exacto knife?

[C37]

too hard to cut ... trying to mod the Toad by cutting off his clown ruffles ... any ideas for knives? also, is nail polish remover best to take off existing paint ?

[Degrelle]

If you have a steady hand, I recommend a Dremel. With the right cutting attachment you can get some precision work done.

[MindsEnd]

Try soaking your figures in Pine Sol. Just put some in a jar and don't delute it. Throw in the figures and let them sit in there for a couple days and the use a toothbrush.

[daredevil11]

Yeah go with the Dremel like Degrelle said. You can get a generic grinding tool and still buy Dremel attachments, you might just have to add tape on them to get them to fit properly.

Nail polish remover will stink to you know where, and will most likely only remove the glossy shine and some surface paint on flat or rounded areas, it will not help in crevices.

My advice would be just to buy some auto primer and spray over the existing figure.

[Doomtoy]

There are two effective ways to cut, carve, shave, and shape HeroClix figures.

1. HAIR DRYER AND X-ACTO KNIFE. Heat the figure with a hairdryer on the HOT setting, then caaaarefully cut the figure. It softens the plastic enough that you can get some fine results. Takes some practice, though, and you'll have to keep reheating the figure to keep it soft. I use this method when I need a tight, precision cut. It's considerably harder to use this method for extensive cutting and shaping (like removing Toad's silly collar), but it can be done, with perseverance and practice; I know a guy who actually converted an IC Hulk into a Thing, using this method.

2. DREMEL. I use a Dremel moto-tool with the pointed cutter bit, the round cutter bit, the reinforced cutoff wheels (the non-reinforced kind are dangerous as hell, because they can shatter while in motion, spraying tiny shrapnel everywhere) and a micro-engraving bit.

The ones I use the most are the engraving bit and the cutoff wheel. Cutoff wheel is perfect for shaping, grinding, sanding, and cutting HeroClix figures. The micro-engraving bit is excellent for drilling holes and pinning arms, legs, and heads on; it drills holes in the plastic easily, the holes are tiny, and it's MUCH faster than a pin vice or pin drill.

I also recommend their drum sander bands.

The only drawback is that all this Dremel stuff will likely set you back between fifty and a hundred bucks. Fortunately, I had it all before I got addicted to HeroClix...:p

[lusiphur]

You can try different shape blades for the X Acto knives. I use emory bords to sand off soem stuff. They are small enough to get into the crevices and they smooth the Skulpts.

[CarlosMucha]

I dont like x-acto knife, is no too exacto for me...

I use a hot electric knife, is fantastic, I can sculp with that and when you cut the plastic is like ice cream! really easy.