[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Not sold on zenethal with contrast. This guy was zenethal and came out good:

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This one, not so good:

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You can’t really tell, but I used zenethal techniques on Ultron here (still a WIP) using a black prime then airbrush 3 different metallics from dark to light.

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Got Black Widow done too.

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Malificent »

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Formless Spawn from Mansions of Madness. Contrast paint wet blending with a bunch of detail work after.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Tao »

Over the past year or so my board game collection has grown and thus so has my collection of miniatures, therefore I recently decided to take the plunge and join the club. I deliberated for awhile if I wanted to start painting, I didn't really need another hobby and I'm not overly artistic. I came across Will Friedle's (I've been a fan of his voice work for years) new channel, the Painters Guild on Geek and Sundry and started watching and decided to give it a go. Other than Painters Guild I have not watched any videos but I did do a lot of reading on what would be needed for a beginner to get started and come up with this list;

Craft Mat
Reapers Starter Kit
Vallejo Basic Color Kit
Wet Pallette
Primer
Masters Brush Cleaner
Lighted Magnifying Station
Miniature Painting Tool Kit
and after a couple of days...
Some better brushes

The Reaper Kit came with 11 paints 2 brushes (#0, #2) and 3 Reaper figures, a Skeleton Archer, an Orc Warrior and something called a Mangu Timur that looks like a knight, and a painting for newbies guide book. The colors in the starter kit are fairly basic so I picked up the Vallejo set to round it out plus everywhere I read online people raved over the Vallejo paints.
The guide book stated the figures did not need any priming so I didn't and over the past few days I have worked through painting the 3 figures in order. By the second day the brushes wouldn't really hold a point well so I bought 3 Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes, a #0,#1,#2 but they won't be delivered for a couple of weeks so I bought the other set on Amazon to hold me over. Have to say having even half-way decent brushes makes a world of difference, especially for someone starting out. So here are the results of my efforts so far, the skeleton is really tiny so this is my 2nd and 3rd painted miniatures ever. Sorry for all the photos but I am a little excited. :D I plan to go back and touch up the Knight a little more, I want to try dry brushing a few spots and I want to try and add detail to the buttons on the back of his surcoat and maybe contrast the embossed dagger on the front, but wanted to post before I screwed it all up. :D

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Malificent »

Tao wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2020 2:10 am .
.
.
The Reaper Kit came with 11 paints 2 brushes (#0, #2) and 3 Reaper figures, a Skeleton Archer, an Orc Warrior and something called a Mangu Timur that looks like a knight, and a painting for newbies guide book. The colors in the starter kit are fairly basic so I picked up the Vallejo set to round it out plus everywhere I read online people raved over the Vallejo paints.
The guide book stated the figures did not need any priming so I didn't and over the past few days I have worked through painting the 3 figures in order. By the second day the brushes wouldn't really hold a point well so I bought 3 Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes, a #0,#1,#2 but they won't be delivered for a couple of weeks so I bought the other set on Amazon to hold me over. Have to say having even half-way decent brushes makes a world of difference, especially for someone starting out. So here are the results of my efforts so far, the skeleton is really tiny so this is my 2nd and 3rd painted miniatures ever. Sorry for all the photos but I am a little excited. :D I plan to go back and touch up the Knight a little more, I want to try dry brushing a few spots and I want to try and add detail to the buttons on the back of his surcoat and maybe contrast the embossed dagger on the front, but wanted to post before I screwed it all up. :D
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[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Image

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

With over 40 degree weather, I took time today to coat the 25+ miniatures that I've painted the last few months.

Turns out I'm in the middle of painting my own Mangu Timur who has been sitting around until spilling some metal paint encouraged me to grab my batch of "dudes in plate". It's been a nice break from townspeople.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

And final for the weekend. Base isn’t quite set yet, and I need to add metal to the grate.

