Hi everyone,

I have a nice stash of accessories and weapons from the ARAH accessory packs. I like to use them as standard accessories for my ARAH customs, however I plainly hate the standard colors they came in. I usually prefer to paint them black.

However I'm having a really hard time with the paint adhering to them without chipping. It seems the quality of the plastic used in molding them makes them impossible to dye, and spray/brush-on paints will easily be scratched off, even with a sealer on.

Has any of you found a way to prevent this?

they are VERY hard to paint chip proof (in fact i havent been able to do it).

they bend too much and the paint just cant take it. rit dye would probably work best.

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No kidding, they're a ***** to paint chip proof (pardon my French).

I wasn't even able to rit dye them - I tried but it didn't take the dye. But I was also concerned that they would warp quickly, given their size and thinness, so I didn't want to leave them in the pot too long.

Has anyone successfully done this?

it can be done to some extent, but not totally, on harder (non bending) weapons.

rit dye didnt work on the light grey AP guns?

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No it didn't - I didn't even bother to try on other colors. It didn't take the slightest amount of dye. I'm planning to dye a small batch of parts black later this week, I'll try again to dye these weapons. Maybe they need a whole lot more dye in the pot.

Hmmm.

What I do doesnt work on accessories and is touch and go with the New Sculpt plastic, because its so rubbery. I would suggest dousing those suckers in as much dye as possible. I would think the light grey would suck it up.

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Yeah I'll definitely try that and see what comes out of it. I'm half expecting them to come out unchanged, half expecting them to melt in the pot

I don't have experience with the weapons, but was working with a headman hat and threw it in the dye when the dye was cooling. I left it overnight and then next morning the hat was black, and no problems so far. Granted that is a rubbery plastic, but the dye worked even when not fully heated.

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I used sandable black primer to color weapons several times. It holds up way better than normal paint and gives a nice matte finish. So, if the dying does work out, try a can of that, they look really nice.

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Cool tip, thanks! I'll try that

Krylon makes this camo series of flat spray paints that I really like to use on weapons. It is made to spray on your hunting gear so it dries very quickly and isn't tacky at all. It doesn't quite come out pitch black dark more of a subdued grey weathered black. It makes weapons look even more realistic. Forget the dye as it won't work the way you want on those light colored weapons. It will make them darker for sure but not all the way.

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Dark blue AP weapons dye the best. I have tried a few and they turn out to be black every time, the red ap weapons are the second best, and the light blue tend to turn a gray, the gray and green ap weapons tend not to take the dye at all....



I haven't tried this yet but Krylon makes a plastic fusion spray paint that I have found in black that has amazing results with, the paint actually penatrates the plastic..........

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I like the Krylon Fusion paints, I jus don't always like it for small weapons. It has a tendency to run and of course comes out glossy. I like it for a lot of things and have used it on some weapons. More often than not though I haven't had a lot of success with hit especially when a figure has to hold the weapon I still get scraping.

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I've painted of few of the sweet Adventure Man accessories, like the attache, explosive chargers, and the handhelds. As long as you seal the finished piece with a clear coat, should be okay. Some of these had buttons and dials the size of ant peckers, and they're doing fine with handling.

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I have a dark blue AP gun. I painted it black with regular acrylic black paint. I let it dry 1 week. After that, I covered the handle with one coat of clear Tamiya cement (clear super glue). It makes a glossy finish on the handle, but it is hidden by my fig's hand. It is pretty much chip-proof!

Martin

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