When I first started making customs I used the cheap Testor’s Enamel paint that you could buy just about anywhere. Unfortunately it doesn’t bond well to certain types of plastic, and I ended up with several customs that had a permanent sticky texture. I graduated to Model Masters Acryl, the higher end brand from Testor’s, and I have been using that exclusively for the last six years. I know many people who recommend Citadel paints, and I really should try them one of these days. But Model Masters does everything I need it to do. They have a good range of colors and most of them come in both flat and gloss, with several also coming in semi-gloss. They also have Enamel paint, but the Acryl paint seems to work better with the minimate plastic, and clean-up is much faster.
Model Master Acryl
The only problems I have found with Model Masters is that the consistency is not always ideal. Sometimes I get a paint that is too thick. That is not a huge problem, as they make acrylic paint thinner, and a few drops will usually thin out the entire jar of paint. Sometimes I get a paint that seems way too thin, but I find a large lump of thick paint on the bottom. After I spend a few minutes stirring it with a toothpick, the consistency returns to normal.
Acrylic Paint Thinner
Lately I have been priming my customs with white paint before painting them. I don’t prime the joints, because of the paint rub issue. But priming the rest of the figure helps keep the final colors consistent. Also if you are painting a light colored section, such as yellow, it will save you at least two coats of paint in the end.
Priming can also help in the sculpting process. After I have sculpted and sanded something, I will often prime it to see what it will look like when it is painted. This helps to reveal flaws that you might otherwise miss until its too late to fix them.
I keep my paints fairly thin, so they go on smoother with no brush strokes. Most customs take about 4-5 coats of paint per color, plus a clear dull coat at the end. The factory finish for minimates seems to be somewhere between flat and semi-gloss, so I try to mix those two finishes whenever possible. The clear coat at the end helps even out the finish as well. Even though it is labeled “Dull Coat” it actually is more of a semi-gloss.
I keep a lot of extra minimate parts laying around that I call “crappy-mates”. These get used over and over again for keeping parts of the custom separated when painting. For example, if you are painting a yellow hairpiece black, good luck not getting any black on your nice flesh-colored head underneath. But put that hairpiece on a crappy-mate, and you don’t have to worry about getting paint on the head underneath. It makes the painting process a little faster.
Crappymates
Brushes
A set of sable hair brushes
I used to always use the cheap Testors brushes that come in a 3-pack for about a dollar. They last forever, and they don’t shed very much. Recently I switched over to some sable haired brushes. They are double the price, but I think they help the paint go on smoother. Plus they make some ridiculously small sizes that are great for small details. You can clean them with just water, but I learned to use both soap and water and to reshape the point of the brush, otherwise it would get permanently frizzy. One brush you might want to start with can be found online here
I have several larger brushes for painting large areas, such as 3″ minimates. You should choose a brush size that is appropriate for the area you are painting in order to minimize the appearance of brush strokes. I have five or six tiny brushes for fine details. These brushes do not hold very much paint, so its important to “reload” often. You don’t want to run dry halfway through a nice crisp line. I have one 1/4″ square brush as well. These brushes work really well for doing straight lines across a minimate body.
Toothpicks
Nothing like a sharp pointy stick
I use toothpicks for all the details that are too small for a brush to handle. It is hard to do straight lines with them, because they don’t hold very much paint at all. They are better for doing eyes, teeth, and highlights. It is hard to judge how much paint is on the toothpick. Sometimes I need to use a sharpie to clean up the edges of details I have made using toothpicks. The best part is that toothpicks are the cheapest
Sharpies
My favorite tool
If you paint everything by hand, a sharpie is a must. Someday I might make the jump into using decals, but for now the sharpie is my main source for the lines on my customs. Specifically its an Ultra-Fine Point Sharpie. Accept no substitutes. These are fairly cheap at less than each
Sometimes I will use a ruler, or any straight edge, along with the sharpie when drawing long straight lines. If you are drawing faces, the lines you will get are going to be a little thicker than the lines on factory painted minimates. However, if you make very quick, light strokes it is possible to get these thinner lines. The problem with sharpies is that the ink fades in sunlight over time. I keep my minimates out of the sun now, but I have had to re-do some of my older customs because of this.
Mixing Paint
First of all, I would not recommend mixing paint between brands of paint. I have a few jars of Tamiya paints, and when I mixed them with Model Masters the resulting coat was permanently sticky. Also never mix acryl and enamel paints. Generally acryl paints work better for minimates, but metallic paints have a nicer finish with the enamel paints.
When you do mix colors, sometimes you get unexpected results. I have mixed blue and red and gotten brown before. I switched to slightly different shades of red and blue, and got a nice royal purple. Some colors have more pigment in the paint than others, and its impossible to know what will work until you try it. I can tell you that all of the types of black paint offered by Testors tend to have alot of blue pigment in it. Your dark yellows will look slightly green. I balance this with a touch of red paint, depending on what shade I want.
One color that is very difficult to achieve is the minimate flesh color. Model Masters has three different shades of flesh colored paint, but none of them match the minimate flesh color. I have found the following mix works best: 1 drop of bright red, 1 drop of yellow, a miniscule amount of black, and add white until you get the right amount of brightness. You wouldn’t expect the black to be in there, but it works.
You can buy empty jars of paint, and keep your own mixes in them. I made a jar of flesh colored paint to use over and over again. This is also useful if you are painting a large figure that will need multiple coats, as it can be difficult to mix the exact same shade twice.
Removing Paint
There are two main methods that I use to remove the factory minimate paint. The first is a product called Goof-Off, which is pictured above. You should be able to get this at any hardware store, or online here
You have to be careful with minimates that are painted a different color than they were casted in. For example, if you try to remove the evil grin from M.Bison, you will also remove the skin color, as that head was cast in white and painted skin color. One good way to tell the color of the plastic is to look inside the joints. If you use Goof-Off on a clear minimate, like the Invaders Human Torch, the surface will end up looking slightly cloudy. Also, if you leave your rag soaked in Goof-Off sitting on certain types of plastic overnight, it will melt it. This is strong stuff, so be careful.
The other method I use for removing small sections of minimate tampos is cutting it off with a sharp hobby knife
I hope this guide was helpful to you. Good luck out there!
