painting bricks

[mrblue]

during my last mocs, I realized that some bricks are difficult to find in the right color, and even bricklink cannot help! some stores have the right color, but either the price is very high, or the minimum order is too high for my needs, and when the price is right, they don't have enough parts.

then, I said to myself: people out there paint their own minifigs, why couldn't I paint some bricks?

obviously, I'm not talking about common 1x2 bricks or so on, but I'm considering to paint the one not easy to get, for example 6x28 train chassis that are no more available in red or black or the palm trunk in black.

which is the best technique to paint lego in your opinion?

thank you for your suggestions

have a nice lego day

mrBlue

[The_Customizer]

I would recommend using Valspar Spraypaint. You can find it in Lowes in the USA. It's fairly cheap (only about $4 for 12oz or so) and it leaves a nice smooth feeling on Lego.

[tin7_creations]

One thing you should be worried about when painting actual bricks, is that paint adds layers. So if you layer the paint on too thick, the brick itself won't fit together with other bricks anymore. One suggestion is to build what you're trying to build first, and then add the paint AFTER the build. However, it probably means you can't reuse the parts. So it's all up to painter's discretion!

~tin7_creations

[Omicron]

Also most Lego pieces has a finish on them that makes it difficult for the paint to stay on. Removing the finish makes painting easier, and less to put on (which reduces layers)

-Omi

[Morgan19]

Krylon Fusion is meant specifically for plastic (like LEGO) and bonds much closer to the surface, meaning there's less (or none!) of that "built-up paint" effect. I use it all the time for coloring entire bricks and it works wonderfully, particularly for black as Krylon's color is just about an exact match for LEGO's.

m19

Edited April 30, 2011 by Morgan19

[mrblue]

first of all, thank you to all who replied until now!

my worries were in fact, about layer and be sure the painting stay on the bricks. anyway, in some cases I don't need to paint all the brick, and in other cases, the connection part will not be "heavy" painted.

during the years, I've painted many metal minifigs and usually I sprayed thrm first with a coat of white or black depending on the effect I wanted to end with, but with plastic I always had bad experiences.

I tried once with a coat of "something transparent" (don't know the name in english) to help color stay on, but with lego would be one more layer and maybe problems at connecting bricks.

would you suggets to use some abrasive paper first?

thank you for yor help

have a nice lego day

mrBlue