Painting Miniatures - The very basics

That is a great article, the quality of the hobby articles on the GW site has increased dramatically of late - previously they were paper-thin plugsfor product with a veneer of the blindingly obvious slapped on top but stuff like that and the Dark Eldar articles have actually been worth checking out. I was actually somewhat annoyed that I found it a day or so after finally completing my Doomwheel.

Dear minotaur—I mean, miniature—painters,

My son’s Thomas the Tank Engine die-cast figurines have chipping paint. What would you recommend I use to (a) keep it from chipping further, and (b) prevent it from chipping in the first place?

I’m not a miniature enthusiast nor artist, so I don’t have a collection of paints/brushes at my disposal. I have some clear nail polish as well as some other colors… would that do the trick?

For baked on enamel paint such as is used on toys then clear nail polish will be fine. If you go to your local hobby store or craft shop you will probably find spray on clear gloss varnish which will be much easier to apply - just be sure to give it plenty of time to dry before letting your son have his toys back.

The only kind of miniature painting I can get on board with is painting Ronin for your little diorama while you are retired. Preferably used in some lesson when a gunshot wound victim shows up at your door and reminds you of the good old days. As Hugo Drax once said: “One grows old.” Until then, holy cow, I’d never have the patience to paint tiny figures. Is it like meditation or something? The 40 Year Old Virgin doesn’t exactly paint (forgive the pun) a pretty picture as to the kind of guys that paint miniatures. ;)

Nail polish is super, super useful for all kinds of things like that. I cracked the crystal backing on a watch once and rather than getting it replaced or throwing the watch away, several coats of nail varnish/clear polish fixed it almost good as new. A nice smooth coat, sealed it all up and waterproofed it somewhat. I’ve since discovered several uses along similar lines. Go clear nail polish!

Iain, if you don’t mind elaborating, what did you find personally useful in the article with your level of experience and skill? I’m very interested in what a veteran looks for in an article like that. Is it a hint about some small detail of construction or painting or some more general stuff? The details of that would be appreciated. I feel your perspective on the article could be very illuminating for a total beginner like myself.

In miniatures painting there is no One True Way to do things, the general rule is that if it looks right then it is right. The method used to produce the rusted and manky metal in the article was very different to mine and that’s interesting for me as it give me some new perspectives and a different set of ideas to explore.

Specifically with a figure that I’ve just attempted myself it’s useful to examine what they did the same as me and what was done differently. I find that the better I get, the more I learn from studying the work of people who are better than me.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The more you know the better you’re able to absorb new data and appreciate the nuances. Thanks for elaborating, Iain!

I just found this thread and learned ton from the posts here, and the references to the other resources, so thanks to everyone who contributed.

Is there any comparable thread here on model-making? It’s another childhood hobby that I’ve picked up again, even though the industry barely exists anymore, at least in terms of styrene plastic kits from Aurora/Revell/Monogram/etc., although the people still in the hobby seem extremely passionate and skilled.

I’ve picked up a few resin models, but although the artistry is at least as good, it’s not the same as plastic model making, which is what I miss. I grabbed a few about 10 years ago, when reissues of stuff I remember (like the Aurora monsters) were made, and had fun putting them together - especially since I could finally afford tools and equipment/files/putty, etc. that I didn’t have/couldn’t afford/ or really understand as a kid. But painting was a bit of a mystery to me - I was/am patient and could do details well, but I had never heard about “washes” and “dry brushing”, etc., and had just used standard enamel modeling paints by companies like Testors and Humbrol, and knew nothing about air brushing, etc. Although I think I did o.k. with what I knew, I largely held off on making more because I really dislike amateur paint jobs, even my own - and just wish I was more skilled/knew more about painting.

Flashforward 10 years and I’m feeling the urge to get into modeling again, or even dioramas, since I’ve always loved miniatures. Bought a bunch of kids, and am reading a ton, so these posts were really helpful. On recommedations from another forum, bought the Modelmania DVDs on modeling and customization (largely targeted towards resin and figure modeling, but really helpful towards modeling in general).

Any other modeling fans? - it really seems to be something for older fans who grew up with it - even in a big city like Toronto, there’s only a handful of stores for paints, etc. I’m impressed by some of the stuff Tamiya did that I missed during my absence (including paints/diorama stuff), blown away by the complexity of models by guys like Dragon, but I still feel the most fondness towards Aurora’s goofy monster stuff, although I also really like military modeling, and as a kid loved Revell’s ships, etc.

Hey, since this got bumped up, I wanna thank IainC for his comment about mold lines. Once I started seeing them, I really couldn’t unsee them. So every model I’ve assembled since then has been cleaned up as I build. I still haven’t gotten back to the unwashed masses, but I’m so far behind on painting anyway it’s not a big thing.

I love me some 1/35 scale armor models (so much so that there is a nice large container of unbuilt ones sitting in storage). My main advice, and this will help with miniatures too, is to get really good with an airbrush. There are a lot of companies who now make airbrush ready paints so the mixing isn’t much of an issue any more and you can use the same paints outside the airbrush for color consistency. Just make sure you get a decent (say something like a midrange Tamiya or Iwata) airbrush or else it will be hell.

