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

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:22 pm

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:14 am

I generally prefer priming in white, just to see the details, but I use black from time to time depending on the look of the finished piece (or if it is mostly black anyway.) I've also had good luck with gray.

Zenithal highlighting has been on my 'to try' list for a while. I've also considered black primer with a very light drybrushing with white to expose the details.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:12 am

I'm not sure how the Zenithal method would work for me. First, don't know if it really makes a difference on 28mm scale figures. I do have larger ones from Myth where I can see it working, but that brings me to my second point -- my painting style. Everything I've read suggests it works best with very light coats of paint. I slop it on thick which works for me but probably would make seasoned painters cringe. It's pretty cool but I think beyond my skill at this point. Maybe next year.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:39 am

I should have some pics up soon of my Bride of Frankenstein kit. I started back on it after an extended break and it's coming along quite nicely. Have the entire backdrop and Bride done, just have to get the Monster assembled and painted and it will be complete.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:52 am

Next project -- spaceships from Emergence Event.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:10 pm

Does anyone have any idea for cataloging miniatures? I've got Bones, I've got singles, I've got the remnants of a copy of Battle Masters from the 90s, I've got two different 90s Warhammer boxed sets, I've got multiple board games with RPG-style miniatures, and I've had four different people give me old Ral Partha lead minis.

The problem is that it takes me forever to see if I have 'cleric in cloth carrying a staff', or 'cultist.' I'd like to have a central reference for these things. I'm not even sure where to begin!

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 8:41 pm

Good question, no idea. I have just started going through my newer prepainted minis and adding them to an Excel chart.

I have a tool box of Dungeon Command, a Plano box of good humanoids, a Plano box of evil humanoids, a Plano box of monsters, a shoebox of big figures, a container of unpainted Ravensloft minis in the kitchen, a Bones box, and loose figures. There's also a padded case of miscellaneous painted fantasy figures, a partially filled padded case for science fiction figures, a 2 tray KR multicase for paranoia miniatures, a Chessex large box of battletech, a shoebox of blister packs, and a few boxes. Also three Red Plano boxes of X-Wing and boxes of zombicide.

I will be no help on getting a mess organized.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 9:00 pm

I can imagine ways of doing it - photographing each one and finding something with a 'sort by tag' feature, but it would be way too labor intensive for what I need.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 9:13 pm

You can put tags in the photo descriptions, which would then be sortable. But all that photo taking...

Spreadsheet with categories for race, gender, clothing, storage location would be easier to manage.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:44 am

Excel is my default fallback for organizing anything. I really do need to learn the little drop-down sorting menu trick, though. Anyone know what that's called to ease the googling?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:40 am

Data | Filter

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 1:11 am

My player space ships for Emergence Event are now painted. They might need a few minor touch ups before the clear coat later this week, but I'm quite pleased with how everything turned out over a few hours in two nights.

From the Yellow ship on the left: Star Racer Vinh, Matriarch Evans, Ambassador Jolal and the Commander.

Now I'm really looking forward to my first game next weekend!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:54 pm

My son picked a grinning swashbuckler miniature I've had for years as his next character miniature. It is actually one of my favorites. The miniature was already painted, but clear back in '96 (I had it dated on the bottom of the base), and I thought the paint job, while one of my best at the time, was below what I'd accept now (almost no shading, for one thing), so I'm redoing it from scratch. That means stripping off the 20-year-old enamel and re-basing the piece.

I'll probably write up the stripping process with photos if anyone is interested.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:22 pm

Blackhawk wrote:My son picked a grinning swashbuckler miniature I've had for years as his next character miniature. It is actually one of my favorites. The miniature was already painted, but clear back in '96 (I had it dated on the bottom of the base), and I thought the paint job, while one of my best at the time, was below what I'd accept now (almost no shading, for one thing), so I'm redoing it from scratch. That means stripping off the 20-year-old enamel and re-basing the piece.

I'll probably write up the stripping process with photos if anyone is interested.

Enamel? Good luck!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:24 pm

hentzau wrote: Enamel? Good luck!

Nah, it isn't that hard to do if you're patient.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:26 pm

All I know is that I used Simple Green to remove a few layers of spray paint and I have no idea what type of sorcery was involved. I think it soaked for 3 days and with a toothbrush, all things paint were destroyed.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:34 pm

Zarathud wrote:My player space ships for Emergence Event are now painted. They might need a few minor touch ups before the clear coat later this week, but I'm quite pleased with how everything turned out over a few hours in two nights.

From the Yellow ship on the left: Star Racer Vinh, Matriarch Evans, Ambassador Jolal and the Commander.

Now I'm really looking forward to my first game next weekend!

Saturday!

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:34 pm

I've heard that pine sol is great for acrylics...

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:56 pm

Easy-Off oven cleaner for enamels. It only takes a few hours, and doesn't hurt metals. Don't use it on plastics or Bones unless you want liquid miniatures.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 6:52 pm

I had heard about easy-off as well. Didn't know it would work on enamels.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Aug 17, 2015 3:14 pm

My Bride of Frankenstein pics are still on hold - I accidentally threw away two little pocket flaps that come separately on the Monster's coat, so I had to order replacements.

