Industrial paints

Haahhhh!!! Mystery solved!!!
I was just about to write you, jeje
Well I guess I'll stick with losing some paint on my figures than losing some body part to toxic stuff

MU figures are cast from from that hard-to-glue oily plastic that the new HML figures are made from. It does make life more difficult - but getting a fine-grade sanding sponge to give the surface 'teeth't to adhere to does help.

For all my customs,- beyond the usual taking down of joint/rub areas with a dremel - I do the following, and haven't had any troubles:

-washing (soapy water)
--sanding (sanding sponge, high grit # usually above 220 - 300+)
-washing (to remove dust)
-painting (Vallejo, but increasingly I do my base coats with Tamiya, it adheres better)
-let the figure's paint cure/sit for a full day. (Sounds excessive, but tweaking it within a few hours always leads to grief for me)
-Apply Krazy glue Liquid type super glue, sometimes over large amounts of the figure. Anywhere that could receive a bump or scrape. (ex: inner thighs, chest, etc.) Avoid flexible areas (hands that are too rubbery, etc.) and focus on large, solid plastic or Aves sculpted areas. I usually avoid doing this to the face, or detailed areas - as Superglue, even spread out evenly can be too think/detail obscuring.

If the figure doesn't have any 'flexible' plastics on it (capes, etc.), I'll spray the whole figure with Citadel matte sealant.
Afterward, I'll apply Vallejo Matt finish varnish. It's the best I've ever used, and the finish it gives figures is beautiful.
If the figure has flexible plastic pieces (armor, capes, hair, etc.) I'll skip the spray. If you use an aerosol can product on any flexible plastic (And even some HML plastics) it can become permanently tacky.

Hope this helps,
-Blayne

Thanks for the advice, I always try to do that (except for the sanding part of course). I will also try to find tamiya here as those paint are hard to find in my country and really expensive by the way. A model masters little pot is around $10

Wow. I guess I'll be sticking to my Vallejo and Tamiya.

I have an answer for this! It comes from the designers at ToyBiz a while back when I asked the same thing "How come we don't have anything like the paints they use in China?" They told me that the paints are so toxic in liquid/raw form that the US won't permit them to be used over here and that China won't let them out of their borders. One of the Toybiz reps visiting china actually got a hold of some paint samples back and got as far as the airport with them. They wouldn't allow him to take the paints over to the US and had to dispose of them there at the airport. Those dust masks you see the factory workers wearing do nothing for the toxic fumes coming from this paint. Only organic vapor masks can clear it out and we don't really know if our types are up to code for their levels of toxicity either. Scary scary.

MU figures are cast from from that hard-to-glue oily plastic that the new HML figures are made from. It does make life more difficult - but getting a fine-grade sanding sponge to give the surface 'teeth't to adhere to does help.

For all my customs,- beyond the usual taking down of joint/rub areas with a dremel - I do the following, and haven't had any troubles:

-washing (soapy water)
--sanding (sanding sponge, high grit # usually above 220 - 300+)
-washing (to remove dust)
-painting (Vallejo, but increasingly I do my base coats with Tamiya, it adheres better)
-let the figure's paint cure/sit for a full day. (Sounds excessive, but tweaking it within a few hours always leads to grief for me)
-Apply Krazy glue Liquid type super glue, sometimes over large amounts of the figure. Anywhere that could receive a bump or scrape. (ex: inner thighs, chest, etc.) Avoid flexible areas (hands that are too rubbery, etc.) and focus on large, solid plastic or Aves sculpted areas. I usually avoid doing this to the face, or detailed areas - as Superglue, even spread out evenly can be too think/detail obscuring.

If the figure doesn't have any 'flexible' plastics on it (capes, etc.), I'll spray the whole figure with Citadel matte sealant.
Afterward, I'll apply Vallejo Matt finish varnish. It's the best I've ever used, and the finish it gives figures is beautiful.
If the figure has flexible plastic pieces (armor, capes, hair, etc.) I'll skip the spray. If you use an aerosol can product on any flexible plastic (And even some HML plastics) it can become permanently tacky.

Hope this helps,
-Blayne

This happens on some kinds of plastic. Very shiny plastic like what they use on some wresteling figures need to be sanded lightly before painting.


Interesting, I´ll give it a try. More specifically I am having trouble with Marvel Universe figures.
Thanks for the suggestions!

This happens on some kinds of plastic. Very shiny plastic like what they use on some wresteling figures need to be sanded lightly before painting.

Yep, I wash the whole figure and the funny thing is that paint always comes off with the slightest scratch; and I have gone from everything cheap crafting acrylics to model master.
And yes, model master is a much better paint, but still rubs off for me. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong!!!

That never happens to me. Do you wash your figures before painting them? Also the brand of paint matters. I suggest using model masters acrylic paints.

I had the same thing happen with my first figure but I think it had to do with me not washing the figure prior to painting. I'm curious though, do you use any sort of primer on your figure and if so what works best? I had used a shellac based primer but I'm not sure that was the best option out there.

That never happens to me. Do you wash your figures before painting them? Also the brand of paint matters. I suggest using model masters acrylic paints.

Hmmm... I think I will disagree, for example when I paint a figure, even after sealing it, if I scratch it with my nail a bit strong, the paint will come off; that does not happen with out of the box figures (and yes, the painted sections, not the colored plastic)
If I am wrong, please lead me in the correct track of paint brands.

Factory paint isn't much stronger than model paints. It chips and rubs off. The reason factory figures don't usually get paint rub is because the factories cast the figures in whatever color they want them to be then paint the details on top.