Bones III !

[Thorne]

Yup, Reaper's at it again:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-3-the-search-for-mr-bones/description

... they're funded. And there are dragons! And 'Stonehenge'! And they're talking about more Dragon's-Don't-Share-type awesomeness! (there might be five-headed dragons. Maybe. I might have seen a green at Paizo-con with lots of heads. >.> )
Check it out. Fling money at them, if you want. But try not to drool on your keyboard- it's bad for the keyboard. ^^;

.. I don't work for Reaper, I swear. I just throw money at them on a semi-regular basis.

[eBadger]

I like the idea, and Reaper has some neat models, but that bones plastic is garbage.  Paint just won't stick to it well...have a model I put a ton of work into that I have to keep re-touching after nearly every use. 

[Beorning]

So... what is "Bones", exactly?

[eBadger]

It's a recent product line of miniatures produced by Reaper, including a few new models but mostly re-runs of old ones, using a new type of plastic to make them much less expensive (around 1/3 the cost of white metal).  They've been financing it through Kickstarter, and the deals through that - even considering their much lower market price - have been pretty incredible. 

The problem IMHO is that the plastic they use isn't very good for painting.  It's slick, rubbery, and doesn't hold paint well; just handling the models will rub the paint off.  It also tends to warp and deform pretty badly, and nearly all of them arrive needing some work (they can be adjusted just by dipping them in boiling water and holding them in a new form while they cool, but a hot day can undo that work just as easily).  The flexibility does help when they're dropped - they don't break or bend from impact, you can even roll them up and they won't be much worse for it. 

Overall, great if you want unpainted, cheap game pieces.  Horrible if you want to use them for hobby purposes. 

[Thorne]

I found that it's a YMMV thing.

I've never had a problem getting paint to stick to the things. Granted, I often run a quick soap-and-water wash on them to get the mold release residue off (put in container, put dish soap and water in, put lid on, shake like it's going out of style) and I've said my fair share of rude commentary about stuff that /does not want to stay put/ - some models function better in metal, frankly - but overall? I like that they're practically indestructible, light weight and detailed.
I do find that Reaper's paints stick to them best (apparently, they really /are/ formulated to bond to these things), but I use whatever I have handy, from Reaper's MSP to P3 to Liquitex, and ... yah. No problem. YMMV.

If you want minis you can give to the kids, let them paint them, abuse them, whatever, these are probably what you want. If you like the feel of metal, these are going to be flimsy. If you want something to show off ... um.. buy those aggravating resin things.

Beorn, a lot of the minis I've been showing off in the other thread have been Bones. Including that Marilith. *shrug*

[eBadger]

Hadn't considered the notion of Bones as an entry level thing for youth.  Hmm. 

I used p3 pretty much exclusively; do you prime your stuff?  I was told by one individual that it actually interferes with the bonding for bones, but I haven't experimented with it. 

It would be nice to get the painting to work.  The stuff was nice for my conversion.  Easy to cut and trim, and as mentioned above, you can form it while warm so I was able to mold the wings around a scratch built balloon:



Why don't you like resin?  It has the best of most worlds to me, great detail, easy to paint and easy to clean up.  Just has the price tag to match, too, unfortunately. 

[Thorne]

Resin is obscenely fragile. Like, it breaks if you look at it wrong.
Mind you, I love the detail they can get. I have painted it, it's easy to paint and it takes paint well. But ... fragile! Argh!

Do I prime.. well.. metal, yes. Always.
Bones.. it depends. I do a lot of dry-brushing, so I actually go over them with a black or dark brown (depending on what the model is) before I start adding colours. And my blacks and dark browns are either liquitex or MSP. So .. no problem? I hadn't considered that that habit might have a lot to do with why I have very little trouble with P3 paints sticking. I did notice that P3 beads up with a lot less warning than any of the others (don't know about Citadel - I only have the one, and metallics go on over a black basecoat always), which has resulted in my being a lot quicker to slap a basecoat on a plastic mini than I might for a primed metal mini.

Generally though? Yah. I would /totally/ give Bones minis to older kids (younger ones with supervision), as starter-minis. Just, you know, watch the small parts, and don't let them eat them. The usual stuff...

[Thorne]

So, update.

Eight days to go, there are two parts of the first expansion revealed (Behir! Dragons! Brain in a jar! Plant monsters! More kobolds!) and the current goal is for a /cannon/. I kid you not.
Current followup is to add far eastern minis to the core (Kitsune! Kenku! A very nasty-looking oni!), with a bronze dragon sculpt for the addon section.

