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Anyone know how hot these plastic GW miniatures can get without risk of damaging them?

170 degrees if i recall correctly

 maxwin wrote:
170 degrees if i recall correctly

Nice. I only want about 120 to bake on some oil paint, so it sounds they're well safe. I'll guess I should test it out with a bit of sprue first though...

Why do you need to bake on oil paint? Just give it a few days to dry fully.

 Mr. Grey wrote:
Why do you need to bake on oil paint? Just give it a few days to dry fully.

A few days? I'm slow enough painter already!!

... to be clear I'm not painting entirely in oils in one sitting, at least not my current project. Sometimes I just use oils here and there for a wash or blend and want to continue with acrylics afterwards ... like 20 minutes afterwards, let alone within two days.

I stored my minis in a metal trailer one summer, baking in the 100-degree sun. The models were okay, but the bases warped and needed to be replaced. Apparently the black plastic is different than the gray...

I would be very careful. Even using boiling water (i.e. less than 100C) can distort plastic parts. In particular thin pieces and areas that where plastic glue has been applied.

If you want to do anythign heat related by advice would be lower heat for longer. ymmv though

I wouldn't be putting minis in the oven, oils or no. Honestly,I would just save all your oil work until the end. This is what I do and what I believe most other folks who use oils do. If you want them to dry faster, you can get the abteilung oils which are made for mini painting, or buy a drying accelerant. It's also a good idea to leave your oils on some paper or cardboard for a few hours pre paint session to wick some of the oil medium out before use. Basically, working with oils requires a trade off in terms of extended drying time. You basically need to accept this as a small price to pay for the nice smooth blends you get with oil paints.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I wouldn't be putting minis in the oven, oils or no. Honestly,I would just save all your oil work until the end. This is what I do and what I believe most other folks who use oils do. If you want them to dry faster, you can get the abteilung oils which are made for mini painting, or buy a drying accelerant. It's also a good idea to leave your oils on some paper or cardboard for a few hours pre paint session to wick some of the oil medium out before use. Basically, working with oils requires a trade off in terms of extended drying time. You basically need to accept this as a small price to pay for the nice smooth blends you get with oil paints.

I am aware of those things, but thanks for your reply regardless.

I don't need to accept anything with metal miniatures of course. It's very convenient to be able to bake it on. If I can with plastics, then I will, but I'll try with some experiments first.

The idea of putting miniatures in the oven worries me, to be honest. I've had fine details start to droop just from the hairdryer.

GW's plastic is polystyrene. It starts to soften at around 100C/212F, which is why some people dip plastic parts in boiling water in order to bend them, but it doesn't become nearly as pliant as FW resin.

Cooking ovens are notoriously unreliable about temperature. They'll regularly soar 100+F past their set temperature, then wait until they get well below the set temperature to turn back on. That's just how they work. You also get hot and cold spots, with metal grates potentially becoming much hotter than the set temperature due to infrared absorption. Bad idea.

I use a food dehydrator to accelerate drying/curing of oil washes, water effects, and varnishes. Set to 70C/158F I have never had any problems with plastic, and it reduces drying times enormously.

If you see yourself regularly using oil paints, invest in a cheap dehydrator. Don't put your models in the oven.

Thanks guys, I will take your advice and not put my plastic models in the oven.

I usually paint old-school metal ones and of course they are no problem!