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Punisher »

Tao wrote: Sun Feb 23, 2020 2:10 am Over the past year or so my board game collection has grown and thus so has my collection of miniatures, therefore I recently decided to take the plunge and join the club. I deliberated for awhile if I wanted to start painting, I didn't really need another hobby and I'm not overly artistic. I came across Will Friedle's (I've been a fan of his voice work for years) new channel, the Painters Guild on Geek and Sundry and started watching and decided to give it a go. Other than Painters Guild I have not watched any videos but I did do a lot of reading on what would be needed for a beginner to get started and come up with this list;

Lighted Magnifying Station
Just an FYI that I use this one:

Illuminated Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier
I tried using a based magnifier, but it was a bit of a pain. With the headset, I can pick up the mini and move my hands and head any which way.
The light is a bit cheesy, but if I catch the correct angle, it does work.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

And I use this one. Whenever people ask I recommend a binocular magnifying visor over a desktop model. It magnifies without distorting, gives you freedom of movement, and most importantly, preserves your 3d vision.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by $iljanus »

How does it feel after wearing it for long periods of time? Was looking into desktop models but this looks interesting.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Tao »

Thanks for the link Punisher. I had the exact same thought and I purchased one of these;

Hands Free Magnifier

Unfortunately it does not work for me as I wear glasses and it will not fit over them, so I will be returning it. I actually found and plan to purchase the exact same one that Blackhawk linked, of course it's twice the cost of the other one but it supposedly fits over glasses.
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[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

I use these. Mighty Sight glasses.

Really comfy. And if you really need extra, I sometimes wear reading glasses under them.

Edit: Fixed URL
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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$iljanus wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:29 pm How does it feel after wearing it for long periods of time? Was looking into desktop models but this looks interesting.
Tao wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:56 pm I actually found and plan to purchase the exact same one that Blackhawk linked, of course it's twice the cost of the other one but it supposedly fits over glasses.

It is comfortable enough to wear for a couple of hours at a time (I've never used it longer than that), although it leaves pressure lines in my forehead that are noticeable for a little while after I've used it. It fits fine over glasses. The light is completely adjustable, but isn't daylight (it leans to the cool range), so make sure you are using it to see details and not to pick or compare colors.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Tao »

Those look like they could work as well Hentzau and I like that it's USB rather than battery, but I will most likely try the Carson visor first. I like the idea of the different lenses with the Carson so I can adjust for my prescription glasses as needed rather than a static magnification and I believe the Carson allows for the lenses to be folded up and out of the way when needed.
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[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

Tao’s link works for me and is more comfortable than Blackhawks link but YMMV. I ditch my progressives for detail work.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Tao wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 9:22 pm I believe the Carson allows for the lenses to be folded up and out of the way when needed.
They fold forward, and the while thing can rotate upward.
Zarathud wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 9:31 pm I ditch my progressives for detail work.
As do I. I use my reading glasses for painting.

As far as a the magnification goes, the main factor there is focal distance. You want lots of magnification, but you want room for the brush, too.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Image

So I still have Captain Marvel and the Hulk to finish. I’ve got Doc Ock started.

Playing our first test game tonight. Hope I like it after all of this work.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Was that contrast paint? What blue did you use?
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Might be Talassar Blue contrast, yes. I'm using the same for Spider-Man
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:39 pm Was that contrast paint? What blue did you use?
Yes, it was Tallasar Blue. I thought about going with Ultramarines but this didn't turn out too bad.

I see tons of folks doing NMM paint jobs on Cap's shield, but just like with doing OSL for Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube, I am just a pussy with trying out new painting techniques on a newly finished perfectly fine paint job...

Edit: I grabbed the wrong blue name...
Last edited by hentzau on Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Really? The Leviadon Blue looks so much darker than that on the samples.

As to NMM, I've found (and others have said the same) that it looks fantastic for photos or dioramas, but doesn't look great for tabletop.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:46 pm Really? The Leviadon Blue looks so much darker than that on the samples.

As to NMM, I've found (and others have said the same) that it looks fantastic for photos or dioramas, but doesn't look great for tabletop.
I corrected myself. I grabbed the wrong name.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

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Ok, that makes more sense. What primer is it over? I just used some Talassar Blue on a snake the other day, and it came out almost... flourescent. I'm likely going to have to try and tone it down once I've gotten to that point. Mine was over white Stynlrez.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Tao »

Couple of questions;

when applying a base coat to an area do folks typically avoid areas that will be painted a different color or just paint the whole area and then paint over the base coat. For example, in the Captain America photo, I would guess you used a blue base coat for his chest, did you just paint the whole chest blue and then go back and re-paint the star or did you take the time and effort to avoid painting the star? Obviously it would be easier to lay down a base coat then re-paint specific sections but I would think that could really throw off the color scheme.

For folks who use a "wash" do you prefer to just heavily water down your paints or do you prefer the washes sold by vendors, which tend to be ink based?

