Friday, August 19, 2011

Lego Customizing Tips - Painting

I grew up painting 1/72 army men, yes the 1/2 inch tall ones. This lent to a love of painting tiny things! Here are a couple painting tips:
I usually use enamel paints, they adhere well to the plastic. Although I am moving toward acrylic simply because you can mix them together easier and make shades and new colors. Any time you are painting on plastic, it should be sealed with some kind of clear spray. Do it lightly or it will run. Fingernail polish that is clear does not work well in my opinion, it makes the paint run if it is not 100% bone dry.
Another tip for painting, get small brushes. Lego is small, so have a range of sizes of brushes.
When I wore out all my small brushes I did 2 things. 1. snip off stray hairs on the brush to extend life. 2. save one medium size brush that is hard and scraggly and use it to paint random scratches or camo. To do this, barely touch the ends in paint, wipe some excess off (less the better) then touch or drag on surface for scratches/dents/dirt effect depending on the color.
When you just don't have a tiny brush worth a darn, use a toothpick to make Lego size rivets. Put these on shields, helmets, etc.

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