Droids Custom DSD: Painted figures!

by Bill Cable
on 2026-06-10, 09:20:18

Over the weekend I took on the task for this custom that scared me most - painting the details on the figures. When I last attempted such a thing with my R5-D4 custom, it was calamitous. I thought filling in the wedges in the dome would be easy, but I failed at it completely. I ended up printing vinyl stickers for each tiny triangle instead (which luckily worked fabulously). With DSD stickers were simply not viable. He's all curves, not flat triangles.

So I thought to myself, maybe my previous troubles were not so much me as they were the materials. I was using Testors model paint and just a cheap brush. I'd seen guys paint those tiny Warhammer figures with spectacular detail, so I figured I'd look into how they do that.

AI was used to produce this custom (shocked face!!!!), because I typed my query into ChatGPT asking what brushes and paints they use. I got a list of the most popular choices, so I jumped on Amazon and stocked up.

I opted for a Size 0 Kolinsky Sable brush and Vallejo acrylic paints. When I ordered the paints I hadn't yet bought the spray paint for the base coat, so I was working under the assumption it'd be sky blue. The brush had a super pointy tip which was promising...

I began with painting the boots (a strategy I devised knowing I didn't spray paint all the botttoms of the feet perfectly). Then I let them dry for a few minutes (allowing DSD to get in some ab work).

Next I did the hands and shoulders, followed by the torso cut-outs:

Those were all the easy parts. Next was what I was most worried about - they eyes! They're tiny. No room for error. This was gonna make or break the project!!!

And I'm thrilled to report I succeeded. Those Warhammer guys know what they're doing!

So on Saturday I set up a little paint station on the kitchen table and got to work. First I tackled the boots.

My back was a bit achy after all of that despite sitting mostly uprights, and it was getting late, so I decided only to paint the hands and call it a day.

On Sunday I painted the torsos, then the eyes, and finally the shoulders. And they turned out great!

My final task was something I thought about mid-painting. Some of these figures were very floppy, and I realized it'd kinda suck for somebody to get one of these with the head facing all the way sideways and needing to rattle it around to make it look good. So I took all the figures with slightly loose necks and put a drop of clear Elmer's onto the back of them. Now they were all facing forward for aesthetically pleasing customness.

AAAAND... that was the "before" photo.

So all the figures are ready to mount! My greatest obstacle has been overcome! I didn't have a chance to work on the art at all, so that'll be my next task. Hopefully I'll have a lot of color to share with you guys next week!