"How many miniatures do you paint at one time?" Topic

How many miniatures do you typically paint at one time while building up your tabletop armies? Please mention scale (6mm, 15mm, 28mm, etc.) in your response.

a. easy does it; just 1 figure at a time.
b. small groups of 2-10 figures at a time.
c. somewhat larger batches of 10-20 figures at a time.
d. fairly large numbers of 21-50 figures at a time
e. massive numbers of more than 50 at a time.

For 28mm, usually about 20-30.

For 15mm usually about 50

For anything smaller, generally all of them.

MASSIVE numbers?
I operate on the "If it's Monday night I paint blue" principle.
50 is a low number on my painting table, and I do both 15mm and 25mm.

I think there may be an unintended bias in your categories, because in no way do I consider my numbers "massive". In fact I think it's perfectly ordinary.

I paint mostly 28mm (occasionally do 15mm),

A or B, I paint one at a time for individual models, or small groups for similarly uniformed war-bands.

d) I would tend to groups of 20+ similar 28mm figures as one batch.

Like John the OFM, I paint one colour at a time across the whole batch. First Black, then Green, then Flesh etc.

If I am doing say, a box of 40 Perry plastics, I will usually assemble and paint them as one batch. At the moment, I have 48 Spectre moderns from their kickstarter on my table and these are being painted as one batch. This is the largest batch that I would do.

Between C and D.

25mm 8-10 models all mounted on the same strip of foamboard
15mm 16-20 models all on same strip

24 for infantry, half that for cav.

Depends. How many of the type do I need to get done? I do an assembly line type operation. I'll paint one color on four or five figures at a time. Then move on to the next group. Just now I have some 80 figures on my painting table. These are 15s.

28mm historics – however many needed for a complete unit – up to 24 normally.

28mm fantasy or sci fi units – usually a box/bag at a time.

I paint somewhere between 6 and 8 minis at a time, Both 15mm and 28mm. With the 15mm I will generally get them done in one night. 28mm tend to take me two nights since I have to wait for the wash to dry. If it's a day off and I have all day I can generally get done a couple of batches of 28mm, still only 6-8 at a time though.

In progress somewhere between d. and e. I tend to mix them up since I foolishly do multiple scales. So couple dozen 15mm, couple dozen 28mm, 2-3 1/2400 ships, some tanks, etc. I think it helps keep me from getting burned out on a long-term project.

B.

I might have 20-30 on the painting table, but I'll concentrate on batches of 4-5 28mm figures at a time.

I do a mix. I usually paint 15mm and will start by spraying a base colour and will then do large area colours ina big batch (d) such as different colour jackets, then smaller details in increasingly small batches (c to b)

I like to make progress quickly at the start, but find doing lots of little detail over and over again monotenous. For example WW2 brits I have just finished I spreyed them all and painted helmets, gaiters and boots, wood on rifles on all 50 odd at the same time, then did metal on rifles, webbing and flesh on a squad at a time until finished, then army paitned all 50.

With 40mm figures it's 16 Cav. or 32 Inf.

F. I buy painted figures
G. I commission figures to be painted

I work in batches of a unit approx 20 figs but varies greatly and have several batches on the go at once. At present 1 batch being put together or awaiting priming, 2 part painted and and one ready for varnishing.

x42

E, I paint 6mm or 15mm figures in a production line manner. Fettster 42 pretty much sums up my painting methodology.

28mm in groups of 4 foot. 4 or 8 or 12. Never more than 12.

For mounted, somehow 9 seems to be my perfect number. 8 or 9 max.

For uniformed 28mm figures, I paint them in units of 21--just barely d on the chart. For non-uniformed 28mm figures like Vikings, I put out 10-20 (c on the chart), paint all the uniform stuff, like skin, and then it breaks down into smaller groups of 2-10 (b on the chart). Sometimes it even gets down to just one I'm working on.

Grelber

I tend to paint by unit so Spanish Civil War figures are done in batches of 30-40 (15mm) while more modern infantry tend to be done in batches of 8-15. Where units have vehicles or equipment these are done at the same time as the figures.

Like x42brown I have several batches of figures undercoated and based at any time so that if I get bored with one thing I can switch to another. Currently I have 90 15mm SCW with 5 vehicles, 25 15mm Afghan police and contractors plus 3 vehicles, 40 28mm Canadian militia and 18 Indians for Musket and Tomahawk, 60 28mm Vikings and Skraelings for Saga and 6 15mm Mongolian Death Worms.

I have all the minis I need/want. Haven't painted a unit in years. Iirc, I would do whole units at a time, usually ten to twenty cav or eight to twenty infantry at a time. But sometimes I had several units going all at once and those numbers could double. I once painted two twenty figure units of dark elves at the same time. That seemed "massive" to me.

Oh, yeah, I do 25-28mm only….

For 15mm it's usually anywhere from 30 to 50 at a time. I'm mostly doing Napoleonics, I find it quick to paint all the miniatures in the same uniforms.
For 28mm I usually work on from 4 to 6 miniatures to as high as 10 at a time if there's a time crunch.

For 6mm I will paint 12 to 16 cavalry at a time. I do infantry in batches of 160. Artillery, 40 crew and 10 to 20 guns as needed.

Terry

For 28mm I would go by unit size, infantry 20-40, cavalry 12-14, artillery gun or two and crew.

