Hi, I'm going to the hobby shop later today to pick up supplies for my first modding/repaint jobs. Could someone please tell me what kind of stuff I'm specifically going to need? What exact paint and paintbrushes people are using and what tools are used to cut and/or shape the figures and glue them? I'd appreciate it. I can't wait to get a few done and post them for review! Thanx again.

1. Xacto knife for fine cutting and cleanup work. For larger chopping, hold character under blowdryer a few moments to soften the plastic, and the Xacto is the only knife you will need.

2. Milliput, Blue Stuff, or even Testors Plastic filler for filling in gaps, adding to costumes, making figure's muscles larger, adding to hair, etc.

3. Many people like Zap-a-Gap, a thicker version of super glue to fill in gaps when glueing items together where that is appropriate. For "regular super glue" I like Quicktite (comes in a fingernail polish-like bottle) because one open the cap seals properly and does not dry out like super glue. There are also other good brands, but many people have been having problems with true Super Glue, so I would suggest staying away from it.

4. Paint is a personal preference. I have a friend who swears by enamels and does marvelous things with them. I prefer acrylics. Enamels are "brighter" and more durable, but require their own thinners to do washes and are more expensive. Acrylics are less expensive, can be thinned with water, but are less durable.

5. Paint Brushes: at least one .005 and a .01 for fine details. Also larger ones for painting larger areas. Again some of this is personal preference, trial and error based on your own talents.

6. One .005 permanent ink black pen for fine lines and for doing eyes and eyebrows.

7. One paint pallet, to put drops of paint on, so your open pain bottle does not dry out over time. Depending where you work on your mods, bottlecaps will do nicely.

8. White and maybe an additional gray spray enamel for basecoating. If the character has alot of white, yellow or orange, then you will want to base coat the figure in white. Otherwise a light gray can be used. Inexpensive $4 cans at Walmart do just fine.

9. Jewler's files will be the most expensive item, or a dremel tool, for filing and detailing. Or check to see if any of those battery operated manicuring sets with 5 different wheels are reasonably priced or on special sale anywhere. I got one for $5! Yes, it may be colored pink, but it is a great "poor man's" dremel tool, and the wheels work great on plastic. 1/8 inch drill bits work fine in it, for drilling into shoulders or waists so you can insert metal pins (or straightened paper clips) to reinforce arms or legs you attach with super glue. Mine came with one metal wheel which even works well on lead figures.

10 Spray can of clear matte finish, to protect your paint job when completed. Some people first use a gloss for a couple coats, then matte. That way, when the figure starts getting shiney, you know the matte finish has worn off down to the gloss, and you can re-spray them with the matte to maintain protection.

That's all I could think of, good luck and post your mods soon!

The only thing I can add to that, if you're SERIOUS about MODDING... is to go to the jeweler's section and get a pair of those teeny needlenose pliers, and a pair of jeweler's wirecutters. Pinning used to be a major pain in the bahonkus, requiring a pin vice, needle file, and so on.

With a candle, match, straight pins, tiny pliers, and tiny wirecutters, pinning plastic figures is a snap. Heat the pin, push it into the joint, let it cool, snip it off, drill a hole in the other part, and simply glue the whole thing into place. The pliers and clippers are downright essential to me nowadays...

Dormammu, that was a seriously excellent summation. You described by entire workbench. I'd say you also can't go wrong with a set of really cheap lousy paintbrushes. Why you might ask? One, as long as the bristles hold well, you have a decent drybrushing brush that didn't cost you 7 bucks...next, you can occasionally find uses for the other brushes, perhaps to spread glue over something.

Lastly, get something to use as a craft tool, like a blunt knife or something similar. There's little worse in the world than trying to finish a mod and having to muck up a decent X-acto blade to do it. Oh, and always have more replacement blades for your X-acto.

I find that old AOL CDs or mis-coppied CDRs work great

Wow! That's a lot of info. Thanx to all who posted to this thread, you've helped me out immensely. Now it's time to do some shopping!

Here's some advice for after you purchse your modding stuff:

1 - Keep the caps on your paint pots, and never leave an open paint pot near the edge of your working surface. Absolutely *never* open a paint pot near your wife's favourite suede jacket.

2 - Don't drink your rinse water. It tastes horrible (but don't worry, most modern paints are non-toxic).

3 - When cutting, cut away from your fingers, arms, legs, face and toes. If forced to cut towards you, never put more force on the blade than will cut your skin.

4 - What did I just tell you about cutting? OK, so now you've hacked off a piece of yourself. Apply pressure the the cut and head to your first aid kit. Better yet, keep your first aid kit nearby. Don't forget to rinse out the cut before applying a bandage. And suck it up, you probably won't need stitches, so continue cutting!

5 - Have Fun, and don't forget to show off your work!

Dang! I knew I was forgetting something with the cutting:D
I can still mod with 8,oops, 7 fingers, right?

If it is still bleeding after 24 hours, then consider stitches, after soaking 4 large bandages and having a hard time being woken up the next morning with your hand stuck to your face with dried blood that seeped from your wound, get some one to drive you.

true story

I'd add one last tool to that wonderfully comprehensive list up there; a pin vice. It's like a pen that clamps drill bits or other small tools in its jaws. Cheaper than a modeller's electric drill, arguably more controlable, but certainly more work. I have both a decent electric modeller's tool with a flexible drive shaft a cheap pin vice. I use the pin vice much, much more. If you want to join one part to another, drill a small hole in each and glue a piece of stiff wire with one end into each hole. Result: a very sturdy joint, which is essential if you're going to be gaming with your conversions.

Best,
Mike

Well, I went and got the supplies. My brother and I did our first mod (mostly my brother) and we created the Merc with a Mouth-Deadpool! The only problem is I can't figure out how to post the pictures
I went on the help section, but the instructions didn't seem to help. Oh well, I'll figure it out soon enough. By then, I'll hopefully have some more mods done to post anyways. Thanx again for all your replies.

Cutting yourself, and having to suffer throught the dismal experience that is hospitals in our fair city, I truley feel pity