Privateer Press P3 Paints Review: Part 3

The P3 Paint party train is launched off the rails as we run into one of a painter's worst nightmares: tacky paint!

In Part 2 of this series of posts, I showed how Formula P3 Paint performs when used on bare clay by basecoating my Mon Witch sculpture with a mix of Thamar Black and Morrow White. The initial results were great, no brush strokes and full coverage in 2 coats. Now, 3 days later, the paint has a slightly rubbery handfeel, and worse, it's slightly tacky. UNACCEPTBLE!

However, I won't immediately throw my paint pots out the window. In the same painting session, I also basecoated the antlers with Idrian Flesh and drybrushed them with Bootstrap Leather afterward. Today, those Apoxie Sculpt antlers feel totally fine. So what happened?

One possible explanation is that P3 Paint reacts badly with bare clay. This would be horrible considering how common it is for people to modify figures with things like Sculpey or Green Stuff. I don't think this could possibly be the case because it would be a catastrophic oversight.

Another thing to consider is the weather. It's been mid 80s here all week, humidity around 50%, and while those factors affect spray paint, I'm not sure if they have significant effects on brush on paint. How do we explain the paint being fine on the Apoxie?

Remember the blue Kingdra head from Part 1? That was sprayed with primer first, painted under the same weather conditions, and it's fine.

Last week I sent Privateer Press an email asking specifically what conditions may affect the results of this paint, I still haven't gotten a reply but I'll post it if I do.

Now that we've seen the results on 2 models, let's focus on the claims Privateer Press makes about their paint and see if they live up to the promises.

Extended Drying Time
I've noticed zero difference in drying time between P3 Paint and any of the other common hobby paints I've used, like Testors and Citadel.

Liquid Pigment
After a few days, the normal color paints have "separated" in the pot (the pigment separates from the liquid it's suspended in). A quick shake reconstitutes them though, and they're like new. Some of the metallics have also separated and require a hard shake. For example, Rhulic Gold split into gold and red sections. The liquid pigment helps the paint maintain it's coverage, vibrancy, and grip when watered down, but it doesn't prevent it from separating in the bottles.

Superior Coverage
Absolutely, you can completely cover a base color in 1 or 2 moderate coats, while not having to worry much about visible brushstrokes. Some colors, like white and the 2 yellows I tried, are tougher to paint with right out of the pot and require thinning to avoid brush strokes.

Wear Resistant
This is another feature I asked Privateer Press to elaborate on, and am waiting for a response. Based on my results, you can safely handle painted pieces once they're dry to the touch. However, with only 1 or 2 coats you can easily scratch the paint off, even now after 3 days. I put like 4 or 5 coats on the Kingdra head and that feels a lot more resistant to scratches, though not indestructible, like when I've used Testors.

Now's a good time to segueway into my most recent project, a Batman Beyond custom figure.



Action figures are made of plastics like rigid ABS and more flexible PVC. After the tacky results on the Mon Witch, I was reluctant to use P3 paint directly on this figure's surface. So, first I laid down a coat of Testors Flat Black, it's durable enough to use in figure joints. Even though the Flat Black goes on smooth, when you water it down it produces chalky white streaks when it dries, and it looks terrible, especially on a figure like this that's supposed to be 99% black. So, I decided to airbrush P3 Thamar Black over it to cover the streaks.

All I did was mix a little water into the Thamar Black and sprayed away, about 35psi was enough to spray without causing spidering. The paint dried quickly so I could lay down another coat about every 3 minutes. The result looks great, I like the satin finish for this character.



Now I play the waiting game to see if the paint will cure properly or give me a tacky mess.

Tune in next time as we take another trip into Vilderan when I use the metallic P3 Paints on another Torchlight-inspired sculpture, the Mindtalon Shield!