Incidentally, Moebius Model has some kick-ass support. I just emailed Customer Service and told them straight-up that I threw the parts away. They responded within 24 hours and had both parts headed my way for $3 shipped.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:01 pm

Mother nature is giving me a gentle reminder -- it's currently in the 40s outside and I forgot to spray-prime some of my miniatures to hold me over until spring. Tomorrow and the next two days are going to be close to 70, so I've lined up a ton of plastic to hammer through with rattle cans so I have things to paint during the winter. It's about thirty 28mm WW2 army guys, so I should be in good shape for a while. Between painting them and then finishing up the small details on my original crew, I think I have my work cut out for me. On the other hand, all my buddy has been doing is building his dream WW2 village. This is the approach to town.

Everything you see in the picture (other than the base grass mat) he created/assembled/painted. I think he said he made like 50 random bocage pieces and the roads are painted caulk over rubber strips, cut to shape. The wheat fields are a door mat and the plowed fields are corduroy pants. He's out of control.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 3:00 pm

That's some nice work. Wish I had the talent (patience) to do terrain like that.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 4:55 pm

I'm pretty sure it's all he's done for the last 3 months. I mean, he hammered out a dozen German soldiers, a tank and a halftrack but other than that he just keeps working on his 6'x4' village and countryside scene. I told him next he has to make a fishing village and jungle so we can play in the Pacific theater as well. He was not amused.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:29 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I'm pretty sure it's all he's done for the last 3 months. I mean, he hammered out a dozen German soldiers, a tank and a halftrack but other than that he just keeps working on his 6'x4' village and countryside scene. I told him next he has to make a fishing village and jungle so we can play in the Pacific theater as well. He was not amused.

Oh, that would be easy to do.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 8:56 pm

I'm nearly certain he'd choke the life out of me for even sending him that link. But I do think he wants to do a D-Day map and I've already sourced some woodcraft Higgins boats.

He's coming over this weekend so I'll try to snap some more shots if we get everything set up and manage to play.

ericb · Post by **ericb** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:06 pm

Purple Power to clean acrylic paints...starts to work in about 30 mins, safe for plastic and metal, safe to flush down the sink and it's cheap. Works better and quicker than Simple Green and you can get it at any auto store (Advance, etc). You do need to wear gloves though...it's not as gentle as Simple Green.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:14 am

Also, Smoove, have him check out 4Ground. They're who I've been using exclusively for Zenda. They have a line of European WWII buildings and terrain that looks pretty fabulous. I've seen their Pegasus Bridge model on a table and it is fabulous.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 11:32 am

Thanks - will do. I think my only glaring omissions at this point are things like hilltops, barbed wire and tank traps -- but i would agree those models look awesome. I actually like putting some of them together (wood more than plastic) so maybe even considering a few for myself as there are holidays and birthdays coming up.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:49 am

As promised...

That's about half of the map and most of my army setup along the village edge.

That's a long shot of my side of the map. Going from a 2'x2' area to playing in a 6'x4' area was like playing a different game. We have the scenery now, so we can get back to painting (and finishing) the miniatures.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:28 pm

Here's the final finished Bride of Frankenstein kit:

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 6:44 pm

Dang! That's nice!

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:33 pm

More of a test of my new Light Box than anything, but here are a few of my Blood Rage Mystics.

Not quite as nice as my Blood Rage Monsters, but I'm still relatively happy with them.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:02 pm

Nice shots! Did you tweak those in an editor afterwards? I have a light box, but I haven't been able to get it to make my shots look anywhere near that good. They still end up dim.

Example of an un-tweaked lightbox shot:

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 6:06 pm

No real enhancements. It’s a light box I got from Kickstarter a little over a week ago. I’m pretty happy with it so far. The reason I was interested in it is it folds down flat when not in use. You can check it out here if you are interested.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 6:51 pm

Mine collapses, too. Here. I may just not be using enough lights, or bright enough lights. I dunno.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:25 pm

Yeah with mine, the lights are built directly into the structure, so it's perfectly lit without needing additional light.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:01 pm

I probably just need to buy some photography lights and use the manual settings on my camera.

I currently grab my monitor backlights from all over the house (which use natural sunlight bulbs) and put one on each side of the tent, one above it, and my painting light in front, like so:

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:48 pm

I have finally got the miniatures I've painted over the past few months photographed and cleaned up the photos.

First up, some pieces that I painted from some of the D&D Adventures board games (Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, Wrath of Ashardolan, Temple of Elemental Weevils.) These are board game pieces, so they aren't the most detailed pieces in the world.

These gargoyles were about a 30 minute painjob for all three (so about ten minutes each.) I need to go through and figure out which of my pieces can be painted this fast and just knock them out on a weekend.

These swarms were similar - black primer, a few colors or some drybrushing and done.

These are some of the player characters from Elemental Evil.

Air elemental. Another quick paint. The original was transparent blue. He'd have been decent if he were done in clear or even a frosted clear, but they already had blue plastic for some water elementals and just used it for the air, too. It looked completely wrong, so I just primed him black, then drybrushed him with a succession of lighter shades of gray until I hit pure white.

A pair of drow. They don't photograph well due to the metallics, but the robes on each are deep purple, while the armor is an almost pearlescent metallic blue with silver trim.

A gauth. I was happy with the way he turned out.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:24 pm

Nice work as always, BH.