How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

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godsgopher
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How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by godsgopher »

Well its looking like we are only a few weeks away from seeing the first shipments of Robotech RPG Tactics arriving on our doorsteps. Therefore its time to start thinking about actually putting together this huge box of plastic bits. Now I'm not going to insult the lot of you by telling you what superglue is. Or explaining how to hold a hobby knife so you don't cut yourself. You know these things, and if you don't experience is a better teacher than I am. No worries though I hear gamer chicks dig guys with less than ten fingers!

Now I know some of you are just going to slap these together so you can get straight to the gaming table. But I am going to assume that the reason your putting everything together is to prepare these mecha for being painted to the best of your ability. So to that end there are some things you are going to want to be aware of. First and foremost these miniatures come in a lot of piece. This makes them a tad more intimidating to assemble than your average space marine. But don't let that dissuade you. However not only are there many pieces but a few of the UEF Mecha have some insanely small bits. In their quest for perfect detail Palladium made several design decisions that resulted in over detailing. From a modeling point of view this is wonderful, but from a gamer point of view this is beyond annoying when that piece that's 1.5 millimeters across goes flying across the room and your crawling across the floor looking for it. The bottom line is be aware that cutting these tiny pieces loose from the frames might go flying on you and be extra careful when removing them and keep them in a lid or some receptical that wont result in them getting mistaken for a bit of flotsam on the table.

So now your looking a 10+ pieces of plastic in grey or brown and your ready to glue it all together. WAIT!!!! Not so fast! you need to sand down the pieces to remove parts of the attaching sprew left on them. Leaving those little bits on the pieces can interfere with assembly and painting. What? O.C.D.? Look just because my family has a little German in us is no cause for you to be sloppy and ignore those hanging bits of plastic chaff that must be removed mein herr! *coughs*

Fine, ignore them if you wish. But for those of you who are perfectionist like myself let me recommend the following tools. When I first started working on these miniatures I was using a set of various metal files I have had for years. Unfortunately these are plastic miniatures. The metal files are too rough on them and just end up scratching the surface into ruin. What you need to use are nail boards. Or Emery boards. In addition I strongly recommend a finger nail tool called a Pedicure Shine Block.

Example:
http://www.dhgate.com/product/shine-acr ... 66725.html

This is designed to smooth a nail or remove small bits of it to help shape it. Its the perfect tool to shape and smooth out your plastic bits to your hearts desire.

All done? Its perfectly smooth? No seam lines? No little bits of flash remaining? WHAT!?!? I see one bit of flash! Start over! Do it all again! It must be perfect! *coughs* Excuse me. I'll try and restrain myself. Now where was I?

Its time to put it all together. Right! Lets talk about glue. Most of you are looking for your super glue and I would like you to stop for just a moment. Super glue is very nice and it will do a great job for you on these miniatures. But allow me to offer you an alternative.

http://www.plastruct.com/pages/CementGuide.html

This is a chemical product that actually melts the plastic allowing two coated pieces to be "welded" together. Forming a much stronger bond than super glue. Of course while you can generally desolve and break super glue apart with some effort your not as likely to get these pieces apart once they set. However the real reason I want to push this on you is to eliminate those unsightly seam lines we all hate so much.

I'm not going to spend the time running the who's, the whys, or the hows of how exactly these seams came into being on the miniatures. Whats done is done. Now lets talk about how to get rid of them shall we? *coughs* By using the plastic weld and applying pressure we can seal the seam as close as possible. Be careful not to get your fingers on any of the surfaces you coat with plastic weld as the melted plastic is vulnerable to fingerprints until it fully re-hardens. If you do get out your pedicure pad and sand! Sand until its perfect!! *coughs* Sand it down till its nice and clean.

Now a tightly welded piece will often do most of the work for you. But some of these peices are just stubborn. For those your going to need some greenstuff. Games Workshop produces a nice product called "Liquid Greenstuff" that can easily be applied with a brush and dries much quicker than traditional green stuff. Its perfect for filling any cracks and holes left in the miniature. Allow plenty of time to dry and sand away any excess with your nail pad.

Work carefully to assemble all of the multi-part pieces like the missile pods and the legs. Make sure your lines are clean as these will show up as rather unsightly lines when you start painting the mecha. Once you have all the half peices togather and sanded your ready to put the whole mecha together. Try and take some time to think about the leg positions of the miniatures. How you pose them can give them a good deal of character. At the very least you don't want them to look like some cookie cutter factory made them. Plastic green Army Men these are not! Make sure they fit onto the bases (unless you also have German ancestry and insist on painting them off the bases because the base must be a work of art unto itself. *coughs*)

Also be aware that some of the mechas legs were designed to attach only to specific hips. Not only this but some of the Zentradi Legs dont match. So if your pulling from a pile of pieces make sure all of them fit together before gluing or welding. And one last thing, make sure you get the UEF mecha legs facing the right way. I accidentally assembled a Tomahawk with backwards legs because I was not paying attention. Learn from my mistake, don't repeat it.

