Chariots

[Fenton]

Hi

Have you tried spraying the figs with testors dullcote?

This gives a very matt finish, I use it with army painter and it kills the glossy finish completly

Nice Chariots by the way....Just got one more Egyptian chariot to finish myself ( they seem to have taken ages)

[despertaferro]

Hi Fenton
I'll try to find this product and make a test. Thank you very much!
The figures are not just glossy, but also sticky, like not completly dry. And the funny thing is that they look perfectly dull and dry when were finished. They turn like that after a feww days
My theory is that is the plastic inside wich is slightly melted at the surface level and, because it is sealed by the barnish coat and not in contact with the air, does not dry. But I'm not a scientist, so I'm not sure about.
If you drop a soft plastic figure inside a pot with enamel thinner you'll see what happen to it...

ModernKiwi, you're right. Even if you wait until a coat is completly dry, next coat will soft everything up again

[despertaferro]

Hi all, I'll try to bring more light to this glossy/sticky matter.

All those figures are from my hittite army. All of them painted in exactly the same way, at the same time. Four different manufacturers, Atlantic, Esci, Hat and Caesar. All figures are of good, nicely designed and produced. The only difference bettwen them is the plastic quality.

I hope that helps to clear everything up.

[Paul]

It is the plastic!! I thought it was just me, when I paint any manufacturers figs I stick to my style, good or bad, irrespective of the plastics colour, gummi , hard or whatever type of plastic and I´ve noticed, particually with strelets figures, the result don´t match my other efforts. also metal figs end up with a different end result. Always assumed, one base coat and away I go, now I´ll have to rethink.
Thanks despertaferro for posting the last pics as an example

[Martin]

Hi despertaferro,
The skintone of the figs seems very good to me.
Good paintwork!

[ModernKiwi]

Just a thought despertaferro, but I suspect that the thinners within enamel paints are what is affecting the plastic of the figures you (and I) are having problems with. I am going to try sealing the figure first with a coat of white acrylic.

Right, well I have just undercoated a dozen Caesar figures with white acrylic. Will wait and see how that turns out. If it doesn't work, I may try Gesso.

[despertaferro]

I think you're right, the thinners are the problem. I tried once to paint the figures with an acrylic coat first but only delayed for a few days the appearance of the shinny look. But maybe the coat was'nt thick enough.
Just let me now what you find!

[ModernKiwi]

Well I ended up painting 6 Caesar Modern US figures with an undercoat of white acrylic, then painting with enamels over the top. The results were ... mixed. I think I must have depended upon how thickly I undercoated. Some had a very good result, while others are still sticky 18 hours after the initial enamel coat. But even those (perhaps only in my imagination) are less sticky than their non-undercoated brothers.

I will buy some Gesso this week (hopefully in white as black will make things harder for me), and see how that performs.

[despertaferro]

Wow, that was quick! I would take a week to find it out. Great information! Thank you very much for sharing! I guess we have to change to acrylics, somehow... Because some figures may loose detail with a too thick base coat...

[Paul]

I changed to Acrylics a while back cos of many reasons, one being a `shiny effect`They also have a quiker drying time and seem to mix better.

[ModernKiwi]

Just a quick update, but all of the Caesars I painted seem to have the paint fully dried and can be handled without any sticky-ness. I am going to keep using the undercoat from now on.

[despertaferro]

These are good news! I'll do the same thing from now on. Thank you very much, ModernKiwi
Would be nice to see how these figures looks like... Knowing your previous works, I'm sure they're great