Protecting your figurines & what are these "custom paint" figurines?

Two questions to this one. To protect the paint on a figurine, has anyone ever heard of "waxing" the figurines? I think it's a car wax ~ or is that even acceptable? There have been figurines with tags on them and they had paint missing or rub spots on pointy areas e.g. the top of the tail, tips of the ears, and hip bones on a cow and I just can't figure out what would cause that if they have been taken care of. Have there been figurines that had a lousy paint job ~ kind of like there was a year when Chevrolet trucks had their paint coming off ~ about 20 years ago? Second question is that I also wondered about the few figures that have been advertised with "custom" paint jobs. They seem to be mainly horses. Is there a special paint that they use? What is that all about anyways? Is it reallly something collectible too or just a matter of preference? Any comments? Sue

Hi Sue.
I wouldn't put anything on your figurines, maybe you would damage the figurines even more with rubbing them with wax or so.
You just have to be carefull with them, as i aspect from a serious collector.

Of course it is better to display them in vitrines or kabinets, or at least in boxes, to protect them from dust or other stuff in the air.
But even in vitrines and kabinets, the dust is coming, very fine although.
This means you have to clean them a few times a year, with a soft piece of cloth or so, and most figurines can stand water, just not brush to hard.
You can make a day job from that, or just clean some figurines which you have in your hands now and then.
Or do it when you are changing the displays now and then(i think most of us do that regularly).
Some white figurines, you can even clean-up in pure chlorine, i did this with older Schleich mini's and classics, and they could stand this very good, and the other colours stayed on the model.
I am sure some of the other collectors do have some more tips on this.

Of course some figurines have loss of paint on certain point, because they are played with, as they were made for children in the first place, we must not forget that.
Some collectors will give some re-paint, some will not, as they think it has ist charmes that an older figurine has that paint-loss or rub-offs.
In some cases the value of an older figurine will even go down when you work on them.
It is what you want, do you just want to have the figurine in a good condition, or do you want the original as it was.
I only do some work on some black parts of some models, if i can do that, without seeing that i did that.
Like on nose-tips, or tips of ears and so on.
I do that very carefully with a black waterproof marker, but that is a choice too.

There always be some years that the painting has lower quality, or just because the models were made in another country of production, like in Schleich, Germany, China and Portugal, but those can be nice variations on a model too.

Those "custom" models can be very nice too, but they are not doing anything to the value of the model in my eyes..
But some of those people who do that, do a really good job on the re-paint and re-modelling of the model.
But again, if you like them, is in the eye of the collector.

What kind of paints they use, other members here can answer that much better, as they make models theirselfs, or do re-paints.

When I repaint a model or paint a model that I've made, I use acrylics. I've heard that some people use pastels when customizing horses, but I don't know how that works.

When I customise my models I use a sealant. You can get matte or glossy.

I've not tried it on an OF model but I paint my models with Acrylic. Maybe give it a try on a model in rubbed condition ?

Willy is right!I also use black water-proof markers only when it comes to noses,small rubs on the claw or eye.
But,I don't think a rubbed animal is nicer.I have my old Great Dane,and it looks pretty bad.It has a lot of scratches.My red deer and bison too.All of these and some others were bought from a family which played a lot with them.The prices were low anyway,less than the normal shop price for them(not to say the retired fees).

Sue, I store all my figurines in plastic ziploc bags, in order to eliminate the possibility of paint rubs, incidental damage, etc. It's a highly unsatisfactory approach if you want to display all your figures ( ), but it is effective. Sunlight, heat, moisture and other factors do impact PVC figurines over time, it should be noted.

You are right about that Phil, but i want to see then too of course.
But i close the curtians when the sunlight is to harsh in the morning, to give a little bit extra protection.
But i do watch my models carefully, to see if the light and sun do some damage...
Or even the warmth or light of the vitrines.

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

You are right about that Phil, but i want to see then too of course.
But i close the curtians when the sunlight is to harsh in the morning, to give a little bit extra protection.
But i do watch my models carefully, to see if the light and sun do some damage...
Or even the warmth or light of the vitrines.

Well, your expert experience with fresh-water aquaria has no doubt sharpened your senses, in this regard...

Maybe Phil...

I customize my models with acrylic paint, or pastels. The way pastels work is you brush them on the animal with a normal brush and go get some Matte Finish spray and spray it outside and let it dry. Then do another coat and spray, another coat of pastels and spray, etc etc etc. Hope this helped!

Well, you are more an expert in this as i am, i don't do re-apints or re-modelling, i leave this to the people who understand to do this!
But i like to buy some re-painted or re-modelled models sometimes, when they are good.
Like this example, a re-modelled and re-painted Schleich Haflinger into a Fjord-pony...

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