"Question for my new Brigade Miniatures Tanks" Topic

So on the first day of my vacation I received my order from Brigade miniatures. I jumped on the good sale they just had and ordered a lot of tanks, spacecraft, and infantry.

My question is with the tanks. I am relatively new to this hobby so I don't know the answer to this one. Most of these tanks are 2 pieces from what I see. How do you paint them? How do you mount the second piece, the turret? I can see 2 ways, one easier and one harder.

The easier method would be to prime and paint each piece separately then glue together afterwards. (which glue? superglue?)

The harder method would be to do the same as the first, but skip the glue step and instead do something with magnets so that the turrets could rotate?

Is method #2 a lot of work for not too much gained? Or what?

Maybe there are other methods I haven't considered. So please give me advice. What is the usual method? I thought the magnet thing might be a nice touch but I dunno how hard it would be.

Thanks for any ideas/advice.

btw love dealing with Brigade and I like their miniatures.

I use magnets for my turrets. I can't remember the size, about 1/8 inch I think. I use super glue to put then in. Just make sure you account for polarity!

Prime with cheap spray. Then I use an airbrush to base coat. If you have another cheap spray can of a suitable color, use that. Then dry brush and wash.

Glue mine in place then paint…nothing worse than spending time setting up matching all the loose turrets!

Just glue them on then Base coat, wash and drybrush before adding some detail. Easy.

I also glue and paint. I don't need moving turrets for the games I use. You could paint separately and then glue, which would probably give you a better paint job under the turret, but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle for my needs.

Glued mine.

Glue everything.

Based coat them with an appropriated tactical/camo color(s). I use brush not spray.

Wash with brown and or black wash, etc., …

Drybrush …

Detail … paint anything that is not part of the hull or turret. Like an MG, tracks etc. – black then dry brush with appropriate metallic color.

*Optional: Use small decals available from many sources.

I'd keep the turrets separate and instead of using magnets, which I did once, I'd use toilet bowl wax. That's the stuff they use to seal the toilet bowl to the pipe, is round and about 10" in diameter, and should be available at any hardware store (at least in the US). A little dab on the turret peg and it stays put but you can move it if you want. A quick method and works for any peg-hole type turrets.

Striker, thanks for the tip on toilet bowl wax. I'm going to try that with my micro-scale grav tanks and gcarriers.

In response to the original post, I prime, basecoat, and wash hulls and turrets separately with spray paint.

I usually prime in white. For grav vehicles, I mask the undersides before basecoating. That results in countershading, a typical approach to camouflage used by animals and military aircraft.

Then I put the turrets on (no glue or anything, but I'll start using toilet bowl wax per Striker's suggestion) and do the camouflage painting, usually with brush and/or sponge. Doing the camouflage with the turrets on lets me continue the patterns from one part to the other.

Then I do any brushwork details (e.g., equipment strapped to the outside), then drybrush, separating turrets and hulls if convenient, then matte finish spray.

Note that you didn't mention which size of tanks you bought. 6mm? 15mm?

Also, it's confusing, but there's no company called Brigade Miniatures. I assume you mean Brigade Models. (There is also Brigade Games…)

I wrote:
In response to the original post, I prime, basecoat, and wash hulls and turrets separately with spray paint.
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Actually, I prime and basecoat hulls and turrets separately with spray paint, and wash them separately as well.

You can't very well wash with spray paint.

It depends on the rules being used. Some rules do use the turret facing for direction of fire. Many do not. Constant rotating of turrets can result in bent gun barrels for 6mm (1/300) vehicles.

The rules I use do not urequire turret facing so I use super glue to glue the turrets in place. Then I use a flat green spray primer followed by additional colors for the camo pattern. Also gluing the turrets in place keeps them from coming loose during transportation.

I glue to bases, I also glue the turret, undercoat with primer, basecoat, (brush or spray) then detail paint, decal, weather and varnish. Results on some look like this;

Wow. Thanks for the responses, everyone.

To answer Bill's question yes it is Brigade models and in 6mm. I usually google Brigade miniatures so that is why I was confused haha. Excellent minis.

So thanks for all the responses. It has helped me. I do not yet know my final decision, but all of you have helped me in the process. Sorry for the late reply too; I was entertaining guests so I did not have much time to be online.

Also, for the people posting pics thanks for that. Some nice work there.

Again thanks so much. Wishing you all the best.

Where in MA? We have a sizable group playing Epic Armageddon in southern New England, always looking to add more 6mm enthusiasts.

Khusrau … those are DRM, yes ? I have some of those in my long painting line. Nice job …

Epic Gamer, I could not figure out how to send a PM on here haha but I am in Medway. I have never played Epic Armageddon but I downloaded some rules. I am not sure they are the correct ones, but they were freely available. So yeah I could be interested let me know.

Thanks Legion, the DRM stuff is really nice. I wasn't sure about doing the snow bases thing as it makes it look stupid when you are facing someone with desert camo. But very happy with how they turned out. The DRM buggies are also especially cute. Very 'Halo'.

Oh, and PS – very much liked your work on the 'blower' above. Subtle.

My thing with 6mm is that I always like to go high contrast.

Thanks ! All I do is 6mm Sci-fi now. I have entire Slammers Task Force … Some more examples for you dddd99 …

Nice force, looking forward to pics of those all painted up. Which rules are you using? My local group used to enjoy Future War Commander [FWC].

Thanks ! Yes, I have a very long line of 6mm Sci-fi to paint up. Some GW, plus DRM, CinC SEM, Microworld, Exodus Wars, and some fan made, etc. !

We played a hybrid system based on SM1 + a little SM2, etc. thrown in. I do have a copy of FWC and The Crucible which has 6mm rules as well. Like both of them too. Lately I/we spend more time painting than gaming. I'll be 60 in a few days so I have to get everything painted before I get recalled to the "Mothership" … permanently !

Dddd99, you can e-mail me at the dot epic dot gamer at gmail dot com.

There's a few guys in Boston, one in Swansea and I'm up near Littleton. The Whiz is halfway between us if you're interested.

"My thing with 6mm is that I always like to go high contrast." --Khusrau

Agree 100%, especially for 6mm infantry.

Nice pics, Legion. It feels so good to finish a project. I am working on a larger project of 6mm Samurai, but since I am cursed with short attention span I have completed a spaceship fleet and a western gunfighter project. My plan is to finish up these Samurai during my current vacation so that I can tackle my Brigade stuff early 2017. My current method is to get a lot of these things primed so whenever the painting bug strikes I am ready to go.

Epic Gamer, ok cool I will drop a line. I have a 10 month old son now so my time is limited but the missus likes me to get out now and again so I can be available weekends. Take care.

Thanks again all; you've all been very helpful.

Thanks dddd66 ! I try to do an entire force or unit. With my concentration on the Infantry. As vehicles are generally quicker to paint, etc. I try to paint a little everyday or all day if I can !