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rec.games.miniatures.misc,rec.games.miniatures.historic Subject: Miniatures Painting Guide and FAQ Keywords: Comment: Available for FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in usenet/rec/games/miniatures or from http://agora.rdrop.com/users/tierna/Painting_Guide or by email from tierna@agora.rdrop.com. Frequently Asked Items This document is presented to help the inexperienced miniatures painter get a grasp of the basics. Most answers given were collected from months of discussion on rec.games.miniatures and represent the experiences and tips of a great many people. The rest of the answers are Britt's, compiled from hours and hours of experimentation and practice. Many answers are not absolute. Painting is an art and in art there are few absolutes. This FAQ is scheduled to be posted monthly, around the 20th of each month. An informal format is being used because it's easier. NOTICE: This document is Copyright (c) 1995/1998
by Brenda Klein. Use and copying of this information is permitted, so long as the
following conditions are met: IMPORTANT CHANGE: The email address of the FAQ maintainer is now: tierna@agora.rdrop.com NEW STUFF: There's a new book in section 1.A. Are there books on painting available? ================ (* denotes changed entries) 2. Should I prime?
(Also, what should I do to the miniature before priming?) 8. What is kitbashing? 9. How can I paint
details? 10. What is an overcoat and should I use one? 11. How do I keep paint from drying out? 12. How do I use an airbrush for miniatures? 13. How/where do I get miniatures? 13.A. Is there a list of companies?
Questions and Answers ============================= 1. How do I get started painting? Get some paint, brushes, miniatures, and a space
to do your work. There is no `secret formula' involved, and despite all the advice and
information you'll get from this FAQ and other sources, the best method of painting is the
one that works for you. If you prefer one type of paint to another, that's great. Painting
is a hobby, not an exact science. Pick and choose, practice, relax, and enjoy yourself.
Take advice only if you feel right about it. Be patient with yourself. Most painters have
a box of the stuff they learned on, or have removed old paint and redone several of their
miniatures. Good painting's a skill. Remember: PRACTICE. Try different materials and
techniques. Don't take anyone else's word for it unless you're sure - and the practice
will do you good. * 1.A. Are there books on painting available? There are several, though probably not all
publications will meet all painters' needs. The best descriptions and information
available at this time are listed below: Guide to Miniature Painting by Ken Carpenter, published by Alderac Entertainment Group, 1996. The cover price is $9.95. It's a full colour, soft cover booklet of about 167x260 mm. It has 64 pages (excluding back and cover), of which 8 are full paged advertisements, and handles basic and advanced painting techniques. All is explained quite clearly and demonstrated on miniatures from several brands. As far as I'm concerned it's one of the better books on the subject. Citadel produces a Painting Guide which is a $1 pamphlet. It was also reprinted in the back of Golden Demon Awards , which covers the finalists and many entries in the 198? Golden Demon Awards , and also in Fantasy Miniatures , which is likely a later printing of Awards. Citadel currently produces a book for its games called 'Eavy Metal . The book retails around $20 US and has a lot of excellent information, if you remember that the only standards you need to adhere to are your own. Some people love the way GW- painted miniatures look, others hate them. It's all a matter of taste. The first edition of BattleSystem (TSR, trademark, blah-blah) had a nice, though thin, intro to painting with pictures of a work in progress. (Thanks, Coyt!) (David Lee McLellan is to be thanked for finding the next two titles.) The Armory Painting Guide to Military Miniatures. A 24-page pamphlet which costs $3.00 US. They also do a painting guide to horses which costs $2.00 US. Both are aimed at the wargaming audience. Building and Painting Scale Figures by Sheperd Paine, available from Kalmbach Publishing. (Steve Gill kindly listed the following from his personal library.) Making Model Soldiers of the World by Jack Cassin-Scott pub: John Bartholomew and son Ltd 1973, 1977 Quite a good little book, covers design, sculpting and casting of figures as well as sections on painting. Due to it's emphasis on 54mm Napoleonic figures it has a very good section on horses. The Encyclopedia of Military Modelling gen ed Vic Smeed, con ed Alec Gee pub: Octopus Books 1981, Peerage Books 1985 Large coffee table size book: has sections on all the major historical periods, the different types of figures available, equipment, vehicles, dioramas and displays. Sort of a collection of long articles from the Military Modeling magazine crowd. Buildings for the Military Modeller -Design & Construction by Ian Weekley pub: B.T.Batsford Ltd 1989 Covers Ian Weekleys building techniques, more is spent on describing the subject than the techniques used, unfortunately, but very inspirational. (Gary Leitzell himself kindly provided the information about his book.) Brush Strokes Has been advertised in Military History Magazine, had reviews in MWAN and The Courier and had an article published in issue 61 of Courier on painting. Mail orders to World Games Network, P.O. Box 15834, Pittsburgh, PA 15244. Include $12.95 per copy, which includes shipping and handling, in check or money order. Also, Renaissance Ink publishes a monthly
newsletter that covers painting techniques (12 issues $15.00). We also offer a pocket
miniatures painting guide with shading and highlighting chart for paints and inks ($0.50).
