Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Flash Point firefighter


I was bored, so I dug out these little guys to paint. This is one of the basic firefighter figures from the board game Flash Point: Fire Rescue. I wasn't too much for the cartoony style, but it was at least fun to paint. The simple lines and deep engraved lines also made the painting very easy. I think I can paint the rest of the figures (eight, plus the veteran and the dog) all in an hour or so.

I kept the palette simple, inspired by the Chicago Fire Dept. The reflective tape was easy to fake: It's a bright lemon yellow with just a TOUCH of light green. The rest is easy -- a couple layers of gray to highlight the black, and some jewel-technique painting for the visor.

I'll get to those other firefighters, but I'm using this one as a test figure; these figures, though a bit stiffer, seem to be made of the same material as Reaper's Bones. Or at least this material has the same qualities. So the initial problem is getting the paint to stick. I'm using the same technique I use for Bones figures: Delta Ceramcoat Black as a base coat, paint as normal, then spray varnish, which seems to work best for me. But I'm still a little wary.

Minor Bones rant (old stuff really)

I would really like to see what others are doing that their paint doesn't chip off their Bones figures.
People keep saying Bones don't need primer -- well, neither do metal figures, unless you want the paint to stay. In any case, I tried it without primer: All I had to do was look at the figure wrong and the paint would chip off.
They says to clean your figures: Done, extensively, tried dishwashing liquid, tried undiluted Simple Green.
They say the Bones are hydrophobic: OK, keeping the water out of the paint
I'm still getting a helluva lot of chipped and rubbed-off paint. (pre-varnish)

But on the flip side, I did see a youtube video where a guy hit his painted Bones figure 12 times with a hammer, and only had one chip; I would LOVE to know how he painted/protected that figure. Once I can put together a better method  (where I can hit the figures with a hammer) than my own, I think I could really launch into paint the rest of this Bones pile sitting next to my table.

Honestly, I'm guessing maybe it's all in the varnish -- just which one, I don't know.

-- So if you've tried something that works (ie, I can hammer the hell out of my figures), please share!*

Back to Flash Point

If this method I use works for the Flashpoint figures, I'll paint up the rest of the crew I have (as well as purchase and paint the expansion that has the specialist figures.) I'll paint the specialists in colors closer to the illustrations on the cards, though, I'll switch any canvas coats to the black coats as per the figure shown above.

*I guess I haven't checked up lately to see how those Bones figures I painted for Jeff are doing. I'll have to go see; maybe my method, indeed, works just fine?

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful! I have those minis still waiting to be painted; seeing yours they have just jumped out some positions in the painting row!

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  2. Best results ive had so far have been with army painter sprays. first a spray as a primer then their clear anti shine spray and they have been good to go so far. in between army painter sprays i used all other types of paint like reaper, privateer and gw and such.

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    1. I've been hearing good things about Army Painter. The sprays you use, are they paint or are they dedicated primers?

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    2. they are primers and base colors in one

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    3. to add to that. i used a dragon red color to spray a red dragon as a primer and a base color. for the rest i just used a color called uniform gray as a base primer and painted over all of it.

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    4. Holy crap- Army Painter primer is awesome on Bones!!!
      Thanks for the heads-up

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  3. nice figure and I like the painting work !

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  4. I wouldn't trust anyone saying anything shouldn't be primed before painting.

    ,,, there's a fire fighting board game? Too cool!

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    1. I'm surprised you haven't heard of Flash Point: Fire Rescue. It's a popular and fun game, playable by the whole family. Check out the Board Game Geek entry: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/100901/flash-point-fire-rescue

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  5. On another note, my usual Bones method looks promising on these firefighter figures, so I've ordered the Extreme Danger expansion (which comes with the specialists figures.)

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