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Just wondering how well the paint sticks, etc.

Vellejo paint do well right over the top of the current paint. A co worker of mine at my last job touched up the figs from the demo box we got so we could start selling the game, he has some skills with paint to be sure but he had no problems painting on top of the stock paint. He used a gloss then a matt coat over the top of them and they look fine.

Would it cover too much to spray first and start over?

that I can not say for sure. To the best of my memorie the models were fairly well detailed, I think the detail isnt so good on the guns IIRC but as long as you were carefull and used a thin coating primer ( like the new GW black spray primer) you should be alright.

Yeah, but I find that I like the miniature style of figure, but I don't want to
have the same as everyone else's (which is what bare metal and plastic is like
for me). Maybe I can get away with just repainting the skin or something.

I bought some yesterday. I decided I wanted mine to be distinct from everyone elses, so last night I pulled them apart (they do not disassemble easily, either) and primered them white. The paint suck to the minis very nicely; I think they come with a dullcoat that makes the next layer adhere well.

The minis take the paint very well. I think now, I probably should have used the prepaint as a basecoat and just highlighted up from there.

I wish I could think of a new color scheme.

This thread will be useless wihout pics... someday I'll have to practice taking decent photos.

I settled on a new scheme. The uniform is dark Adeptus Battlegrey, highlighted up to mid-grey. Gretchin Green rectangles are painted over this for camoflauge. The armor is a deeper, Knarloc Green. Gloves, webbing, etc. are Tausept Ochre, washed with brown ink. Weapons are Chaos black, drybrushed with Space Wolves Grey.

Three are finished and I am very pleased with them. Especially since two of them have test color schemes underneath the final coat of paint... a tribute I think to both the detail on the Rackham figures and the awesome covering power of Citadel Foundation Paints.

When I finish the other six steel troopers, I will start on the Fire Toad. My plan for that is to simply paint over the blue prepaint with a citadel foundation green, probably Knarloc green, while leaving the rest of the prepaint alone, or possibly highlighting it a little.

A note on the steel troopers: the heads, torsos, weapons, and grenades are glued on, but can be removed with varying degrees of difficulty. The grenades pop right off, whether you want them to or not. Most small arms weapons come free easily. Heads were removed with effort. Some torsos popped free with effort, others broke off and will have to be pinned back together. In the future, I will probably remove the heads, weapons, and grenades, and leave the torsos alone. I tried to remove them from the bases, but gave up without success.

All done. On the Fire Toad, I did just put a green overpaint on the production blue, while leaving the grey & black areas alone. It looks fine. I am happy with the result, though I confess I don't think my handiwork is a whole lot better than the production job.

Over at the AT-43 forums they suggested dipping the models in warm water for a while before attempting to remove the various bits. It makes the removal process -according to them- very easy.

...or rubbing alcohol. http://web.mac.com/kennethchipman/iWeb/The%20Damocles%20File/Tutorials/85F937C6-EAB9-11DB-AE7C-000A95DB6D00.html

They paint up fine.

Just pop them apart into pieces and clean the flash like you would any other model. Then prime them (I did mine black) and away you go.

Here's my Firetoad repaint.