need painting advice

so I finally got my paint and it seems to be going ok now, so I should be alright but if anyone has any other advice/tips it would be much appreciated

Yup, I disassemble the figure too before I paint it, just the arms and legs though. That's so I can paint the joints completely and seal them with super glue, then I pop the figure together again.

thanks for the advice Jin,

I've spoke to kyle robison and he recommended vallejo game color which I am waiting on in the post and to anwser your question I tend to take apart the whole figure as I like to fix the loose joints and various other things and also thanks for the advice about the paint Dr Nightmare, so I'll just have to stick with it but I'll get there eventually.

Just remember, thick paint is good on certain occasions, Foundation paints by Citadel are thick and are great for base-coating and even heavy dry-brushing! You'll figure out along the way what to use for what job.

Hmmm, drop a line to Kyle Robinson about this http://www.kylerobinsoncustoms.com/ because that's the paint he swears by and uses on all of his customs. I personally have never used it and my Testors Model master works just fine for me so I haven't found the need to shop around brands yet. The basic rule of acrylics is stir the paint well and thin it down some with water as needed so you can paint with multiple thin coats.

The general misconceptaion is that you want a paint that covers well in one coat. That's simply not true when it comes to hand painting models. Airbrushing is a different and that requires even thinner paints than brush-on. I still airbrush 2 coats however. Strength in layers.

What parts are you taking apart with your figure? I've never had any luck when taking apart my figures to paint. They would never look decent when put back together so I just painted the figure in different positions when it was whole. That way I can also find trouble spots and work with paint wear/join rub as I go.

Are you prepping your figure? Many companies use silicon oil to protect the factory paint, McFarlane does this often. Other companies use a mold release and joint lube dust/grease on their bare plastic to keep things from sticking to it. All of that must be washed off with warm soapy water and a nail brush prior to painting.

I've come to the conclusion that the paint im using is most likely the problem but I've got that sorted out now so I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who replied to my post.

many thanks

The Mighty Tom

Aw, I've never used Vallejo, I stick to Citadel (Warhammer). Maybe you need to shake the paint bottles more so they mix well? I really don't know what else the problem could be if the paint comes off that easily, maybe it's the type of plastic you're painting on? It might be your brushes? Remember that you have to wash your brushes often while painting, if too much paint is drying on the brush then he bristles get stiffer and you get streaks if you keep painting.

Ask Kyle Robinson since he uses nothing but Vallejo, visit his Toy Soup forum (our sister site): http://kylerobinsoncustoms.com/toysoup/forum.php

thanks for the reply Dr Nightmare,

I don't play with them or anything like that, I only make them for display purpose only, but the main problem I'm having seems to be that when I paint with a brush the paint doesn't settle and have a smooth finish and then the paint starts to rub off when I try to reasemmeble the figure so I just need some advice on how to get a good finish when using vallejo model color acrylic paint.

It was funny, I got an email a while ago with someone asking the same thing, "why does the paint keep rubbing off?" So I asked them what they were doing that it was rubbing off, and they said that if they rubbed REALLY hard it still came off. Like, well NO DUH it's going to rub off if you're scratching and rubbing it like you want to destroy the figure!

I don't prime figures, I use an airbrush, and I don't seal my customs, the paint doesn't come off, why? Because I don't take a nail to them and scratch them to prove that the paint comes off! Sealing the custom is a good idea for protection though, just make sure nothing will get sticky, always wash your figures with soap before painting. I don't play with my figures though, I just pose them to make comics, so I don't have the same chance of paint damage I would if I smacked them into each other all the time.

Joints are going to rub unless you go the extra mile and sand the joints down in the appropriate areas so nothing rubs. And even then, you'll still get paint-rub because Lex Luthor doesn't want to see you succeed.

All I can say is that these paints aren't meant to be permanent, they aren't designed to fuse to the plastic or dye it like the factory paint do, so don't be discouraged when some paint rubs-off, that's just part of customizing.

thanks for the welcome buzzy fret,

I only use vallejo model color acrylic paint and I've gone through the tutorials over and over again and I still can't seem to get the same results, I just can't understand why I can't get a good finish.

Are you using Enamel or Acrylic paint? If it's Enamel that is the problem - it won't dry on the plastic figures.

Again I'd urge you to check out the Paint tutorials if you haven't already.

Welcome Mighty Tom,

For the answers to most questions regarding customizing I would direct ya to our Tutorial Library >

http://www.figurerealm.com/customtutorial.php

It's chock full o' tips and basic what to and not to do stuff. It helped me immensely when I started customizing.

Check out the Paint Tutorials and I bet you'll find the answers you're looking for. If you have more questions though feel free to post 'em!

its not that, I actually dissasembled the figure first, then primered it and then after the primer was fully dry I airbrushed it but it just seems to be that if you rub the paint with your thumb it rubs straight off even after its dried and if I paint with a brush it comes out even worse.

Are you trying to pose the figure once you've painted it? I've given up on trying to have a posable custom. Posing creates paint rub no matter what I do.