Reaper Bones are an awesome concept. Some work better than others - the weapons on man-size models can be a bit wobbly and overly chunky, I've replaced a few with GW plastic bits and you end up with a very nice model very cheap. They are massively convertible too, you can hack off huge bits with nothing more than a sharp knife. Top marks to Reaper for using this to bring us cheap models and affordable large models rather than just to gouge extra profits out of people (they probably make more profit per mini sold, but you know what I mean). Read the advice on the Reaper website about working with the Bones polymer - mind you, it might be similar to the vinyl toys you work with?
I saw that. Yeah, the vinyl toys don't always take well to aerosol primer. I think it's the solvents. I usually use brush on gesso, which is what I may use on Boner. I do plan on converting this guy, I think I would like to repose him, at the very least.
I agree, it's great to see that they are offering affordable alternatives. Once figures get to a certain size, metal just isn't practical, either.
I like the painted undead idea. You could just have them dunk themselves in a vat, save on the effort of brush painting them all. Could look interesting. Psychologically, I wonder if it might detract from the Terror a bone-toned walking skeleton causes?
color of bones can be quite varied as in mineral seeps from the ground vs. sun bleaching, vs. moldy. Red skeletons would be very funny specially if you are an old gamer who remembers the red Skelton comedy night show. steveb
A friend used to talk about creating a diorama with a big vat of bleach, with a necromancer directing a line of skeletons to walk into it, coming out the other side all nice & white-ish colored, the way most armies depict them. The same could probably be done with paint or dye.
As far as the terror, I think that having barely visible, nearly silent, animated, black skeletons attacking in the dark would be pretty creepy. There's a lot of room for more humorous ideas, too, I guess.
Then there's this bit of awesomeness someone did:
http://redearthterrain.deviantart.com/art/Molten-Colossal-Skeleton-Front-444946055