Colors to paint over black

[Marshal van Trapp]

So I recently came into possession of my friends old Ulthwé army and was looking to make it my own, now I'm not a big Ulthwé fan as far as color scheme so I'm looking to repaint it as minimally as possible, what color can I reasonably put over the black prime that won't just get too dark? Or should I attempt to lighten them up with white primer first?

[Kinstryfe]

IMHO, blue green or purple are going to be the easiest. Red, yellow, orange tend to be easier over a lighter base or will likely require more layers. Alternately, most metallics would cover pretty well.

[Major_Gilbear]

I agree that blues, greens, and silver/bronze would be easiest to paint over black. Additionally, some schemes like Alaitoc and Biel Tan would look good in a mottled version of their traditional blue/green colours, and this would further help to hide any issues you might have with coverage.

 

However, there are also few other options you might want to consider:

 

Over-prime

If the paint is thin, I would give them a quick pass with a knife to remove any errant mould lines and re-prime them as lightly as you can with a grey automotive primer. As long as you get most of the model, the grey will let you paint almost any other colour over it quite easily.

 

Strip

Depending on their condition, material, and how much effort you want to go to, you can strip them and re-prime/paint them as you want. I found that putting plastic figures in a strong polythene bag with 99% Isopropyl alcohol for a couple of hours cuases most paint and primer to slough off. You can soak metal models too, but I find a second soak with acetone in a glass jar is normally required (this also dissolves any glue). It's a lot of work though, and if you have 150 figs or whatever, you might not want to do this. If it's 40-50 figures, it's not so bad. However, I wouldn't strip Finecast at all personally, as there is a real danger that you'll just lose the model(s).

 

Use the existing colours

You can also just make use of the colours the models already have - in your case, the black. There are three simple ways of doing this without making too much work for yourself:

 

1) Tidy up and re-highlight as required the existing black, and use details like weapons and helmets in bright contrasting colours to break up the scheme. Together with a well-chosen basing scheme, it might surprise you how effective this can be. Agis Neugebauer refurbished his old Ulthwé Eldar here, and you can judge the results for yourself.

 

2) Use bright-coloured edge highlights to create a more Dark-Eldar style colour scheme, and tie the Eldar into an Ynnari  force. This would also be a great option if you want to add in some Harlequins or Dark Eldar too. If you blend two or three highlights up from the black and then give the whole thing an appropriate wash to soften the black and blend the colours together, nobody will ever know they're re-paints. For example, using some dark teal and turquoise colours over the black, and then washing back down with Coelia Greenshade will give you a good result, and you can also combine this with the advice above (say, white helmets and crimson gun housings) to give you a really striking result.

 

3) Use paints that have very good coverage to selectively over-paint a significant part of the model. For example, using a mid grey to pick out all the armour panels on the models, leaving the under-suit black. You can then highlight up the grey panels and pick out details in other colours to finish the paint job. Some colours (like a yellow ochre or a mid-tan) will even allow you to paint over the black well enough that you can then brighten them up with further highlights and a suitable glaze to get a yellow or ivory finish if you want.

 

Hopefully that's given you some ideas, and I would also point out that you can also use other tricks like basing, patterning, and weathering (for example, using Nihilak Oxide over a soft gold) to further get away from the current base colour and create a pleasing result. :)

[Marshal van Trapp]

Hmm metallics seems like a viable option, I've always wanted to do one of those colored metallic schemes and this would be the perfect opportunity! The only models that have any real paint on them are the guardians, all the other models are just primed black so i could easily do a metallic colored scheme!

 

As for the guardians I may just try to strip them and do the same

[D3L]

no matter the material, just use dettol and strip away in total safety!

Edited October 20, 2017 by D3L

[Marshal van Trapp]

no matter the material, just use dettol and strip away in total safety!

Never heard of it, i tend to just use simple green, what does dettol have over other striping formulas?

[Dantay VI]

Dettol is a british antiseptic cleaning agent.

 

Simple green will work just fine for you, otherwise BCK has a really good paint stripper that he has found in the US.

 

It is called Super Clean and comes in a purple container.

