Dem bones dem bones. How to prime Reaper Bones???

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Some Reaper Bones miniatures have turned up for the start of my Frostgrave project.  I have read a bit about priming these.  I have a number of spray primers, but I believe some of these leave the figure sticky.  What is the best method for priming?  Do they need priming?

[Tactalvanic]

Depending on your prefence and opions, no.

Black for some parts as undercoat to metals for armour etc, but, and it took effort to do it.

No you actually don't need undercoat. Depends on your preference, I even did a couple (passably) with mainly just inks.

There's a post on laf somewhere by someone who did some just using inks, and they are frankly stunning work.

There have been comments about sticky, mainly for some varnish types etc and probably some undercoat sprays etc to, probably the chemical mix in combination with what the bones are made of.

And plenty of good examples all over laf

eg

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=83829.0

and some sticky comments to

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=81925.0

[katie]

I use "Halfords" satin black car spray for bones PVC, metal figures and also polystyrene plastics.

It's a general purpose paint rather than specifically a primer -- I've found the primers to be a bit thick.

The solvent is mostly acetone, with some butane/propane in there as well so your local equivalent should be good; auto paints are useful here because they're designed to be stable on many types of surface.

This appears to have no ill effects on the figures -- I was careful to apply lighter coatings because the reduced detail depth on the bones figures (actually this varies a lot across the range -- one of the figures I have is a shapeless lump of plastic and no amount of careful painting will recover anything like detail. Several of the others are easily the equal of metal figures.)

Since acetone is, ultimately, a solvent for PVC, I'd suggest not overloading the surface and make sure everything dries thoroughly between sprayings.


The problems seem come from when people use enamel spray paints (Humbrol, Testors). Do NOT use enamel paints on PVC; either as base or as detail or as a final varnish. PVC's plasticisers apparently interact with the alkyd resin binder and prevent it going off (I don't know the exact details of why).

I did also try simply brush painting base colour directly onto the plastic and if you can get coverage, that seems to work well; certainly better than on metal. You may need to use a flow improver because PVC has surface waxes which repel water.

[James Holloway]

I use Halfords grey car primer when I want to prime Bones, but as other people have said it's not strictly necessary. I do find them a little easier to paint primed, but that's me. Army Painter coloured primers also work, but people tell me that GW spray primer doesn't work well.

I always scrub the models pretty thoroughly with washing-up liquid first, which I find makes them easier to paint when not primed; they're a bit glossy otherwise.

[Maspalio]

I do use too a car spray grey or white primer for Reaper bones

I use it also on metal figures and it works well, I just have to be "delicate" on how I spray my miniature

GW primer is a very good primer but too expensive for my wallet (I pay nearly 3 €/2,2 GBP for my white primer in my DIY local store instead of 15 €/11 GBP for GW primer...more money for more minis )

[Maccwar]

I use Vellejo brush on surface primer on bones miniatures and it works a treat.

I tried painting directly on to the unprimed miniature as suggested by Reaper but didn't get good results. I also make sure I wash the bones miniatures before priming too - just don't use water which is too warm!

[YPU]

Army painter worked nicely for me, but painting without primer has also worked fine.

[DS615]

I've used Gesso on mine, and it works very well.

[Nord]

Paint on primer would be my suggestion - Vallejo make a decent one.

[Elbows]

Had zero problem with Army Painter black spray.  That's all I can say.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for all the prompt replies.  It is hard to get paint for miniatures where I live (other than Citadel paints), so I might try gesso for starters but order Vellajo primer on line.
I have not used gesso, I presume it is just brushed o in a thin coat.

[john Hollyoak]

I have just painted a couple of giant worms in bones. The vallejo primer in the large bottles is brilliant. I use the light grey. It goes on thin, does not obscure detail and gives a great base for acryllics on top. Sometimes the first coat can be patchy but a second coat sorts it out.
John

[Hatemonger]

Vallejo has a new line of brush on primers that are a blend of acrylic and urethane that has been fantastic for Bones. Sadly I've not had the same luck with styrene or metal, but it is worth buying for Bones alone. It may be good for some of the other PVC figures out now, but I haven't tried it.

- H8

[Jagannath]

I only use black gesso for everything - brush on, it shrinks so don't worry about detail loss, leave for 24 hours to fully cure.

I will say this though - don't skimp, get Liquitex gesso, it's the best by a long long margin.

[MattofWar]

I only use black gesso for everything - brush on, it shrinks so don't worry about detail loss, leave for 24 hours to fully cure.

I will say this though - don't skimp, get Liquitex gesso, it's the best by a long long margin.

I tried some cheaper stuff and it was okay, but the Liquitex is awesome.  Totally worth it.