Bael
Room Planner
Posts: 288
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Post by Bael on Dec 31, 2013 12:42:11 GMT
I've seen Heroclix Sasquatch figures (a character from Alpha Flight comic) and thought these would make good Yetis for D&D. I've never had Heroclix figures and was wondering about repainting them. Anyone have experience with repainting a Heroclix figure in regards to regular acrylic paint for miniatures sticking to them? I get the feeling they are real bendy plastic and may have issues taking paint. Thanks,
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Post by adamantinedragon on Jan 1, 2014 6:30:57 GMT
I purchased over 500 Mageknight miniatures, which are very similar to the Heroclix figures. I've re-based all but a few of the largest ones. I ordered a huge amount of wooden disks from an online wood craft supplier. They weren't terribly hard to rebase, most popped off with very little trouble using a set of sprue cutters (sort of like wire cutters, but higher precision and designed to snip plastic parts from injection mold sprues). Every now and then one of them would give me a little trouble and mash a foot or something. I then used a mix of super glue, hot glue and epoxy to attach the figures to the wooden bases. I have to admit that every now and then one of the bases pops off and I have to re-glue it back on. Usually this happens with those that I hot glued.
As far as painting is concerned, I only repainted a few of them, but I didn't notice any real problem with the paint. I did re-prime them first. In one case the extra paint thickness caused a loss of detail, but I just decided to live with it instead of stripping all the paint off and repainting from scratch. But then again, many of the MageKnight miniatures are pretty poor quality sculpts, if it were a better sculpt, I might have gone to the trouble of stripping and re-painting.
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Post by clanoneillguy on Jan 1, 2014 16:03:46 GMT
I second Adamantine Dragon. In my never ending quest for CHEAP mini's I have repurposed many HeroCLix & Horror Clix for D&D and Zombicide. I use regular wire cutters and only rarely "mash a foot". Many pop right off. I rebase them on whatever I have handy, metal washers, wood discs, circles cut from old credit/gift cards... Many have a decent paint job already but I have repainted entire minis. I have not bothered to reprime them and use standard hobby store acryllic paints. HeroClix have been a great source of inexpensive minis.
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Post by DMScotty on Jan 1, 2014 16:10:37 GMT
Good advice and comments adamantinedragon and clanoneillguy. Ben's RPG pile has a vid on rebasing MK minis.
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dmj
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 245
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Post by dmj on Jan 6, 2014 0:06:52 GMT
I found to remove most of the mage knights from the base wasn't to difficult but once in a while they are glued down well and for those I have a trick. Do this I a ventilated area, I remove the counter disc out of the base with a flat head screw driver and the take a soldering iron I use to carve foam with heat it up and melt under the area of the mini that is attached to the base as the plastic of the base heats up the glue loses adhesion and the figure will come off with a gentle pull, intact with no damage to the foot. I hope this helps.
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Post by kokigami on Jan 6, 2014 3:27:26 GMT
nice tip.. I have a butt ton of these I need to rebase..
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Bael
Room Planner
Posts: 288
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Post by Bael on Jan 7, 2014 17:47:13 GMT
Cool, thanks for the tips. I shall order a half dozen off a certain auction site this week and give it a shot. I've based only metal figures to either coins or wooden discs using JB Weld. With metal figs, I use JB Weld to blend their off balanced cast base into the coin/disc so you can't see 1 base stacked on another. I'll probably use wooden discs for these Heroclix figs. I doubt JB Weld would be a good choice though for holding them down because it would just be the bottoms of the figures' feet to a wooden base. That stuff would probably goop all over and cover their feet too much.
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Post by sgtslag on Jan 9, 2014 15:29:49 GMT
I've used 5-minute Epoxy, from Wal-Mart, to attach MK figures' feet to various base materials (my current favorite base material, is vinyl floor tiles, two halves glued together using their glue side, then cut to size needed; the floor tiles are left over from other projects, and I have a lifetime supply of off-cuts to use for basing multiple armies of figures...). The two-part epoxy has worked quite well, with few breaking off with handling during games. The epoxy will bond to most materials. I just mix some on some on top of a paper/card stock piece, as a palette, touch the soles of the figure's feet to the epoxy, and then press onto the base material to cure. Make sure the base material is clean, and free of any paint, as you want the mini to bond with the base, not a thin coat of paint, on top of the base material. Cheers!