To receive these publications mail: 1.B. What kind of paint should I use? This question has sparked some vigorous
discussion from two major camps: acrylics and enamels. First, a description of what these
terms mean: Acrylic paint is water-base and tends to be smoother, though if it gets dry it can become grainy. All you need to thin or clean up with this stuff is tap water. Discussion on the newsgroup rec.games.miniatures has uncovered that more posters prefer the acrylics to oils. (This author uses acrylics.) Again, a matter of taste. The basic colours from which just about anything can be mixed are white, black, brown (you can mix this yourself, but it's a pain), red, yellow, blue, and gray (same as above). Metallics, various shades and hues, practically anything you can think of is available through one company or another. Start with the basics and expand as you feel you need it. Soon enough you'll have more paint than you ever imagined you'd need, and likely use every one. Most like-type (acrylic or oil) can be mixed regardless of brand, but be cautious at first as some brands are incompatible. Companies which manufacture miniature-formulated
paints: There are other companies, of course, these are
just the ones the author could think of right now. Most paints are available at your local
hobby or gaming shop, and places that specialize in miniature railroad equipment often
have the best selection. Railroad paints are often oil-based, but primers and sealers of
that type are usually quite good at preserving detail. Paints may be bought by the
individual bottle (usually under $2 US per) or in sets. If you buy a set, be sure that you
can _see_ all the paints before purchase. This way, you'll assure that you get what you're
looking for and that the consistencies are good. SHAKE all paint before purchase, to make
sure they mix up well. 1.C. What kind of brushes should I use? Brushes come in a myriad of sizes and several
different materials. Sizes range from 1" to 20/0 or more. The more 0s the smaller the
brush, generally, however companies vary in size so the only true scale is to look and
compare. Drybrushing destroys good brushes so a couple
camel hair for drybrushing is a good idea. Again, look at them before you buy. Make sure
the tips are smooth and end in a point and the sizes are right. A good brush retails
anywhere from $3 to $8, so it's a purchase to take time over. Brushes are available at
hobby and game shops, often at crafts stores at a better price. 1.C.a. How should I clean my brushes? It depends on your paint type, mostly. For acrylics which are water-based, a good careful washing with warm water and dish detergent is fine. Remember to re-form the tips into points before storage. For oil-based paints, your best bet by far is to buy a bottle of thinner made by the same company as your paints. Not all paint is formulated the same and thinner is often product-specific. Also, Badger brand "Air-Opaque ready-to-use- cleaner" for airbrushes does a wonderful job of getting dried paint off of paintbrush bristles, either acrylic or oil-based. It costs $4 for 16oz. (Thanks to Bill Gilliland for that tip.) While we're at it, there are three `nevers' to
brush-handling. Never scrub a good brush across either miniature or blotter. Never let paint dry on your brush. This'll fray the bristles into an unusable mass. When cleaning a brush while painting, gently
rotate it against the side of the solvent/water container until the bristles stop exuding
paint. A gentle wipe across the blotter before washing the paint out of the bristles both
saves solvent/water from clouding prematurely and helps get rid of traces of paint you
can't readily see. A clear solvent/water container is desirable so you can monitor its
cloudiness and how clean the brush is coming. 1.D. What other equipment do I need? Not much. Something to hold your water/solvent
(two of them if you're working with metallics, one for the regular paint and one for the
metallic - keeps flecks out of the other stuff, and change often to keep from muddying
your colours), a palette of some sort (professional, ceramic tile, old plate, even the
plastic bubble from a large miniature or two - Coyt suggests the plastic lid from a large
margarine tub or the like covered with foil. When done, strip the foil off and discard),
and GOOD LIGHTING. Against a window is ideal, if not a good overhead light or adjustable
lamp is a must. A magnifying glass - useful for seeing fine
detail. An X-acto blade can be helpful, tweezers can be
invaluable if you'll be gluing, files and emery boards are used to remove sprue, mold
lines, and anything else you don't want. Nail scissors get into places larger ones can't. 2. Should I prime? (Also, what should I do to the miniature before priming?) Yes. Primer not only assures for good paint
adhesion, but it also brings up detail more starkly than on an unprimered miniature. Now
that that's settled, we go into another major area of controversy among painters: how? The
only thing painters seem to agree upon is that a spray primer is best, and the primers
specifically formulated for miniatures are better at retaining detail. Some folks use
Krylon with very good results, but it takes a light and even spray to retain detail.
Companies that put out good spray primers are Ral Partha, Armory, Floquil, Model Master,
Testors, and Citadel. Krylon is the best of the non-hobbyist primers, but other store
brands are in the same league. If you use sandable primer, be especially careful to use
thin coats so as to not obscure detail. (Many department stores and most home improvement
centers carry spray primer at much lower cost than hobby and other specialty shops.) "First, be sure you shake the paint well. It
says on the can you should shake it for a full minute, so I do it for two minutes. Shake
during use, too. The second thing is spraying the figures with the `good' stream of spray.
You do this by starting the spray before it hits the figs and stopping the spray after it
hits the figs. The spray that comes out of the can when you first start spraying and when
you stop spraying is incomplete -- it has too much or too little paint, and/or too much or
too little carrier. What I do is put the figs out on newspaper and start spraying the
newspaper to one side of the figs, when the spray has been coming out for a half-second or
so, I pass the spray over the figs, and when the spray has passed over the figs, I stop.
