"Secrets we never shared?" Topic

HI

I use a hairdryer to force dry figures – in many cases I lay figures on their side (upon a sturdy board covered in newspaper with figures layed onto the paper), spray prime, use hairdryer, leave to 'air' for a few minutes, turn figures over, prime, force dry – start painting!

Blue tack on pop sickle sticks holds 5-15mm figures quite well.

A sepia wash (or similar red/brown wash) on a white undercoat is a great technique for speed painting figures as you have the flesh, gun/spear, knapsack, boots and a dark wash in the creases – even better is to follow the sepia with a highly thinned black wash which adds another layer/texture.

Some people glue figures to their final base prior to painting for added speed.

For yellows I find an orange (or even brown) undercoat works well – check the Wargames Foundry range.

Using a black undercoat – if you are going to dry brush a certain area (say a lambswool saddle) then doing this early on is a good idea as you may accidentally cover other areas – if you do then just get the black paint out and make good.

Rittmester – I use Liquitex soft body yellow artist acrylic, lots of pigment and covers well. A brighter yellow usually prime with white.

Thanks wrgmr1! Will try that:)

See? We do not need Rafa's book about painting French Napoleonics…we can work it out ourselves?

Seriously, here is another tip. Buy his book……pick and choose what you like. But there are some great ideas….not 100%……… but not far off for my taste. Great value

You could try a pm to Bill with a link. Maybe he can still cross-post. Or you could hit the complaint button.

One step eyes? If you undercoat black, simply sharpen a toothpick and put a white dot on the edge of each eye. Very effective and super quick.

Now for a controversial one. For those having issues with varnish, and I've seen a lot of histrionics re varnish over the years… it's effect on metallics, disastrous frosting etc etc.

Simply don't use it. It's often time consuming, can be expensive and ultimately is unnecessary.

I've had various collections in my possession for more than 15 years, virtually never had a chip and never had any paint rub off. I simply look after them and store them correctly. Varnishing is simply something everyone does…. because everyone always has.

Also, when I choose a range of paint for a certain item – a piece of cloth/uniform, a steal weapon, wooden gun etc, I'm often looking for the certain finish. The difference in finish between an artists gouache and GW paints, for example, is significant. I use both but for different things. The second you hit models with a spray varnish the finish on all items tends to become uniform.

Terrain is a different story and always needs a serious coat.

Horses? Prime in black. Block paint in different shades of brown. ( try to miss the leather parts and the ears and hooves). Paint the ears hoves and leather black. Hit the mane and tail with a dry brush style Touch up the edges with brown for spots that you trenbled on Hit the nose with flesh color and smugg most of it off. Paint a few stockings on the lower legs and a blaze on the head between the nose and the eyes. Take a thinned reddish lighter brown ( cinnamon ) and hit the sun bleached parts of the coat to highlight. Finally. Do a black or dark blue wash with a good bit of floor wax to give a light sheen and some mechanical protection. Viole!!! Speed painted and ok quality horsees Want white? A coat of cream/swede followed by a thinned white and a highlighted white. Grey? Confederate gray with 60:40 grey/white highlights. Also terra cotta with thinned brown.

wrgmr1, Rittmester, Doctor X, and anyone I may have missed: Thanks for the tips on hussar dolmans and pelisses, they drive me crazy, (not a long drive I'm reliably informed). I need all the help I can get. John Miller

Another tip I forgot to mention.
Sometimes my painting gets infrequent, particularly in the summer so I put any figures I paint in plastic trays I get from the local sushi shop. Black plastic bottom and clear plastic top, so I can see what I'm painting. Keeps dust off the figures. These accommodate 12 cavalry or 36 infantry glued to tongue depressors quite easily.

Horses. Spray in assorted browns – I found a range designed for graffiti artists that is acrylic and comes in all the colours of the rainbow, including many browns.

Paint stockings and blazes white

Paint tack dark grey

Use the Dip – the dark brown version

Spray varnish matte

Done – speed painting indeed

Superglue reacts to water- so put a dab of PVA on the other surface for a touch of volume. Breath on superglue joins.

Mix green paint in PVA. Coat base. Superglue on figure base. Place (adjust QUICKLY) then flock.

Superglue stiffens card folds.

What to use for holding the figures while you paint them? Especially when you have those figures with the tiny bases that will not stand upright?