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Post by Sleepy Hollow Mike on Jan 10, 2014 12:44:18 GMT
I have taken off the Heroclix minis in one of two ways I either snip them of with my sprue cutters OR if they are particularly stubborn I use a razor sax. I like the idea of getting at them from below. The plastic seems a bit soft but managable. Since I work in 1/72, conversions are a snap to accomplish. I mount them on steel washers and affix them with 5 min epoxy.
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Post by runningwolf on May 3, 2015 2:59:44 GMT
Year and a half old thread but came up in a google search. In the process of working on this now. There is a place in Erie that sells some of the "common" Heroclix for 50 cents. I've been stripping the buggers down with nail polish remover and my bit of advice (as in other google searches) remove from the base first. The acetone doesn't mess up the figure plastic all that much but the bases get sticky from melting. I've got a few double figures. I'm half tempted to lay out some paint next weekend and have the g/f and me "compete" with the doubles. Think it would be cool because that way they would be the same sculpt but have totally different paint jobs. "Compete" only because I couldn't think of another word for comparing the cool factor. EDIT: Ok found someone who said to try brake fluid for stripping the pant. We have some.... ...long story short we hit a deer last weekend, insurance totaled the car, g/f had a half a can of brake fluid in her old car she snug when we got the stuff out of it today. Will try this method tomorrow if we have some time, or else will try it next weekend and give you guys a report back here.
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Post by sgtslag on May 3, 2015 11:47:54 GMT
Is it worth the effort to strip the old paint? I've heard that it is just as effective to paint over the original. Personally, I have only Dip'ed a few, never bothered to repaint them so far. Looking forward to hearing your progress, though. Cheers!
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slurpy
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 197
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Post by slurpy on May 3, 2015 15:15:25 GMT
I have debased probably about a hundred of them, 2/3s probably snapped off without any tools, and the others came off with a utility knife just fine. Only ever lost one limb ever, and it was one that stayed on the base as the other one snapped off. It's how I learned to only snap critters that are connected on the bottom. I have poorly painted over a few, and have had no issues.
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Post by runningwolf on May 3, 2015 16:37:43 GMT
Not going to work on them today.... But will try over the week and weekend. Today is time in the kitchen. Chocolate covered (peanut butter with a "yolk") rice crispy eggs. The brake fluid I want to see about but one report said it takes a few days to strip the paint . Will try it on satuday to see if it is a week long project or something that only takes up an afternoon. EDIT: OK, think the best way to do this is to get the paint off with a cotton ball (rinse as to stop the acetone reacting with the plastic), and then put an inch or so of the nail polish remover in a small jelly jar. Put the lid on and shake. Get the fig, wipe with a paper towel, rinse in water.... repeat till all the crevice paint is gone. Will have pics next weekend.
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Post by Erasmas on May 4, 2015 15:22:06 GMT
As for rebasing them, I cannot recommed pinning them enough! Get a pin vice or a dremel and a very small bit. Drill holes into whatever comes into contact with your base and through the base itself (if you can). Then snip a section of paperclip and glue it into the hole on the mini. Insert into the hole(s) in the base and glue there as well. It is somewhat time-consuming but it is incredibly secure this way!
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slurpy
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 197
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Post by slurpy on May 5, 2015 1:53:53 GMT
I've never had an issue with Goop coming loose, even on the minis with just two little feet glued to the new base.
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Post by michka on May 5, 2015 8:19:58 GMT
I've seen the magic that is Goop, and while it's a great adhesive, there's nothing like pinning a miniature to a base. If nothing else it strengthens the ankles of bend plastic figures.
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Post by runningwolf on May 6, 2015 16:57:44 GMT
Trying a second stage today.
Acetone (nail polish remover) on a cotton ball to get the major paint off.
Today filling a cat food can with it, letting the fig soak for a minute and then using a medium/hard tooth brush for the remaining paint.
For anyone else trying this stripping method be sure to run the fig under tap water every few minutes. Especially if the plastic feels like it is starting to get soft.
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puuka
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 1
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Post by puuka on May 4, 2017 18:03:16 GMT
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