This assures that only properly mixed paint is falling on the figs. It takes longer and
wastes some paint, but the finish is worth it to me. Next, keep the can as upright as
possible, and keep the nozzle about 10 inches from the figs. Any closer and it's too hard
to control the amount of paint on the figs. Any further and the paint starts to dry before
it hits the figs. And finally, IMO you should never use a whole can of paint (on figs
anyway). It seems like when the can is about 3/4 of the way empty, the paint is really
crappy, uneven and it comes out of the can in spurts. And Coyt reminds us to always make
sure you get the underside of the miniature as well, particularly if it's a figure in a
cloak or the like. Spray upward and at an angle and make passes from all sides to assure
coverage. 2.A. Black, white, or gray? A thousand answers exist for this one. The best
advice available seems to be use what you prefer. White primer makes colours go on
brighter and is best for anything on which you want that effect. Black primer gives good
shadows and is commonly used to base modern military and skeleton figures. Gray is rather
neutral allowing for brighter light colours and decent shading. The best tip so far is to
experiment and see what you like. Also, and the author likes this effect, prime in black
and then drybrush raised areas in white before painting. This allows for the depth of the
darker shade but gives the lighter base for the brighter colors. 3. What's the first step after priming? Pick the colours you want for the major areas
(skin, each piece of clothing and armour, hair, shield) and paint them on in layers. Think
of dressing the miniature. Start with eyes, move on to face and hands, then clothing,
armour, hair, lastly weapons. You aren't going for massive detail just now, you're only
setting each area's base colour. Make certain the paint goes on smoothly and remember to
paint from top to bottom. Once you have this part done, it's time for detailing. This is
achieved by many different techniques such as drybrushing, washing, shading, and
highlighting. 4. What are shading, washing, drybrushing, highlighting and glazing? These are techniques to give a little realism to your miniatures. % Shading and highlighting give the illusion that there is lightshining upon the figure. Shading details the folds and shadows and highlighting picks out the brighter, better lit areas. Washing, glazing, outlining and blending are all methods of shading. (See below.) % Drybrushing is a
highlighting method, as is simply accentuating the high spots with a bit of paint a bit
lighter than the base. % Glazing is done
with inks, as can be washing and outlining. % Outlining is simply picking out the line between two separate parts of the miniature (i.e. sleeve and arm) and painting or inking in a fine line of either black or a darkened shade of the base in order to bring out the division between the two sections. % Blending is rather difficult and takes much practice. To blend one changes the tone of the paint as it crosses the surface of any non-detailed section, as Mecha armour or unscaled hide. Darker shades are laid into any depressions and carefully thinned and blended into the surrounding areas using a damp brush. (This is NOT a technique for beginners. The author still has trouble getting her blending to look good, and finds nothing wrong with not shading miniatures at all. Again, try it and see if you want to practice the technique or not. Another personal-choice situation.) Some excellent advice from Coyt D Watters: "If you're using acrylics, you can pick up several TONING MEDIUMs, which alter the brightness of the paint without the headache of black. I've started using a drop of white, a drop of black, and a drop of toning and mixing all four with equal parts of the color I'm using, so I get light - color - toned color - dark My first attempt was on one of the mages in Partha's Forgotten Realms set, and the cloak looks better than anything I've done, and I haven't drybrushed or washed it yet."] And a tip from Christian Widmer : "Use a slower on acrylic colours. This slows them from drying but they do still not cover if they didn't before. Warning, oil colours tend to lose their colours and go brown-grey when I try this." Nick Fogelson shares his methods, which are far better than anything the author could provide (used without permission): "The way I always do blending is to put a smudge of the two end colors in a strip, separated about 1.5 inches. I then use a slightly moist brush to mix them together into a spectrum. The colors near the original smudge will be closer to that color, the colors in the middle should be fairly even mixes of the two. You then have a nearly infinite palette of color to use. You can do a nice blend with only 5 or so shades that looks really good unless you magnify it. Alternatively: Say you want to go up red to yellow. Paint the entire area yellow. Put a block of watery red on the top. Slowly draw a moist brush down the area, drawing the red pigment with it. If you're patient, this method will bring the best results (but if you're not, you'll get a big mess)." Kenneth Creta also has two good techniques:
"This idea was suggested by Tom Harris and I added a little of my own touches. Let's
say you want to fade from green to black. Just paint the whole darn thing green. At the
point where you want it to fade, wash with a black ink. When dry, wash again but a little
farther down and so on until the bottom is black. The first ink is not a smooth transition
so when the washes are done, go back and dry-brush green over the first ink line and this
will smooth it out. The washes may be diluted to the desired consistency." Here's another banding method from Roxanne Reid-Bennett : "I have a Water Elemental that was done in this style (Rafm). The typical way of handling this is to "blend" two colors together (which I have a LOT of trouble with). What I did was to paint the base (bottom 1/2") dark blue (RP Paladin) then used graduated shades of blue (about 5 different) up towards the top of the figure where I used a light blue (Sky) for the upper torso of the elemental. After the bands were in place I went back and used mixed intermediates on the band overlap areas. I kept this up until the graduated shading looked right. Some of the intermediates I watered down some so they wouldn't go on very thick. I really wish I could "blend" like the books and FAQ say - by mixing the two wet paints in the middle - but so far haven't succeeded. "For finishing work I used a slightly darker blue for wash on the torso to bring out the muscles. I used white on the tips of the water waves and washed in blue. Just for final effect I washed the whole figure in Pearl White (RP). Gives the figure a nice wet look - even with a flat seal cover. "So the hard way is to literally to paint stripes on the figure in shades close enough to each other that our (human) eyes can't see the distinct lines." And here's a rather advanced
shading/blending/tinting method from John Colasante , used without permission: "Lets
say you want to paint an orange tunic on a figure. Mix the base color and plop a pile on
your pallette. Next to it, plop down a dark tint and a light tint. For orange, lets say
dark brown and yellowish-white. It doesn't matter what kind of pigment you use, water base
or oil base. Now, tint the base color with the dark tint and paint the entire tunic, or
even drybrush the tunic if painting over a dark primer. When dry, paint the basecoat over
the dark tint, BUT NOT ALL THE WAY TO THE EDGES. Also, leave tinted dark shade in the
folds. Next, tint light and highlight the center and high spots. Note: this is similar to
drybrush except you are painting color here, not actually drybrushing, so you get a
certain effect which it different than pure drybrush. In fact, it often looks nice when
there is a clear demarcation between the tinted shades on certain surfaces, almost like
color contours. Use more than three tint levels for certain effects. It sounds tedious but
if you use the palette it's _very_ fast and the results often look much better than the
purely drybrushed highlights, especially for larger, flat areas where drybrushing might
miss." 4.A. How do I wash? Washing comes before drybrushing. Take a shade darker than your base color and dilute it until it's about the
consistency of milk. Now, brush it across,
gently. It'll flow into folds and crevasses.