Alright if you manage to get to this point you have spent hours of work putting together perfect miniatures ready for priming to the highest standards of miniature art. PUT DOWN THE CAN OF KRYLON PRIMER! PUT IT DOWN!! SCHNELL!! *coughs* I would recommend any number of miniature primers but my favorite for detailed miniatures if Vallajo's brush-on / spray-on primer which is a little expensive but goes a long way and lays incredibly smooth on the miniature.

Allow plenty of drying time between priming and painting. Several hours at the least a day is preferable. you should now be ready to start applying paint but that's the subject of another post I think. Put down the trowel that IS NOT A PAINTING TOOL!!!
rosco60559
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by rosco60559 »

sometimes you need to put the models in warm soapy water to make sure all the release agent is off the plastic, rinse well. as for primer rustoleum's painter's touch 2x paint/primer works well, preferably flat black,flat white or flat grey. after priming all angles let it sit to dry for a day then paint your little heart out.
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Phaze »

I concur, sirs...

Plastruct (orange bottle) glue is the best for putting plastic minis together. Done.

I also (some may call me a heretic) like the rustoleum's painter's touch 2x (flat black, flat white, primer grey). It covers really well, leaves the detail alone, and takes acrylic paint very well.

Don't stop now, Godsgopher. Your on a roll. :-D
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rosco60559
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by rosco60559 »

I'm partial to testors model master for building plastic figs and metals normally gap filling stuff like zap-a-gap.
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Alpha 11
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Alpha 11 »

This is a lot of info. So thanks for giving it to us!
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godsgopher
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by godsgopher »

No problem. I figure these miniatures mean as much to you guys as they mean to me. So I know you want them to look their best. As a painter its hard to know what someone does or doesn't know. I tried to simply tell of my experiences and what I have encountered.
Mike1975
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Mike1975 »

Here is what a group came up with on the Facebook Page and it is in the files section. Feel free to add to it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1440349 ... up_comment

Painting and Prep Guide

http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/paintingclinic/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0037VD5EM...

Step 1, Dish soap and water. It will remove all of the mold release agents the factory used.

Step 2, Remove from sprue with hobby side shears. Games Workshop and Army Builder can be found online. Using xacto will damage figure and you!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0037VD5EM...

Step 2.5 - X-acto any model deformations/sand them.

Step 3, Glueing. Ok, so use ZapaGap or something that is not a cynoacrylate (hope I spelled that right) to glue breakable parts so that the part will come off and not break. Use Loctite or some other cynoacrylate to glue solid parts that will not break if the minis falls.

Step 3.5 use green modellers putty to fill the inevitable gaps in poor models.

Step 3.75 sand down/X-acto excess modellers putty.

Step 4, Priming, use modeling primer, not spraypaint.
To prime models I use Duplicolor sandable primer. You can get it at most auto parts stores for around $7 per can. It sprays on thin so as not to obscure detail.

Step 5, undercoat with wash

Step 6, Paint Body
regarding painting I have 3 Items: 1) THIN YOUR PAINTs, a good guide to how much water to add is: if you can see streaks or brush stroke in your paint (right when you put it on) add a little water, if the paint is not staying in place, add a little paint. Do not paint straight from the pot, and multiple thin coats will give you much better results than one gloppy one 2) Prime these mini white not black, as they all use bright, light colors (sometimes even white) and you will save yourself a lot of work. 3) If you are worried about missed spots/recesses that is what inks are for.

Step 7, Dry-Brush Highlights

Step 8, Paint secondary color

Step 9, Dry-Brush Seconday Color highlights

Step 10, Touch ups

Step 11, Black Wash

Step 12, Detailing

Step 13, Dull Coat Seal?

Step 14, Touch up base and style
Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic
www.brookhursthobbies.com

Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic
www.brookhursthobbies.com
Dirty Herby
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Dirty Herby »

There is also another plastic cement you can get at Home Depot. :shock: :shock: :shock:

It's called Methyl Ethyl Keytone or MEK (32 oz. can $9.96 at Home Depot) and it's what most if not all the plastic cement manufacturers use as the base ingredient for their cements. The only difference is that the plastic cements have additives in them to keep the MEK from evaporating as quickly as straight MEK. As for a dispenser I just saw the other day that Hobby Lobby sells this:

Fine Tip Applicator

Also in doing a quick web search I found this company:

Precision Oiler Plus
Wish I had found this company when I was searching for these dispenser's last year. :x :x

My son just finished building a 40K Tau Battle Box army and he had no problems with the MEK and there was a small learning curve on how to apply the cement with the dispenser (the MEK comes out a little fast).