I cut pieces of stiff cardboard from heavy-weight boxes into pieces that are about 8 inches by 3 inches. The I use white glue to stick on 4 or 8 figures on each long side facing outward (to make the front and face more accessible). If the figures try to fall over, then use straight pins, the ones with a little ball on the end, to hold them upright until the glue sets.

You now have something that is light and easy to handle. They stay upright and don't fall over like craft sticks/tongue depressors do. The white glue soaks into the paper and gives an adequate adhesion. The figures are easy to demount for basing, which isn't the case for some other glues. The white glue mounds around the base of the figure and helps hide the sharp edges. They are cheap. They are reusable by just putting the next set of figures slightly to one side and eventually using the other side of the cardboard.

Put only one unit on each cardboard "holder" to avoid painting the wrong figure (I usually paint a couple of units at the same time). Try to put an integral number of final stands of figures on each "holder" so you can keep track of variations in uniform. Write the nationality/unit ID on the cardboard so you can remember what you are doing if you get a long interruption.

LAstHussar

Superglue reacts to water- so put a dab of PVA on the other surface for a touch of volume. Breath on superglue joins.
Mix green paint in PVA. Coat base. Superglue on figure base. Place (adjust QUICKLY) then flock.
Superglue stiffens card folds.

If you have the following layers: {{substrate // PVA-paint //superglue // metal figure }}, then the strength of the bond is no stronger that the weakest link, which is either the substrate//PVA or the PVA/superglue bonds. I wonder if the superglue is really helping hold things together that much, although it is quick setting. (and with me glues my fingers together!)

What I do, and probably a lot of things work just as well is the following.

I usually use wooden bases (balsa, basswood, tongue depressors or composite) and these tend to warp if they get wet with water. ……..So I seal the top with green solvent-based spray paint or brushed (solvent based) rustolium paint and the bottom with white solvent based paint. This seals them against moisture and starts to stiffen the base. (you can also write the unit ID on the underside to help collect troops after a battle)……. I mount the figures with a good bit of PVA white glue and sometimes with small based figures need to use a ball-ended straight pin to keep them upright. (try to construct them so that the figure base goes perpendicular to the wood grain to give a stronger base that is less likely to split down the grain)…….After the glue sets, I use an old brush to slather a green-acrylic paint/PVA glue mixture over the entire base- especially getting in between figures and over the sharp edges of the figure bases. Pour on flocking, shake and its done. Probably everyone does just about the same thing, but maybe this will help some newbie.

when painting belts of white leather, I use a light blue grey acrylic paint and for the next step just a gouache white which is a bit tranluscent and highlight with it, it give a nice touch almost looking like being pipe clayed.
Of course you would have to varnish when working with gouache or artist water colours

I still use enamel paints mostly. I'll glue 20 to 30 figs on a sheet of cardboard and spay paint on the black undercoat. Then I put them in an old toaster oven I've had since the 70's. This bakes the paint on and saves time ( at around 275F for 20 or so mins) Then I pop them of using a hobby knife and put them in my holders.

Now this is my BIG secret, I use modified wooden clothes pegs as holders for my 15mm figs (will work with 25mm as well) Do I need to post pics or can you guys figure out what I did to the clothes pegs. (the ones with the wire spring in them)

pics would be nice

Oh this is clever…yes…pics please.

An oven! I once used Mrs Deadhead's hairdryer and she got mad.

Worse though. There is something called hair tongs…it is something called DHG…..it is two ceramic plates that are heated to straighten your hair…..expensive, if top of the range.

I once used hers' on Greenstuff and plastic sheet out of curiosity. She got very mad and I bought her a new pair the next day. This is not a tip to share……….

I am not stupid…I know the rules…….You destroy…you replace stat

I just renewed my "membership" here, so once that's activated, I'll post some pics.

deadhead: I am retired, but when I was working I always had some variation on a story, to retell to the "better half" every month or so. A story about some colleague at work who had too much time and money on his hands and got in trouble by spending money on a much more expensive hobby, or hanging around places with willing, winsome and available women. Then a "sigh" and "I'm glad I don't have those temptations". The skill in the art is to lay it on thick enough to certainly have an effect, but just short of the "I smell a rat" level. Good Luck !