Makes cloth look real good. Remember, you can always add wash, so start light and work your way up. Don't be afraid to wash, then darken and wash again, until you've reached the
effect you like. Wash yellows with
yellow-orange or yellow-brown, flesh with
light brown, white with bluish-white or gray. Experiment, only you can set your style. 4.A.a. Why do my washes dry badly? It seems that once in a while, even though the
inks and washes have been mixed properly,
they end up drying, not in the low spots like
they should, but on the high contours. It has
something to do with the density of the wash and the slickness of the surface; on matte surface the effect is more prominent than on glossy surfaces. It happens
because a pool of wash in a recess starts to dry
from the edges, then the rest of the paint in
the wash adheres to the already dry paint,
producing a ring of paint around the recess.
There are four methods that can help solve the problem: 4.B. How do I drybrush? First off, drybrushing is most effective when
used with a colour a shade or two lighter
than the base. White drybrushed over black
primer also makes for a very good painting base. It also looks good as a stand-alone colour scheme on some figures.
Take your desired colour and an old brush, as
drybrushing wears brushes out and tears them
up (the author has had good success in using
cheap watercolour brushes for large drybrushing projects with acrylic paints, but for smaller areas a
better-quality brush is still necessary). Dip
it into the paint until the tip is saturated,
then blot on a paper towel until no paint can be seen on a dark brush, or a light one looks pretty clean. Take the brush and gently draw it along the raised parts
you want highlighted. A little paint will
stay on the highest edges and give great
depth. Many painters like to highlight in
stages, lightening the shade a little with
each level. This can be either overkill and a pain or an excellent technique for brightening and preserving detail. Practice yourself and decide. 4.C. How do I highlight? Drybrushing is the best method of highlighting
any large area or area with repetitive
detail, such as armour. For faces, hands, buckles
and the like, highlighting can be achieved by taking a slightly lighter shade of the base (mixed with white or a lighter tone) and going along the raised areas lightly. A fine
brush point is required, as is a steady hand.
For faces highlight the chin, nose, and
cheeks. For hands go along the backs and each finger. For other detail, pick the spots that should show up best and give them the lightest highlights. It's common to
highlight twice, each time getting lighter in
tone and finer in line. A bit of blending is
required to keep things looking natural, but this
blending is easier than the large-surface technique. Simply keep a damp brush handy and brush very lightly toward the
darker areas. Again, this technique takes practice, but is worth the
effort when the miniature is completed. 4.D. What are inks, should I use them, and if so, how? Inks are just that, semi-transparent tones that
can be used to add colour and shading to a
miniature. If you wish to go beyond the range
of paints, you might wish to try working with them. Unless using for outlining, inks should always be thinned slightly for glazing and rather a lot for washing. A
milk-like consistency is best for washing (or
even thinner, since you can always wash again
if more is needed) and about 50-50 ink and water is best for glazing. If you do not
get the specially formulated for miniatures inks (the only brand known to the author is Citadel, and they're very good), then the best information available comes from Wade
Hutchison, as posted to rec.games. miniatures and is edited and used here without permission:
"A tip about Inks. If you go to the art supply
store to buy your inks, be sure and get
_pigmented_ inks, not transparent ones.
Pigmented inks, especially brown, work much better for a wash than the transparent ones. Red and blue don't seem to matter as much. For shading white, there is a really good
ink color called "Payne's Grey"
whick is a kind of blue-grey. It does a much
better job than black when washing white or very light tans and greys." Recommended
also have been Windsor & Newton inks. Inks
are best used as washes, for outlining, and as glazes. When washing with inks on a matte surface (or on any other, actually), a gentle blowing of air from the top to the
bottom of the miniature helps keep the ink
from drying back up into the raised areas.
The author usually blows lightly until the wash stops looking slick-wet. %
Glazing is done with inks. In this technique, a slightly darker tone than the base is thinned and then brushed over the
entire surface and allowed to dry. Glazing
brings out a richness of colour not possible
with paint alone. Glazing should be done after
highlighting and shading and tends to bring up detail of these well. 4.E. What colours should I use for detail work? Here's a standard chart on what looks good together (remember, nothing is absolute. Try new blends and develop your own preferences):
NOTE: colour+colour means two or more colours
mixed, colour-colour means either a
commercial shade of that name or colours mixed. 5. What should I use for bases? This depends entirely on what you're using the
miniature for. If it's a display model, then
you can get fancy. If it's for military gaming,
you'll want a durable, realistic look. If it's for fantasy play you'll want durability and likely not too much fuss.
