Customizing Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. with Vinyl Wonder Paint!

I always wanted to add paint to action figures, but did not like the idea that figures become "too sensitive to handle" when this happens. I also did not want to have to retouch figures when jointed. These problems were remedies when I discovered the magic of Vinyl Wonder!

Here is how I used a special Sofubi vinyl paint to customize some Tezcatlipoca Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S.!

First off, Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S is a line of 1/18 fantasy figures made by Boss Fight Studio! They are decently priced and a lot of fun to kitbash! For this project, I bought their blank colors of Light Fawn and Coffee.

Boss Fight Studio also makes small random, unpainted accessory sets to customize your figures. I found a website that sold them without the randomness and bought the Tezcatlipoca accessory pack in green, black, and white!

Vinyl Wonder (VW) is the only special vinyl paint made in the USA by a master artist by the name of James Sizemore (also known online as Mr. Goblin). It is very potent paint, smelling like nail polish, and it strips paint underneath its application if you are not careful. I use it in concentrate and airbrush form. This paint sticks strongly to plastics, and it takes strong effort to remove after it is fully cured. This is basically the same paint applied to vinyl Godzilla toys that are meant to be taken outside and played with.

Before I touched any of the pieces with the paint, I washed them all in warm soapy water. VW goes a step further and suggests wiping it all down with its special VW thinner. I did not do that, but the paint stuck just fine to these pieces.

VW is pretty potent stuff. I do not play when it comes to chemicals, so I wear an industrial grade face mask and gloves when handling the paint. I also do all of the painting outside for ideal ventilation.

For paint, I started with the human head first. My dirty little secret is that I actually painted the eyes with acrylics. VW is too strong to paint such a small overlaying detail; each paint application would strip and blend with the layer beneath. The eyes are not an area of high handling anyway, so I was not worried. I painted the hair and eyebrows with the VW paint though.

I bought a brick of floral foam and a wooden dowel at Wal-Mart. My plan was to paint pieces without having to hold the actual piece. VW paint dries to the touch fairly quickly. 

As with most paint projects, I moved onto other pieces while others were drying. The consistency of this paint can be pretty thick at times. Some thinner spots needed to be recovered because the thickness made the paint harder to spread.

For a few of the pieces, I used green Frogtape. It is the most reliable painter's tape. The adhesion formula has a chemical reaction when dampened causing a tighter seal for more precise paint lines.

If you mess up on painting a piece, there is a sweet spot about 10 minutes after the application to scrub off the error with a toothpick. Toothpicks are also useful for stirring the paint in the jars. Do not expect to get the paint off easy after that though.

This was the first Aztec I finished. I wanted to preserve some of the original green plastic of the accessories. I was simply dipping my toes in the water, but his simple design works.

This is his finished head with VW hair and eyebrows and acrylic eyes. I sealed the entire head with VW's matte clear coat with my airbrush for extra protection.

This is the second figure I made. Again nothing too ambitious, just getting used to the paints. I wanted to preserve some of the black of the unpainted pieces.

This figure also has VW hair with acrylic eyes and a matte coat.

This was my most ambitious custom H.A.C.K. at the time. He had more overlaying colors. His plastic color I preserved was white. I was worried that painting the spots over the yellow would cause mixing and stripping. With proper waiting/cure time and quick dabs of the paint, I did not have this problem. 

I like variety, so I painted the bald head for this character!

Here they are all together! They remind me of the characters from the "Conan the Adventurer: cartoon form the early 90's! I like realism, but this is a fantasy world, so I wanted my "Aztecish" warriors to look fantastic!

Before I truly handled these figures, I waited 48 hours for the paint to fully cure onto the plastic. I don't have any problems bending or maneuvering any of the painted pieces. The hair paint stays intact when removing their helmets too. I still try to avoid painting areas that receive higher amounts of friction (such as the handles of their macuahuitl).

I really enjoyed making playable 3 3/4 figures. These figures are as durable as opening a Vitruvian H.A.C.K fresh out of its package. I plan on painting a Mantis Man next, and buying more colors from Vinyl Wonder! Let me know if you have any questions about using this paint or customizing Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S.!

-Chuck