This is surely the most valuable tip so far.

Keep 'er indoors sweet.

Never mind superglue or shading or basing….

Listen to this one and forget the rest

Seriously though, what a brilliant response. Everyone has responded as I had hoped. Something dead simple. Easily summarised and all with the "why did I not think of that?" quality

A close up of one I'm working on right now.

One more to check out. The ones with the pointed tops I use to hold the Cav riders.

Tyn Man…

An Austrian gunner does nothing for me.

Call me straight, but instead XX chromosomes and blonde……that is different.

What does get me is your photography. The depth of focus, the sheer quality….I need to know about f numbers, lighting, ISO settings….Tv…Av etc

Quite superb………

You have a splinter haemorrhage (UK spelling) under your thumbnail….that either means nothing or you have SBE. Trust me, if the latter you would know!

Great detail. Beautiful . I wish I could put that attention to my units but I want to get brigades on the tabletop. I bet I could never match such a realistic figure, ever.

Why do people mount their miniatures on things before they paint them? In 25 years of painting (all scales) I've never seen the need. Why waste the time?

I line em all up in rows laying on their sides on a board and paint. Thumb on the base, finger on the top of the head. By having the miniature directly in my hand, I feel like I have more control.

If any paint rubs off the very tops of their helmets it's the job of seconds to touch up after they're based…

Deadhead, but you may look by yourself.. ;)

Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), f/16, ISO-400, 1/200 sec, Focal Length 46mm, Auto mode 3, Application: Paint Shop Pro Photo.

Sho Boki thanks for posting the info about my photo for deadhead, but how the heck did find it out?? I didn't even now that much info. And by the way, it was just a lucky shot of many I took.

Cheers
Dean

He is more tech savvy than I am……

You save the picture, right click and there is drop down menu that allows you to see the details. f number, length of exposure etc….I didn't fink of that I didn't……

Personally since I paint 100-200 Old Glory figs at a time…

Prime in black by getting a pizza box laying them down and spraying from all 4 sides, then flip over and spray from all 4 sides.

I prime in black since if I don't hit certain places, I will still have natural shadows. This is also why I paint from the top down, so you have natural shading underneath as it should be…

Painting 30 horses at a time I will have to hit brown at least twice. I use dark brown for heavy cav and light brown for medium and light cav (except for units that were specifically on certain colored horses like the Scots Greys, Gren a Chev, Russian Gd Hussars, etc.).

It is usually too labor intensive to hit all the black for each figure all at oncer, so I hit in 3 waves. 1st-mane and tail, 2nd- hooves and tail harness, 3rd- all those ****** harnesses.

Did I mention I hate painting the horses for my cav? Very labor intensive.

The separate riders I usually paint and have them sit hobby horse style on top of a folded index card so none of the painted surface is on my painting desk. Each index card conveniently holds roughly 12 riders, so about 3 cards does the trick for the 30 fig 10mm.

Some great tips on here.

Thanks everyone for sharing!

Frank

I use surgical gloves bought at the Supermarket while using Black primer . Spray at arms length in bursts into Disposable Paint trays .

I PVA Glue the Figs to large 45mm bottle Tops .Typically from 2 or 3 Lt Milk / Juice Containers . Good to hold and twirl for grip while painting .

Because I use glasses I've got a "LED Desktop Magnifying Light " .Has a flexible Gooseneck ,magnifier and LED light all in one .Stick it on my left ,get the 28mm Fig under the Light and attack it with my right hand brush .

Use a clear Glass Jar of water so you you can see how clean the brush is getting . Twirl it up against the glass .If painting small areas clean the brush often and repeatedly maybe every 5 minutes or every 3 figures .Depends on how much you are doing ,but dont let the paint dry . Use just the tip .

I use Tufts from LeadBears Tufts .They come with self sticky bottoms $10.00 AUD for 140 tufts

Now anyone who resuscitates a dead thread back to the top gets my vote.

I think this topic has life in it yet.

Surgical gloves are less of a problem for me…….just as long as theatre manager does not notice how they are disappearing……….with the scalpel blades!

Thanks for this!

Liam

I find Games workshop spray primer works best for plastic and Army Painter best for metal.

Now that is interesting. I have always been struck that Chaos Black is far better on plastic, but I thought that inherent in all sprays. This is worth knowing……..

