Paint rubbing off, big Issue...

[Father Of Incendia]

Ok, I've been painting on and off for a few years now, and what started as being annoying with metal models, has transferred onto everything I paint. What I'm talking about is

Paint just rubbing off... I can understand this happening from gripping whatever it is your painting, but it's happening to everything! Knee guards, points and tips etc. I use standard GW paint (foundations and "inks" included) and it's just a nightmare, I gave up on my Red marines as it became a night mare having to paint red on the same spot about 15hundred times... And it's still frustrating on my new black chaos terminators...

I never had this problem years ago. And old paint can't be the problem as I bought some new ones to try it out. Can anyone please explain if there is a way to solve this problem as it's becoming hard to paint for more than 5 minutes without rage quiting with frustration... Thanks in Advance to any and all help.

[Master of fact]

There can be a few reasons for this.

 

If your painting white metal/lead or resin models (forgeworld) there can be chemical residue left from molding process. I scrub with a tooth brush and fairy liquid with water and rinse ( or for our american cousins washing up liquid).

 

Do you use an undercoat or paint straight onto the mini. If you paint directly this is a problem as paint will rub eaisly off. Always undercoat black/white or other of your choice.

 

To paint a model i drill a hole in the leg and stick a paper clip in. Then put the wire in a cork to hold. Then snip the wire of so you can use a bit to pin to the base.

 

If none of the above work the only last resort i can think is to spray your bare model with purity seal, then basecoat.

[Red Fury]

Even plastic minis have a mold release residue on them, be sure to clean all minis before painting. Or your skin may have changed over the years and could be leaving a residue on the minis during assembly. I have seen some people that know they have skin/contamination issues and wear latex gloves when modeling. I'd do this for model prep:

 

1. wash your hands.

2. assemble model to a base.

3. wash the model with a mild soap and water using an old toothbrush.

4. trying to only handle the base (or wearing gloves) spray prime the mini

5. using either stickt-tac (blue-tac, aka. poster hanging sticky putty stuff) or the pinning method MoF said above, attach the mini to a cork or old paint pot or film canister. be careful to touch the mini as little as possible.

 

the mini is ready for paint and should be as clean as possible. having the mini mounted to something will let you handle it during painting without actually touching the model. Be sure to varnish it when done to seal the paint job.

[Seahawk]

It's not the paints; I've had the same GW ones for almost a decade and they're fine, as are the new ones I acquire over time.

 

One thing could be drying time and thickness of your coat. For instance, when I've been painting black, I like to thin it down so it goes on smooth (but still only need one coat). Then when handling it to get at a different location, sometimes I'll accidentally scrape parts I've already done (but look dry). The paint will still come off fairly quickly despite the undercoat. Really, it's best to wait about 12-24 hours for each coat to really settle in before you'll want to touch those parts again.

[Father Of Incendia]

Thanks Guys, I'll be sure to try some of these methods out. And the gloves are something I never really thought of before... Very interesting... I'll see how it goes, much appreciated.