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

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:54 pm

Got some more photos processed and ready to post.

A few homemade miniatures first.

Ochre jellies. These were improvised papier mache covered with hot glue, then stained and covered in several coats of Future floor polish (essentially clear acyrlic.)

Flameskull. This is an old Milton-Bradley Heroquest skull with some Kneaditite flames sculpted on. I'm not the best sculptor out there, but the piece is at least funcitonal..

I found myself needing an animated sword, and later ended up with a cleric with a love for the Spiritual Weapon spell. The solution was a spare sword on a wire, painted with a light silver, detailed, then given a wash of blue ink to give it a 'spiritual' feel.

That's all the homemade pieces. Next up, beasties.

A bunch of skeletons I've collected from a bunch of different sources over the years. The quality varies wildly on them. Some are Reaper metals I got with an old Warlord boxed set, some are Bones (notably the one with the curvy spear), some were given to me by a friend. I decided it was time to take them all and power through them.

Reaper Bones owlbear. I'm pretty happy with how he came out, although I'd do him with a slightly lighter tone if I had it to do over.

A pair of hobgoblins, both Bones. They are the same miniature, but I cut some spikes off of one's shield, and spikes off of the other's club. I then carved some basic wood grain into the spike-free club. It makes the two look distinct rather than like clones.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:09 pm

This third set will be the last one for now. These are character pieces.

Bones dwarf. This one was painted for a player in a game I was part of a while back. The miniature's huge... tracts of land made for more than a few jokes. The photograph didn't really capture the deep green on the loincloth/tabard and shield.

Reaper Bones 'Hellborn' to represent a pair of Tiefling siblings two players are running in one of my 5E campaigns. The two are painted with a similar palette to help tie them together.

Reaper Bones rogue for a player in one of my campaigns.

A cleric for a player in one of my campaigns. The figure itself is a Ral Partha lead miniature from sometime in the mid 80s, so the detail - not to mention the scale - is a little off.

This was for my character, a cleric of war, in a short-lived campaign I got to play in (I actually got to be a player in an RPG!)

Another character. This one has served as both a 3.5E scout rogue and a 5E ranger.

My youngest's current character, and another Ral Partha pure lead miniature. I think I bought this one back in '89 or so as part of a pack. It is being used to represent a swashbuckler in my 5E game. I'm not entirely happy with the piece.

Another Bones piece. This was intended to be a generic NPC in a Deadlands game someday, but it is currently serving as a rogue in a 5E campaign. It is nice having a rogue that is something other than leather armor and short swords.

Reaper Bones 'dragon man' warrior. This served as my youngest's first character, a Dragonborn paladin (up until I killed him.) It is now my eldest's second character, a Dragonborn fighter.

Bones. Although this one has barely seen play, I was very happy with the piece and how it turned out, especially the cloak.

Well, that's all for now.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:53 pm

I want to get one of those Bones females in the blue dress that you have there. I saw someone else use it in their Dead Man's Hand game and really liked it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:03 pm

It's a great piece. Two fiddy.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:05 pm

Blackhawk wrote:It's a great piece. Two fiddy.

LMAO... Townsfolk: Strumpet. What a listing!

I wish I was as good as you at highlighting. I am slowly learning how to do that effectively, and I am largely happy with my results, but yours are amazing!

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 4:19 pm

Went to my FLGS and out of all of their wall of Bones figures that peg was the only empty one.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sun Jan 24, 2016 12:18 am

Cat & Mouse has two Strumpets. Almost picked one up, but my daughter decided she wants to paint the Purple Wurm. Fortunately, that's one of the figures where I think she'll do a good job at 6.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:52 am

Buck town store?

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sun Jan 24, 2016 3:41 pm

Yep. Among all the family games, there's a rack of miniatures and RPGs.

I'm about to pull the trigger on an order for a miniatures painting station from Hobbyzone.pl hoping that organization will help my motivation to paint.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:08 pm

I've got a ton of warmachine and malifaux figs that I just cannot motivate myself to paint. I fear my paints may need to be replaced at this point, it's been so damn long.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:14 pm

Reaper/Vallejo dropper bottles are so much easier than those GW paint pots.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:22 pm

Yeah, I'm done with GW paints. Never again.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:07 pm

Zarathud wrote:Reaper/Vallejo dropper bottles are so much easier than those GW paint pots.