For spraying you ought to use a mask
I highly recommend this one
link

The other thing I was thinking about is dust control – cover up your minis when not working on them. I have a letter tray – one of these Ikea things
link

It has pull out metal trays. It's called kvissle. I do not want to know what that means in Swedish.

The whole thing can easily be picked up and put somewhere less dusty if working on scenery and so on.
I take out the second tray when working on miniatures with long pointy sticks

John

When I work on Victrix 28mm's these days, I choose the head, glue to torso, put 2 figures on a tongue depressor (500 in a box at a medical supply store are relatively inexpensive.) I use white glue, so they will pop off easily.

Easy to move them around without touching them. Also easier to reach sections later covered by muskets, etc.

When painted, I then tackle the arms, paint, and glue them on.

GdeP

When I painted a unit of metal Perry foot knights, for my WOTR army, l cleaned them up, double sided taped them to a piece of 1" sq wood. Ok, heresey to follow, l then Dark tone army painter'd the entirety, 0nto the bare metal. This shaded all plate armour/chainmail/swords in an instant, and also provided a base for subsequent flesh tones, belts, boots, etc. cracked out the whole 24-man unit in a day, painting a nice flag took as long as the entire unit, They looked great!

John

Genius….mass produced cuirassiers for example for our period.

If you varnish, try not to varnish on cold or humid days, not so easy in the UK. Turning a well painted unit white and snowy when you are trying to protect it is bad news.

I've stopped using GW purity seal as that seemed particularly prone to fogging. Windsor and Newton Artists spray is expensive but I have not heard of it fogging unless you know better.

As mentioned above, use a mask when spraying or spray outside and down-wind.

For mounting figs, I use the tops of gallon / 5 litre plastic tubs, the cleaner at the office dumps them on my desk whenever she gets one. Others I know use milk-bottle tops (uk), but they are only about 8mm (1/3 of an inch) deep, the jar lids are at least 1/2 inch 12-15mm deep. apply a dab of blu-tack and away you go.

@ pessa00, yes I used to paint like that but my fingers got so greasy, the paint would either shine or not stick, unless I wore rubber / nitrile gloves, and that makes the hand sweat.

BTW Great thread!

@rabbit
During autumn and winter I always use an extra "fan heater" to warm up and dispel moisture in my shed before I do any spray job in my shed. It works to avoid fogging and white/snowy minis.

My brushes last much longer now that I hang them bristles down to dry after rinsing or washing. Now any extra paint or varnish I missed doesn't settling in the ferule and harden, causing the bristles to splay.

I bought a US$5 brush cleaning station with a wire spring rack to hold drying brushes upright with bristles down. It also comes with a screen or perforated plate to help remove paint when you rinse!

Hair dryers are cheap, including small, low power travel dryers. Buy your own and leave your mate's alone!

Hi guys…my very first post here. Never posted before as I have never really had anything new to add to the posts.
Would just like to agree with the post about not varnishing…never done it in the 10 years since I have been back in the hobby.
Also, storage…used to used kaiser Rushforth foam filled boxes, but now I have switched to the Really Useful Boxes…..various sizes depending on size of figures and amount.
I then line the bottom of the box with Steel Paper which I get from Magnetic Display Products…..if the figures are mounted on "coins" then they have magnetic discs of the correct size attached or if onto square or rectangular bases I use the rolls of the correct width magnetic strips, also available from MDP…..I am not affiliated with MDP at all, just that they have made the storing of my figures much easier.
For painting, I always use the Foundry paint range because it comes in triads of the selected colour….base, layer and highlight pots…no more paint mixing for me or lost recipes for colours.

Firstly I will say that having nothing new to say (indeed complete ignorance) has never stopped me (or many) from posting here! So welcome and keep it up.

The magnet idea is great

"Really Useful" boxes are brilliant, but where you buy in UK can triple the price, so…….Shop around. Great for posting carriages to Australia too! Let's see if my Britschka makes it……..

Brush Soap for your brushes, works wonders on old brushes.

