rkc
Wrangler
Posts: 83
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Post by rkc on Apr 4, 2011 19:17:30 GMT -5
Quote from Ebay seller, listing custom heads. ( customized with scultping material and paint to create a unique and original Johnny West )
What kind of sculpting material have ya'll used on the heads, also which is the best paint for the heads?
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Post by Lee on Apr 5, 2011 6:36:17 GMT -5
Rick, I have used Apoxie Sculpt before. But after Scott & Terri recommended Magic Sculpt I would never go back. It is much easier to work and smoothes with water. It has about 20 minutes or so open time and completely hardens within a day. You can paint it before it hardens too. I highly recommend the Magic Sculpt.
The first recommendation I got on paint, was something Noah had written -- use the craft acrylics you find in the Craft stores (Michaels, AC Moore, Walmart). These companies also make a primer. Always use the clear primer first. After painting, I seal with a spray water based acrylic. Then I do a light coat of Tester's 'Dull Coat'. But you do *not* want to use the oil based paints directly on the rubber of the heads.
For the bodies, we have had some luck with the spray 'plastic paints', but we have also used the craft acrylics for them as well. The bodies are much more prone to scratching the paint off.
Lee
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Post by cobrasam on Apr 6, 2011 19:13:55 GMT -5
Is Magic Sculpt like that two part epoxy putty stick that you can find in Home Despot? I've had good success with that for adding beards and such. There's also one that's called "Instant Steel" or something like that that's good for viking helmets since it's really hard, but also there are ones that cure softer. Like Lee said, they can be smoothed with water and they adhere really well to heads. As far as body painting goes, I've had a lot of success with the spot paint you can get at the car stores. It's designed to withstand chipping. I think it sort of acetones into the plastic and that's why it sticks. As a car color, it's usually in high gloss, but you can use that dullcoat on it or any semi-gloss/flat (non-yellowing!) spray coat too. It smells crazy toxic, so definitely paint outside. I think the problem with painting bodies is that they're sort of waxy (well, *plasticizery*, but that's harder to say) so they don't take paint well. One thing I'm about to try is to see if brushing on Superglue on the area I want to paint really thin to create a rougher hard surface helps. Oh yeah, and Superglue is also good for brushing on *over* something you've painted to reduce chipping. Again though - watch out for the fumes. But I've mainly done small details - boots, cavalry pant stripes, etc. I doubt either of these could hold up on elbow and knee joints very long. Vinyl paint is good for heads, but the color choices are really limited. Black, Gray, Tan, Red White, Blue - and that's it
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Post by stewartsattic on Apr 6, 2011 20:38:10 GMT -5
Hey Cobra, The Magic sculpt is a little more of a professional molding product than the home depot putty sticks you mention. I"ve used most of those. The issue is the fineness of the elements. Magic sculpt uses a super fine element that smooths out a lot better then the rougher / more course grain elements used in the home depot items. I use that stuff for interior support and to 'attach' pieces together and then use the more expensive magic sculpt as a cover or when the area needs really fine feathering into the existing part... No way to completely remove the line between two components coming together but with Magic Sculpt you can get really close to creating invisible blends....
Also I've been using the cheap brand super glue as you mentioned and I agree with ya!
Scott
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Post by cobrasam on Apr 6, 2011 22:10:26 GMT -5
Hi Scott-
Sounds like good stuff. Honestly the only real casting I've done - that is making molds for the epoxy - is for viking helmets and weapons. There I'm not that concerned about detail since it's mainly smooth surfaces (with the occasional sword dent, naturally) that I end up sanding. However I'd like to get into more detailed work. So I'll check it out.
By the way, not to get too far off the subject of scultping but more on the subject of paint and coloring, but has anyone used vinyl dye on figures? Not vinyl paint (which can be scratched or paint-thinnered off and only works well on the heads and soft plastics), and not the fabric RIT dye (which fades like crazy and gives unpredictable color results), but an actual chemical dye used for leathers and nylon carpet and such? I see a lot of people who are into changing the color of plastic on computer cases and paint ball guns and Legos and such swear by it since supposedly it's not a scratchable extra layer like a paint. But for the life of me I can't find it anywhere - just online. I know VHT, which makes specialized paints, makes some.
As far as I can tell it's main ingredient is acetone, like in nail polish remover (maybe that's why I can't find it - it's probably super flammable), and so it chemically changes/softens the top layer of plastic and allows the dye to seep in. After a day or two the plastic hardens back up and locks it in place. So it would be like the auto body paint I mentioned before, but without the layering. I'm not chemist but in theory it makes sense, though I'm skeptical because supposedly you can "dye" dark colors lighter.
Anyway, I'm willling to get some and be a guinea pig on this (I just won't light any matches), and see if it can color the Marx bodies. But if anyone has tried it already and can tell me now not to bother and to not risk burning my eyebrows off, then I won't.
Again - sorry if I've hijacked the thread.
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Post by stewartsattic on Apr 7, 2011 5:58:12 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with the vinyl dye... Sounds promising and if your 'non-chemist' explanation is correct then this is just what we need! Please experiment... Possibly those other sources, Lego - paint ballers, would be willing to share their source. If this pans out it could be really great. I can already see a process where you 'dip' the figure into the dye up to the belt line to change the color of the pants and then reverse it and dip it into another color to get the shirt... and then just little touch up's to get things like the belt and belt loops and boots and you have a real nice custom...... Scott
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