Resin figures

[slusher]

Is ir really hard to paint resin figures?  I have never painted resin figures.

[Khils]

The faces are what stall me!  Never get the eyes to look good enough! (arrgh)

[vamach1]

I’m sure the IPMS and soldier modelers could chime in.  It makes a big difference what scale you are dealing with insofar as the realism factor, that is, the larger the scale I think the more challenging it is.  You can probably find some books of info on the basic techniques regardless if the figure is plastic, resin or metal.  If you’re doing a particular historical person or sci-fi creature I would gather color pictures and flatten whatever base paints you end up using.  I’m sure there are articles aplenty in old magazines that should be helpful.  There are some crazy talented people out there but the rest of us just experiment to see what works.  Although this Creature was built from the plastic kit I think it came out decent for the only one I’ve built in the last 40 years.

Edited October 27, 2020 by vamach1

[cobraman]

I have never had the best of luck doing that but I am sure youtube would help you.

[StevenGuthmiller]

The eyes are what always look bad in most instances.

I haven't painted any figures since many years ago when I was on a Dungeons and Dragons binge. (I never role played, I just liked painting the figures) 

The biggest mistake made is painting the eyeball white followed by a black dot in the middle.

Although it might be difficult to get this detailed on something very small, here is a general tutorial on how to paint eyes on figurines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

[cobraman]

I remember reading that you should not add any detail that you would not see if a real person was (in scale ) that far away from you . ????

[StevenGuthmiller]

With figures, washes and highlighting are really crucial to create realism.

I am by no means an expert on painting figures, but I think that I did pretty well looking back on it now.

These are a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons figures that I painted more than 35 years ago.

They're pretty beat up and dirty, and the pewter is showing through in some places, but you can see from these pics how I depended heavily on washes and highlighting.

 

Just to put them in scale, the women "warriors" in the 4th photo and the skeletons are about 1 inch tall, and the dragon in the final pics is a little over 3 inches high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 27, 2020 by StevenGuthmiller

[vamach1]

Very impressive Steve.  Definitely more realistic looking than the actor in the rubber suit I tried to replicate. ?

[slusher]

I have painted mechanic figures but they are not resin. I did not attempt the eyes. I have a Revell miss Hurst figure and she looks wall eyed from Revell.  Great dragons Steve.! 

[peteski]

Resin or plastic - painting technique will be the same for both materials.  Well, polystyrene is also a type of a resin.

[Nazz]

I have done some work with resin, both figures and cars. I find they are the same. The best advice I can give is do the prep work. There are many techniques to getting a good finish. One thing I would recommend is to use layers  to get the affect you want. Shading is important to add depth to the model. Otherwise it will look like a model. Steve's advice is right on the money . {Nice work Steve} especially where the eyes are concerned. They are critical the  piece. I still struggle to get them right.  I would say ,jump in and try it. There is no substitution for experience, and you can only get that by doing. Do some research and have at 'er.  Good luck Carl. I hope you will post your results.

 

Jerry

[Straightliner59]

You may want to consider Sheperd Paine's diorama book (published years ago, by Kalmbach). Used copies are available on Ebay, for reasonable prices. Also, some of Francois Verlinden's books can be very useful. Those  can also be found online, at reasonable prices (unless you want new--in that case, prepare yourself,  because the prices on new copies are ridiculous!).

[RichCostello]

I don't remember where, but it seems like I saw eyes done as decals. Does anybody else remember these, or was I dreaming?

[Straightliner59]

Search "eye decals for figures". There are tons of them!!?

[slusher]

  On 10/29/2020 at 1:11 AM, RichCostello said:

I don't remember where, but it seems like I saw eyes done as decals. Does anybody else remember these, or was I dreaming?

Expand  

I saw decals for the eyes at detail master once..

[vintagerpm]

Archer makes eye decals.
https://archertransfers.com/CAT_EyeballTatts.html

Two things no one has mentioned.
1. Being resin, they must be primed before painting. I recommend Tamiya primer out of the can, or any airbrushed lacquer primer. Automotive primer out of the can may be too thick.
2. If the figures need to be assembled, consider pinning the parts together. Drill a hole in each part and insert a metal rod for rigidity. Unlike styrene parts which you can "weld" together with plastic cement, the glue bond between resin parts is not always strong enough withstand rough handling. Remember, CA glue is good in tension, but not so good in sheer.

Edited October 29, 2020 by vintagerpm

[Straightliner59]

  On 10/29/2020 at 11:22 AM, vintagerpm said:

2. If the figures need to be assembled, consider pinning the parts together. Drill a hole in each part and insert a metal rod for rigidity. Unlike styrene parts which you can "weld" together with plastic cement, the glue bond between resin parts is not always strong enough withstand rough handling. Remember, CA glue is good in tension, but not so good in sheer.

Expand  

I agree that pinning is best. Even given that, JB Weld would likely be a good choice for adhesive for metal figures.