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I have acquired a large monster which is made from semi flexible plastic and I wanted to paint it. I am concerned whether the paint will crack if the miniature flexes. Will this happen and if so is there a way around it (eg using an enamel undercoat; using a different type of paint etc)?

You're probably on about a Reaper Bones mini. I've not noticed any cracking on the smaller ones I've painted, but I don't have a large bones model painted up. Pretty sure some folks around here painted up the Cthulhu, and that's got some very bendy bits.

Edit: I'd probably stick with a PU or acrylic primer rather than enamel - whatever you put on needs to be slightly flexible or it's likely to crack off in large sections.

Depends on the material.

If it's Polyurethane, your problem will not so much be the flexibility as the ability of paint to stick. Clean it really well with a harsh soap and a scrub and then prime it with a plastic specific spraypaint such as Krylon Camoflage or somesuch.

If it's PVC like bones then I highly recommend Gesso. It's got a bit of flex to it and will stick well. As with Polyurethane, wash it well. Expect that you might have to touch-up the initial prime as gesso shrinks a bit as it dries.

Sorry to hijack but I have a similar problem and would appreciate any suggestions.
I have a finecast techmarine with servo harness that I stripped in dettol as the primer went on too thick. I left the model in the dettol way too long and now the axe and most of the servo arms are really soft and flexible, they seem to return to original position but will bend real easy just picking the model up from any of those parts. Oddly enough although the dettol has obviously penetrated the resin I cant break any of the superglue bonds to unassemble and attempt to swap some parts.

Sorry again and thanks in advance.

Jamie Shred wrote:
Sorry to hijack but I have a similar problem and would appreciate any suggestions.
I have a finecast techmarine with servo harness that I stripped in dettol as the primer went on too thick. I left the model in the dettol way too long and now the axe and most of the servo arms are really soft and flexible, they seem to return to original position but will bend real easy just picking the model up from any of those parts. Oddly enough although the dettol has obviously penetrated the resin I cant break any of the superglue bonds to unassemble and attempt to swap some parts.

Sorry again and thanks in advance.

Gesso is still probably your best bet. I use Liquitex in white or black. Though, you may still have to be careful not to pic it up by those parts. Is the material soft enough that you could push a fine sewing pin in to strengthen the piece lengthwise? Sometimes a heated needle can be pushed right through. It may even be possible to superglue glue a pin along an edge if it is strait. It would just look like a pipe or tube and would add some rigidity.

How do I tell if it is pvc or not? This is the miniature http://www.trollandtoad.com/p278444.html

 Eilif wrote:

Jamie Shred wrote:

Gesso is still probably your best bet. I use Liquitex in white or black. Though, you may still have to be careful not to pic it up by those parts. Is the material soft enough that you could push a fine sewing pin in to strengthen the piece lengthwise? Sometimes a heated needle can be pushed right through. It may even be possible to superglue glue a pin along an edge if it is strait. It would just look like a pipe or tube and would add some rigidity.

Thanks mate heated pins sounds perfect for the harness

hasdrubalsbrother wrote:
How do I tell if it is pvc or not? This is the miniature http://www.trollandtoad.com/p278444.html

Pretty much all collectible D&D and "clix" minis are PVC. If you want to do an experiment, you might try painting right over the existing paintjob. Oftentimes the paint that is there is a fine basecoat in itself. I've painted over a fair number of clix minis, some with primer some just over the existing paint. Whatever you choose, I'd defintitely wash it first to remove any residue or finger oils.

One other thing to beware of is that PVC figures don't always play well with enamel spray paints. The VOC's that come out of spray cans sometimes interact poorly with PVC. Sometimes it'll work just fine and sometimes you'll be left with a sticky surface that refuses to dry. I recommend acrylic paints or gesso's for PVC.

Jamie Shred wrote:
Thanks mate heated pins sounds perfect for the harness

You're very welcome good luck with the restoration

Coming from a backyard car painter, there is a lot of flex additives you can buy as well, i've used them on parts like dirtbike mudguards that flex and get banged around a lot that normally paint would crack and come off. A real good base-primer is needed as well though to stop flaking.

I thought that I would give some feedback. The monster is not undercoated and so had no primer on it already.

I tried my usual enamel spray and it went on fine and dried fine. However it did not appear to adhere to the plastic as well as it does to the normal miniatures - with a bit of scratching with my fingernail it began to come off (usually it bonds so strongly this is not possible).

I have looked into the Gesso but am not convinced that it would be much better - from what I can see a lot of the Gesso just uses PVA glue as the binder (and I would be surprised whether this would adhere more strongly than the spray).

I am wondering whether a mix could be made up using PVC glue instead and whether this would adhere more strong.

Any other suggestions?