Miniature Misadventures

[RyanL]

So, I decided to take a foray into the wild world of mini painting. Bought some reaper minis and some paint. My first two creations actually came out looking pretty sweet. Then I followed the gaming store guy's advice and sprayed them with some matte sealant. Erm, the results were mixed. The one that didn't get enough sealant turned white, and the one that got too much sealant turned bubbly and runny. Now my first two creations look like crap and complete-and-utter crap, respectively.

1) Is there an easy way to completely strip a mini, like dipping it in mineral spirits or gasoline or something?

2) What's the proper substance/technique to seal the mini?

I appreciate any help you can give me! I always fulfilled my art requirements in school with music classes, so I'm basically retarded when it comes to painting and drawing and such.

-Ryan

 

[Storminator]

Simple green and a toothbrush will take anything off a mini, and it'll actually look cleaner than when you bought it.

You do need a sealant, and matte finish is the way to go.

Don't do too much sealant on one pass, use 2 light coats instead of one heavy.

As for the one that turned white: are you using Games Workshop sealer? If so, toss the can in the trash! They use the same paint lines to fill both their spray paints and the clear sealers, so you're likely to get a bad can. I got a ever-so-slightly off can, and it took a while to figure out why the minis were turning colors.

PS

 

[Vaxalon]

To strip it:

Nothing beats acetone. You can get it easily in nail polish remover, or occasionally get the pure stuff (works much better) in the hardware store.

Soak it overnight, then brush it with a soft, worn-out toothbrush to get the bits out of the corners. Repeat if necessary, don't overdo the brushing.

To seal painted minis:

It's VERY important to use the sealant at the proper distance, and in light coats. Put on a light coat, look it over, if it needs more, put on more.

No sealant is perfect. After a few months of banging around in your minis case, getting hit by dice, and the like, it's likely to need a retouching job. After a year, it'll probably need to be stripped and re-done. After two, it'll probably have dented small projections like the nose and fingers and suchlike, and will need to be replaced.

 

[RyanL]

Thanks for the replies. The sealant I have is from Citadel. It sure seams like I didn't use too much on the first mini. What's the likelihood of getting a bad can?

-Ryan

 

[Alchemist]

Oven cleaner. Blasts the paint right off of pretty much anything if you leave it for a couple of hours. Dosen't harm your plastic minis either. I heartily endorse this product for this purpose. Try not to breathe when you do it though.

As for sealing, a couple of thin coats of glossy with an overcoat of matte. That does the trick for me.

 

[Lady Starhawk]

Someone suggested (and it worked ) using PineSol to strip a mini. I had some lying around the house, and put the mini in a small glass jar, filled the jar with Pine-Sol and left it overnight. The next morning the paint and sealer rubbed off with a toothbrush and hot water .

I bought a small bottle of acrylic matte coating from the local craft store. I got an 8 oz bottle for $1. (In the department with the acrylic craft paints, that's what I use. A lot more choices in colors, and a lot cheaper than paints from the mini companies) You use a brush to get it on, and I set aside one special brush for that, but it hasn't let me down yet. It looks wonderful and it's easier to control where the sealer goes and how much you get on when you're using a brush. (A lot cleaner too).

Goodluck,
Lady Starhawk

 

[Alchemist]

I'm not sure why I didn't mention it in my previous post, but I've had reasonable success with brake fluid. It got that craft acrylic off of minis the ol' oven cleaner wouldn't budge.

 

[Voobaha]

priming and finishing techniques

Just to qualify what others have advised:

Stripping a mini:
Pine sol or other Pine Cleaners works well to strip a mini. Make sure to cover up the container and/or keep the area venilated as pine sol has nasty fumes. I stripped a bunch of old enamel-painted minis from the 70s that I'd painted as a kid and wanted to repaint. After rubbing with a toothbrush, the paint came right off.

Brake Fluid also works, but you have to be extra careful about the fumes and getting it on your hands. It's poisonous, so wash it right off. You shouldn't let your pets and/or offspring near it, but then you probably already know that .

Personally I like the Pine Sol better.

Here's some techniques that I like to use when adding primer coats and finishing coats:

Get a cardboard box and lay it on it's side. Affix the mini by it's base to a cork/old paint pot/piece of balsa wood with some wall tac. You can use this temporary base to hold and rotate the mini without touching it and messing up the spray coat with your fingers. Don't use styrofoam because the propellants in the paint can melt it. The propellants have nasty fumes as well, so it's best to do this outside.

Cut/tear back the top so you can spray into the box from the front and top. Hold the can a couple of feet from the mini and give it a short burst, aiming at a point just past the mini. Primer coat bursts can be longer than finishing coats, which should be applied with a lighter, more gradual puffs of the can to "dust" the coat on. Don't spray the mini like you're spraying graffitti on a wall though, or the coat will clump up and cake the mini with goop, obscuring detail and requiring your to break out to pine sol.

Once you've sprayed the mini from the side and top, just give it's temporary base a quarter turn and spray some more. Incidentally, if you have a big box, you can prime and finish whole squads of miniatures lined up in a row.

Once you've finished your minis, you might want to elmer's glue or blue tac them to an extra base, if the mini didn't come with a plastic base in the package (Games Workshop do, Reaper mostly don't). I use pennies, fender washers and Games Workshop $6.00 bags of bases. You can require players to move the mini by it's base, and save your paint job lots of wear and tear.

Hope this helps.

 

[RyanL]

My continued thanks goes out to you folks.

I have some Simple Green out in the garage, so that's what I'll try first for stripping. I think perhaps I'll toss the sealant that I have and try to find some that I can apply with a brush.

-Ryan

 

[Gothmog]

Hey RyanL,

I've done thousands of minis over the years, so here' some advice: NEVER use citadel sprays for sealing a mini. As another poster mentioned, they use the same equipment to fill the cans for both their sealers and spray paints, so that when you use the sealer, paint residue is often in the bottle which ruins a mini. Not to mention you end up paying WAY too much for a tiny can of sealer. To seal my minis, I use 2 light sprays of Krylon crystal clear acrylic coating (gloss finish) followed by one coat of Krylon crystal clear acrylic coating (satin finish). You should be able to find the Krylon sprays in almost any hardware or crafts store for about $1.50 to $2 for a 12 oz. can. Also, avoid the painted on sealers- im my experience you get a headache using them, and since they are applied in liquid form they can run if you put too much on, ruining your paint job or making the mini look like there is a thick layer of water on top of it.