Figures On A Stick

It is Holiday Season again and time for Games Workshop to unveil its new cash-grab hobby product!

Except...I have liked the last couple of weird "tools".

So this time it is a Spray Stick, just what is says on the tin. A plastic stick for you to put miniatures on for spray painting ease. With rubber band to hold said figures in place. Seems suspect...

As it happens, I am building/painting a Skeleton Army for Age of Sigmar (and not really enjoying it. But I'll get in to this in a later post.) I have got to the priming stage.
I am going with the Contrast system, so I am spraying everything Wraithbone.
Going great so far.

Until I got to the Skeleton warriors on 25mm bases. The spray is too strong, (even at 12 inches away) so the the light figures just fly away instead of taking paint. Ugh.

I have to go to the tried and true double sided stick tape on a stick method. It works, but is really time consuming, and I have broken a few minis getting them off the super sticky tape.

If you are lucky, you can re-use the same piece of tape for two spay lots. Then put down new tape.

The very nice thing about using the stick, is you can get excellent coverage of the figures, as long as you don't place them too close to each other.
Carefully prying them off can be a challenge. I broke the Horn Player's ankles in the above shot.
Who knew Skeletons were so fragile?

Enter the GW Spray Stick! I was doubtful, but it is pretty inexpensive ($18), so I gave it a shot...and it works great! The rubber bands can be moved to accommodate different sized bases, from 25mm up to 65mm.

The pistol grip makes it stable and very easy to control, and gives it the correct insane sci-fi nerd hobby tool look.

I'm curious to how long the rubber bands will hold up spray paint. The Stick does come with a bag of 50, so that should do for a bit. The bases do wind up unpainted on about half their surface if you do just one pass.

I think this lovely piece of plastic is a huge improvement over the "double stick tape" system. Because it is so quick, easy, and provides much better spray coverage, I will be using it a lot!

Recommended.

Go Throw Some Paint

Use a Stick With a Pistol Grip!