"How many figures at once?" Topic

Just out of curiosity, how many figures do you usually paint at one time? I am not talking about a project you started and then set aside for 4 months, but rather how many you paint and finish per group.

I usually do 4-12 at once, depending on what they are. For example, I will usually do 4 HYW French or 12 line Prussians. But in hopes of pumping out battalions quicker I think I am going to do 24-36 Prussians during this next round.

I try to start off small until I feel confident in the knowledge of the uniforms and in the painting techniques I am going to use on them.

So, how many do you usually tackle at once?

3-5

Just now I'm painting 12mm Napoleonics.

My close order infantry units are 32 strong, light infantry 16 strong and cavalry 16 strong.

I might have 3 or 4 units on the go at any one time.

When I last did 28mm Napoleonics I did 24-28 figures at a go.

well right now I have 3 AFVs and 60+ troopers in 15mm and the minis from the new space hulk game all primed and working on the main colors. set up in a production line on my table. I have 300+ zombies and US WWII troopers in 28mm primed and dry brushed in a box from the move this summer. and will get back to them after I build a new painting desk.

6-8

At the moment I am painting 24 figures for my AWI project. I normally paint between 12 to 16 figures. I keep a handful of fantasy or sci-fi figures on the desk incase I need to use up extra paint. The most I have done at one time was 96. That was rough.

Matthew

25mm – 4-8
15mm – 6-12
54mm – 1-4

28mm – usually 12, but sometimes 16.

Anywhere between 8 and 60. depends on the project and how quick I want to get them finished and my mood.

I usually paint 32 foot figures or 16 mounted figures at the same time. My foot units are 16 figures each and mounted are 8 figures each.

Whatever will fit on thirty large popsicle sticks.

15mm, usually 50 to 100 at a time.
6mm, usually 180 or so at a time.

For vehicles
15mm, 5 to 10 at a time
6mm, up to 40 at one time.

54mm: 4

28mm: 10

Vehicles (any scale): 3

I use either 1 .oz Floquil or Plastic Supplement Bottles with the figure blu tacked on top. I switched from popsicle sticks to bottles several years ago and for me it certainly increased my speed. I can hold the bottle at any angle and find it much easier than holding a stick with multiple figures.

Depends on scale

Right now I am doing 20mm figs, about 8 at a time; I do 8 – 10 for 28mm

For 15mm usually 24 at a time

For 6mm about 48 at a time

For 28mm, 12 is my sweet spot. It strikes me as the perfect combination of "mass producing for efficiency" with "actually getting something done to feel good about."

And then I almost always add just four or eight more. You know, because 110% production requires 110% effort.

I am working on 6mm Baccus Napoleonics which usually come in bases of 4. My units average 16 to 24 bases each I try to do 3 to 4 units at a time so average around 200 figures on the go.

For 28mm, 12 is my sweet spot. It strikes me as the perfect combination of "mass producing for efficiency" with "actually getting something done to feel good about."

Exact same reason, but the number is only 6-7 for me.
I get them done fast, and can see results quickly.

For WWII or after, including Sci-fi, I will paint by the squad. For rank and file genres I will paint two ranks. Either way comes out to about a dozen or so at a time.

About 30 – 50 28mms if I am being industrial about it. Half that if I'm being artistic.

28mm I do between 10 and 25 usually like kinds of figures.

I do one 24-figure battalion (28mm) at a time.

The same as IGWARG1.

Regardless of period or scale, I paint one full unit at a time. That generally means somewhere between 10 and 40 figures depending on the rules I'm using.

I usually work on about 20-30 28mm figs at a time depending on the type of figure.

For 15mm a whole unit, whatever that is. So for some cavalry 12 for infantry 24 or more.

It may be less 28mm figures too if I only 12 of a certain type.

15mm/20mm, up to 200, although painting the boots can get a bit tedious. I've done batches of that size for WW1, WW2 and Ancients. Anything over 100 at a time is a bit of a chore.

Most comfortable with five strips of twelve figures at a time, so 60.

Vehicles, generally 'some', less than half a dozen is best. Doing eleven at the moment, which again, can a bit of a chore when doing the tyres etc.

I would say the same quantities as "Pictors Studio". This seems to me to be the most efficient ---against that of boredom :-)

20 to 40.

I am very definitely in the "If it's Tuesday night, I paint blue" school of painting. I can have several regiments in the queue at a time. I was once painting a Mountain Indian army (affectionately referred to as "The Hillbillies") and had 150 25mm rag tag barbarian infantry in my production lot. Some nights, I even got 2 colors done? Well, more like 1.5…

I can also be under a deadline to get a unit done for Saturday night's game. So, 12 cavalry get the leather, the metal, the sword belts, the braid, the shako…

Six is my preferred number but I sometimes stretch to 12. Anything more than that and I get bored and give up on them.

