I went to my Big Lots in Aston, PA and they had the PTE restock. Some nice bases, loads of boats, MUTTs, Amphibians, and tanks. The amphibian is nice but a little small - picked up one for $10. It looks better without the outboard motor.

They also had the Chinese tank for $25 so I picked up one of those as well - very nicely made and detailed. Both of these are getting Oktober Guard stickers this weekend to go with my Convention figure set (and future Club ones.)

No sign of the tracked Hummer - this is too cool to pass up. Jets are a pipe dream, I'm afraid...

Glad I checked this board yesterday!

I hit up my local BL store and no sign of the Amphib vehicle, they did have the dirt bike, kayak, horse and bunk bed sets, they also had the boat & watch tower, no bigger vehicles, total shame on that store.

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He says 'sup.

Also, the three packs of figures have the Modern Arctic set that comes with removeable headgear. On figure has a hat, one has a helmet, and the third doesn't have anything. Not a bad set. Now, if we could only get a three pack with the Chinese heads.

As for the amphib - that thing is too cool. I just need to get me some yellow paint.

Yeah that was out last year too.

Just got a $5 coupon from Big Lots in my email. Hopefully the 8 Wheeler shows up...

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A word of warning about the Amphibian: maybe I'm just a complete idiot when it comes to spray paint (entirely possible), but I had horrible luck trying to get yellow paint to stick to that thing.

I had last week off and stumbled across one of the Amphibians, so I immediately bought it, hit the paint store for some yellow, and went home to make an Adventure Team vehicle. My first attempt died on the operating table: I tried to boil the upper half of the body to remove the little railing-things for easier painting. Big mistake: it warped the piece enough that it wouldn't even fit back together.

Day 2, I went back to Big Lots for another one. I had bought both Krylon Fusion and regular old Krylon because I thought the Fusion might actually take to the weird, brittle PTE plastic (unlike Joes and anything else I've ever tried it on). This round, I used the regular kind, and it was a disaster: despite having cleaned the surface, the paint pooled in some areas, refused to stick to others, and generally looked like crap. And this was with pretty careful application.

Day 3, a run to a different Big Lots (the other samples at the previous one all had obvious problems), another Amphibian. I tried the Fusion this time, and while it worked better, it still had problems. It took to the plastic much better, but there were areas where it didn't stick, either.

Maybe the surface needs to be sanded completely before painting: it's possible that one or more of the colors in the camo paint on the vehicle are resistant to spray paint, or maybe the plastic is of a type that doesn't hold paint well or has some kind of surface inconsistencies. Whatever the case, I managed to ruin three Amphibians in three days. It's a great little vehicle, though, and I'm still making plans for a fourth attempt.

Primer, bro.

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That's great, except for the fact that I've never had a problem with Krylon not sticking to some parts of a vehicle but not others in the past, so it's entirely possible that the primer will have the same problem. There are plenty of things it doesn't stick to, either.

I am in the middle of the process right now. All yellow paint I have used is extremely tricky, seemingly more so because they are always gloss. I frequently have issues with gloss paint, I always try to use flat or satin.

Right off the bat, don't mix the regular Krylon with Fusion. There may be instances where it works, but in my experience, the mixing of the two different types of paint ALWAYS causes krinkling and lifting. It generally calms down once everything dries but it will still leave obvious flaws in the paint job. And I did EXACTLY THAT with the Amphibian because I was being lazy...I had a half dead can of Yellow fusion and a can of regular Krylon yellow. I used light coats of the Krylon fusion as "primer", assuming it would adhere to the bare plastic better, and it did. Then I gave it a light coating of regular Krylon yellow and BAM, immediate krinkling and lifting. I let it go on the bottom half, but I ended up soaking the top half in mineral spirits, scrubbing the paint off, and starting over with a coat of gray primer. (BTW, soaking stuff in mineral spirits leaves a really nice surface for painting, but I would recommend doing it often). I have been giving it light coats of Fusion (got a new can) only all day to build up the color on the top. On the bottom and hubs, I sanded the krinkling texture down, and started painting them from that point with light coats, and I have not had additional issues. BUT yellow is ALWAYS a pain, and whenever I am using glossy paint over a surface that is large and detailed, I always have to prime it. If I am using matte or satin finish, it generally goes on without issue.

Now, with the rails, etc, again, i had the same issue, and basically had to slice the stuff off, and plan to just post and glue it all back in place when done with some drilling and small sections of paperclips or soemthing.

then I will need AT decals. Which I don't have.

Fusion should need primer, on plastic. That's the whole point of Fusion. But, it doesn't work on every type of plastic. My advice would be to find an auto parts store, and see if they have any plastic adhesion promoter. It's what they use on plastic car exterior pieces to get the paint to stick.

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Thanks for the tips, KrymsynGard666; I actually used the two types of paint on different Amphibians, but I had considered trying a layer of regular over the Fusion on one, and now I know better! I tried my damnedest to find a non-glossy yellow, but it doesn't seem to be out there (at least, not in L.A.); my plan was to give it a satin clearcoat, but things spiraled out of control long before that could happen. As far as the rails, I ended up very, very carefully blue-taping them; it took forever, and I think you had the right idea of just removing them and dealing with it later.



Funny you should mention it: I just dug a can of Bulldog out of the garage before I left for work this morning; I'm going to give it a try this weekend to see if it improves the situation.

Why do I never notice I missed a word, until somebody quotes me? That should have read "Fusion should not need primer."

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Try Dick Blick. They have spray *acrylics* and they're matte too. I tried a can on bendy parts and coating and adhesion were great where other paints pooled or stayed sticky. They're expensive, but well worth it.

are they the same as the ones that Michales carries? In the big padlocked cage? They are like $12 a can, but the range of colors is AMAZING. They are advertised as "for artists" and shown being used on canvases. I tried to find info on plastic adhesion but didn't find anything, and I didn't want to waste $12 for a can that went unused.