Lightening Paint

[stardog24]

I want to paint one of my extra Gungans as a "gray skin," but I don't know how to make my Testors Gray paint any lighter. I basically want to do it as a "dirty wash," but don't know how. Any suggestions? Water won't work and thinner won't either. Any help would be appreciated.

[bigbarada]

Have you tried mixing it with some white paint to get the shade you are looking for?

If you are trying to do a wash then I would recommend acrylic paint not Testors enamel. Acrylic paint is water based and should thin out easily. But don't worry once it dries it's waterproof.

[Jargo]

I have no problem with enamels at all. I use turpentine substitute to thin them down. Are you sure that they ae actually enamels? Some manufacturers do like to get creative when naming products. I basicaly use one part paint to five parts turps sub. 1 part being equal to a loaded number 2 artists sable brush. Mix like billy-o and then paint away. the paint doesn't dry up too fast but the thinners will evaporate in warm rooms so be careful with that stuff.
Acrylics have always seemed to be too fast drying for me to be able to work with them. plus they just form a skin over the top of the plastic you're painting which peels off easily.
And enamels will work splendidly when doing a wash over plastic. See the vehicles thread and look at the y-wing attachment . It's not a pretty paint job but it wasn't meant to be. Just to show how it works.

One problem i thought of. How will you get a grey skinned gungan by washing over the skin with grey? the gungan figures have all got brght orangey skin tones which will still show through. Or was that what you wanted?

[stardog24]

I'm painting a Tarpal and his skin tone isn't orange like Jar Jar. But, yeah, that's what I'm looking for - just a very light gray "tint" on the skin, still being able to see the purple markings on Tarpals arms. Would mineral spirits work? I know I have some of that around the house, but I don't have turpentine. And the Testors bottle says the paint is enamel. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll probably mess around with it later today.

[Jargo]

If I remember right;y, the enamel paints are oil based and so need an oily thinner. Spirits of any description sounds to be alcohol based or ethanol based which will seperate or solidify the enamel paint and ruin your brushes. My only advice in this situation is to be a little patient and hold off until you can find some turpentine substitute. that way you won't ruin either the equipment you use or make a mess of the figure. it's always better to use the right tools for the right job rather than make do and end up with something you aren't happy with.

I know that sounds a little old fashioned but it's the best advice I ever took off anyone and it saved me both a fortune in trashed toys and a lot of frustration.

[stardog24]

I actually found time today to mess around with it. I tried using thinner again and kept adding paint until I got the consistancy I wanted. And it worked. Worked as well as I thought it would, at least. I'll try to include a picture. The picture's not great. Basically, the figure if gray where green was, black were brown was with shoulder pads and mid-section the same. I don't know if you'll be able to tell from the photo, but he has light gray skin with the tattoo/marking still showing through on the arms. Not bad. Speaking of gungans, does anyone have a picture or know what General Tobler Ceel looks like?
Once again, thanks for the assistance.

[Jargo]

Pretty cool

As far as I know, Ceel was never filmed. he's in the script but they never got round to creating his character and his lines went to Tarpals instead. But I would imagine he looked pretty similar to Tarpals. Perhaps without the facial finials. An exacto blade would trim those off a treat so you's end up with a younger looking Tarpals that you could then recolour slightly lighter with another wash. There might be a decipher CCG card with him on it though.

[Jargo]

Here's my first effort of a custom using the body of the original Boss Nass and the head and arms of one of the millions of Jar Jars I ended up with. It was supposed to be the fat Gungan you see as the heroes enter the Gungan sacred place.