I am in mourning for the budget. >.>

[Beorning]

I am in mourning for the budget. >.>

Your budget, I presume ;)

BTW. How did they do the brain in the jar? Transparent plastic, or something?

[Thorne]

Yah, what's left of my budget.. ^^;

BTW. How did they do the brain in the jar? Transparent plastic, or something?

Um. I have it on good authority that there will be a transparent bonesium jar for the brain. People have been talking about suspending the thing in clear resin - don't know if I'll go that far, but the mini is still pretty cool.
They can do that - I have their clear plastic oozes and Gelatinous Cube from the last one, and it is not transparent, but it's not supposed to be. Apparently, they did a spaceship in the last Kickstarter that had a transparent component. We didn't get that expansion, so I'm not actually sure what that looked like.

[Thorne]

Oh, well now. Let's just get all Lovecraft up in this thing.. .
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-3-the-search-for-mr-bones/description

The second expansion is about half revealed, and it's all the mythos you could possibly want, with some cultists thrown in for afters.
Five days to go - feel free to try and make that SAN check. ^.~

*still doesn't work for Reaper - but /does/ want all the goodies, and Tianot*

[Beorning]

Okay, that Lovecraftian creatures do look cool :)

[Thorne]

We're on hours now, 70 to go.
Ma'aldrakar has been revealed (Tianot), and it's /huge/ - easily colossal. They've also revealed the third expansion, and they're starting it off with an awesome piece of scenery. No idea what's /in/ it, but you can take the top off the crypt, and maybe stage major battles ... I'm drooling on my keyboard here.

Hobgobbogeddon is real - there's at least one female hob in the lineup, and the preview art looks /fantastic/.
Going from the last two, this is the last couple of days, when things start getting really /really/ interesting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a bigger drool bucket. ;p

[Dhi]

And my blacks and dark browns are either liquitex or MSP. So .. no problem? I hadn't considered that that habit might have a lot to do with why I have very little trouble with P3 paints sticking. I did notice that P3 beads up with a lot less warning than any of the others (don't know about Citadel - I only have the one, and metallics go on over a black basecoat always), which has resulted in my being a lot quicker to slap a basecoat on a plastic mini than I might for a primed metal mini.

Liquitex paints are cheaply made, containing enough acrylic medium to peel off a painted surface in vinyl sheets. The reason you're not having any trouble with your Bones, and the reason some folks are, likely has to do with the acrylic medium. The acrylic medium sticks to the Bones plastic, but the pigment has a tendency to bead off on the first coat. Successive coats have much better coverage because they're being applied to that invisible acrylic medium rather than naked plastic.

P3 does not use pigment suspended in acrylic medium. It is a liquid pigment. So, it's no surprise that it performs poorest as a Bones basecoat, but I have used it successfully

eBadger, I would suggest not thinning your basecoat very much if at all. Allow acrylic medium to build on the plastic.

But, you know, I have no issues with durability or paint rubbing off. I currently have a Bones II piece in my hands, basecoated by airbrush, and even vigorous rubbing and pinching doesn't expose any white plastic. Bones minis have some issues to be sure. The details are not crisp and I find the Bones II plastic sometimes doesn't unwarp even after repeated boiling. But ease of painting and durability, I can't agree that those are issues. Those are some of the greatest strengths of the line.

We should talk shop if you guys paint. I keep meaning to make a thread with my work, but never quite have the time or inclination. It feels like it might be a wasted effort here on E, where probably only a few people would even understand what to make of it.

[Beorning]

Oh, we certainly can have a thread for painting discussion! Right now, we've had some talk over at my WH40K thread, but we can create a separate thread about it :)

[Dhi]

That thread seemed to be about the game and its lore, neither of which interest me. I'm just a painter.

[Beorning]

Yeah, but we did some painting discussion, too :)

But of course, we could have a general painting thread, too!

[eBadger]

I've peeked in on that thread now and then, but yes, it seems very focused on 40k fluff with a few brief interludes elsewhere, and I swore off GW years ago and never really found the unrelieved dreary villainy of their setting to hold much appeal. 

I'd love to see a painting thread, though, or even just a general mini games thread.  At the moment I'm almost entirely Privateer stuff, but that's mostly because I can get some good deals on it. Dhi, post some of your stuff?