Plus forty gazillion.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:42 pm

I've gone exclusively Army Painter paints over the past two years. I can't even fathom buying a GW paint pot.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:04 pm

Reaper and Vallejo for me. My current painting space:

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:45 pm

hentzau wrote:I've gone exclusively Army Painter paints over the past two years. I can't even fathom buying a GW paint pot.

I like Army Painter paints. I also love my Reaper HD paint sets, but they seem to be a bit harder to get than they used to be.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:34 am

I'm not a fan of the paints in eye dropper bottles, myself. I prefer the pots from Privateer.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:19 am

I have the 4 heroes from Fury of Dracula painted. If I can get out of work at a decent hour tomorrow, I'll do some touch ups and spray seal in the 60 degree heatwave. The model detail wasn't very great, but they'll still look better painted on the map.

Maybe i'll even get a chance to start fixing Dracula. Painting a mostly black suit/cape is hard. I think using purple for the pants or vest will be necessary for contrast even though the cape interior is red.

I should take a photo of the painting station tray I ordered from Poland. It's working out much better on my desk.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 1:44 pm

Zarathud wrote:I have the 4 heroes from Fury of Dracula painted.

I would be curious to see what you did with them. I like the game quite a lot but the quality of the miniatures is much lower than most models I paint so I haven't felt compelled to work with them yet.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:20 pm

The Third Edition board is very bland, so I figured the minis should be painted before Octocon. I used the character cards as reference material but the figures ended up being very limiting. Helsing is in a greyish suit, Seward in green, Mena in darker green (not black), and tan for Godalming. If I did them again, I would have used brighter colors and definitely pink for Mena -- even though the art is otherwise dark and earthy.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:44 pm

The newest members of the Cthulhu Wars family. This faction is proving difficult for me. I try to always paint so that a faction color is easily identifiable but this whole faction is just fleshy and kind of gross.

They are from the Opener of the Way expansion if anyone is curious.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 9:54 pm

Lordnine wrote:I try to always paint so that a faction color is easily identifiable but this whole faction is just fleshy and kind of gross.

Option: take advantage of that. Go down to Wal-Mart and pick up some Pledge/Future, then give each one a coat, let them dry overnight, repeat.

The entire faction will look permanently wet and slimy, which would emphasize the 'gross' thing and serve to tie them all together visually.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 12:37 am

You can see the lack of detail of the Fury of Dracula miniatures, plus the limits of my ability.

Dracula

Mena

Lord Godalming

Van Helsing

Dr. Seward

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Wed May 04, 2016 12:33 am

So after being out of model painting for about 25 years I decided to jump back in feet first after picking up Imperial Assault. I never had much skill in the past, but I was usually able to produce models that I enjoyed looking at and I guess that is the most important thing

It took me a few weeks to gather all of the supplies and paints (outside of my initial purchase I've been keeping it around $20 a week so as not to gain unwanted spousal attention about spending so much $$$ on 'toys') but using input from many sources I feel like I've finally gotten enough product to be useful.

I started with the Stormtroopers which I believe were deceptively difficult, mainly due to the process I used for shading and then layering back the white. In hindsight I should probably have started with the Royal Guards as they were much easier. I'm about 90% complete with the AT-ST so I decided I'd put them out for display.

One thing I've learned while doing this is that at 44 years old it is probably time for me to pick up some readers

I just can't see detail up close any more.

So here are the results. I'm very aware that these won't win any awards (especially the facial detail of the troopers--really need eye assistance) but maybe they will inspire one of you to paint the minis in your IA box.

The AT-ST base is not finished. I need to still shade the mud texture and possibly add vegetation.

One other annoying side effect is that I tried a new pack of brushes on the the walker and the large brush I used for the first coat shed several bristles which I have not been able to get out of the paint. They can be seen in a couple of the pics

Need to invest in better brushes.

I think I may try vader next. Or maybe probe droids.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed May 04, 2016 8:56 am

Those are awesome.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed May 04, 2016 9:08 am

Nice work!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed May 04, 2016 9:09 am

That makes me want to play the game now. Great work, Redfive!

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Wed May 04, 2016 9:52 am

Thanks for the nice words fellas. It has been fun getting back into this after laying off for so long.

I actually don't have anyone local to play IA with-- I've been playing it over google hangouts with my friend in Dallas. Not quite as unwieldy as you might imagine since both sides don't really share any card decks or anything that would prevent each of us from having our own setup.

