I've got a little project I want to toy with tonight- painting two clear PVC figures (PM Prime and Truck Prime) black. I have Krylon Fusion spray paint and testors enamel, which would be better?

 

My experience is that Testors never fully dries on PVC, and is very susceptible to fingerprints/tackiness. I haven't used the Krylon on PVC though so I cannot attest to how that would work. Do you have a test piece you could use with the Fusion?

 

I wouldn't use either. Spray paints tend not to dry on PVC. Acrylics are pretty much the only way to go on those suckers.

 

Well crap. Thanks guys.

The guys at Custommasters did a black PVC Prime (which is pretty much what I'm trying to copy) and they said they used these colors:
# Mithril Silver (Games Workshop)
# Ice Blue (Games Workshop)
# Lightning Bolt Blue (Games Workshop)
# Warlock Purple (Games Workshop)
# Chaos Black (Games Workshop)

Anyone know what type of paint that is?

 

Yeah, they are small pots of acrylic paints that are produced for metal and plastic games miniatures. I use these almost exclusively for small details, and thin it down with some water to get a smooth finish on larger areas. If you have a comic or hobby shop near you, check for a magazine called White Dwarf, it will show you the whole range. Also if you have a gaming store near you, it should carry the paints. They would be by the "Citadel" brand miniatures, (Warhammer, Warhammer 40k).

 

Here's the catch. It;s all about the chemical makeup of the paint. No spraypaints of any type will ever dry properly and fully, and will always remain tacky and messy on this type of plastic.

The same goes for oil-based paints like Testors enamels.

However. Acrylics should do just fine. So, testors Acrylic Enamels will be fine, as would Citadel (Games Workshop brand), Reaper (an offshoot of that), or even craft section paints. All of these are water-baed, and should dry properly on the figures. I've done Cyklanus/Cyclonus Blanche and Soundblaster from PVA figures using these paints.

 

Fascinating, thanks! Now a flip question, would water-based paints like the Acrylic enamel work well on a regular plastic figure? If I get some silver for the PVCs I'd like to be able to use it on some normal figures as well.

 

I *only* use Fusion and Acrylics on my customs, as so a lot of others, so the answer is yes. personally, I would recommend the Citadel colors for this, especially for detailing and other brushwork. They cost about three times as much as Testors acrylic enamels do, but the jars are about twice as big, the paint dries faster, and it goes on more evenly, without the issues of "pooling" and leaving thin spots that require extra coats that you get with Testors acrylics when brush painting.

If working with airbrush methods, Testors acrylics are the way to go though. usually you can just stick the paint right in with no modification or thinning and get to painting.

 

I went and bought some of the Citadel paint yesterday (silver and black) and painted up the PM Prime. It looks really good so far. It seemed like it was pooling a little as I was painting but it looks fine now that it's dried.


Here's a question though- how the heck do I get in there to paint the eyes? The mouthplate will be tricky enough but I think I can manage that at least.