Standard materials for bases are: the plastic
slottabases many companies both supply with
their products and sell separately, pennies or flat washers, cardboard (not recommended - bends too easily), tiles, wood, sheet metal, matte board (available at art supply stores),
and magnetic strips (often bonded to one of
the above materials). Filler and water putty
have both been used with success, and someone also has claimed to make his own bases out of hot glue. The general rule, of course, is the more use the miniature
gets, the stronger the base material should
be. 5.A. What's the best stuff to cover bases with? Again, a matter of how natural-looking and/or
durable you want the base to be. For foliage,
the hands-down favourite material is the
model railroader's ground covering. Woodland Scenics has an excellent selection and it's inexpensive (particularly
when you figure that the small bags of the
stuff can do 100 miniature bases or more).
Bill Gilliland uses something called GRASS
(es, all caps) from Life-Like Scenery, which
is ultra-fine sawdust which has been coloured. 6. How do I strip paint? There are several substances which will work, outlined below. Other than the top two (which are the author's personal default choices), they're in no particular order. a) Pine Sol for a 24-hour soak
then brush off remaining paint with a soft toothbrush. Works great on metal. Brian Lojeck
<lojeck@mizar.usc.edu> ran extensive tests on
Citadel plastic genestealers and Pine Sol for
paint removal. Here are his results: "I soaked the plastic genestealer in about 50-50 Pine
Sol/water solution for 7-8 hours (a nights
sleep). The plastic didn't seem softer, the detail didn't seem any worse, and the paint
came off pretty well (as it always does with Pine Sol. it was hard getting the paint out
of the cracks (I soaked in acetone to do that)." Then he soaked some unpainted Citadel plastic figures in another 50-50 Pine Sol/water solution: "The figure survived whole, without softening or loss
of detail. The solution turned milky white
about 30 minutes after the experiment started, but had cleared back to golden by
morning." <Britt's note - that's the
standard Pine Sol reaction in water, does same when I'm cleaning the toilet.> Brian
left the figures soaking another 48 hours and they didn't mar under the toothbrush bristles, but he was able to stick his fingernail into the
plastic about 1/16". It looks like the
50-50 mix is the key. Certain other pine-oil cleaners of less strength than Pine Sol are
on the market. Anyone who tests these on
plastic figures is encouraged to send the
author your results for inclusion here. 7. What kind of miniatures should I start with? 25mm is easier to detail than 12mm or 6mm, some
miniatures are less or more detailed than
others. Again, this is much a matter of personal preference and what you want the miniatures for. Look over as much as you can before selecting starter miniatures, unless you
have your heart set on something. Just don't
pick something so fussy or detailed that
you'll get frustrated with your new hobby on your first project. Also, refrain from doing that `special' one until you've
had a little practice. Some offerings of types in the 25-30mm range are: Citadel: tend to have large areas and broad features, and
are recommended `beginner' pieces if you can't find
something better. Once you have the feel of
painting, can be masterpieces. Heartbreaker:
Everything good about Citadel plus some of the most excellent modeling ever done in this style of figure. And costs less, too. Metal
Magic: again, heavier features, thus good for the novice. Mithril: pre-primered and a little above 25mm, broad
detail Ral Partha: tend to have sharp detail,
good once you have the basics down. Grenadier: detail can be hard to follow, but that can be a
plus. Soldiers & Swords: Good variety in
both individual figures and quality. Some are
excellent, some aren't worth the purchase. Simtac:
Good figures with fine features and nice detail. A little difficult for the beginner. Various military miniatures: varies greatly, use your own
judgment. 7.A. Metal or plastic? Opinion varies. Some favour plastic because it's
cheaper, some prefer metal for better detail.