What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures. Once I painted those I went out and bought 6 more for about $20 and I am working on the 3rd figure now. I would rather this not turn in to a money sink, twenty bucks a month should be manageable but I was curious where folks acquired there figures.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Blackhawk wrote:Ok, that makes more sense. What primer is it over? I just used some Talassar Blue on a snake the other day, and it came out almost... flourescent. I'm likely going to have to try and tone it down once I've gotten to that point. Mine was over white Stynlrez.
That was over wraithbone. Spidey was same paint over white Vallejo primer. His blue didnt turn out nearly as nice (IMO). Matter of fact, I wasn’t even going to post this one because I don’t like it. But, everything on the table, right?

Image
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm Couple of questions;

when applying a base coat to an area do folks typically avoid areas that will be painted a different color or just paint the whole area and then paint over the base coat. For example, in the Captain America photo, I would guess you used a blue base coat for his chest, did you just paint the whole chest blue and then go back and re-paint the star or did you take the time and effort to avoid painting the star? Obviously it would be easier to lay down a base coat then re-paint specific sections but I would think that could really throw off the color scheme.

For folks who use a "wash" do you prefer to just heavily water down your paints or do you prefer the washes sold by vendors, which tend to be ink based?

What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures. Once I painted those I went out and bought 6 more for about $20 and I am working on the 3rd figure now. I would rather this not turn in to a money sink, twenty bucks a month should be manageable but I was curious where folks acquired there figures.
I usually try and not paint where I don't want the paint to go. So like the A on his head, the star on his chest, his wings, I avoided painting those blue. I still slopped some on, so I had to go back and touch up again with the base color, and then apply the actual color.

I used to just water down paints, and that's a perfectly good way to do it getting started, but I now use washes and inks from the companies. I have made my own washes for terrain, using inks and matte medium, but that's only for terrain.

And with 40 some years of miniatures buying, I have more figures than I'll ever be able to paint. But check eBay, you can pick up minis in lots there that you could practice on.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures.
All painting is practice, IMHO and I don't think you can mess up anything so badly that cannot be fixed with a soak in Simple Green. I remember being really, really stressed out about painting and messing up, but try not to let it paralyze you. When I look at my mini collection now, it's like a historical folio of my skill and all the things I've learned or figured out on this crazy hobby journey. Don't compare yourself to others, compare to yourself!
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by hentzau »

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 5:15 pm
Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures.
All painting is practice, IMHO and I don't think you can mess up anything so badly that cannot be fixed with a soak in Simple Green. I remember being really, really stressed out about painting and messing up, but try not to let it paralyze you. When I look at my mini collection now, it's like a historical folio of my skill and all the things I've learned or figured out on this crazy hobby journey. Don't compare yourself to others, compare to yourself!
And we'll compare you to others.

:wink:
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm Couple of questions;

when applying a base coat to an area do folks typically avoid areas that will be painted a different color or just paint the whole area and then paint over the base coat. For example, in the Captain America photo, I would guess you used a blue base coat for his chest, did you just paint the whole chest blue and then go back and re-paint the star or did you take the time and effort to avoid painting the star? Obviously it would be easier to lay down a base coat then re-paint specific sections but I would think that could really throw off the color scheme.

For folks who use a "wash" do you prefer to just heavily water down your paints or do you prefer the washes sold by vendors, which tend to be ink based?

What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures. Once I painted those I went out and bought 6 more for about $20 and I am working on the 3rd figure now. I would rather this not turn in to a money sink, twenty bucks a month should be manageable but I was curious where folks acquired there figures.
The base coat (I call it blocking in) is usually about getting the right colors in the right places, with the exception of tiny details (like buckles on a backpack or laces on a boot - those usually get painted over then redone later.) The general wisdom is to help the miniature 'get dressed.' You start with the deepest layers and work toward the highest. In other words, you;d do skin, then clothing, then armor, then straps, etc. There are exceptions, of course, and some people use a different approach entirely.

Don't worry about making a mess as you go. I rarely get all the paint perfectly lined out on the first go. If I'm painting leather over cloth, I'll do the cloth, then the leather, the go back and touch up the cloth where I got leather on it, then touch up where I just got cloth on the leather. That's why I usually paint the basic color of every area before I start shading any of them. It's easier to 'erase' areas if they are just the base color. It also makes it easier to test out color schemes when you haven't shaded yet. If your brilliant idea turns out to be ugly, you can just brush some primer over it as an 'eraser.'

