How do I Re-position Reaper Bone Material?

[petercooman123]

All those little white splotches are places where the paint simply will not stick.  I have tried, and tried again.  I've watered down the paint to reach those details, and it worked ... until the next day when I looked at it and saw the same white spots.  I have inked, painted, even said screw it and GOBBED paint over the white spotty areas.  Next day, same thing.

So yes, they are cheap.  But I think I might just give mine to my daughter and let her paint the damn things.  Or just pretend all of them are ghost models.

Have you tried mixing your first coat with some PVA glue? Makes it stick better!

[ErikB]

I used Vallejo brush-on primer for my big purple worm (not what you're thinking, you sick freaks) and it stuck fine.  It did create a lot of air bubbles which was very frustrating, as was painting white on white, so I was never sure if I was missing a spot.

The primer, paint, washes, drybrushing, etc., were a-okay.  I tried rubbing off some paint (no "rubbing my purple worm" jokes, thank you...) and it stuck as if it were over primer on metal or plastic.

The mini is too thick to bend and reposition, so I don't know how well the colors stick when the mini is twisted or bent.  I guess I will find that out with the unicorn and its horn soon enough.

Thanks for all the advice, folks!

[pixelgeek]

(GW primer is very good, but too expensive for my taste)

GW do not sell primer. They sell Black paint in a can.

[pixelgeek]

(no "rubbing my purple worm" jokes, thank you...)

You bring us here and then stop us from having fun. Seems bloody cheeky

[zizi666]

(no "rubbing my purple worm" jokes, thank you...)

Aw, man... you're no fun 

[dwbullock]

Can't tell if you're serious about mixing the paint with the PVA glue or not ... but couldn't hurt this thing, right?

I'm not giving up on mine just yet.  Have a few other brand primers I was going to try, but might just have to start over on this critter.  Like everyone else, I don't want to give up on them just quite yet -- I mean, I just bought a crap ton of these things off a buddy who did the KS then decided to dump them all on my at about 25 cents a pop 

Is the bendy part and the pain in the butt painting problems just our trade off for really cheap models?

[petercooman123]

I was serious   

[Admiral Benbow]

on another Note:Am i the only one thinking Reaper Bones are shite?i can see the Advantage of the Material on big Miniatures but overall the Casting Quality is shite imo,i wont buy anymore that said  

No, you're not. If I would have had the chance to get some Bones miniatures before, I would never have backed the second wave. Now I had some for examination:

The pros: they are quite cheap. That's it.

The cons: bad castings with lots of detail loss; massive work to re-position nearly all weapons, arms, legs, horns etc.; many paints won't stick properly even if the mini is washed and you found a primer which will adhere, so even more preparation work here; mould lines can't be sanded but have to be cut away, hardly possible in tiny places; the conversion potential due to the soft material gets lost as most glues and putties won't stick either.

Reaper is doing real good business with this crap, so they continue to tell all is good.

I'm seriously thinking about selling my complete Bones shipment as soon as possible after it's arrival in December!  

[FramFramson]

I'm not quite so down on them as you, Admiral - I agree that you're getting what you pay for. They really are cheap and not the best to work with. The detail loss is what I find most offensive, but all those criticisms are valid.

I do think there's a place for minis that are throwaway-cheap. Sometimes you just need some placeholder or filler dorks and can't be bothered to care too much about 'em.

[zemjw]

There's a post on this subject over at Reaper at the moment.

There are a couple of links at the top of the above post to articles on preparation and a general FAQ.
- FAQ
- Preparation

[ErikB]

I'm about to start three Black Orcs in Bone.  I have three in metal, too.

Looking forward to making the comparison between these almost-identical minis made out of different materials.

So far, I like the Bone material, except for the positioning frustrations.  Then again, it took time to learn to reposition and to work with metal and plastic, so maybe this is simply yet another new model-building skill to develop.

[dwbullock]

I, too, backed the 2nd wave, and am very concerned.  However, I discovered, FINALLY, a primer that works -- Tamiya primer, comes in half sized cans.  Not sure anything else, as it's been sitting on my shelf for a while.

But agree -- mold lines are terrible.  Can't get rid of them without a serious pain in the butt (or finger, considering how many times I cut myself trying to trim them up).  Bent weapons.

I know they're cheap.  And I'll probably still buy a few now and then, but I'm thinking they will see more use by my 7 year old daughter than me.  Very, very disappointed in this stuff.

[ErikB]

I use soft, wide nail files for removing the mold lines.  Worked alright on the purple worm.

Like this (but without the cute little hearts):

http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/rich_media_quiz/topic/rmq_nail_problems/getty_rf_photo_of_woman_using_nail_file.jpg

Or this:
http://www.marlobeauty.com/images/T/8604.jpg

It has been successful on the wide open areas.  Not sure about little nooks and crannies.

My metal files have been less successful.

[Legion1963]

A while ago i bought a couple of second hand Bones Reaper miniatures. The one that i fancy to painting was bend in a strange angle in respect to the base and the base was warped. Over a period of time i bended the miniature and the base into the right position. It worked but i will not buy Reaper Bones any time soon. Good luck.

[pixelgeek]

I, too, backed the 2nd wave, and am very concerned.  However, I discovered, FINALLY, a primer that works -- Tamiya primer, comes in half sized cans.  Not sure anything else, as it's been sitting on my shelf for a while.

I would suspect that any primer that has been formulated specifically for plastic, which the Tamiya primer is, will work on the Bones figures.