should i paint it myself or hire a painter

[stormriders]

here is my dilema. these 3 unpainted statues are my holy grail.
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/stormriders8/?action=view&current=unpaintedstatues004.jpg
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/stormriders8/?action=view&current=unpaintedstatues005.jpg
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/stormriders8/?action=view&current=unpaintedstatues001.jpg
i want them painted but do not want to send them thru the mail, fear of breakage. i found a painter in town who paints model airoplanes and model cars, but never have paint statues but have been painting over 15 years. i don't know how good he will be. How much of a difference is painting statues and model airoplanes and cars. he use air brush.
2nd question, i was debating to do it myself but use regular brush instead, how hard is it not to leave brush strokes. Does primer come in a aerosol spray can? is acrylic paint the one i should use. should i just go for it .:banghead:

[boondocksaint]

well if youre gonna do it yourself practice on something smaller thats what i did way back when

[misanthrope]

i say just go for it. there are tons of helpful hints and professional advice in the painters corner. i agree with boondocks in that you should practice before you paint the higher end kits. when i started painting my own kits i started with the least intricate piece i could find. the 3rd pic you posted would be a great stat for a first time attempt cause it dosnt appear to have an excessive amount of fine detail. you may be surprised at how quickly you learn once you do-it-yourself. the only drawback i see to painting your own stuff is it opens up a whole new world of stat buying opportunities. i hardly ever buy pre-paints anymore.

[High Lord Apocalypse]

if you've never done it before then i too say, buy a cheaper kit, practice and hold off on painting those till you feel confident.
btw who sculpted those? those are amazing especially the hair and clothing folds!!!!! where did you get those kits?

primer comes in aersol cans. thats the easy part. not leaving brush strokes is so hard. get an airbrush it'll change your life. trust me if i can do it anyone can.(i'm no danno but i'm starting to hold my own).
if you get an airbrush and need help, feel free to pm me. i had to do all that not too long ago.

[Tetragrammaton]

If these are your grail pieces, hire a painter based on previous examples of their work.

[moon_knight1971]

I agree with Tony & Boony, you can do it yourself but you'll have to practice on other kits to get there. IF you plan to buy more kits this is the way to go BUT if you only collect unpainted statues rarely then it might be cheaper to hire a professional painter. Good luck!

[JadeGiant]

If these are your grail pieces, hire a painter based on previous examples of their work.

This is easily your best bet. If these are grail pieces you won't be happy with a substandard job. I would also look into packing them and shipping them out to a top flight painter ... it would be worth it to me and bring these pieces to life.

[stormriders]

the mold is from hong kong. these are original molds sold like 15 years ago. gotta love the information age. i had to get someone in hong kong to buy them from yahoo auction hk and ship them out to canada, for a fee. i just finish gluing them together.
As for shipping, there is no way these won't break in shipping. if there was a styrofoam mold, it would be ok but i can't chance it breaking. that's why i'm trying to find a local painter but is having a hard time trying to find one.

[puntapret]

Wooww, stormriders, those statues are cool ...

Aren't they from Long Hu Men ?

[Venator]

very nice kits there, I also suggest that if you are going to paint these yourself that it would be best to practice on a few kits first.

[Makkari1]

Hire a painter if you can't fix any screw ups on your part.

[stormriders]

puntapret: Aren't they from Long Hu Men ?
actually it is from a hong kong comic call feng yun or stormriders. the statue with the spikey hair is call solar lord from hk too, but image comic use to reprint them, it got to 6 issues before they were cancel.
Yeah, i'm leaning toward painting them myself, maybe i'll learn something new with this hobby.

[DanPerezStudios]

Also, to answer an unanswered question, while some skills from painting cars and airplanes will transfer, you have no guarantee that the guy will be good at painting figures. If you want superior results you should hire someone who specializes in painting figures.

There are ways to pack them so it's highly unlikely they will break. You can gently wrap them in soft tissue paper, then immerse them in a box full of styrofoam peanuts and then place that box into a larger box and fill the larger box with styro peanuts as well.

If you decide to do them yourself, take the advice given and practice on other, lesser kits first. Get a decent airbrush and learn to use it--nothing matches the subtlety of shading you can get with one.

[Destroyer]

I bought a Predator Stranger model which was one of my grail kits.

I painted it myself with help and some suggestions from various modelling forums and used a vinyl kit for practice. I am really happy with how it turned out and there's also the pleasure of knowing that you did it yourself. It is the pride of my collection. It might not be perfect, but its MINE.

Here's a photo of the final kit and my practice dummy.

I am an amateur painter - I painted it all with brushes. One thing to remember is that if you get it wrong, you can always remove the paint and try again.

[Ink]

hire it done

[scott]

Have some fun and paint.:)

[ReturningSon]

I have a white resin cast of the Stage 5 T2 Arnie from the original Stan Winston molds....Yes, I face the same dilemma!!!!!

[Vracula]

This is easily your best bet. If these are grail pieces you won't be happy with a substandard job. I would also look into packing them and shipping them out to a top flight painter ... it would be worth it to me and bring these pieces to life.

ditto.

I have absolutely no creativity at all,i cant paint or draw for nuts.its not like i haven't tried!

if these pieces are important to you get some painter to do it.

[Darth Torment]

I would practice on something else, then give it a shot. But if it's a GRAIL piece, I wouldn't chance it and just let a professional take care of it for you

[patrickwm68]

If these are your grail pieces, hire a painter based on previous examples of their work.

My thoughts exactly. Why risk F-ing them up?

[HereBeMonsters]

Look at it this way. You just get you drivers license and you want to be in the Indy 500.
If these pieces mean that much to you I would either hire a professional figure painter or put them away for a few years, learn to paint. get a few hundred pieces under your belt and then in a few years pull them out and have at it.

[Jesse321]

My thoughts exactly. Why risk F-ing them up?

Even if you mess up, you can just prime them again or strip them down and start all over.

[ScootS]

You should also 'pin' those kits as gluing only is not really enough.

My suggestion: Get a professional to paint or get more experience first. Don't waste your grail pieces.

FYI: My 2 stormrider kits are also in 'cold storage' .... :) I am planning to paint them when I feel up to standard

[TNovak]

This seems like a pretty easy call to me. There is an unbelievable amount of talent on this forum. You can see examples of most of their work either at websites or picture trails. I have only had a few pieces pro-painted but for me there is no other way to go on your grails. If you want to practice and get good and make it your hobby, great, but to be realistic you would have to practice for a long time, maybe many years to get as good as some of the guys on this forum, assuming you have natural talent (I do not have any myself :( ). Seeing the ones that I have had done in person makes the difference even more striking.

RE Breakage, this is where you should spend your time. Send them in a box of feathers if you have too, but anything can be shipped if its packaged carefully enough.

[stormriders]

i'm finding out how much work has to go into them. i'm filling in the holes and cracks with easy putty before my painter paints it for me and it is tough. i'm going to get him to do everything on my next statue. at the rate i'm going, it will take forever.