A very nice new little hobby store just opened in my (Very small) hometown. They have a lot of Reaper Bones figures. They are quite cheap. Every time I go out to get groceries or go to the bank and I have a few extra bucks in my pocket, I get a couple of them.

So... what kinds of paints/sealants/primers/etc. are compatible with these little white rubber dudes, and what kinds eat them, refuse to properly dry on them, or leave them looking like Bret and Captain Dallas in the "Kill me..." scene from the Alien director's cut? I know this information is out there, but it's scattered across many sites, threads, and forums and it would be nice to have a big dump of it here, along with people's personal anecdotes.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice.

You don't need to prime Bones, one of thier selling points, but I found grey Krylon primer is useful still just for bringing out details and because they can be a bit resistant to washes. Other than that, they hold acrylics well. I've heard, but not tried, that you can even use Testors acrylics on them, I've stuck with Vallejo.

Very easy to convert . I've got several Marsh trolls in the process of becoming Fimirs.

One thing to look out for is that they do seem to veer closer to 25mm than 28 in quite a few instances, especially compared to exaggerated Warhammer figures.

Any Army Painter spray primer works great as long as it's not black or white.  I've had a lot of success and the club had a paint day a while back to play with the Bones.  I'll be posting some more info on our blog on that along with a lot of pics - hopefully Monday.

As a side, there's a product called Super Clean that works wonders on paint.  It will strip all the paint of any resin or plastic model, and it doesn't eat the Bones.

Quote from: Blackhand;698771Any Army Painter spray primer works great as long as it's not black or white.

What happens if you use white? I usually use Army Painter primer.

Best results with Army Painter white primer.  Also, take note that many primers and coats will never cure on a bones mini, and it will be very tacky to the point where you can't handle them.

Yeah Army Painter white does work, that's my bad.

Check this thread for more detailed info.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;698894Best results with Army Painter white primer.  Also, take note that many primers and coats will never cure on a bones mini, and it will be very tacky to the point where you can't handle them.

That was my initial experience with a black spray primer. I have a grey Simoniz spray primer that works fine though. I've been told you need to spray from 12"/30cm away to make sure none of the solvent in the spray primer gets on the Bones. I sprayed the last of the grey primer from nearly that far away yesterday, was fine.

As a practical matter "you don't need to prime Bones" is not true IME. This is because of the highly water-repellent nature of the Bonesium; *any* water on the brush/in the paint will make the paint bead up on the figure. My Vallejo Game Color paints must have a bit of water in them, they bead badly. Using very thick, unthinned Vallejo Model Color I could get it to stick, but it tended to obscure detail even on the pit fiend I was painting. Any attempt to use a wet palette or thin paint even slightly, or leave a reasonable amount of water on the brush, leads to disaster. It's been really frustrating me trying to paint unprimed Bones, and I'm probably going to prime them all in future.

So, from my experience so far, I definitely favour priming. I like grey primer as it brings out the detail, I can see what I should be painting, and if you miss bits they don't glare at you like with white undercoat.

I agree...priming is the way to go.

Only use the bare Bones model if you want a white undercoat, and even then I recommend Foundation Paints with little to no water in the mix for the first coat.

This is the list I have cobbled together so far from multiple online sources. Please feel free to copy-n-paste and add to this. Any additional information is appreciated!

Reaper Bones Master Compatibility List 10/13/13

Recommended aerosol spray primers and paints:

Army Painter white and colored primers
Krylon Dual Paint + Primer
Duplicolor Sandable – slight tackiness possible
Rust-oleam Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2x – slight tackiness possible
Simoniz gray spray primer

Problem aerosol spray primers and paints:

Krylon white primer – doesn’t bond, stays tacky
Testors Enamel flat black – stays tacky
Walmart Valu flat white – stays tacky
Krylon Primer red-brown – stays tacky
Citadel spray

Recommended Strippers (To Remove Paint)

Super Clean
Simple Green Concentrated All Purpose Cleaner
Brake Fluid (?!!!)

Problem Strippers (To Remove Paint)

Recommended Sealants

Testor's Dull Coate


Problem Sealants

Ive personally found the best results with Krylon Camoflage Ultra-Matt line.

Plus 4 bucks a can at Canadian Tire with enough for me to prime 100 + figures so far.

The camoflage paints are great primers, and they work great on bones.

I love those paints, for about 1/3 the price of any other colored primer.  There's just no camo yellow or blue or weird colors for certain things, but for that there's the premium Army Painter sprays.

No matter if you decide to use primer or not it is very important that you wash the minis in warm soapy water, preferably with a degreaser dish type soap.

This will wash the mold release off which can cause issues with paint adhesion. I use an old toothbrush to scrub a bit at the hard to reach bits. Allow them to dry completely before priming or painting.


The bendy problem:

Many of the Bones minis feature narrow parts such as weapons (or even skeleton legs) that are bent and won't stay straight. This can be fixed.

Prepare a saucepan of boiling water on the stove. Get a decent sized bowl and prepare it full of icewater. Dip your bendy bones in the boiling water with a strainer (do not let them contact the bottom of the pot!!!) You only need to hold them under for a few seconds. After removing them from the pot, bend the mini to the shape you want and immediately submerge it into the icewater. Let it sit in the icewater for a few minutes. It should retain the new shape.

It might take a couple tries to get the hang of it but you can re-boil and straighten until you get it right. Be sure to do this on multi-part models BEFORE gluing them together, then assemble the straightened pieces.

I find you can just use a hairdryer for the Bones as well.  Boiling them in water seems a little too...complicated and messy.

You still need to cold-shock them though.

The second Bones KS solves all your problems, you will get enough little devils that you can experiment to your heart's content!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6aCtVJKwRg&feature=player_embedded#t=0

Just a few more days to get in on the goodness!