Prepping soft plastic figures for painting

[blacksmith]

Hello,
I won't say anything you don't already know but as I wrote it in my blog to help somebody, I thought it could come in handy for this forum newcomers.
BTW, I haven't been able to upload here a short video I did with my phone to show how elastic and chip resistant my painted miniatures are, so if you want to watch it, you'll have to visit my blog, sorry:
https://javieratwar.blogspot.com/2024/02/prepping-soft-plastic-figures-for.html

First of all, rinse with dish soap and warm water and the help of an old toothbrush.

Once dry, use a primer with a brush. I am using Vallejo acrylic-polyutrethane Surface Primer for aerograph, but with just a brush and the same results. Many spray primers have chemicals that do not go well with soft plastics. This method of priming with a brush was recommended by Reaper miniatures to use on his Bones soft plastic range and it really works.

Optionally, you can reinforce bendy parts like a spear with PVA or white glue.

It is a good idea to give several coats of diluted acrilyc paints to the figures. Acrylic is more flexible than oil paints, and several diluted coats are more elastic and resistant than one thick coat of paint. Speaking of which, new contrast or Xpress paints work really well with soft plastic as they are thin and very flexible. I'm attaching a video I made for you to see how flexible are the new paints (the spears were painted with Vallejo Xpress). Also, at the back you can see the primer I'm using. It is sold in white, grey and black colour.

I'm giving two coats of varnish to all my miniatures, be soft or hard plastic or even metal. Glossy is harder than matte, so I give first a gloss coat and then a second matte coat at the next day as I don't like my miniatures to be bright.

Done.

First of all, rinse with dish soap and warm water and the help of an old toothbrush.

Once dry, use a primer with a brush. I am using Vallejo acrylic-polyutrethane Surface Primer for aerograph, but with just a brush and the same results. Many spray primers have chemicals that do not go well with soft plastics. This method of priming with a brush was recommended by Reaper miniatures to use on his Bones soft plastic range and it really works.

Optionally, you can reinforce bendy parts like a spear with PVA or white glue.

It is a good idea to give several coats of diluted acrilyc paints to the figures. Acrylic is more flexible than oil paints, and several diluted coats are more elastic and resistant than one thick coat of paint. Speaking of which, new contrast or Xpress paints work really well with soft plastic as they are thin and very flexible. I'm attaching a video I made for you to see how flexible are the new paints (the spears were painted with Vallejo Xpress). Also, at the back you can see the primer I'm using. It is sold in white, grey and black colour.

I'm giving two coats of varnish to all my miniatures, be soft or hard plastic or even metal. Glossy is harder than matte, so I give first a gloss coat and then a second matte coat at the next day as I don't like my miniatures to be bright.

Done.

First of all, rinse with dish soap and warm water and the help of an old toothbrush.

Once dry, use a primer with a brush. I am using Vallejo acrylic-polyutrethane Surface Primer for aerograph, but with just a brush and the same results. Many spray primers have chemicals that do not go well with soft plastics. This method of priming with a brush was recommended by Reaper miniatures to use on his Bones soft plastic range and it really works.

Optionally, you can reinforce bendy parts like a spear with PVA or white glue.

It is a good idea to give several coats of diluted acrilyc paints to the figures. Acrylic is more flexible than oil paints, and several diluted coats are more elastic and resistant than one thick coat of paint. Speaking of which, new contrast or Xpress paints work really well with soft plastic as they are thin and very flexible. I'm attaching a video I made for you to see how flexible are the new paints (the spears were painted with Vallejo Xpress). Also, at the back you can see the primer I'm using. It is sold in white, grey and black colour.



I'm giving two coats of varnish to all my miniatures, be soft or hard plastic or even metal. Glossy is harder than matte, so I give first a gloss coat and then a second matte coat at the next day as I don't like my miniatures to be bright.

Done.

I'm pasting below what I wrote in my blog in case you don't fancy visit it:

First of all, rinse with dish soap and warm water and the help of an old toothbrush.

Once dry, use a primer with a brush. I am using Vallejo acrylic-polyutrethane Surface Primer for aerograph, but with just a brush and the same results. Many spray primers have chemicals that do not go well with soft plastics. This method of priming with a brush was recommended by Reaper miniatures to use on his Bones soft plastic range and it really works.

Optionally, you can reinforce bendy parts like a spear with PVA or white glue.

It is a good idea to give several coats of diluted acrilyc paints to the figures. Acrylic is more flexible than oil paints, and several diluted coats are more elastic and resistant than one thick coat of paint. Speaking of which, new contrast or Xpress paints work really well with soft plastic as they are thin and very flexible. I'm attaching a video I made for you to see how flexible are the new paints (the spears were painted with Vallejo Xpress). Also, at the back you can see the primer I'm using. It is sold in white, grey and black colour.

I'm giving two coats of varnish to all my miniatures, be soft or hard plastic or even metal. Glossy is harder than matte, so I give first a gloss coat and then a second matte coat at the next day as I don't like my miniatures to be bright.

Done.

[Santi Pérez]

Thanks for sharing your useful tutorial on the stages prior to figure painting, Javier.

Santi.

[C M Dodson]

Following a Forum tip I have started to prime my Hat figures with a spray called Rustoleum available on Amazon.

It is a flexible white paint that seems initially to stick to Hats plastic better than anything so far.

I tried Army painter following Alte Fritz’s recommendation but it was useless on the chat chaps.

I then, when dry, put on the base colour which gets rid of the paints gloss properties.

Time will tell.

Best wishes,

Chris

[Michael Robert]

Thanks blacksmith for good advices.
I employ most of them myself and can confirm their usefulness
Greetings Michael