Right now I'm painting 36 Calpe Prussians at a time, two and three color highlights.
I've finished 16 guns and 108 Landwehr since the middle of August.

For 28mm I try to paint between 5 and 12 figures/week. I like to be able to churn out a unit every 2 to 4 weeks. For 15mm usually between 10 and 20, same goal as above. Very much an assembly line painter, but sometimes I will have a single one-off figure (for Fantasy RPGs or maybe a commander) sitting off to the side to work on while paint is drying on the army figures.

Damon.

24-30 miniature (25-28mm)seems the average. Takes about 2 weeks from start to end and includes cleaning, priming, paintwork, black lining, basing, miniature labeling and finish sealer.

M

28mm AWI 16.

Usually 10-12 at a time (1/72). Any more than 15 and I start to feel an intense hatred for belts and webbing.

10 ish is good. I've done entire platoons of infantry for FoW that have been 50+ but have moved away from that. I do however like to clean, base, and prime the entire project, how ever many figures it takes, before painting. I also prefer to paint all the bases before painting the figures so that can be more than 10 so I get uniformity. Having done that I need to be careful with washes so I don't have to fix the drybrushing on the bases. I usually save decorating the bases once the the painting is done, so that ends up being more than 10. It helps me with uniformity and I'm essentially out of the paints and into the glue and scenic supplies at that point.

When painting 28mm, mostly around 30, but could vary from 6 to 48.

I'll soon start painting a large 15mm army for the first time in many years, but I still don't know how much figs in a go I'll paint.

50-100 15mm (mounted 8 per stick).

I'm just finishing 500 H&R 1/300th French Napoleonics as a single batch – a bit big for me, 200-300 is more normal.

For 10mm it will vary depending on how much repetition there is in an army. Recently did an Infantry Brigade of WW1 Germans 6 Bn of 16 figs each plus associated command and MG – That's more the usual for larger 10mm projects.

Don't do much bigger than that – just a few 20mm for VBCW. When I tried doing about 60 of those at once I realised it was too many as they were mostly in civvies. Next time I'll cut back to about 20-30 at a time.

no more than 15 usaully 6 or so

16 but broken into 4-6 groups of the same type.

4-8.

Unless I get the 'painting blues'. Then I'll paint single figures until I recover my zeal

A unit – whatever the number.

I paint 28mm usually a unit (8- 24 figures) at a time. Any more than that and I get real tired of that uniform. If it's a horde (say my hundreds of Zombies) then I grab 8 or 10 at a time to paint in between one of my historical units.

24 – 72 28mm Infantry at a time.

It depends. Anywhere from 4 to 150.

As many as it takes to be most efficient. Right now I am doing over 200 Polish Infantry from WWII in 15mm as one batch.

Spray paint as a base and spraying ink is my friend.

Just did most of a BBDBA Early Bedouin army – 45 camel cavalry (10 one piece with the rest two piece), 36 AX, 6 BW, and 12 PS (individual figs). As soon as I find the missing figures there will be another 9 BW. Got a bit old as it took as month.

Had been doing batches of say 30 Norman knights and 16 Norman spear or 36 LIR AX with 9 CV, 12 PS, and 8 cataphracts to flesh out/finish out other armies.

All in 15mm. Currently working on an Early Armenian DBA army – 8 cataphracts, 8 LH, 15 AX (three extra), 4 PS, and 6 BW.

Numbers vary by project. Doing a DBA army at one time versus painting figures to flesh out or bulk up one or more armies.

With the DBA 3.0 printing will probably find myself paintin up some Sassanid Persions. Enough for at least 2 DBA armies (I have two elephants already done).

I used to work on 10 at a time in 28mm, 8 or 16 at a time in 15mm. My eyesight has deteriorated so no more 15mm for me, and my ability to sit for hoyrs and focus on painting has gone by the wayside as well. Now I try to knock out four 28mm figures at a time, through several sittings if 30-45 minutes each (often spread over sevetal days.) Lately I have been working on a DBA Hoplite army, so it has been a single element of Spears or two elements of Psiloi at a time.

After reading this topic, I decided to finish the last four Psiloi elements all at once, 8 figs this time around instead of four. Then the General's Spear element and I am done with the army! So, maybe next month?

4 – 50 15mm infantry, half that for cavalry.

I find if I just do batches of 10-12 I seem to do them pretty quick. 72 figures has been taking over a year.