Choose according to your own budget and
preferences. 7.A.a. My miniature came in multiple parts, now what? Get the smallest file you can find, a pair of
scissors, and some glue. If it's a plastic
miniature, you can use model cement or super
glue, if it's metal use Zap-A-Gap, super glue,
or any model formulated cyanoacrylate. On plastic, first clip in as close as possible with
scissors (nail scissors are excellent) then
file. On metal, carefully file the edges. The
goal is to get the pieces to fit together as closely as possible. Once they do, clean them with soap and water to
remove all shavings, dry, and glue. Hold for about
twice as long as is recommended for the glue
to set. The innovative miniaturist can come
up with a great many ways to clamp, fasten,
or hold parts together until everything's dry. (Regretfully, the author has forgotten who posted this tip [likely it was Tom Harris], but it's excellent:
"A little note, if you're working with super
glue keep a wet tea bag handy. If you spill
super glue on your hands wipe it on the tea
bag and the tea bag will absorb it - tea bags
are highly absorbent of chemicals. It works great
for me and I don't end up with shells on the ends of my fingers of dried super glue.") (This one comes from John F. Bailey : "If you do become adhered to yourself or pieces via super glue (cyanoacrylate), most of them can be dissolved
with acetone. May take a little soaking, but it works. Unfortunately it also removes skin
oils almost completely. Follow it with
isopropyl alcohol to neutralize the acetone then
lots of soap and water to neutralize the alcohol, and then a good moisturizing lotion to replenish skin oils and avoid those nasty dry skin diseases (eczema, etc.). A bit
of a pain, and it eats most plastics, but a whole
lot better than surgery to remove that battle-axe. A preventive technique is to use
"barrier cream", not a lot of mechanics in this country use it even though it is
very common in the UK, but I have obtained it
by asking for it in pharmacies/drug stores. You put it on like hand lotion before you get into something. It dries to a thin film
that protects your skin from most solvents, gas, oil, etc., and washes off with soap and
water.") Note: If working with
cyanoacrylate, have the acetone (nail polish
remover is the most available form) on hand and nearby. When you aren't prepared, you'll end up stuck to
something. Murphy loves modelers. Once the
glue has dried, take an X-acto blade or razor blade and carefully clean off the excess glue, if any. A file or emery board will also do the trick. You'll have to wash the miniature again before primering,
to remove hand oils and glue remains. After you've gotten the basics of gluing your miniatures,
the best stuff you can use is epoxy. It's permanent, filable, and works exceptionally well on miniatures that will get a
lot of handling. 7.A.b. What is pinning and how is it done? Pinning is a method of securing multiple-piece
miniatures by drilling small holes and
inserting wire before gluing in order to
reinforce the joint. Required are a pin vise, suitable
size drill bit, thin wire (copper wire, paper clip wire, anything like that) and either cyanoacrylate model glue or epoxy. 8. What is kitbashing? Kitbashing is the colloquialism used by
miniaturists to describe the process by which
a miniature is converted from its original form to another permutation, such as taking a fantasy miniature and making it into a figure for superhero roleplaying, or changing
gender. Most properly, it refers to the
instances when two or more figures are used for
components in the final version. 8.A. How do I convert miniatures? It's an acquired skill. To convert a miniature
requires a lot of imagination, steady hands,
patience, and a few out-of-the-ordinary tools.
Costumes have to be obliterated, faces changed, weapons removed or added or changed. In all honesty, the processes
involved are more numerous than can be addressed in
this FAQ. Therefore, only the most common
modifications will be addressed. Tools: To
properly modify a miniature, you're going to need: files (round, triangular, square, flat), the smaller the better X-acto knife and several replacement blades glue, preferably Zap-A-Gap, possibly epoxy nail scissors or tiny wire cutters needle-nose pliers, the smaller the better sandpaper and/or emery boards a hacksaw, the finest you can get any new pieces you want to add (weapons, etc.) % The most common modification is to change one weapon for another. For purposes of explanation, a fantasy figure will be used, the change being from sword to battle axe, assuming the sword had been molded as one with the hand. First, clip or cut the sword off on either side of the hand, being very careful not to damage the hand. The new piece may be one cut from another miniature, or one acquired from a weapons pack. If it is the latter, you will need to measure it against the hand and cut out part of the handle to compensate. The next step is to make holes in either side of the hand where the handle enters in order to insert the new parts. An X-acto blade or file may be used. A pin drill would come in handy about now. Once the holes are made, a drop of glue is placed in each one, then the handles are carefully set in place. The glue should show, as the extra is needed to keep the parts in place. Hold until set, possibly reinforce with a little tape, a brace, or some sort of clamping arrangement, and let set. After the glue is thoroughly dry, a file or emery board can be used to clean up the excess, Avoid using a knife or razor blade, as you're likely to take off too much glue and the weapon will simply fall off again. % Another common modification is to make a miniature suitable for superhero use. The easiest way to do this is to file and sand the clothing smooth with the rest of the body, then paint on the costume of your choice. %A note on drilling,
thanks to Andrew Reibman: "A useful tip
for figure converters and folks drilling out spears
to replace them with wire. Before drilling (with either pin vice or dremel tool) dip
the bit in Johnson's tube wax (what the pros in the machine shop use), dried-out Simonize car wax (my choice), or other wax. Even a bar of soap may work. "Since a
buddy of mine who spent his career in machine
shop recommended this, I've cut bit breakage down
by a huge fraction, and starting and drilling are both much easier. I use to break my .014
bits, used for starter wholes in tough 15mm jobs, about once every ten holes - well that's an exaggeration, but I did break a lot of
bits... The wax lubricates the bit, and
"keeps the flutes from filling/jamming",
allowing the cutting end of the bit to do the
job more effectively." Brian Oplinger
says that turpentine, mineral spirits,
and paint thinner also make good bit lubricants. If things get hot, though... And remember to ventilate. 8.B. What kind of glue should I use? The common miniaturists glue is Zap-A-Gap,
available at nearly all stores which sell
paints. It's thick, holds well on both metal and
plastic, and fills gaps and cracks. Also of this type are a line of cyanoacrylates which come in various-coloured
bottles, each coded to its type, and a blank
space for the local store's name or Wargames
West (in the US, of course). Super glue is often used to join pieces; it dries brittle and
a good drop might snap the connection. Its
redeeming feature is speed of bonding. Epoxy is excellent for permanent bonding and building up areas when modifying. The bonds it makes don't break when jarred, and
almost nothing will remove it once it has set
(the author has never heard of set epoxy
being removed, but refuses to use absolutes and be later proven wrong). Epoxy also comes in different formulas for different materials. Duco cement is a good all-purpose
bonding agent. White glue, such as Elmer's or
Aleen's Tacky, is good for adhering paper and
ground covering to plastic and metal surfaces. White glue does fatigue, however, so if it is used, a sealing agent overall will help keep your pieces together. For building up areas and the like, nothing beats ribbon
epoxy. For more information on cyanoacrylate
see section 7.A.a. above. 9. How can I paint details? Finest brush you can get, a steady hand, lots of
patience, and good lighting. Fine detailing
includes (but is by no means restricted to) faces,
eyes, jewelry, shield devices and banners, small clothing details, weapon decoration, insignia, and armour detail.