I use washes sold by vendors. When I do make my own washes, I don't just use water, I use a combination of flow improvers, mediums, and paint or ink. See here. The point of a wash is to sink into deep areas and accent them. Water doesn't provide the right dynamics and tension to the paint to achieve that, tending instead to leave rings and blotches instead of a smooth shading/detailing effect. My own feeling is that the commercial washes work better than the homemades I've tried. I recommend either Army Painter or Vallejo washes. Army Painter 'tone' washes are great for bringing out detail, but they're all shades of brown. Army Painter colored washes are nice, but they tend to heavily tint the surface. Vallejo are good general washes. Each has it's purpose. To start with, you could grab yourself Army painter light tone, plus Vallejo sepia and black washes.

For practice... I don't really have just 'for practice' stuff. I had a few miniatures 30 years ago and painted them, got better, painted others, got better, stripped the first ones and repainted them, and so on. If you want to get through the learning curve without risking valuable stuff or spending a lot of money, I'd suggest a couple of dozen Reaper Bones. They're cheap and easy to paint. They're a little light on sharp detail relative to metal, but perfectly good. Maybe check ebay for some lots.
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[Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Zarathud »

Sometimes painting for tabletop means you don’t do a “great” job anyway. I just finished a small bone devil imp. I put on the wash too heavily, turning the bone white into grey. But I went back and repainted sections, leaving greyish strips along arms and legs bot just recesses. While it looks terrible up close, from a distance the contrast looks good enough for my goal — an evil companion that needs to die.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

I've always had the best luck by painting bone pure white and using a sepia wash. I like the 'aged bone' effect it gives them.

Image
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures. Once I painted those I went out and bought 6 more for about $20 and I am working on the 3rd figure now. I would rather this not turn in to a money sink, twenty bucks a month should be manageable but I was curious where folks acquired there figures.
The most affordable option is to go with some good old fashioned US-made Army men. You can likely find even cheaper knock-offs at a local Walmart/Target/dollar store, but the molds and quality won't be up to snuff with the American-made classics.

Wash 'em well with plenty of degreaser, then prime and start painting sans anxiety.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Tao »

Thanks all for the feedback and tips, much appreciated. I will most likely pick up a couple of Citadel or Vallejo washes soon to round out my beginner set of paints. Reaper Bones and Nolzur's are pretty cheap and i don't mind spending $20 a month to pick up 5 or 6 figures, I have definitely spent far more on other hobbies, I will also look for a cheap bag of regular "Army Men" as a cheap filler solution. I am having mixed results with the Simple Green. I have tried removing paint on a couple of figures, Reaper figures are pretty easy and even after just 24 hours the paint comes off with little effort. I have a Street Masters figure I soaked for several days and while most of the paint came off some of it appears to have seeped in and "stained" the figure. There is this light wash of color over the whole figure that simply will not go away, this one was not primed as I was trying to see the difference. I am sure ultimately it will be fine as a new paint job will cover it. I also have a figure from my Sword and Sorcery game that I have been soaking for nearly a week and the paint simply will not come off. This one was primed with the Army Painter white spray primer. Every day I take it out and try scrubbing, the paint has come off in some spots but the majority is still stuck, hence my reluctance to experiment on actual game pieces.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Smoove_B »

Wow, that's not been my experience at all with Simple Green. After it took a gloss chocolate brown Kyrlon rattle-can primer application off some miniatures, I figured anything was possible.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Punisher »

Tao wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:56 pm Thanks for the link Punisher. I had the exact same thought and I purchased one of these;

Hands Free Magnifier

Unfortunately it does not work for me as I wear glasses and it will not fit over them, so I will be returning it. I actually found and plan to purchase the exact same one that Blackhawk linked, of course it's twice the cost of the other one but it supposedly fits over glasses.
Just an FYI, but I use glasses as well and the one I linked fits over them. YMMV though.
I started cheap and there were a few different ones and this was my second choice (can't remember the first choice, but it didn't fit with my glasses so I returned it.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Punisher »

Anonymous Bosch wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 2:03 am
Tao wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:57 pm What do folks use to practice on? I have a bunch of miniatures that are part of various board games so I don't want to completely screw them up and would rather learn on spare figures, so picked up the Reaper kit which had 3 miniatures. Once I painted those I went out and bought 6 more for about $20 and I am working on the 3rd figure now. I would rather this not turn in to a money sink, twenty bucks a month should be manageable but I was curious where folks acquired there figures.
The most affordable option is to go with some good old fashioned US-made Army men. You can likely find even cheaper knock-offs at a local Walmart/Target/dollar store, but the molds and quality won't be up to snuff with the American-made classics.

