to withstand a little bit of wear and tear from handling (or from movement of joints and such). They are a little more expensive than the craft store paints - they are generally around $3 for a small bottle - but in my opinion (and many others) the results definitely justify the price.
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Thanks a lot for the tips. I can post a couple pics of this thing, but it's a pretty amatuerish first effort. In fact I'm not really done yet...
(http://myo.homestead.com/files/Toys/custom_tac_ops.jpg)
Here's a pic. Pretty sloppy paint. I did think to use tape to mask off the "i" insignia, though. I never could've steadied my hand to get straight lines freehand.
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You can use an exacto knife to smooth out the lines, and even scratch the paint a little bit to show some wear and tear. I did that on these... they didn't turn out perfect, but I'm pleased with them.
(http://chewie34.250free.com/BLUECLONES.jpg)
:P
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There are a few ways you can get straight lines while painting. You can use tape to mask the areas (like you did for the "i" part in the middle of the chest armor) or you can do what I like to do and just clean up the areas with a sharp exacto knife after the paint has dried. Again, using the paints that I suggested above will give you a better finish, especially if you go with my method of scraping the excess paint away to create straight lines. The craft store paints tend to chip a lot when trying to do this. They also don't really agree with the masking method as well as the other paints do either.
As for the figure, I'd say it's a pretty good first attempt at painting a clone. The part that you masked off in the middle of the armor came out really nice and straight, if you would have done that for the rest of the figure it would have come out better IMO. One of the toughtest parts (to me at least) is getting the paint right on the helmet near the center where the raised part is. It's so hard for me to get the helmet painted without getting any paint on the raised part. That's where I use my exacto knife for some cleaning up on a regular basis.
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I did use a toothpick to scrape some paint away. I figured it would scrape the paint but not the plastic. I will definitely look into the quality paints.
Someone also suggested sealing acrylic with Testors dull coat. I'll look into that, too. (We already discussed that above...) As far as taping off the rest of the areas, I figured it would be too hard to tape an arcing line like on the chest area. Thanks for the tips, guys.
I also want to drill a hole thru the bugger and make him the clone that gets run thru by Yoda! Saw some sweet cusotms on RS. :D
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As far as taping off the rest of the areas, I figured it would be too hard to tape an arcing line like on the chest area.
Easy way around that problem. Place a larger piece of tape over the entire chest area, and then cut a straight line in the pattern you want to paint. Peel off the extra tape and just leave behind the piece you need.
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I don't know... I don't like the whole tape idea for small detailing. I guess that's just me though, as I'm sure the method works.
:P
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I use the pinstriping tape found at hobby shops. It's perfect for nice straight or slightly curved lines. Just don't leave it on overnight, or it'll leave a residue.
B