We've only completed two campaign missions but hope to get more in soon.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed May 04, 2016 10:07 am

I've been getting back into Malifaux since the release of the most excellent campaign rules for the game. But I just can't seem to motivate myself to paint (or even assemble) the figs I've picked up over the last couple of years.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed May 04, 2016 12:02 pm

Great job, and great timing! I just starting cleaning my Stormtroopers last night to start painting them for summer gaming with the kids. I'm just waiting for a bottle of gray wash to come in for the Stormtroopers.

You weren't referencing these videos, were you?

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Wed May 04, 2016 12:48 pm

Blackhawk wrote:Great job, and great timing! I just starting cleaning my Stormtroopers last night to start painting them for summer gaming with the kids. I'm just waiting for a bottle of gray wash to come in for the Stormtroopers.

You weren't referencing these videos, were you?

I didn't reference them in my first post--if you were referring to my line about inputs from several different sources I was talking about painting products and setup (I'm using an old RX bottle to hold the minis---thanks!).

That said, yes, I absolutely used those videos for direction! His production values on the videos are outstanding and his narration is very informative. It was his video that made me decide to go for the weathered look on the walker (which was my favorite so far).

EDIT: Need to work on reading comprehension. I don't think you thought I mentioned the videos at all now that I read your post again

Again, thanks for the nice words. I'll be sure and post pics of the future models as well.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed May 04, 2016 1:17 pm

Redfive wrote:
EDIT: Need to work on reading comprehension. I don't think you thought I mentioned the videos at all now that I read your post again

Yeah, I meant, "Did you reference them while painting/use them as a resource." I found them yesterday and saw that your approach was similar. They're very good. In fact, they're why I decided to pick up the gray wash. I like his method of priming, washing, and then highlighting to achieve the shaded white - I just think his black shading is too harsh (just personal preference.)

I just need to read through the rules first. I've seen a few painted sets now, and all use colors and/or marks on the bases. I want to know what's behind that before I proceed.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Wed May 04, 2016 2:10 pm

For the Imperials there are regular units and elite units that are better. The red ring is just one way to denote elite status in the event that you have both deployed at the same time.

Also, the Imperials activate all of the units in one group at a time. The rebels, on the other hand, only activate one hero or figure at a time. Having all of the units in a group with the same color base just allows you to easily know which group is currently activated.

The black and gray rimmed units are the regular units--only different colors for the same reason-- in case there are more than one on the board.

Also, in response to your comment about the black shading I think I agree. I think a similar look could be achieved on the stormtroopers without applying the wash everywhere which causes the white layering work to be more difficult, IMO.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Sat May 07, 2016 2:36 pm

Got the probe droids finished:

I think they came out a little lighter than I'd like though that mostly shows up in the pics. In person I'm satisfied with the look.

These were the easiest yet and it shows. The bad news is that when I take pics the detail is so much better than I can see with my own eyes--I can see some sloppy work. The good news is in person I can't see the mould lines that are showing up in the pics. Bottom line is they are painted and can get on the table.

Not sure what will be next. Maybe Vader (kind of intimidated to start him) or maybe the Imperial Officers.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat May 07, 2016 2:57 pm

That's the problem with miniature pictures. They present an unrealistic look at the miniature. Most of the pics you see are many, many times the size of the actual miniature. I've actually started reducing pictures I share for exactly that reason. You aren't seeing what you see on the table - it's like you are looking at it through a magnifying glass!

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Sat May 07, 2016 5:52 pm

Reduced the sizes--will remember that in the future.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:45 pm

I'm starting up a new batch after several months of avoiding painting due to burnout.

The boys and I have started playing the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game recently, and are working on the Rise of the Runelords adventure path for it. I've decided to paint the Bones iconics for the characters included in the game that we're playing in order to use them as location markers.

So far all I've done is clean them up, replace the bases with homemade versions, and prime them. Painting is to come.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 9:44 pm

I picked up a Skorne starter set for Hordes MK III (the new edition of Warmachine/Hordes), then grabbed some new Malifaux figs for my campaign. Spent part of the evening assembling a bunch of minis. I think I'm back into it.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:45 pm

After GenCon I plan to start painting Blood Rage. I have picked up some nice wood to build a shelf to hold work in process and permit easy access to my paints.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:08 am

I need to play that again. Are you bringing it with you to Gencon?