Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

On my desk like a lot of wargamers, you may find alot of unused modeling paint. So I decided to do an experiment. I have a controller that I recently poped the shell off and I'm ready to paint up.

It's called the Hori fighting Cmdr. It's going to be used regularly for online Fighting Games. Such as Injustice, Mortal kombat etc. How might this relate to wargaming you might ask.. well Paint..

We're going to test how long just acrylic paint lasts from being handled daily. We're going to see if you really really need varnish.

So the Paint that was Chosen is P3 Wurm green. Over a cheap rattle can of army painter black. No varnish. Hand painted.

So here we have the Hori fighting cmndr or what a new one would like look. My initial pics didn't turn out okay. So I posted this.

varnish one half of it

it will still rub off. varnish is a protective layer, but its not indestructible. the way i see it, varnish is for a uniform layer, you still need to be careful with your models, and only handle them by the base even if they are varnished.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
it will still rub off. varnish is a protective layer, but its not indestructible. the way i see it, varnish is for a uniform layer, you still need to be careful with your models, and only handle them by the base even if they are varnished.

That's probably the outcome. But when and after how much contact with the paint.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Right so.. continuing on The Controller was undercoated with army painter black. Sanded than primed again. Than a base coat of wurm green, sanded and another base coat etc... all very watered down until it was shaded and finished. I did not highlight lol. And I only used shading in the panel lines on the D-Pad.

Now we're going to see just how long it will take for this acrylic from P3 to ware of. On a note without varnish the controller does feel uncomfortable to the touch it gets almost sticky after long use do to sweaty palms. However it's nearly comparable to a unpainted controller.



I wouldn't say it's my best paint job but it's good enough for the experiment. I plan to retouch it and finish it off after the experiment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
free pic upload


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On a side note if you're interested in gaming. Hori makes a bunch of fighting controllers that have improved my ability to win by a large margin. The d pad is tight. They also make a PS4 Version. The cool thing is that you can toggle the d pad to act as a stick.. so you can play space marine on this thing easily with surprisingly good precession.

Updated.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
As far as I can tell after using this thing for at least 4 hours a day. Somedays longer. That it does hold up really well to fighting games. It's only rubbed off around the thumb pad. After some intense use.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
However if you look closely it also rubbed off the primer. So my conclusion is your models don't rest need varnish. They're is no possibility that you're going to be rubbing your models or touching them this much. Unless you're into that sort of thing :/

You do you I guess. Anyways my suggestion is a light Matt varnish to add something. But you really don't need multiple hard shiny lacquer finishes. Even if you're using your models every day for a year . Your not going to take the paint off by regular use.

Thanks for the experiment.

Pro Tips: Don't handle your minis much once they are painted. Pick them up by their bases instead. Keep your grubby little fingers clean. Natural oils produced by and secreted by your skin, play havoc on paints.

I stopped varnishing minis years ago. No problems keeping paint on them.

Isn't a game controller made of a totally different plastic to a miniature anyway?

PossumCraft wrote:
Isn't a game controller made of a totally different plastic to a miniature anyway?

As long as there are no special coating the way primers sit on plastics are mostly similar, so this would be a fair comparison.

Matter of fact, this experiment can be done on any kind of non-porous/semi-porous surface and would yield similar proof-of-concept results.

there are other variables of course.. The main one I can think of being the surface angles. a nice flat smooth surface like that will be less likely to have paint rub off than a pointy area like a weapon, or something with lots of ruts and crags like fur etc, which reinforces the point of handling miniatures by the base.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
there are other variables of course.. The main one I can think of being the surface angles. a nice flat smooth surface like that will be less likely to have paint rub off than a pointy area like a weapon, or something with lots of ruts and crags like fur etc, which reinforces the point of handling miniatures by the base.

This.

It's all well and good to have a large flat surface maintain it's paint with primer. But lets say... a death watch shoulder pad which is nothing but edges? Every rub on those is going to wear at the paint on the edges of every bump way worse then anything that is happening on that controller.

This can be seen in a large scale practical kind of way on the interior of houses.

Ceilings are often flat paint both to hide defects but also because flat paint, being the least durable, is fine for an area that basically never gets touched (the exception to that is kitchen and bathrooms where rising moisture means the ceilings need more durability.

Walls are generally a satin or middle shine finish where they can be washed but not scrubbed (again except kitchens and bathrooms.

But trim work (around doors, windowsills, base and crown molding) is often a high shine enamel that dries very hard because those edges are the areas that tend to rubbed against and take the most abuse.

In any kind of painting it's known that the edges are the most susceptible to long term degradation, wear, and tear. Your models are almost nothing but edges. Anyone who has had to strip a model can probably tell you how they had to scrub out crevices but the middle of a large flat surface and especially the raised edges probably came clean almost immediately. Also, if you ever primed a whole bunch of guys and then played with them before getting around to painting you will see a lot of the edges of the primer come off too. The tops of vents for Tyranid models for example. Granted, primer sucks for durability, but it just shows you where the wear and tear actually occurs.

PossumCraft wrote:
Isn't a game controller made of a totally different plastic to a miniature anyway?

Yes. The kind that doesn't hold paint as well.