Cleaning up acrylic paint smudges
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Cleaning up acrylic paint smudges

Posted in Custom Workstation

I'm just getting started customizing and I don't have much painting experience, so inevitably I've had a few issues getting paint in places I don't want it, like on a figure's face when I'm just trying to paint the hair. I've had decent luck dipping a q-tip in rubbing alcohol and wiping smudges off with that, although there often seems to be a little color left behind, especially if I couldn't clean the paint off quickly enough before it dried--and for really small spaces, even a q-tip is too big and imprecise to be really effective. Anyone have a method that's worked well? Something other than rubbing alcohol that's more reliable at removing paint, and/or a better way to apply whatever you're using to clean it? I've Googled this and searched on this forum but haven't found anything so far other than "use rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab," which is what I'm already doing.

Posted by 100indecisions
on Friday, August 21, 2015
User Comments
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Wolverhulk Iron Spideysurfer -
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The best thing to do is keep practicing, learn patience, and buy really expensive tiny brushes. I'm terrible about being patient and steady when painting. So I'm always ready to gently scrape naughty paint away with my fingernail or x-acto knife. It doesn't work all the time because you can very easily go too deep. Gotta repaint a face tomorrow as a matter of fact. But the vast majority of the time I can remove the top layer of whatever color I just applied. It has definitely saved me from a ton of re-painting. Good luck.
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Henchmen4Hire -
Monday, August 24, 2015
You can just gently scratch the acrylic paint off with your fingernail once it's dry since it just rests on the surface. The best way is to not get paint there at all, use masking tape. I disassemble figures before painting, including removing hair if possible, it makes the job much easier.

If you use solvents like acetone or alcohol to wipe paint, you melt the surface of the plastic, which lets the paint seep into the plastic, making it impossible to remove without sanding the area.
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100indecisions -
Monday, August 24, 2015
I did try masking tape on my Lone Wanderer's face, which was a huge pain...and then paint got under the tape anyway because apparently I did even that wrong.
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Henchmen4Hire -
Monday, August 24, 2015
All I can say is use a smaller brush and have steady hands
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The jedi house elf1 -
Friday, August 21, 2015
Here is my two cents: first try to not get paint in wrong places. I usually paint the hair near the face with a tooth pick. Sometimes I whittle the tip of the tooth pick to make it even smaller. That has helped. Second, when I do make mistake I dip a tooth pick into non acetone nail polish remover* and try to somewhat scratch it off. I don't usually use q-tips because I found it can some times leave fibers on wet paint. Finally, try to mix up some paint that matches the skin color. Hope that helps and good luck customizing! *acetone on action figures is whole other issue
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