For reference I grew up learning to build aircraft models from my dad, who had decorated the ceiling of my room with over 150 hanging 1/48 scale planes (which have since been donated to local museums). I still love aircraft as well but I think tanks are just a bit more fun to build. I never really got into cars or other random things but I can definitely understand the appeal.

There used to be a good armor site called Tracklinks or somesuch, I’m not sure if they’re still around. There is also a good general purpose modeling site and magazine called Fine Scale Modeler, which would be a decent place to start.

I have several shelves of mostly 1/48 aircraft kits, and maybe a dozen or so completed and on display in my office. It’s an off and on thing with me. The latest project on my workbench is a 1/350 WW2 destroyer (USS Buchanan cira 1942 for those interested)…that one is very close to complete, just some final tiny bits to add.

The quality of the kits have gotten very good, and the amount of aftermarket details out there is staggering.

I will second the comment about getting a good airbrush, my Iwata went a long way to improving my models as well as lowering my frustrations - it is easy to use and easy to clean.

-CJ

Can you guys recommend particular airbrush/compressor setups? I don’t mind paying a decent buck, and would prefer to get one that will be of enduring value (rather than getting a “starter” one).

I know this thread is focused on mini painting, but I’ll be painting dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures(!) - they seem particuarly suited to airbrushing though.

I have a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline 2-in-1, which is a decent mid-range airbrush for modelling/hobby duty. It comes with a 0.4 and a 0.2mm needle as well as interchangeable 2ml and 5ml cups. Additionally I have a 4 bar compressor to go with it. In total the set-up came to about 350€ although if you buy any airbrush at about that price level then the chances are you’ll get a decent piece of kit.

I’ve been playing around with it since getting it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I’m very happy with it. I’ll post some project pictures of the things I’m using it on soon.

I did this, but now the engine is covered in a fine layer of white dust. All the time. I can wash the item, dry it, dust it, whatever, but a day later it’s covered in dust again. None of the other engines do this, so I’m assuming it’s unique to the nail polish varnish? Hints/ideas? How do I get it to stop doing that (and is it worth it)?

my guess would be that the nail polish has a really high viscosity which allows it to trap dust particles really really well. My suggestion would be to get some spray-on sealant and use that on top of the nail polish, as the properties of it are different (it’s supposed to go on figures that sit on shelves, not nails who’ll get cleaned in a few hours)

EDIT: something like this, though you can get much cheaper brands: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat470015a&prodId=prod1200065

From Fire’s description it sounds like it happens after the polish has dried rather than during the drying process so viscosity shouldn’t be an issue. I suspect that the polish/toy combination is statically charged which is why it’s acting like a train-shaped swiffer. Not much to do about that unfortunately except to try recoating it in something else such as a spray on varnish. You might also try an anti-static spray such as is sold for office furniture and see if that helps.

It’s also possible that the ‘dust’ is some kind of residue from a reaction with the nail polish rather than something external that’s being attracted to it. Again, recoating it with a spray on varnish should solve that - possibly even a furniture polish.

Another minis necro, but I thought this would be of interest to a lot of people here.

Ali McVey, who I think might be the best miniatures painter around, has been doing a simultaneous step by step painting project with some people on their studio forums. She has done some youtube videos to go along with it and demonstrate techniques that can’t be conveyed very well with just text.

You can find it here.

Another bump.

I recently bought Dreadfleet and now I have the terrible problem, that I need to buy paints and start painting again - I really want to just play the game, but I can see that assembling the figures and the paint as I get the time, will cause me trouble since the sails and other bits and bobs really need to be painted before assembly (but good thing the included plastic sails - the one thing that didn’t survive transportation and moving was the masts/sails on my Empire Man’O’War fleet). Perhaps I’ll playtest sans sails, and the assemble one ship at a time.

But I’m glad this thread was there, since I’ve now found a British supplier of Vallejo paints with free shipping that’s at least half price than what Citadel paints will cost me here.

I really miss my store discount from when I worked in a game store…
And I miss the students with amazing skills and lots of free time, one of the went on to work for GW, who I could probably just hire to do it for me… but part of me also likes to paint and likes when it turns out good, but buying paints and finding the time just looks daunting. Perhaps I’ll see what miniatures I have in storage and let my kids go to work on some of those - so it becomes a father-kids project.

I actually own a rather large (18") and expensive Bernie Wrightson vinyl Frankenstein diorama, that’s still in its box 15 years later because I never got around to painting it - talked to the GW pro, I mentioned, and was to cheap to hire him back then. Now I wish I knew somebody like him. Any place online to find people like that?

And a question. I know all my Citadel paints are in storage (with every Man’O’War miniature ever built as well as my Epic army…), but it’s been 10 years+ with temperatures going from 0 to 30 (celsius) where they’re stored. They’re no good anymore, right?

You can buy some acrylic medium and try to reconstitute them but it isn’t going to work - take this opportunity to buy new paints! Try out Vallejo Game Color, they’re excellent.