My first order of custom range rulers is due to arrive tomorrow. The manufacturer did not have the color of paint I wanted so I have to paint them myself. I got a bottle of acrylic paint from the local craft store. Are there any tricks I should know before starting? The templates will have that paper coating so there is a stencil in place. Am I better off thinning the paint with water and giving it multiple coats or just using it as is? Do I let it dry before removing the paper or will that possibly chip away some of the paint? I saw a youtube video of someone painting maneuvering templates and he removed the paper as soon as he finished painting it. I’m not sure if that was a preferred technique or he just want to immediately show the results.

It's really hard to screw up to be honest. I just used neat (model/miniature) paint over the paper, but I've done it without the paper, too, and it works fine. You can wipe the paint off whilst wet, or scrape it off with a fingernail or the edge of another template (nothing harder or you risk scratching them) once dry.

It's a very forgiving process. Just dive in.

Cool. Thanks!

When removing the paper or painter's tape (when you're painting your home or something) removing it when the paint is still wet sounds wrong, but is the right thing to do. Waiting for it to dry often gives the paint a chance to stick to the tape (or paper) when you are lifting it, causing an irregular edge that's not as clean.

I've had to re-paint my acrylic tokens, range rulers and templates from time to time and @thespaceinvader has got it right. You're going to really have to try to foul up your acrylics. What I've often done is paint the etched portions as neatly as I could. There will be some paint that gets out of the lines--it just happens--and then with the flat edge of your 1 Straight you can scrape off the excess paint once it's dry. Easy-peasy.

18 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

When removing the paper or painter's tape (when you're painting your home or something) removing it when the paint is still wet sounds wrong, but is the right thing to do. Waiting for it to dry often gives the paint a chance to stick to the tape (or paper) when you are lifting it, causing an irregular edge that's not as clean.

That is exactly what I was concerned about! Thanks for confirming that it can be an issue and offering the alternative!

I have several items to paint (swag to hand out at events to advertise my overlay generator!) but it sounds like it won't be hard to do these in larger numbers.

Just thought I'd follow up here.

I found the best trick was to lay on the paint pretty thick and then take one of those plastic dummy credit cards you get in the mail and use that as a squeegee and scrape it across the top. Then give it a few minutes to dry just a little bit and then peel the mask off. The results were excellent!

Thanks for the tips!