For 15mm again unit size so infantry 32-64 cavalry 16-32 and so on.

I will often have several units and sizes on the go at any one time. Just now I have 28 infantry being based, 40 infantry being primed and 12 cavalry being glued up.

I have a table full, all scales (10mm,15mm,20mm,28/30mm,54mm) all periods and I just paint what I fancy or need in no particular order. They are all at various stages of completion so if you need sometw in a hurry chances are you've already got some on the go. Its not a job so I don't treat it like one.

Depends on whether I am doing an army (DBA) a BBDBA army (three regular) or perhaps a few elements of fill in or expansion for existing armies.

Could be 50-100 or so.

15mm.

And as with others, I do 'colors' – hate to clean the brush any more than necessary. Paint should go onto minis rather than onto a rag or into solvent. Helps to have a number of other 'projects' prepped and primed when doing so although that may delay getting the current unit on the table.

Hi John the OFM. In my estimation, painting more than 50 figures at once seems like a project of "massive" proportions. I'm fascinated to learn from this poll that many others take on such projects routinely.

I'm definitely at the other end of the spectrum. My paltry efforts in 15mm usually involved smaller batches of 8, 10 or at most 15 figures. I do only 2 or at most 3 25mm models at once.

I get bored painting the same figures over and over again, so my small allotments allow me to jump from one period to another and enjoy the variety.

For example, I'm currently working on 15mm American Civil War, American Revolution, Franco-Austrian and Franco-Prussian subjects simultaneously. My armies grow at a slower rate than most, I suppose.

Depends on the scale and uniform. Generally a and/or b. I sometimes start out with the intention of doing 10 to 12 figs, one unit at a time and then I get lost in the "moment" and I go ahead finish the figure I am currently working on. The more complicated the uniform the fewer I do at one time. I am a slow painter.

This is yet again a poll that tries to put every response into a convenient category. But it doesn't work that way. This is an open ended question and is difficult to put the responses into specific categories.

E

D, on the low end. Probably close to 30 at a time normally. It depends. If I get a large number of troops that are supposed to be somewhat uniform (150 Greeks or 60 civilians from the same town), I will do the whole batch at once.

When I paint up small groups (8-15 figures), I tend to have two or three projects on the table at once.

I generally paint from the "inside out", starting with the layers that are farthest from the viewer, the working outward. This roughly equates to painting by color, and I will "inverse-box" my paints for shade gradation across individuals.

I usually handle character figures that belong to a group with the group. They will generally have more detail, both on the model and in the painting. Possibly a few additional colors beyond what the group has, too, but I try to mitigate that unless there is an obvious reason not to (from a different area, only XYZ figures wear ABC color, rank insignia, etc.).

28mm grunts? 5 – 10 for a cohesive appearance.

Characters? One or two at a time.

B, 8 foot or 3 mounted.

B) 2 or 3 at a time, takes me a week or two to finish.

C – 15mm

In 15mm at least 50 and often more (I am doing about 250 Screaming Eagles in 15mm right now for a friend of mine). In 25/28mm if uniformed 20 to 30, if not (for instance civilians) about 10.

B, usually have up to ten on my painting table but will only work on 2-4 @ a time… little time & easily distracted by wanting to paint something different.

For 28mm, somewhere between B. & C.

C or D depending on scale and how many figures in the unit.

28mm, B.

Mind you, I build *units* of 10-40 models, but I only paint a rank at a time. I've tried more but I find I lose track. 3 is about right, I can stretch to a few more, 10 is at the outer limit. Note these are generally non-identical figures within the painting batches.

Depending on the scale:

28mm usually a unit at a time either 24 infantry or 10/12 cavalry

15mm usually a unit/pkg/box at a time, anywhere from 24-50 figs.

10mm usually an entire army, as in 1000 points for Warmaster or entire divisions for Napoleonic or ACW.

Like 23eRegt, I usually have all the above figures on the painting table at the same time.

I have a focus problem. If I am reading a book on a certain period or watching a certain movie, that will affect what I want to paint, so I usually have loads of half painted figs of all types going at the same time.

Makes it hard to finish a project, but do we ever actually finish? Also, makes it easy to add to projects in a rush if necessary.

The scales doesn't go high enough, massive needs to be 400+ (the point at which I regard project as requiring it to be broken down).

For 15s, 80-200. (200 is a bit of a push, but I've done it a few times)

20mm, 50-100

6mm, 200-300. I've just done 300, I think my biggest 6mm project was twice that in one go though.

2mm, thousands?

54s, 20-50, depends if it includes horses.

I am defining 'in one go' as all figures prepped, put on painting bases, finished and boxed up in a single sequence of work. Big projects require a number of such sequences (like my 54mm Funny Little wars Project).

The worst thing with the really big projects is I get completely sick of painting boots, especially brown boots for some reason.

Hundreds

I use oils and they take time to dry so I put them in project boxes. Paint a color in one box, close the box go to the next box, paint some there and on to the next.

I use printer paper boxes cut down to fit flush in the lids. Makes excellent storage boxes for almost all projects, including figures standing up with colors. The troops stay in there till they are based up, and the box re-used.

15mm skirmish and I usually do 8-10 or so at a time. It helps to actually get units on the table.

Less than 10 28mm at a time if possible.