Before you customize a TFPrime figure

I've started working with a few (specifically PRID guys), and yeah, they definitely feel a bit different, but I haven't encountered any issues using standard techniques on them yet. NEST S may well have bumped up against some of the limitations I haven't hit yet, anything's possible.

I love these kinds of threads though, it really highlights how many ways there are to do things, and that there's no one "right" way.

You are very welcome. Keep working at it and you'll get there, you clearly have the drive! Hopefully you'll start seeing success soon!

The only parts I've had to take off the ones I've done so far were the heads/faces of Arcee, Knockout, and Megatron. I brush-paint mine so that's why naturally. Alcohol is fine to wipe them down with but I wouldn't ever soak a figure in one long regardless of the line. If you are going to strip paint off get a vibrating/sonic toothbrush and 91% alcohol, three or four minutes tops and it's gone. That tip I found out on my own.

I've used Model Master and Citadel acrylics with a Future topcoat on mine and had no problems so far with chipping but I don't "play" with customs other than transforming them.

Arcee I simply cleaned and laid down MM True Blue Pearl, custom mix metallic pink details, black where needed, and the silver where needed also. No priming at all and it's paint is solid. Letting them fully dry/cure before handling is the best thing one could do.

It varies brand to brand. Get some Model Masters Gunmetal or Flat Black, lay it down as a basecoat for an arm or leg or whatever really. I've taken car keys to it the next day or so after it's good and dry/cured and BARELY scratched it. Car keys. Their Gunmetal is especially durable for some reason. Citadel/Games Workshop, oh absolutely not. It is probably the least durable paint I've found and if it's thinned it will rub off just by touch unless clear-coated. I like lacquers too but really don't have a use for them since I brush. You just can't brush them and get a good finish (sure you know this already Z) but when I have for details they have came off pretty easily unless coated.

This is really helpful.

Thumbs up for a highly useful info thread! Great topic!

I'm also a relative newb to the world of painting and I realize that my vocabulary is limited, and worse: I've got just enough knowledge to be dangerous to myself. As such, I do have a few questions about this incredibly useful list:

So the base coat is meant to be a neutral color? Or is it best to use a variant of the intended final color? Or the final color itself?


So for example, you'd drybrush blue highlights onto a neutral base? Or are you talking about metallic drybrushing onto a colored base for detailing? I see the term drybrush thrown around often but often with apparently different meanings.

Any insight is welcome as I fight the war on uneven paint apps.

I paint differently than some here, but I tend to prefer base coats of the same hue. For example, I'll use a Kyrlon Fusion blue as a base coat for a blue custom and use a type of blue for a top coat (usually brushed on + Future).

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Originally Posted by Venksta Get the F out. Then his name can be "The Allen".

I'm with Quaddy' on this one, I try to base coat with a color as close to the final as possible. Sometimes if you're trying to paint a light color over a dark color (eg yellow paint on black plastic) then you'll want to put down a few coats of a neutral color that has decent opacity (I like light gray), as light colors don't have the same ability to "cover over" that darker hues do.

As for drybrushing, the technique refers to any time you're using your brush with a very minimal paint load (I.e. its all but dry), what you DO with it is up to you, there are a million variations. But in general you use it to accomplish any effect where you want to transfer the paint to the raised-areas of a part while leaving the "valleys" (relatively) untouched.

Hope that helps!

Update. I bought and tried a little rustoleum today (since Krylon doesn't make a blue shade that I found). It goes on very easy and seriously covers everything. Great look. But it has a kind of thick, puffy feeling to it. Now the can says it takes 5-7 days to cure fully, but will that feeling go away?

Oh, and that helps a lot. Especially now that I see a solid blue block on my sample arm. I can see where it wouldn't take much of anything to add some detail with a brush.

Never used Rustoleum. What's it like?

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EDIT: I don't have much of a frame of reference since it's my first spray paint, but compared to the finish model masters acrylic gives, it's kind of sticky. Even coverage with very little run or blobbing. The stickiness may fade with time, I suppose. Won't know for certain until Saturday. In all, I feel kind of confident thinking of using this for an upcoming project. Now I need to go read up on masking.