For many of these, some of the
highlighting/washing/drybrushing tips above apply, for others a whole new range of techniques are necessary. 9.A. How do I paint faces? Start with the eyes. Then do the face in whatever
shade you choose. Now add a touch of white to
the flesh tone to get a slightly lighter
shade and go back over the nose and cheekbones. A light orange makes defined but natural-looking lips. Remember, red lips are a product of makeup, not nature. Some painters prefer to put the eyes on last, but others
say it's too hard to keep from making the
effect pop-eyed when done last. Try whatever
method you prefer. Mustaches are best if
dry-brushed, paint beards a slightly redder or
darker shade than the hair and dry brush with the same colour you use on the hair. There's nothing wrong with a
5-o'clock shadow on an appropriate figure,
either. Dry-brush it on in a shade slightly
darker than the hair. Once you get comfortable with faces, experiment with scars or tattoos. You might amaze yourself. 9.A.a. How do I paint eyes? Depending on the size of the miniature, there are a couple of good methods. On a 15mm or smaller miniature, don't try too hard for absolute detail until you've gotten a lot of practice in. On 25mm and larger, though, eyes can be done rather easily (with practice, of course). Below are several methods: % Before painting the face, paint the eyes white. When that's dry, dot them black. Then paint a slightly darker shade than you're going to use for the rest of the face around the eyes to define them (mix a touch of brown or tan into the flesh tone for this). Then paint the rest of the face. % [This method is courtesy of Andrew Cameron Willshire: "Another easy way is to paint the white of the eye with a brush. Let it dry. Then, take a tech pen (architectural or engineering) and draw the iris. With another tech pen, dot in the pupil. Note that this requires a few different pens since you'll want a few different colours - say black, blue, brown and maybe green. "This is a really easy technique, and since the ink is water based if you muck up you can just rinse it off (this is assuming you use enamels for the rest of the figure, like I do)." [Author's note: even if you use acrylics, if the white is already dry you can still blot the ink off with a damp Q-tip or the tip of a damp, fine brush.] "It also works great on monsters, say orcs. However, they tend to look better with `reds' instead of `whites' in their eyes, then having a white iris and black pupil - very nasty looking! Tech pens may be a little pricey to pick up, but you can easily find sets with a few in them that are reasonably cheap. They also work magnificently for such things as flag details, shield heraldry and so forth." % Steve Harvey has some advice regarding affordable tech pens: "Most tech pens are obscenely expensive, but there are two brands of non- refillable tech pens that I am aware of. Sakura makes an excellent series of tech pens called Pigma - these come in a variety of colors, in sizes ranging from .005mm to .8, and cost about $2 each. I like these so much that even though I have a set of Pentel professional tech pens, I use these instead. Schwan/Stabilo also makes a series of pens called OHPen 96 (or at least that's what it says on the barrel of mine...) which also come in numerous colors and several sizes. They are not as fine as a true tech pen, but they will write on ANYTHING - glass, plastic, etc. without the ink beading. The one thing to watch out for is that they come with either permanent or water-soluble ink; the latter are popular as overhead transparency markers, but for miniature work, the permanent is what you want." % [This method is given by Allan Wright and has been edited]: "I paint eyes on 25mm (and 15mm officers, standard bearers, etc) with a technique taught to me by a friend. 1. Fill the eye socket with white. I use an OOO brush, one stroke horizontally across each socket. Be sloppy, it's OK. 2. Paint the middle of the eye, Black, Dark brown or Dark blue. Paint a vertical stripe down the center of the eye - taking up the middle third of the eye socket - don't worry about going over the top/bottom edges. Again I use an OOO brush. In both let the brush 'fan out' 3. Eyebrow - paint with hair color of your choice. Paint the eyebrow on the ridge above the eye socket in a slight crescent shape, cover the white and black from 1 & 2. 4. Under eye: use tan or slightly darkened skin color (under the eye is usually darker or shadowed). Cover the white and black from 1 & 2 with a slightly crescent stroke." [The author has adapted this method slightly and finds it most effective thus far. Suggest you try this at least once.] % Bill Gilliland
says: "For humans, I paint the entire
eye socket black. Then, on either side of the
center where the pupil is, I put a small white dot to show the whites of the eyes. On
character models, I paint the iris a solid circle (usually blue or green) with a highlight
in an upper corner, then put a smaller dot of black in the center. This method gives you
outlining of the eye for very little effort. "For
evil creatures (such as orcs) I paint the socket black, then put a white oval inside, leaving an outline all
around. The white is then over painted with
red. On characters the corners of the eye are spotted with a translucent yellow to
accentuate the red pupil." % Derek
Kingsley Schubert (dks@acpub.duke.edu) explains his method: "Faces/eyes: Shade/highlight the face completely first. Paint dark
brown or black in an area just slightly larger than the eye itself. Then paint white for
the eye, and finish with a dot of dark brown or black for the iris. Colored irises don't
look good unless surrounded by a dark ring to set them off from the white; but this is
darn tricky, so new painters should paint only dark irises on figures that should have
humanlike "white-and-iris" eyes." 9.A.b. How do I paint hair? It's honestly not as hard as it looks, though you
do need to both wash and drybrush it. Base in
a good neutral tone for the colour you want
(a dark yellow for blondes [tan, dun, khaki,
yellow], dark red for redheads, lighter for
auburn, orange for strawberry blondes, any shade of brown for brunettes, and black or dark blue for black hair). Then darken it or select
something a couple of shades darker and wash. Let
that dry, then wash thicker and darker. Let
that dry and drybrush with the original colour. Then a lighter shade. (For black hair, drybrush in dark blue and leave it at
that, drybrush in dark gray, white or light for salt-and- pepper, or don't even bother to drybrush if you like
the colour it ends up after washing.) Black hair can honestly be achieved with a dark, dark blue
base, two black washes (one light and one heavy),
then a very light dark blue drybrush. A royal
blue drybrush achieves a nice punkish-look.
