Aging miniatures is one of my all-time favorite things to do! Just a little paint and voila your pristine mini looks like it’s been around and loved (or abused) for decades. It is really difficult to find minis for a reasonable price that are already “old” so sometimes we just have to it ourselves.
Happily, that can be the best part!
In this post I want to talk to you about how I like to age clear plastic. It can be recycled packaging “window” material or new acrylic plastic. Either way, it is a SLICK surface that acrylic paints just really don’t want to stick to. Especially paint washes that are so, so important when doing aging. So, how can it be done?
I have two favorite ways to solve this problem.
The first is to use a fine-grade sandpaper and just lightly sand the surfaces of the plastic before you install it. For windows, I recommend sanding BOTH sides of the plastic so it doesn’t have a shiny perfect side. The acrylic paint is able to grab on to the scratches and hold. Black and brown washes (acrylic paint thinned with water) also settle nicely into the scratches and add depth.
The second, and currently my favorite, is to add a very light coat of white or tacky glue to the surfaces of the plastic. Let the glue completely dry. it will impart a nice haze to the “glass”. Once that is dry you can add paint and washes and it will stick! The best part, if you don’t like how it turns out you can just wash it all away as the glue and the paint are water soluble and start over! You can also just add the glue to the outside edges of the plastic (even in finished windows) and just paint that leaving the center clear to help age the windows without totally obscuring the view–after all, something lurking outside might like to look in!
Whatever technique you use, be sure to give your finished paint job a light coat of a clear protectant. I like to use a clear spray paint–choose FLAT unless you actually want the finish to be shiny. Use very light coats letting each coat dry in between applications. One or two should be enough to protect your paint job1