To add to Mike1975's post about proper tools I would like to point people to this website:

Micro Mark
A fabulous hobby tool website.

Well hope this helps out.
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godsgopher
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by godsgopher »

Great information! Thank you for tossing it our way. There are so many products on the market that it gets hard to keep up. Also sometimes you find something that works for you and simply stop looking at whats available. Ill see if I can do a full read up when I have more time.
rosco60559
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by rosco60559 »

Don't forget the testors contour putty for seem filling as well. Might be easier than green stuff or gw's liquid green stuff.
Vang
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Vang »

rosco60559 wrote:Don't forget the testors contour putty for seem filling as well. Might be easier than green stuff or gw's liquid green stuff.


I've used Testor's Contour Putty and the two part Green Stuff putty. I can safely say that Green Stuff is far superior for plastic and metal miniatures. Sure, it's more expensive but the versatility of Green Stuff far outweighs the cost and it lasts forever. It's far easier to work with and doesn't have the toxic vapors Contour Putty has. Plus once you get good with it, you can start shaping and sculpting your own bitz and details with the leftover material.

As for GW's Liquid Green Stuff, I've barely used it. It dries smaller than it goes on and it doesn't seem to fill anything but the thinnest of seams and gaps well. On top of that the poor design of GW paint pots means it's got a shelf life of months due to evaporation as the cap doesn't seal airtight.
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rosco60559
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by rosco60559 »

While I do like the 2 part green stuff I almost all ways mix too much. The liquid stuf I grabbed as a quick try on a few things and after laying it on thick it did ok. The testors I've had really good results on plastic figs in combo with various sculpting tools and there doesn't seem to be as much wasted, just put the cap back on the tube and you're done.
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Shawn Merrow »

When removing parts from the sprue it also handy to have something to put the parts in. I'm using a tackle box that I got at Walmart. It has 5-20 adjustable compartments. I put each type of part in its own compartment (left legs, right legs). It helps stop parts from running away if you bump the table. If you have to stop before finishing you can just close the box and all the parts will stay where you put them.
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Grabula
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Re: How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting

Unread post by Grabula »

Some good stuff! I like to keep things simple, I've been scratch building and modelling for years and I've sort of simplified everything so I can work faster and cut down on clutter.

I have a bottle of the plastruct bondene - I do a ton of styrene scratchbuilding and this stuff is fantastic for forming bonds, as godsgopher mentioned, it bonds the plastic welding it together. Once applied and cured plastic will break everywhere else but the bonding site! It takes a few minutes to cure enough for you to work so I generally get everything ready to glue then begin gluing a couple of pieces together at a time. It'll totally cure over night but in this case you probably don't have to worry too much about waiting that long. One last thing on this glue - it will soften the plastic around where you apply it so apply it sparingly and don't press the parts together too hard.

A hobby knife can get done about 75-80% of everything you need to do on a plastic model. I use modeling clippers to cut parts from sprues. With kits that have small parts like this I highly recommend you hold the piece you're cutting so it doesn't fly away from you when you clip. for hard to get to pieces I just lay the sprue down on a cutting mat and use my hobby knife - again, hold the piece down with a finger so it doesn't fly away!

Once the pieces are removed I generally just use the hobby knife to clean off extra sprue bits and mold lines. Scrap the knife along mold lines or where bits of sprue are still on the piece and it goes quick.

TEST FIT! I sometimes get into a zone cutting and gluing and occasionally I find pieces that need a little scraping or filing in order to get them to fit together tightly.

Painting is to taste really. I rarely clean models before painting and I've been lucky enough not to have any issues but it's not a bad idea. Depending on how pronounced the detail is,or how many models I have to paint I'll use either cheap Krylon primer bought at walmart - it's about 2$ a can but test spray first to make sure it's not coming out weird, otherwise I find it works great and it's dirt cheap. For pieces I really want the detail to pop on I use Tamiya primer - this stuff comes out powder fine and really smooth. Perfect for airbrushing if you're into that.

I'll probably production line most of the models, painting a handfull at a time and focusing more time on the character pieces. A good rule of thumb is to keep a painting diary - write down what colors you use and if you mix, what your mixture consists of. Dab a little of the color on the paper next to the description for reference.

I mentioned in my intro post that I'll be blogging my robotech hobby experience to add to the growing amount of helpful info already being provided by other players.
In the middle of painting my first mecha!
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