So you’re ready to start painting, and you’re wondering which is the best paint to use on Marvel Legends, DC Super Heroes, JLU figures, etc.

Ask many people and you’ll get many answers, but here are some quick tips to get you started.

First, you always, always want to use acrylic paints! Enamels will be tacky and sticky and are not good for the types of plastic used to produce action figures!

Now, here’s the part where everyone’s got their own opinions- what brand of paint should you use?

The answer is really simple- whichever you prefer! Experiment with different brands and see what suits you best. The more indepth answer is coming up:

Mike and I both use a combination of Testors and Folk Art/Apple Barrel/Plaid acrylics. Many people tout Testors as the be-all end-all, but we’re here to tell you it’s not always what you use, but how you use it!

Before you touch brush to plastic, be prepared! You’ll need the following:

Paint (no kidding!)
Brushes (I use Blumenthal Craft brushes from Wal-Mart. They’re about $6.00 for a nice variety pack.)
Cup or container of water (to rinse your brushes in).
Palette (to mix your paints in)
Paper towels (you can figure this one out!)
Brush holder (optional, but they are nice!)

Look for “chapter 2: Painting the Figure”, coming soon!

And remember, check out our site!
http://www.rocksolidcustoms.net

-Joel

JMH
http://www.jomihacustoms.com

Great thread Joel, I just wanted to add one thing.

One important note, if you go with craft paints, which I love, you’ll need a sealer to protect the paint. I use Krylon, Crystal Clear, you can pick it up with the spray paints. Joel, just picked me up, Model Master, flat clear acryl. I haven’t used it yet, but I’ve seen Joel’s finished products with it, and it just awesome.

L8R,
Rom

He who has the most Toys when we die wins.

That’s great info.  Thanks.  Do you use primer?  How do you keep the paint from looking too thick?

What is the process for covering up the bullseye on Bullseye’s head?  Do you use some kind of putty?  Do you mold your own heads?

Hey track100, those are some really great questions.

I usually don’t use any primer, but some people do. I think JoMiHa uses Krylon sometimes, but I’ll let Joel clarify that for you. If a figure is a base color of white or black, I’ll go with Krylon Fusion. I also hear a Krylon H2O works very well.

One way to keep the paint from clumping is to thin it with a little water. Or, what I do is once I have on my paint, I’ll take a fresh brush, get it damp and go over the figure after each layer. Once you get your technique down it will be like second nature.

I use Apoxie Sculpt for almost all of my sculpting, it a 2 part epoxy that has about a 3 hours work life, but it is self harden and works like magic. http://www.avesstudio.com/Products/products.html

But, when I first started out I went with Super Sculpey, the only thing about it is that you have to heat the clay with a lighter or boil it, to make it hard. If you need anymore info on SS just let me know.

For Bullseye’s head symbol just take a little SS, press it thin and then use it to fill the gaps on the target. Once it’s filled just heat it by running the flame of a lighter around it. Don’t hold it in one place b/c you’ll burn the figure. Or if you go with AS, do the same as above expect no heat.

L8R,
Rom

He who has the most Toys when we die wins.