question?

[vader419]

hey guys,
i've been lirking the boards for a while now.
all of your customs are great, especially chewie's and darth delicious's.

anyway, i am having trouble with keeping the paint on such materials such as the skirt from the clone commander, jedi robes and such(i guess it's all of the rubber materials used on figs) from being tacky after i dull coat them.
i am using krylon matte finish on them.
i have no problem on any of the paint jobs other than the flexible parts.
i use apple barrel acrylics along with the krylon finish.

if anyone can give me some pointers it would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance and i will post some of my customs in the next day or two

[CHEWIE]

Thanks for the compliment, and welcome to the boards here!

Your question is a good one!  I also have a lot of trouble when painting joints.  I believe that an acrylic matte finish is a good way to go... but it doesn't solve everything when it comes to the joints.

For ball socket joints where there is a part of the plastic that is going to be exposed and rubbed by other parts of the plastic, I have yet to find a way to keep the paint from coming off... I usually avoid painting these areas on a figure if I can. 

For painting purposes, I prefer the old school joints used on most pre-2002 figures.  I've found it very hard to paint around joints like the shoulder joints on the Preview Wookiee Warrior.  If I do need to, I'll dry brush... a light layer of paint seems to help (at least for me).

Also, I have discovered the miracle of spray paint recently.  If a figure is going to have a dark tone to it, maybe try spray painting it first with black spray paint (do not use the cheap stuff though).  Spray from a distance, and do several layers of it each time after it dries.  The joints seem to not chip.  Then you can paint with your acrylics over it... I've only done this once so far (making a Darktrooper) so it may not work out on other figures.

Good luck, and I hope this helps some.

 

[vader419]

hey chewie,
that answers one of my questions, but the main problem is paint remaining tacky after a dull coat on the "rubber" parts such as the clone commander's holster skirt and agen kolars jedi robes.

although the painting of joints will definitely be easier now
thanks for the help chewie.

[CHEWIE]

Hmmm... I see what you mean about the "rubber" parts seeming to not dry correctly.  I haven't really done much painting in that area.  Is it the actual paint of the protective coating that isn't drying for you?  If it's the protective coating, you may just want to not use that on those parts?

 

[Commander CuDa]

I spray a clear coat (dull) on it to make it not stay so sticky . It drys well and no more wet paint on rubber. O yeh if your going to clear coat the rubber make sure you have painted with an acrylic paint first and 2 or 3 then coats of the paint before you clear coat. Its what worked best on my clone test figure the last few days
 Also like everyone else has told me on here was to make sure that you let 1 coat of paint dry very well maybe even a day or so then do a 2nd coat and repeat atleast a total of 3 times when painting those rubber skirts(remember thin thin coats. Hope it helps . 

[jedipurge]

you're getting some good advice here vader.  some stuff I wish I know before I started on some of my customs.  this might seem more of a well duh, but make sure you read those directions on the can.  different sealers need to be used different ways.  I had the same problem with the stickyness after spraying my figs.  after I finished a custom hailfire droid i did I read the directions on the can, and it turned out great.  don't spray to close to whatever it is you're sealing.  one of my problems was I was so excited about finishing getting it painted and all that I wanted to seal it and be done.  do it lightly, let it dry, come back and spray it again, I'd say about 3 times and it's good.  the stuff I use even though it says matte it still left it a little to glossy so I just hit it with the Testors dull coat and it looks great.  Testors also has a brush on version of their dull coat, but I haven't tried it out yet.

[vader419]

thanks guys for all of the great tips.
can't wait to try some of them out.
i will post results of how they come out.

thanks again

[ThePerennial]

 I'm horrible at putting dullcoats and matte coats and what-not, as I'm not the best of painters, so I prefer to use Tamiya Paints. They're great, but they cost a bit more than apple barrel and the like. They also work A LOT better than apple barrel and what not in that it needs no prep work. just slab on a few coats and you're done! Nothing scrapes or anything! Also, it works a lot better than Citadel paints, believe it or not and costs half as much, so it's in between citadel and apple barrel in it's price range. The jars I buy are slightly larger than the citadel paint and cost half as much. A great deal if you ask me. A pet peeve it may have on some customisers is that Tamiya acrylics are thick, but I like them thick. I just dry brush a few coats with tamiya until I get complete coverage.

 I miss Tamiya paints. My local hobby store sht down and I can't find amy more. I used it all up on school projects and I have no more for my customs! I want some for my customs!