Blonde starts out best with a dark base then
lightening with dry brushes. Wash chestnut or
light brown. Redheads are best if understated
a little. Don't use red unless you want
something impossible to nature. Dark red-browns
are best (Polly S Demon Deep Red is great, too) washed in brown and highlighted with first the original shade, then something lighter in that line, then perhaps
a dark orange or yellow-brown brushed very, very
lightly. 9.B. How do I paint insignia? Two good methods have been presented in rec.games.miniatures. The first comes from Steven Loren Lane, and is used without permission: % "Well, on top
of getting the smallest brushes available, you can always cut them down to an even smaller size. I have several brushes that have only a few hairs on them. These are very
useful brushes. I would also recommend for
the very fine detail to set the object up so
you can use both hands to hold the paint brush as still as possible." 9.C. How do I paint armour? For fantasy and historical, some suggest not
priming the miniature, then washing or drybrushing (or both) the bare metal, but to others
this looks sloppy and unfinished. Besides, not much
armour looks like lead, and lead certainly doesn't make good armour (nor do any of the
alloys of which miniatures are cast). Paint
the armour a base-metal colour, usually silver or one of the like tones, and let it dry. Don't be afraid to use bronze,
or gild it, though. Then take a black wash
(ink is excellent for this) and go over it
carefully. Let that dry, then take either your original colour or a lighter shade and drybrush. Remember to use a
separate water/thinner for the brush you're
working the metallics with, so as to not get
flecks in the other colours. 9.D. What other detailing can I do? Get in the light and give your miniature a good look-over. Usually a dot of paint or careful drybrushing will bring out the final details. Certain specialized questions have been asked, the answers to which are given below: % Does anyone have a
decent method for painting torches? Also a 'ragged' orange layer looks good." % From Kent Reuber :
"People doing micro-armor have been using this
sort of thing to simulate burning tanks for
quite a while. Paint the torch itself black.
Then tear off a small bit of cotton, paint the upper part grey-black and the lower part red-orange. Glue this bit of
cotton onto the torch." 9.D.a. Can I use anything besides paint and ink for details? Of course you can. The simplest are
decals, which are sold by the sheet and have many different styles to choose from. Technical pens can be used for a lot of intricate work, as
can fine tip permanent markers. There's a catch to
the markers, though, they can bleed when
overcoated. Alec Habig has a good remedy: "I used some fine tip permanent markers to do
letters and lines on some miniatures. This works well, giving better results than painting
the same sort of stuff. The problem - the marker would bleed when I coated the minis with
the obligatory DullCote lacquer. The solution - I rubbed a little bit of good old Elmer's
white glue on the spot that I'd lettered with the marker. Just a bit, and rubbed it around
till I couldn't see it anymore. This stopped the bleeding, without altering the finish in
any noticeable way." 10. What is an overcoat and should I use one? An overcoat is a coat of clear paint that
protects those colours you so carefully put
onto your miniature. Even an unhandled figure will begin to dull after awhile, and one in regular use will lose its paint even faster from hand and carrying case friction. So you
should put a protective coat over the
miniature to make sure the paint remains unmarred.
Overcoats come in three (possibly four) types:
gloss, matte, flat, and lusterless. Though
four types are named, one company's matte is another's
flat, flat and lusterless are often interchanged, and matte occasionally is labeled semi-gloss. When in doubt, test or
ask. Overcoats also come in two different
applications, brush-on and spray. Spray is
easier to use when you want a uniform coating, brush-on is good for when you only want certain parts covered.
Spraying overcoat on a miniature is much like
spraying primer, though 3-5 coats is recommended
for maximum protection. Remember to begin and end the spray beyond the miniature in order to get the cleanest application. Gloss is just that, shiny. It is most usually used on cars
and other items that should shine. Semi-gloss (satin, sometimes called matte) is low-luster,
and very durable on a figure that will be
getting a lot of handling. Unfortunately, it
tends to look artificial on humans and some animals. It's excellent on scales, however, and hard leather. Flat (also sometimes matte) is nearly without shine. It's
a good all-around people coating, exceptional
on animals, where it simulates fur's natural
shine. Lusterless is absolutely flat, it
doesn't even look like it's there. It's
perfect for people and cloth and anything else that should have no shine whatsoever. Several coats can be applied and it
never shows. A good method of overcoating a
realistic-looking human/humanoid is to use a
spray lusterless overcoat and put on 3-5 coats, then after the last coat is dry, use a brush-on matte or gloss to go back
over all metallics, jewelry, eyes, lips, and
anything else that should have a shine to it.
This is the author's favourite method. Companies
making overcoats are (+ denotes brush-on, = is spray): 11. How do I keep paint from drying out? Shake or stir them of |