When you are making a model or converting a piece, or doing a complicated assembly, especially when gluing or soldering, use some form of arm-chair. Get from a fabric store or an AC Moore a big piece of fabric, 3x3 feet square at least. Thumbtack one end of the fabric to the UNDERSIDE of the front edge of your painting table to form an apron. Then when you work at the table drape the trailing edge of the fabric over your lap and the arms of the chair to form a pocket or "bucket" of cloth that anything you drop falls into and you can easily recover without having to grovel around on the floor for and possibly lose it, or worse, in getting up, run the rollers of the chair over a fragile small piece. It also is excellent when you are doing painting with good clothes on, or soldering in your skivvies. Nothing is more exciting then having a real hot blob of solder all on your exposed upper thigh, or worse.

If you paint in oils as I do, make drying trays. Oils take a few days to two weeks to dry. What I do is purloin the empty computer paper boxes from work with the lids. Make drying trays out of these by taking the lid off and putting the box into the lid bottom first. Draw a line around the box at the base of the lid. Remove the box and cut off the base of the box at that line. Now it forms a nice shallow box to put figures in to dry, and you can store and stack these things by the dozens. They also make excellent storage boxes for most finished minis up to 28mm They have the advantage of being free! They protect the work, and prevent dust and grit settling onto a tacky surface.

Always be attentive to scale. I mean OUT OF SCALE. Do not be afraid of using things that are a little bigger or a little different for emphasis. This is highly situation dependent, but it draws the eye. "O" guage things like boxes and barrels are a bit big for 28mm and even 30mm, but the size "pops" them into the eye. One example of this is the use of HO figures of small animals as filials for the tops of colors or standards. Roosters, ducks, swans,geese dogs lions, eagles birds, blah blah blah. A lot of sculping and ornamental details need only be suggested and not exactly modelled.

Remember that the eye selectively sees things. I am a mediocre painter at best though an excellent modeler. I mount my 18th century figures on huge 4.5" by 8" to 9" stands, thirty six men on a stand with officers, musicians, sergeants, colors and other figures all on that stand in three ranks. It LOOKS great and the eye does not see the minor imperfections in paint or that I haven't "dotted the eyes." Even better is the colors and standards which I do not paint, but print off a laser printer. I use a Corel Draw vector art program for these, designing them in lavish color and forms from clip-art and vector art, much of which I can create myself. The intensely ornate flags are then printed and attached to the figure. Add the animal filials and some streamers and the flags are gorgeous and fix the eye so that you don't notice that the paint jobs are B- at best. Of course, I use Imagi-Nations so it's easy to run riot with colors. I also also work into the flags jokes and puns and people go looking for them.

NEVER FLOCK! I abhor flocking. Looks like people are walking around in cat-litter and it never matches your table top, which isn't flocked, and the stuff gets in everywhere and makes an annoying dust. The key to base color is mottling. Prove this by simply walking around in the veldt and on open fields. At a hundred yards which is about the scale distance you are looking at figures at you can't see much texture in the ground, and it looks like a modulating sheet of color from green to yellow green to brown, tan etc. Go to the Home Depot or Sherwin Williams store and get those little cards with five shades on them, and go out into the field and on a sunny day hold up the cards to look at the ground 100 yards away to find a matching color. You will be really surprised what colors the world is in. It's not at all the billiard table green most people use.

Crazy glue doesn't work. Use two part epoxy, but ALWAYS solder and drill so that the hand of the figure has a firm hold on the spear, weapon or staff. Get a dremel tool and buy the teeny tiny drills and use it. It will be the best investment you ever made. BUT BE CAREFUL! Those tiny drills will snap very easily. Also have a small cup of water no more than 1/2 inch deep to continually cool the drill. Metal and pewter are soft metals and melt at a low temperature not much higher than is generated by the drilling and this means the drill may foul and snap. Always wear goggles when using a thicker drill, as if it gets fouled in the figure with molten metal it may rip it right out of the hand and send it flying around the room like a piece of shrapnel.

Figures go through heavy use. The grubby claws of gamers will do horrible things to figures, especially cavalry on charging horses. Take the situation by the horns and if a cavalry figure is weak at the ankles (which is realistic, all real horses are ) use a variable speed dremel to drill THROUGH the base and up into the underside body of the horse and run a hard piano wire mandrel into it and glue in place. I do this for every cavalry figure, even those on all four feet, because in 30mm the lead is mostly in the body and the in scale ankles are thin. They key it so study the horse and hide the mandrel behind or between other legs. This may take some work.