How not to use Monster Kolor

Grrr! Arrgh!

I've been diving into custom toy painting recently.  While my usual water-based acrylics have served fine on most projects, custom toys are usually PVC or vinyl, and present some challenges.   Monster Kolor is a line of paint specifically formulated for plastic, and custom toy painting.  When used correctly, they produce amazing results. Specifically formulated to go straight from bottle to airbrush, they provide fantastic coverage, vibrant colors, and excellent durability.

One hangup: I don't own an airbrush.

Full review of Monster Kolor, and Mini Eyezon (pictured), after the jump.


Undeterred, I posted a question on the Monster Kolor boards, and was cautioned that brushes could be used, but this was not recommended.  Being stubborn, I purchased the Neo-Hawaii Eyezon kit, which includes an unpainted 4" Vinyl figure, and enough MK paints and accessories to get going.

Shipping was blindingly fast, and I received my order in two days.

First, a word on the figure: Eyezon is a creation of MaxToy co, an adorable mutant potato in the classic Kaiju style.  The sculpting and detail is excellent in person, loaded with charm and character.  It's a nice hefty figure too, well worth the price.

Then I had to mess it up with my ham-fisted painting.  Pictured above is the finished result.   It's bad.  I used a set of cheap brushes, since the solvent based paint, and lacquer thinner, would eat up my good brushes.  This didn't work so well, as the cheap brushes shed bristles like crazy, and refused to supply an even coat.  Also, the friction of the brush, and the solvents in the paint, tended to remove any previous layers, so my usual techniques wouldn't work, and I had to go for covering as quickly as possible.

Also, I was painting in sub-optimum conditions (about 40 degrees F, and 100% humidity).

Finally, I applied the ultra-glossy clear coat, the brush covering the figure in tiny bubbles.  Ugh.

Despite me doing everything wrong, Monster Kolor still applied very smooth, and provided solid, vibrant color saturation and coverage, much more so then an equivalent amount of acrylics, also adhered to the plastic like a champ.

In conclusion, this is great paint, I just don't recommend using anything but an airbrush.  At least not with my skill-set.

Update:  The me-culpa and follow up to this post is here: Monster Kolor: The Right Way