Last Night on Earth

[dexter]

Hi
has anyone painted any of the figures from LNOE?
I've painted some ,with the usual paints and varnish i use on metal and plastic figures, but these feel sticky.
They feel sticky to the touch and have stuck to the bubble wrap in the box i stored them in.
Has anyone experienced this ? Or know why they are like this?
cheers
Dexter

[Cherno]

Seeing as these are probably my zombies, here's what I have picked up over the years on the net:

The plastic the miniatures are made of reacts with the spray primer's pressure agent and makes the material surface sticky. One workaround is to first give the figure a coat of matt varnish (preferably brush on) and then prime as usual. It could also be possible to just brush-on the primer.

What I did for my painted LNoE zombies was to paint them as I would any other miniature, with black spray primer, Vallejo colours, wash of The Army Painter's strong wash and then a coat of The Army Painter's anti-gloss spray varnish. Those are'n sticky at all, however this is mostly because this particular matte varnish is VERY matt and actuall feels coarse to the touch (not to mention that I had a near-total frosting disaster).

[Steve F]

I painted them in my usual way: white spray undercoat, acrylics, spray varnish.  I didn't have any problems with stickiness, just with the plastic being annoyingly springy: it felt like it was actively pushing my brush away.

[dexter]

Hi Robert
Yes they were your zombies ,your explanation was interesting. I did spray them with a white primer,painted them with acrylic and then used a matt varnish on them .
Can this stickyness be cured now?
The painted LNOE zombies i got from you did stick to the kitchen roll they were wrapped in ,but don't feel sticky as mine do.This wasn't a problem the kitchen roll came off easily.

cheers
Dexter

[Cherno]

I'd say, try a coat of really dull varnish, like the above mentioned Army Painter Anti-Shine matte varnish. That should help, at least for the figures that are already painted.

[A_Train]

Like Steve, I painted mine as any other miniature, and they are not sticky at all.  Again like Steve, mine are very springy.  Not the best plastic to work with.

[Too Bo Coo]

If these are like the Twilight Creations zombies from Zombies!, then I did what Cherno did and never had a problem.  The AP varnish is really important on these figures as I found that it adds a little structure to the figure, which is very soft.  The constant bending of the mini will eventually break the paint off, and I think the AP varnish holds this off from happening, IMHO.

[Cherno]

They are not from Twilight Creations but from Fyling Frog Productions, but having both games I'd say they are made from a similar, if not the same, material

God call about the additional strucutre provided by the varnish, that's what I tried to say by "coarse"

Thinking of which, Had I have known this issue before I would've put the one or two cans of AP cans still unused on my attic in your parcel as well  

Maybe Testor's Dullcoat will do the same.

[apeekaboo]

Has anyone experienced this ? Or know why they are like this?
cheers
Dexter

+1 on the stickiness...
I haven't done anything about it yet.

I'm thinking about rebasing them on GW slotta bases.
They would probably benefit from some Army Painter quickshade, and then I'll hit them with the Army Painter anti-shine.
I reckon this should solve the problem.

[James Holloway]

I didn't have any stickiness problems. Because I mistrusted the sheen of the plastic, I gave them a good scrub with soap and water and let them dry before priming, and they painted up a treat -- and mine are from the same exact batch, I would assume. I guess it varies ...

[Too Bo Coo]

Oh holy smokes, I didn't even think to write this....

You need to wash the minis in soapy water and air dry.  The problem you may be having is the release reacting with the paint.

[dexter]

hi
yes i washed them 1st and still ended up with sticky figures,
I'll try getting some of the Army Painter Anti-Shine matte varnish, who else makes the stuff .I'm asking to try and make the job of finding it easier.
Dex

[snitcythedog]

Krylon makes a spray paint just for plastic.  It chemically adheres to the plastic and should alleviate that problem.
2 cents there.  That is if you have Krylon paint available.
Snitchy sends.

[blackstone]

Be interested to know what paints and varnish you used. I've encounted this problem in the past when repainting WOTC D&D figures but it happened only when I used oil based varnish on them (humbrol enamels). I think there is a chemical in some plastics which is there to soften the plastic and this gasses off and softens any oil based paint. I've since painted DDM figures and some LNOE figures just in acrylic with acrylic varnish and haven't had any problems.


In my experience once a figure has gone sticky theres nothing you can do to un-sticky it 

[Heldrak]

Re: Stickiness, I've had the problem with some Heroclix figures. In those particular cases, extra coats of paint solved the problem, but it was tedious to apply them...