Aggghh !! How do you stop the paint coming off!!!?????!!!!!!

Sounds like you're using Testors enamel. Use the regular acrylic instead. If you already are, and it's still leaving them sticky, I have no idea.

Okay, I admit I use Apple Barrel paints. Not the best quality but I'm on a budget. I use a sealer but on a lot of my figures, the sealer leaves them sticky. So then, I got a set of Testors for Christmas. I just started using it but it's leaving my figures sticky without even using the sealer. How do I make them NOT STICKY?

Aww, I'll just keep her myself I reckon. She looked so pleased with herself, that I can't bring myself to be mean to the poor little soul....

You could just call it a statue and glue all the joints then sell her @_@

Thanks all of you. I have moved her around, and it's a total loss now, so I am scrapping her completely. It's a shame really, as I was pleased with getting a good,uniform yellow on her.

The Green by the way, is Citadel Goblin Green, with a really light Shining Gold drybrush. Same drybrush is on the Yellow too.

It doesn't look metallic, but the raised areas catch sunlight, which looks really nice.

Hey S_M - don't be surprised if you have to touch up your paint after you reassemble - especially if you're heating up the parts by hair dryer or boiling to reassemble - that's going to cause some paint rub as well.

I would suggest some sanding on all the areas where you have 2 parts moving against each other - it doesn't have to be a lot of sanding, just enough so that you create some space so they don't rub.

Also very important - wash the figure in hot soapy water to make sure you've gotten all the mold release off and any shavings left over from your sanding.

I've found that acrylic sealers don't stop paint rub.

One thing I've learned in customizing; the prep work - sanding and cleaning - are 90% of the battle, especially if you want to have a figure that you can play with and put into different poses without the paint rubbing off. The prep work is also the most time consuming.

So I just rub the figs down at the beginning? I knew it'd be something really silly and simple!! Thanks very much all of you guys!!

I think I will boil and pop first , to sand, then reassemble once painted. That should work a treat!! I have another Psylocke and I now have Storm thigh boots, so I think I'm gonna start again. I love how ther Yellow came out though!

Cheers you lot!

Yeah, it'd be kind of a shame to ruin that paint at this stage with sanding, I'd just spray-on the sealer and hope for the best at this point

Buzzy Fret did the sanding thing to the shoulders on his Daredevil custom, maybe he'll show you some pics if you ask?

Hey man, its pretty much like the Doc said. If you don't want to have to take the figure completely apart then use your dremel with the softer wire brush and sand the joint down. Make sure that you keep your setting lower were you don't have a build-up of friction and you start to melt the plastic. If you don't have a dremel then you can rough it up some with a peice of 320grit sandpaper and that well take the plastic down some and give the primer something to hold to. You won't get it sanded as well as you would with it in parts but this will still help. Remmeber to prep your figure before painting and it never hurts to give your paint extra time to cure if you have any doubts. Your paint looks great on your Phonix figure though. Great work and I hope this helps.
-Wyld

Seriously guys, there's no way to keep the paint from chipping at the joints, short of disassembling the figure and sanding-down the rub-areas significantly.

And damn, that's some fine painting @_@

try this!!!:

PLease?????

Thanks pal. Tust me to START with the dreaded YELLOW!!!

phoenix is looking good!