About a year ago I bought a siege prime to repaint into Toxitron, I bought Green and purple testors but nothing would actually stick to him. Now here I am a year later about to attempt to custom some siege seekers, anything I should know to do differently? Specifically in regards to preparing the figure to paint?
Wash the figure, sometimes there is mold release agents on it that cause paint not to stick. The brand and type of paint can make a difference as well. Airbrush is probably the best method, with multiple slow thin coats. Some of the customizers here use automotive paint, or rattle-can paints like Rustoleum. If you are brush painting, a good primer can help too. Testors Model Master has a nice primer, Tamiya has a nice primer too. Citadel is another good brand. Any paint made specifically for model kits or tabletop minis will work. The craft paint you buy at a store like Walmart (Apple Barrel and Folk Art) are hit or miss. I've found if you do use those brands of paint, the "Multisurface" type works best.
I don't know anything about painting with a brush but spraypainting I do know. Krylon and Rustoleum both work well but you have to make sure you dont hold it too close to the part or it will pool/ drip. Krylon 2-in-1 should stick to about anything and stops being tacky after several hours. Rustoleum offers more colors and textures but some of their more specialty products might not stick. If you are doing solid colors on the parts rattlecan should work fine. You can also mask of designs with blue tape but make sure you get the good kind or the paint will seep thru the sides. 2-in-1 Krylon can also be used as a primer layer if you want to. With spray gun (not) you will want to thin down your paint. Depending on the surface you might need very thin paint. Transformers require thinner layers than, say a pickup truck. Hopefully this was somewhat helpful. Good luck. EDIT: You can usually find Krylon at Lowe's. Menard's has a yuuge assortment of Rustoleum.
Getting a pack of finishing abrasives and breaking the shine/surface of the plastic will help the paint adhere, especially if the plastic is really smooth like I'm pretty sure Siege Prime's was. I've been using 1200 or 1500 grit, depending on how tough the plastic is.
Acetone??? I would never use acetone in an airbrush. They often use plastic gaskets and that stuff will eat right though them. You can get actual airbrush thinner that's more or less rubbing alcohol, and it is a lot less harsh chemically and a lot less toxic. Also, spraying acetone on plastic pieces will eat them or cause them to become damaged.