Wash 'em well with plenty of degreaser, then prime and start painting sans anxiety.
I can't recommend the army Men enough. It's what I used to start with and I still use for testing, like if I get a new wash or paint or whatever. I've laid of painting for a while but started to pick up some new paints including the contrast paints and the colorshift ones from Vallejo.
I generally porime with army paint sprays. I also use their washes and bought their super mega-collection of paints to have a complete set.
I also have some paints from various other vendors that I got from KS's or conventions. I'm hoping to get back into it soon. We are working on getting some small shelves for the wall so I can put all my paints on them.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Tao wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:13 am Reaper Bones and Nolzur's are pretty cheap
Having painted quite a few of each, I recommend Bones over Nolzur's/Deep Cuts. Nolzur's seem to actually be sculpted with more detail, but WizKids' manufacturing process is designed for mass-produced cheap minis, not pieces designed for painting. That means that a lot of them have noticeable flaws. They're pre-primed, which might be handy if they actually cleaned the miniatures first. They don't. All of the mold lines are still there, primed over. Furthemore, their primer is applied very, very heavily. It isn't the way primer is supposed to be used, which almost defeats the purpose. In fact, it is often so thick that it completely obscures the detail. Their stuff is primed do thick it's like you're starting with two paintjobs already on the miniature. The Nolzur's that I paint I end up stripping first just to get the gunk out of the details. (If you haven't read up on cleaning miniatures before priming, here is a post where I discussed it. All that's changed since then is my basing process.) Caveat: You'll want to prime a little more heavily if you want to use Contrast paints. But not Nolzur's heavy.
Tao wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:13 am this one was not primed as I was trying to see the difference.
The main reasons to prime are to give the paint a surface that it can stick to properly and to give it an even base. The difference may not be immediately apparent, but the paint will wear off/chip more quickly if they' aren't primed. In fact, you'll read that Bones don't need primed, but I still recommend priming them, as their PVC is hydrophobic, which limits what techniques and materials you can apply to them if you don't prime.
Tao wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:13 am I am having mixed results with the Simple Green. I have tried removing paint on a couple of figures, Reaper figures are pretty easy and even after just 24 hours the paint comes off with little effort. I have a Street Masters figure I soaked for several days and while most of the paint came off some of it appears to have seeped in and "stained" the figure. There is this light wash of color over the whole figure that simply will not go away,
Smoove_B wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:23 am Wow, that's not been my experience at all with Simple Green. After it took a gloss chocolate brown Kyrlon rattle-can primer application off some miniatures, I figured anything was possible.

It's possible that the Street Masters figure is somewhat porous, meaning that you can't get to the parts that need scrubbing. Not a big worry. You don't have to remove 100% of the previous paintjob - just wash it really well and prime over it. Some paint (like Nolzur's primer) won't come off completely, even after more than 24 hour of soaking with intermittent brushing. As to stripping, while I still swear by Easy-Off oven cleaner for metal minis, for everything else I've switched to LA's Totally Awesome (available from dollar stores) after watching this video:

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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Blackhawk »

Punisher wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:05 am I've laid of painting for a while but started to pick up some new paints including the contrast paints and the colorshift ones from Vallejo.
Vallejo is doing colorshift paints now? :shock: Quick, to the internet!

/edit - called Vallejo Shifters. I'll have to get my hands on some. I've used Green Stuff World's colorshift paints before, but Vallejo is cheaper and easier to get.
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Re: [Miniatures] Painting tips and progress reports (with pics!)

Post by Punisher »

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:21 am
Punisher wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:05 am I've laid of painting for a while but started to pick up some new paints including the contrast paints and the colorshift ones from Vallejo.
Vallejo is doing colorshift paints now? :shock: Quick, to the internet!

/edit - called Vallejo Shifters. I'll have to get my hands on some. I've used Green Stuff World's colorshift paints before, but Vallejo is cheaper and easier to get.
I picked them up at Pax Unplugged which is when they were still called color shifters. There has been a big to-do with green stuff world suing Vallejo for using the term/name color shifters. I may have a set of collector's items in my hands!
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