Flaking

T

Trev

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Hi was wondering how to stop flaking when painting 1/72scale figures I find HAT figures particularly difficult any ideas would be great Regards Trev
 
Paint adhesion issues can almost always be traced back to a contaminated surface , but some acrylics have poor adhesion to polystyrene .
What kind of paint and method of application ?
Are you using a primer ?
 
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Hi thanks for welcoming me and getting back so quick I knew this would be a good forum yes I did use primer and use Tamya and another acrylic paint for which I can't remember off the top of my head must be my age buy anyway its a proper modelling paint and will try and remember cheers Trev
 
What primer and is this brush or airbrush applied ?

I'm not familiar with Hat figures but it appears they are all polystyrene ?

Is the paint peeling off all the way to the plastic or is the primer sticking ?
 
If I remember correctly, HaT's figures are of a soft plastic, rather than styrene, like the old (and current?) Airfix or Italeri figures from back in the day. Paints adhere with difficulty to that plastic. I ran into that same issue when I was a kid in the 70s and painted Airfix and Atlantic figures. I used the same enamels and acrylics I used on my models-Testor's, Pactra, Model Master. And I noticed that with handling, the paint flaked off very easily.
I know I've seen posts with tips on prepping the surface of this softer plastic, though I don't recall if it was here in the Herd or in another forum. But I know that one old trick was to coat the figures with thinned white glue (eg, Elmer's), aka PVA glue, as a kind of undercoat for the primer. Then apply the primer and finish colors. The white glue provided a little bit of adhesion, that resisted the forces on the figure's surface that lead to flaking.
If I can find the references, I'll share them back here. But I suggest searching on "airfix" and "figures", too. Maybe you'll find similar tips.
Best regards,
Brad
 
Unfortunately a battle that I experienced with friends when we used to spend many hours in the 1970's painting Airfix Napoleonic Armies before enjoying mammoth historical battles. You always found that even with the greatest care and having glued units to card bases, paint would fall off. It was the Polythene they moulded in that was so flexible living in Cyprus even expansion due to heat or shrinkage as the air cooled was enough to break the tiny grip that the paint layers had. You could wash the figures in strong detergent when brand new and it made not a jot of difference.
The only cure was to ask for the hard styrene or white metal figures to be bought for Christmas and Birthdays by mail order from the likes of Military Modelling or Airfix monthly magazines and slowly oh so slowly retire the polythene figures to airgun, fire or dustbin.

Memories of happiness followed by sheer frustration.

John
 
I can't believe they use polyethylene for a product that's intended to be painted but that appears to be the case .

Here's their website : http://www.hat.com/

And the TIPS page with all kinds of assembly , modification and painting info :
I hope you have good eyes , if not , bust out your reading glasses - nano-scale text : http://www.hat.com/Tips.html
 
Hi Thank you all very much for your kind advice have taken in all you said you would think manufacturer's would realise model makers would paint figures and act accordingly when producing them and thanks for the link will let you know how I get on cheers Trev
 
Momo's mention of HäT's Tips page makes me think that you could also look at the websites of other current makers of soft plastic figures, to see if they make recommendations for painting them.

Here are some:

Armies in Plastic: https://www.armiesinplastic.com/
Engineer Basevich (Facebook page, not website): https://www.facebook.com/Toy-soldiers-Engineer-Basevich-322160358341602/
Conte: http://www.conteco.com/

Another place to check is at Hobby Bunker, a shop in Malden, Massachusetts. Owner Matt Murphy is a gamer himself, and carries a large selection of plastic figures. You might find tips there, or even contact Matt and see if he has advice.
 

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