The other day I was looking across my desk and saw the DC Hero-clix I have from the Legion collection. These miniatures I like except that the bases are to big and the costumes are wrong for my needs. In an effort to get around the "big bases" issue, I purchased some additional miniatures (non-Legion) with the thought of removing them from the base and re-applying them to a smaller one. One can buy small bases at a hobby store.
Anyway, before I got around to the disection process, it occurred to me that some of these non-Legion miniatures could be repainted and have the correct costumes painted on. The way I see it, I have two options:
1. I could spray them first which would cover up the paint and then give them a make-over.
2. I could remove the paint using some house-hold chemical, spray them and then repaint them.
Which do you think would give better results?
Now I don't expect them to turn out "WOW" or anything. My painting skills with miniatures are average. Whether the paint is stripped off or not, the miniature won't have all the lines in the right place so I would have to try and make up for this on the paint job that I do.
Essentially, I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to go about this procedure in order to get them to look as best as I can. Would you remove the paint? Would you spray them? I really want them to have the costumes from the Adventure comics era through the late 70's as these are the costumes I prefer.
Shopping for the best miniatures for such and such a character will take some effort but I have little else to spend my gaming money on anyway.
Suggestions and Help Wanted!
For most of the clix figs you could just paint over the paint already there. It will function as a base paint. The only disadvantage I could see is if you are using a light color and the original might "bleed" through a bit.
As for the bases, I might suggest if you want to go "cheap", you could do what I did. I cut off the guys from the base (be careful you don't slice your hand), glue them to a piece of card board (I usually use old cereal boxes or some such), and then glue that to a penny for weight. You could glue straight to the penny, but I've found that the penny-plastic glue job isn't very strong it seems.
The paint is thin enough on those (and some of the colors are just the plastic itself) that I would probably prime with a recommended primer or coat with acrylic gesso (white or black). (Note, if you've never used gesso before, it will go on quite thick--as it dries, it "shrinks" and adheres to the model in a way that won't obscure detail. It's my favorite non-spray way of base/undercoating a model.)
Because the plastics used for those I think are not meant for extensive model work, I would be _very_ careful about stripping them. If you really wanted to strip them, I would choose Simple Green (it's an all-purpose household cleaner), which doesn't damage plastics (unlike many other strippers of choice). Soak it in pure (non-diluted) Simple Green for a day, then run under hot water while rubbing off excess paint, hitting tough spots with an old toothbrush, or maybe a brass brush if you don't think it will damage the plastic. Simple Green is safe to let pour down your sink. If you're doing one model it won't hurt your hands, but if you're doing a lot of models I would probably put on some rubber gloves--it won't harm you, but it'll make your skin feel a little rough after awhile (it is a heavy duty cleaner).
Since I'm not sure of the materials involved, I would do a test model before stripping the lot of these. If Simple Green hurts these models, most other strippers would probably not be safe, and I would just go with painting over them.
Wash them with soap and water, prime them, paint them, seal them.
You could even "prime" them with clear sealant to preserve the existing paint scheme, then paint over that, then sealant over that.
Thank you for the feedback, I was thinking I'd get a "Your crazy" reaction. I'm going to give it a try. I think I'll try the first one with spraying over it, re-painting it, and re-sealing it. It would be the least amount of work. If I run into problems I can always see if removing the current paint helps. I'm also going to check out that link which was provided by Lord Stewpndous.
Simple Green is safe and biodegradable.
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On a slightly related topic, has anybody been able to remove Lord of the Rings minis from their bases? The Mage Knight figures are easy, but I am having a dickens of a time with the LotR minis. I have been using an Xacto knife. Thoughts? Links? Sanity?
-Lisa
Good luck with that, I never found anything that worked well.
On a slightly related topic, has anybody been able to remove Lord of the Rings minis from their bases? The Mage Knight figures are easy, but I am having a dickens of a time with the LotR minis. I have been using an Xacto knife. Thoughts? Links? Sanity?
Assuming you mean the Combat Hex ones... if all else fails, jeweler's saw, maybe? Just go slow so you don't break the blade.
If you're talking about Games Workshop's LOTR minis (non collectible, non prepainted), easiest thing is to just break/pry off the old bases with needlenose pliers.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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On a slightly related topic, has anybody been able to remove Lord of the Rings minis from their bases? The Mage Knight figures are easy, but I am having a dickens of a time with the LotR minis. I have been using an Xacto knife. Thoughts? Links? Sanity?
-Lisa
Swiss Army Knife and patience.
my Victorinox blades are sharp enough to get a little ways under and strong enough that I can twist them w/o snapping the blade.
Good to know I'm not the only one who's doing this. :-) Though I've not carved up my Sauron or Balrog. Wish I had a Treebeard and the mythical fell beast though.
If I ever run Murder on the Silken Caravan again, the numeroian(?) warriors with their head wraps and the like will be good for the hobs. I like being able to put Urik Hai and Lurtz on the table when I want black orcs (ToH III) or Orogs.
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I've repainted a few collectible figures, and in a lot of cases, the original paint job wasn't as thick as it initially looked.
It's rather an optical illusion. The colours haven't been kept inside the lines, and someone's eye is halfway down their face, and you assume that's because the paint has been slapped on thickly, when that's not necessarily the case.
Find a figure you like the pose of, and before trying to strip it, just give it a thin coat of black or white primer. You might be pleasantly surprised by how much detail is still there, and save yourself time carrying out needless stripping.