enamel paint.......

[Chopper]

No Ross, the one I'm painting atm is a Wave 1 AF torso.

[Malcolm Orr]

Anyone tried Acrylic? I have read that for the old Kenner vintage figures, it was the only reliable way to go.

I use acrylic for everything Chopper!

yeah, but acrylic scratch of joints so easily, whereas enamels last longer.
is it just new figures that have problems?

There's quite a few ways around this, though choosing a base figure with a close match is the best way. However I have used a knife to trim away a half a mm of plastic off the hoops in the joints to giove breathing space for acrylic (though it still needs lots of small layers rather than a big one) and I've also used fine sandpaper to rub down paint rub areas, not just to gain some space foir the paint, but also to give a bit of a grip for the paint too.

The Baron Ironblood was a cream figure, and the main area for paint rub is the front of the abdomen from the chest. With Ironblood I scraped the upper abdomen and sanded it, and on the inside of the torso I scraped and cut 1mm away. That means that the red triangle section is 100% paint rub proof as the two components now don't touch.

On the whole of Footloose there's only one bit of paint rub (the lower part of the left knee joint) and the Flint figure used as a base in the Footloose thread was mint. The fact it looks like it's been thrown across a concrete play park is due to the amount of preparation rubbing just to ensure the paint, when applied, went on smoothly and securely!

In saying that, painting white on anything dark will always show paint rub however well prepared, partly because white paint in particular is gloopier.

[Muton]

It's really important to prepare the surface you're painting. Always wash the figure in washing up liquid soapy water, dry, and undercoat in matt colour (I tend to use white for a brighter finish, but nice results can be achieved with black and dark blues.)
The enamel finish is really nice (particularly the Satins), but the glosses are tricky!