chrismisterx Posted February 16, 2016 Posted February 16, 2016 Hi all, just bought my first Airfix kit for many many years, found I have quite a bit spare time on my hands and thought this would be a great hobby to get into.I bought the 1:72 WWII luftwaffe personnel kit, when I opened the kit its a very soft plastic, I thought it would have been a hard plastic ( I thought all figures were hard plastic now )I remember as a child the paint wouldnt stick to the soft plastic and glue didnt work well, so my questions are:-What glues and paints should I use, seems theres a hugh difference of thought online on how to make the paint stick, from painting PVA glue on the model first to soaking them in brine for a month!Which glues work the best with these figure?And lastly I started cleaning up the mould lines and notice very quicky that a file isnt the best idea, as it gets a fur instead of a smooth finish, whats the best way to clean these guys up?I love the scale ( dont have much room atm, so want all my starter kits to be 1:72 scale ) but I want to push myself to do the best job as I can, so any advice or tips on the best way to get started would be fantastic, these could end up being handled quite a lot, so really need the paint to stick! Thanks in advanceChris.
peebeep Posted February 16, 2016 Posted February 16, 2016 This is an old set, whilst more modern tooling can utilise rigid polystyrene, back then they needed to use something flexible to ensure the figures came out of the tool. Use PVA to prime them and you're preferred paint after that, enamel or acrylic. For cleaning up you need to gently use the sharpest blade you can lay your hands on. Bonding can be a problem, but there are various vinyl adhesives you can use these days.
Ratch Posted February 16, 2016 Posted February 16, 2016 I clean up the figures then spray with Vallejo Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer, usually black, then paint with acrylics.
vimal_indrasoma Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 The only way to clean up soft plastic figures that I know of is to slice off the extra flash with a very sharp blade - more carving than cleaning, really. Most glues won't take on the polythene-type material, but you can try white glue with a little overlap on both sides of the joint. Contact cements like UHU or rubber cement may work, but the joints won't be very strong (superglue nozzles and caps are made of this stuff, so that won't work either). I really do wish that Airfix would stop usng this particular material for their smaller figures - most of the other manufacturers use normal styrene, and set up their moulds so as to work with non-flexible plastic. Some of them do this by having the difficult-to-mould heads and hands as separate parts, which has the bonus of making it possible to pose the figures in different ways. These are Revell Luftwaffe figures in an Airfix model - they had heads, arms, torso separate from the waist/legs part./media/tinymce_upload/fc9e6a40d5994e69ffdf594031b42fe9.jpg
ironsides Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 Polypropelene/Polyethelene is a pretty common material for small plastic figures, there are good reasons why and there are many producers, check out Plastic Soldier Review: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/index.aspxThere are many other types of plastic used, some glue well some paint well, some are awfull... PTFE anyone...These days you can glue and paint just about about anything include PP/PE with no real problem, Plastic primers for PP/PE are also available: check out Krylon or Rustoleum, but there must be many others... personally I find a good acyrillic matt white spray primer works fine for me, some use thinned white glue as a primer and varnish for strength... I am suprised though Humbrol hasn't produced a suitable primer...hint hint .-)Remember to wash the figures first to remove any residual releasing agent..Trim off flash or mould lines with a cheap disposable scalpel a real one not a modelling blade their not sharp enough, a hot pin or controlable soldering iron can also be used for removing flash and mould seams or welding parts together..Soft plastic figures can be easily converted or altered into different poses or types which is a real bonus, you could literally take a box of figures and alter them into individual poses in an evening proving theres a good variaty in the original set...:-)
genesis1210 Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 Thorough washing in detergent , not a quick rinse followed by Pva priming and a spray primer tho not cellulose . Agree carving with a very sharp knife is the only option. I have tried every variety of glue , none work tho gel superglue is better than others especially if you finely roughen surfaces .
ironsides Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 PP/PE may need a "primer" before you can stick it together although some glues may work anyway, I've found super glue gel the flexible kind to work particularly well on some soft plastic figures...On the airfix figures I would use two part "All Plastics" super glue basically a tube of CA with a heptane(degreaser) based felt pen to prime the surfaces to be joined, this should be easily available almost anywhere, as most hardware/DIY places probably stock it... although you may not find it in the local model shop...Some soft plastic figures are made from plastic that can be glued with ordinary plastic cement though...:-)
Dad Paul B Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 First up wash the figures on a degreasing agent - spirit vinegar works reasonably well but other options are available from the DIY store. You need to get the releasing agent off. Then you need a base coat, diluted PVA glue has been mentioned but I have got good results with artists GESSO (for treating canvas - any art shop should stock it). I have seen auto spray primers recommended (Halfords).The soft plastic is very common and can give good results. It is used to allow undercuts to be moulded, they just pull out of the mould in ways hard styrene can't. As for gluing - onto plasticard I have found regular cement works but you may need to experiment.
chrismisterx Posted February 19, 2016 Author Posted February 19, 2016 Thank you all for the great advice, here is my first try painting the small soft plastic.I cleaned up with washing up soap and used the vallejo surface primer, I havent tried gluing the plastic yet ( conversions ), waiting on the correct glue.My idea is an airfield set up, maybe crete, greece or some place around there pre- 1942So I got a Messerschmitt BF 109e - 7/Trop as the "bird on the ground" with this set of figures as the ground crew. /uk-en/forum/advice-needed-paints-and-glues-for-soft-plastics/%5BURL=http:/smg.photobucket.com/user/chrismisterx/media/models/airfix_zpsipinrrmy.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp:/img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/chrismisterx/models/airfix_zpsipinrrmy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D/media/tinymce_upload/474a5322026f98ec8e9564da88a5a098.jpgReally enjoyed painting them, tried to find the correct colours for the uniforms, think they turned out ok for 1:72 scale.Next question is, whats the best way to seal the paint job, I was thinking a matt finish with gloss boots, but what varnish is best?Also any good forums for newbies to share there work, would be great to beable to get feedback and on the other makes of kit when I get around to buy them. Thanks for the advice and feedback!
vimal_indrasoma Posted February 22, 2016 Posted February 22, 2016 but what varnish is bestStunning paint job.You should be giving us lessons, not asking for advice! For varnish, try to match the type of paint you used - acrylic for acrylic etc.
ironsides Posted February 22, 2016 Posted February 22, 2016 Dare I say I use slightly thinned matt coat (acyrillic gloss on shiny parts) on Acyrillic Humbrol (mostly) using artists turpentine(the real stuff) as a thinner and brush cleaner, its important to make sure its well stirred... .-)
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