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Hello everyone !
As you may know, i am new with mithril miniatures and i have several questions regarding primed minifigures.
This is the first time i see a company selling primed minifigures, and i obviously saw that some minifigures are sold primed and other not, which i wish i know why (i am not talking about the collector's one with black shadows).
Also, i don't understand why mithril would impose a grey undercoating which i think is quite thick, while i choose my undercoating (black, white or grey) according to how i want to paint my minifigures.
Thus, i have a huge preference for unprimed minifigs, however there are a lot of primed figs i would like to buy, and this undercoating seems very hard to remove. Do you have any tips ?
Thank you !
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Grey undercoat was the trademark of Mithril. The details are a lot more visible. I love it. I also undercoat my conversions grey!
The best results removing the undercoat I had with placing the minis in a glass with lid filled with thinner. Let them sit in it for a few hours then use a old toothbrush to clean of the undercoat. Repeat if need be.
If you got very hard to remove undercoating, you can use a paintstripper fo metal also.
Last edited by hsf62 (Tue, Apr16 2019 3:49pm)
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Personally I think it was a very good marketing ploy as the grey-primed figures were what caught my eye all those years ago. I'm not a small figure collector in general, but have a passion for Tolkien's works, and had the grey primer not caught my eye then years of pleasure and empty wallet would not have happened .
There have been various posts elsewhere regarding the grey primer that Mithril use/used, but that is another story
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Maybe mithril should give the choice producing unprimed and primed version of minifigures
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Hi TaxD,
I was a fan of the grey primer too, it gave a special and specific look to the brand.
Personally, as years passed and I started to paint a little better, the first thing I do nowadays is to remove that thick undercoat, because it covers a lot of detail.
I also think that Mithril as a brand is moving towards the nonprimed version, and on the newest miniatures (MZXXX) I think, the web offers you the choice of buying them without primer. But since my last purchase was quite long ago, I cannot assure you that.
PS: Mithril should do a lot of things... but they simply not do them. I consider a take it or leave it company... But they are deeply rooted on my heart so I cannot leave them. xD
Last edited by Maenas (Wed, Apr17 2019 10:47am)
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Hello Maenas,
I agree, i have an orc on warg minifigure in my hands, and the details on the face are not great because of the undercoat being too thick in some places.
Most likely, it depends on the minifig, but i will systematically remove the undercoat if the minifig has one.
"PS: Mithril should do a lot of things... but they simply not do them. I consider a take it or leave it company... But they are deeply rooted on my heart so I cannot leave them. xD"
Indeed, i plan to take what i think is the best of mithril, i noticed a lot of disparities, even if the most recent minifigures are just really great (the boats, elves and dwarves especially) and most of them don't have the undercoat, i think mithril giving up this practice is for the best
Regarding the option of buying primed or unprimed minifigures, it is not available as an option but i was planning to ask if it is possible to order unprimed minifigures when they are not to sell as such, even if i expect a no. Besides, it might not be relevent since they stop littlt by little but it might be worth the try
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For quite a while Mithril does not sell any primed figures since the MZ-series was started. Primed figures you find and get are all from older stocks. As far as I know.
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You are right master Ent. On my side, I tend to put grey primer by myself for I love the eye effect. Still I agree my primer is not a thick one as per mithril old minis.
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Yes my main issue isn't particularly the color of the primer, i can deal with it, but the thikness of the undercoat is annoying, fortunately (imo) this practice tends to disappear
Last edited by TaxD2 (Wed, Apr24 2019 4:52pm)
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To remove old primer, acetone is working very well. Just let the mini few minutes in acetone and use old tooth brush to get a clean miniature ready for painting.
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dettol seems to be even better. there are a number of youtube videos detailing which product is best to help remove old paintjobs and primers almost completely with no or hardly any damage to the miniatures.
Last edited by cameosis (Sat, Jun15 2019 7:07pm)
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Thank you, i did try acetone but it barely scorched the paint
Last edited by TaxD2 (Sat, Jun15 2019 9:14am)
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