 

Here is the link to the topic, you should take a look:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/337173-my-new-paint-stripper-puts-simple-green-to-shame/?p=4833158

[Major_Gilbear]

Dettol is a disinfectant product that's normally found in Britain, and is often easy enough to buy in large volumes for cheap. From Wikipedia:

 

 

Chloroxylenol is the active ingredient in Dettol. It comprises 4.8% of Dettol's total admixture,^[19] with the rest made up by pine oil, isopropanol, castor oil, soap and water

 

For miniatures paint stripping purposes, the key ingredients in Dettol are pine oil and isopropanol alcohol.

 

In the US, Super Clean and Simple Green are popular products for miniatures paint stripping, but these are very difficult/expensive to get in the UK.

 

Isopropyl alcohol however is pretty cheap and can be bought more or less universally. I personally found it to be at least as good as Simple Green (actually better IMO), and it is so much cheaper in the UK than SG that it's hard to argue for anything else.

[Marshal van Trapp]

Isoproponal alcohol? Like rubbing alcohol? That can strip paint?

[Major_Gilbear]

Yes, but it needs to be 90%+ in order to work effectively enough, and you should keep the container reasonably well sealed.

 

I would always suggest getting 99.5%+, and ensuring that it's not recycled. This is to avoid getting any which has trace amounts of other harmful chemicals (like benzene for example). If you have a drugstore that sells any, that's probably a good bet.

[Dantay VI]

Will the alcohol damage plastic or resin models if left to soak for too long?

[Major_Gilbear]

It won't damage plastic nor metal - I've had some soaking for over a month now, and they were still fine last night when I checked them. (Not because it takes a month to strip BTW - I've just been lazy!).

 

With resin that FW uses, short 15-20 minute soaks are okay. However, if the parts are very thin/small, or if they are left in very long, the alcohol causes the resin to go rubbery and weakens any joints or thin parts. Once it's gone rubbery, if you take it out of the alcohol it does harden up again a few months, but it's often discoloured and I would still suggest caution in avoiding it getting to that stage.

 

If you do have some FW resin that needs a strip, you can try using makeup removal pads and cotton swabs dipped in the Isopropyl and rubbing the paint off gradually. Interspersed with some short 2-5 minute timed "mini soaks", I think you should be able to get a substantial strip. I have successfully used this technique to clear some light matte varnish frosting from finished miniatures, so I know it's gentle but effective (if you have patience).

 

I've not tried other resins, but I would suggest a cautious approach is wise - I have seen some old Armorcast models stripped in the cotton-swabs-and-alcohol method above though, so anything reasonably chunky/robust can probably be stripped this way. In the specific case of Finecast I would expect it to be too fragile for stripping.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Major_Gilbear
Better clarity of explanation

[Razblood]

Another option is methylated spirits, works better than dettol for a similar price, not tried it on resin though so beware.

[Marshal van Trapp]

Hmm so i went ahead and used the isopropyl alcohol and by the gods its amazing, the models im question however had a lot of paint on them so im giving them another soak just to remove the remainder, however this brings up an important question, should I rinse them in water after im done stripping them or let the alcohol evaporate off of them?

[Major_Gilbear]

I always wash them anyway; takes very little time and I'd rather be sure that I don't have problems later on. :)

[Marshal van Trapp]

Gotcha, so after then are done soaking noe I'll get the last bits of gunk off them and then rinse them all off

[Major_Gilbear]

Yep, that's it. :)

 

Don't forget that the solvents can acquire other chemicals dissolved from the paints and glue over repeated uses, so washing the models also ensures that small amounts of these don't just end back up on the model when you come to paint them.

[rayvn26]

The best thing I've found to strip paint so far and I've used a lot of different things from 90+ alcohol to gasoline (yes it works) mineral spirits to paint thinner. I've found that Clean Slate from Vantage Modeling Solutions is hands down the best thing to use. It works in minutes 10-20 if you're just using a brush 5-10 in a sonic bath. Use a soft brush to clean all the cracks and it's completely clean, like new, and it works on clear plastic canopies without issues as well. I've had one bottle for a few months now, it's reusable, same results every time, flawless paint removal.

Here's a link to their website:
https://www.vms-supplies.com/product-page/clean-slate

[Major_Gilbear]

Interesting stuff, I'll have to take a look rayvn26. :)