Painting ElastoWit, Primates to Patriot

 I am steadily painting my way through my ElastoWit collection. First up is a woodlands Indian and The Patriot. Mel will enter into service, either in my American army for AWOI games or into one of my imagi-nation armies.

                          The original Planet of the Apes series was and is one of my favorites. Below is a gorilla gun limber horse rider who could also serve as a cavalry figure. The gun limber made a brief appearance in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. (The actual limber and gun are laser cut wood. I have yet to assemble them, mostly as I am not a kit assembly fan, but I'll do it eventually)

                              Here is man Friday NT tied up by cannibals. Presumably Crusoe has armed him from his extensive stores.

   Revolting apes, and I don't just mean because they pick their noses and eat the contents. In Conquest of the Planet of the Apes the apes had become initially pets to replace the dogs and cats wiped out by a disease brought back by time travelling Cornelious and Zera. Then they became ruthlessly and harshly trained servants that eventually got jack of it and revolted. Led, by Ceasar, the son of Zera and Cornelius, they gradually collected an assortment of weapons and outsmarted the humans. One of these has a captured police riot shield.

One does have to suspend belief. I mean apes are less dexterous with their hands so would be really lousy shots, let alone waiters! Humans are well armed and have quite a few thousand years' experience in wielding weapons. 

But then, the nukes are launched, and human civilization ends, leading to the eventual Planet of the Apes. For apes to become so smart genetic engineering might have made the scenario more convincing, twice so because humans in ape masks are not going to look completely like apes no matter how good the masks and how much they imitate ape movements. (The reboot had the advantage of computer animation).

I was a bit conflicted on base colors as I do like bright green bases. In the end, I textured the bases but painted them in a 'concrete' color so they would be out of place in a city but could pass as natural ground. There are more figures in the series I am yet to paint. This particular series has apes with 20th century weapons but they could be easily converted to represent the ape warriors in the original film.

           Next, we have human spaceman with strange flame and an octopus alien who has been collecting and exterminating the local primitive humans. The pile of dead humans comes from the Ape series representing the hunt in the original ape film.

'Jojin, You must desist in this extermination of the humans or my Starfleet will destroy your tentacled civilization'!

NOTE ON PAINTING

You can order the ElastoWit figures in your preferred color. I usually get them in boring brown as I mostly paint them and if any paint chips off the brown does not look too jarring. However, some of the other plastic colors are very attractive if you refer to leave them unpainted. There are also minimum mold lines and flash.
 

 For painting you can't successfully paint them like you would metal or other plastics. I wash the figures in vinegar or detergent and make sure they are fully rinsed and dry (as I do with other plastics). I use either Modge Podge or just PVA with three drops of washing detergent mixed in to enhance coverage. Spread it evenly to ensure it does not go on too thickly, although two thin coats are also an option. The thing is to avoid direct contact between the plastic and the paint. You also need to either undercoat the undersides of the bases or base the figures if you are going to use any spray paints - make sure they are acrylic too. Allow three days to fully set. Then I either spray with Games Workshop white undercoat or use a brush to paint an acrylic undercoat on. The spray has better coverage. Then I use my preferred acrylic paints that are usually GW or Model Color. Next I overcoat with Modge Podge or PVA, applying the same way I undercoated. Don't apply too thickly or it will not be fully transparent but have little bubbles in creases. I have even taken to doing two coats for extra strength. Then you can either stop there or add an acrylic varnish. I use Crystal Coat artist fixative. If you have direct contact between the plastic and paint it will remain tacky and come off on your fingers, something I noticed with bases where I had not fully covered them with undercoat.

  I often use the same procedure on other plastics but often I use a car plastic primer undercoat on them; DON"T do that with the ElastoWit figures. The same techniques I used in painting ElastoWit is also suitable for other models of similar plastic such as the saddle cloths on Britains Detail knights.