My First Micro; The Feisty Pony

Maggie Bennett's early 2019 release, Viking, the Fjord horse.

My first micro, Maggie Bennett's fighting fjord pony, is proving to be a feisty pony to learn how to prep micros.

For starters, I know these micros are very delicate. It's largely why I opted for the pewter as my first micro instead of resin, which I was afraid would be more likely to snap under my fingers (at least the pewter bends a little before it does that). Being a rearing horse, if I accidentally bend Viking's hind legs even the tiniest amount, he falls flat on his face. This is especially not fun when his primer is wet. 

This guy's primer went on so smoothly that I thought I wouldn't have to sand, until he toppled over and rubbed his sides.

But the most frustrating thing was when his primer was "finished," or so I thought, until a chunk of it peeled off with my glove. Well that's not good. Poor primer adhesion is usually a sign of either 1) the wrong primer, or 2) poor surface prep.

After internet research that did indeed confirm there is nothing wrong with using Duplicolor Sandable Primer for pewter minis, it suddenly hit me. I used hand-soap instead of Dawn dish soap to wash him. Hand-soap more often than not has moisturizers, oils and fragrances that can leave a residue that primer will not adhere too. Hand-soap was within reach, and I paid the price for the convenience.

Even we hobbyists who have been customizing for years have our "whoopsie" moments, and that's what stripping is for. This horse had a bath in Purple Power today and a better washing session; a bath with Dawn scrubbed all over him, baking soda scrubbed all over him (I'm using an old toothbrush, by the way), a scrubbing with rubbing alcohol (then set to dry) and finally, scrubbed with Windex. 

With any luck, his miss-behaving days are behind him and he won't give me this much trouble when I paint him. But I have a feeling he has plenty of fight in him yet.