Vintage outdoor Santa needs paint

first to paint on a plastic in general you need to strip the color off without melting the plastic. I suggest you use a medium weight sand paper to remove the old paints. Then go to the a light weight sand paper to smooth and yet leave a light rough texture on the plastic.. You want to use a paint that is meant for plastic and that will color the christmas red yet allow you to see the light through the paint . You will need paint that will says it is transparent when dry. Transparent paint will allow the light to glow in the santa and light it up well at night. Never use any paint that is an opaque color because they do not allow the light to shine through. Use masking tape and newspaper to paper and tape off the areas you do not want to paint. Paint the uncovered areas allow to dry then lightly sand if you have drips. You will need to lightly repaint if you sand an area. Make it a project you will enjoy and take the time to do it right the first time and your santa will shine for many Christmases to come. Note all of your paint should be made for exterior or outside use only.

Check You Tube to see how to use glass paint.

The simplest way to repaint is to clean it and wipe it down with alcohol thenpaint a layer of clear gesso (found on Amazon or in most craft stores) this guarantees any acrylic paint will adhere evenly.

We have a Christmas pooh bear and we used Sharpe highlighters so the light still shined through the only problem is the weather does make you have to recolor it basically every year but its worth it!

I would try paint speciffically for plastic, but I would apply it with a cosmetic sponge. That way you would not see brush strokes when it was lit.

Ok, have a plastic cow that goes with nativity scene. Has some broke plastic off. Is there a way to repair the plastic.

I used moldable plastic beads (also comes with colored beads to color the plastic) to repair a Mary and Joseph, that needed new noses. I did the repair three years ago and it is still holding. This year I will be attempting to repair a whole antique colored nativity set. First I have to somehow remove a bad paint job, repair some cracked or broken parts and get some translucent outdoor paint for plastic.