Tai's Mods

Thanks and no problem, its still a learning process to me but I went back to the store and had a chat with the owner about the paint since I did some "no-nos" that you'll definitely see at the meet

 

So what were the no-nos? I'm really wondering about the body painting because I have some EB Minis that I want to change the skin color on drastically (green anyone?) but have been puzzled about the best way to go about it. Does adding a final layer of clear finishing spray over the painted body help enough to not have it rub off just from posing them?

 

Oh, and I really loved reading about you doing the wig as well! I had thought about doing that but didn't even know where to start, but thanks to your explanation I can also fix Rainie's wig so the edge of the wig cap doesn't show by her ears when she has pigtales.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I'm glad my wig tutorial was able to help out. It was all a trial to see how it would work and luckily it did

As for the spray painting no-nos, I started with the primer and only waited an hr before I did the coloured paint. I let those layers dry for an hour then I did a layer or MSC. I let those dry for 2 hrs then impatient as I was I put the body back together. Things were working out fine for a bit then I noticed she was sticky in some areas and the hip and knee joint areas were rubbing.

 

I went back to the store for some advice and told him what happened. He said I should have let the primer dry for 3 days then the colour dry for an other 3. So I removed the excess paint in the knee and elbow crevaces and I'm going to take her apart and remove some of the sticky areas, repaint her and let her dry for the proper amount of time.

 

He said then the paint will adhere better as the under layers were still wet. A good remove for the paint is windsor and newton brush cleaner. It completely removes all the layers as I found out sadly when I was doing her face up

I went back to the store for some advice and told him what happened. He said I should have let the primer dry for 3 days then the colour dry for an other 3. So I removed the excess paint in the knee and elbow crevaces and I'm going to take her apart and remove some of the sticky areas, repaint her and let her dry for the proper amount of time.

 

He said then the paint will adhere better as the under layers were still wet. A good remove for the paint is windsor and newton brush cleaner. It completely removes all the layers as I found out sadly when I was doing her face up

 

kai,

I've been looking through you Flickr again - did you take any pics of the body when you were giving her the "spray tan"?

 

I know you took the armature apart, I'm just wondering how you coated the ball joints in her elbows and wrists. Did you use primer first, and then the colour coat?

Are those ABS plastic parts "sticky" too, or just the vinyl?

 

Also, what grade sandpaper did you use when you were sanding her head?

 

Sorry for all the questions!

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the body (only the head) while I sprayed her but I did put primer on the joint areas. The paint worked well for the ball joints and isn't sticky. I was worried about those parts the most and they worked out the best. Her torso piece, caves, and forarms aren't bad either, its mainly the soft vinyl boobs , thigh joint area and thights that haven't dried properly. For her face I used 2000 grit sand paper.

Ah I see. Thanks!

 

Did you use MSC on the body afterwards too?

Yep, once everything "dried" I used MSC but since I didnt wait long enough it made some parts of the paint wet/ runny

I finally found a nice and reliable hobby shop closer to home "John's Hobby Shop" and will definitely be boycotting Aura model shop since they are unreliable, I wasted numerous calls to them, they promised a new shipment of paint and its been weeks, and the employees are uninformed and not helpful *shakes head*

 

I had Tai with me at John's and asked one of the experts where to go from here. He told me she can be saved and I had to sand off all the sticky areas then wash her down with soap and let the pieces dry until they felt back to normal. He said I should be "misting" the paints on and should wait 2 weeks in between painting but time is running out and hopefully she is dry enough with 1 week intervals. Tomorrow I will be reapplying the primer and a week from now re painting the areas. A week after repainting I'll see if she's dry enough for a layer of MSC then a week later she should be ready for Anime North!

 

Wish Tai luck while she's in the hospital wing

 

Oh yes, Tai's new L bust is in the mail and hopefully should be here, modded, painted and ready to go by AN *crosses fingers*

Finished the L-bust mod and repainting the body. Links in first post

The L-bust mod looks fantastic!

Thanks, now it should be slightly easier to make clothes for her.. *hopefully*