Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Count Belisarius on 06 July 2025, 03:46:53 PM
-
I bought some of the excellent resin market goods from Bad Squiddo Games. Lovely detailed little models. Finally needed to paint them last week. Washed them in soapy water. Let them dry. Then brushed on my regular black Vallejo Surface Primer and got this...
(https://blog.belisarius.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/20250630_205832_copy_1024x1049.jpg)
Never had this with the Vallejo before. Primed other makes of resin the same day with no issue. Annie said that others had had issues with the Vallejo.
I gave them another good soapy scrub. The one I'd tried before and wiped clean seemed to cover a little better but still not good. The others just spread like the pic above.
I don't like spray priming and there are too many nooks and crannies on these that would need touching up anyway... So what would people suggest, please? Uk based.
Cheers
Andy
-
Use someone else's primer or varnish on the model first, then Vallejo over the top? I've had it happen before when I haven't managed to get all the mould release oil off a resin figure before I start painting but not quite as bad as yours, I'm afraid. Forgeworld used to be the worst for that happening.
-
try stippling the model with some other paint first - or just use any other paint as your primer. The high water content in vallejo primer can cause it to bead on very smooth surfaces like that of shiny resin.
Either stippling it with another thinned paint to add some surface grit, or just using a less watery paint to prime it, should solve the problem.
-
I find that some of the Squiddo resins to be very oily. they required very strong detergents repeated at least three times before my brushed on primers worked. Even the primer, required multiple coats
-
Before priming, stick it in the dishwasher and run it through with some soap on the low heat, fast wash cycle. That is one aggressive mold release agent, and that is how I get rid of it on my Acheson Creations pieces.
Mike Demana
-
I've just tied different paint and then prime and also redoing the Vallejo on the first one. Slightly better but still a pain.
I might try the dishwasher approach... Ta.
-
Before priming, stick it in the dishwasher and run it through with some soap on the low heat, fast wash cycle. That is one aggressive mold release agent, and that is how I get rid of it on my Acheson Creations pieces.
Mike Demana
Wow. Get rid of it on them, or the whole piece? lol
I used to know someone that used dissolved dishwasher tablets (not in the dishwasher) to strip paint off metal figures.
-
All my bits are in the dishwasher now. We shall see what transpires...
-
The only time I have had anything similar happen was when the resin hadn't been properly cured.
-
Had the very same issue using vallejo on some TT Combat scenic bits recently. Scrubbed in warm soapy water three times and still it wasn't taking properly. I ended up using a plain matt black artist acrylic (basically a craft paint). Much thicker than vallejo primer but it stuck and actually didn't overtake the detail. Lesson learned for me - either even more itnesive scrubbing or just use a plain black paint on resin.
I've undercoated other resin (and plastic) figures with vallejo no problem though.
-
Well, the dishwasher seems to have worked. Let them dry fully overnight and then tried the Vallejo again. I'd say it had only very minor beading. And going straight back with the brush seemed to work. I'll leave them overnight as I usually like to let the Vallejo Primer set fully.
Fingers crossed I can finally paint the buggers...
Thanks for all the advice.
A
-
Glad it worked! Just ran some Acheson stuff through the dishwasher this weekend. Waiting for the Ohio monsoons to end so I can spray paint them...
Mike Demana
-
Wow not seen that before! I've had resin prints from quite a selection of printing companies. I do use ncheap hardware store primer for eveything. I obly prewash prnts very occasionally, usually I just hit them up with the rattle can. Maybe I've just been lucky.
The only issue I've had were a couple of pieces were the resin hadn't fully cured. Simple fix with a liberal application of isopropyl alcohol from a spray bottle and then a day or two sitting in the sunshine.
-
I’ve been watching this with interest, as Vallejo primers do literally everything - I have used them on goalie masks that will take 100kmh slap shots! So to not stick to a resin was really intriguing. DISHWASHER POWER!!!
LAF. Source of so much random information.
-
They went on a 50° Eco wash. I'm pondering if they might stand a hotter wash?
-
"Increasing reports at dishwasher companies about strange molten materials at the exhaust pumps causes revival of regular sinks. Children in dismay. Will this mystery ever be solved?"
-
And Oliver cried, those heavy tears that only those that could be of no parents could produce; he wished - and not for the first time - that he had not met the Dodger and his magic washer of dishes!
-
They went on a 50° Eco wash. I'm pondering if they might stand a hotter wash?
I tend to do the "quick wash" setting with low heat. Of course, every dishwasher is different. I don't recall any of my resin ever being bent by the heat, but Acheson Creations stuff is pretty thick.
Mike Demana
-
I know that you do not wish to use spray primer, but I've had the best luck with inexpensive, gray automotive spray primer: it is sandable; it sticks to pretty much everything; it dries with a matte surface which takes acrylic paints really well.
If you want thin primer, worrying about small details being filled in by the spray primer, I would suggest Artist's Acrylic Gesso: it sucks down to the surface of the figure, as it dries, into the recesses, nicely.
Other than that, you might try an aerosol matte clear coat/varnish. When dry, this will take paints, nicely; it seems to be quite thin on application, so it likely will not fill much detail in. Cheers!
-
You could have tried soaking them in isopropyl alcohol to get all the oily residue off them, I would imagine the brush on primer would work well after that.
-
Our dishwasher went bang a couple of days ago(not guilty of 50c eco model washing) and now I am primed to ask the dishwasher salesman some questions lol
"How many models will your dishwasher stack ?"
" Can it accomodate 28mm and 15mm settings ?"
-
I know that you do not wish to use spray primer, but I've had the best luck with inexpensive, gray automotive spray primer
If there is an issue with the resin not being properly cured or not being chemically stable then spray primer won't work either. It will still come off it just reacts differently.
-
I tend to do the "quick wash" setting with low heat.
Our dishwasher is fairly old and only has a 'hot' and 'very hot' wash option. Given that my tap water is hot enough to make resin bendable I would hesitate to put something in the dishwasher.
Going to have to see if the next model has a special rack that will fit 28mm terrain pieces if we ever upgrade.
Mind you, most of the terrain I have picked up recently has been 3D printed so I don't really know if I would ever have a use for a 'resin' setting on a disjwasher
-
All of my 15mm resin miniatures are primed using 'grunt' (an artists' primer for getting a canvas ready for painting). It's cheap and can be found in most countries.
I'm not sure what happened - I think PixelGeek has it right - the resin wasn't cured properly and/or something went wrong with the chemical properties of the resin.
-
All of my 15mm resin miniatures are primed using 'grunt' (an artists' primer for getting a canvas ready for painting). It's cheap and can be found in most countries.
I believe "grunt", is the same as Gesso, which is commonly used to prime canvasses, as you say. It is acrylic, water based, water clean-up; it shrinks tightly to the surfaces it is applied to; it has decent tooth for acrylic paints to adhere to; it is inexpensive; it comes in four color variants: white, black, gray, and clear (clear has less bond strength, based on figure painter reviews I've read; most recommend white, black, or gray). Cheers!
-
Before priming, stick it in the dishwasher and run it through with some soap on the low heat, fast wash cycle. That is one aggressive mold release agent, and that is how I get rid of it on my Acheson Creations pieces.
Mike Demana
Thank goodness. I thought it was only me with the Acheson stuff. Never tossed them in the dishwasher, but I remember having to scrub several times with Dawn and a toothbrush to get that paintable.