"Why Don't You Use A Painting Service?" Topic

they delivered a year later than planned,

OK, that's a big something else that deserves its own category!

What was the original time frame? … days? … weeks? … months? … a year?

L – The number of miniatures I need painted would make the project costly.

I've backed miniature boardgame KS, and that would mean 150+ miniatures per project. Even at a $3 USD+ paintjob for a $.75 USD miniature, we're talking a lot of money to paint for one project, and I've certainly backed multiple projects.

If I and my friends had a miniatures game we played all the time, maybe I'd use a painting service, but we haven't found that game yet. The others in my group don't care if a miniature is painted or unpainted, and my favorite game is Dominion, which doesn't even have miniatures…!

One thing I've learned over the past 22 years of mini's gaming, is that taste in painting is so varied from person to person… No matter the money I've invested in pro-painting of my mini's, they will never sell for what I've invested in them! No one will pay that price. Insuring them against fire and flood? Don't be ridiculous! That would be throwing good money after bad!

There was a recent thread about the disposition of your mini's after you die. That is worth considering, realistically, before you pay for pro-painting of your toys (Yes, they are all just, "toys", to everyone but us. Deal with it…).

If it is worth the money to you, for your personal enjoyment over the life you have left remaining, then spend the money, and be happy about it. If you think it is an investment which will grow in value… Never mind. Cheers!

I recently had a great experience with a professional painting service that did my Kelly's Heroes figures, plus figures of Patton, Eisenhower, Sepp Dietrich, etc, and they were all spectacular! Unfortunately, the painter decided to change careers and leave painting. I searched around for a U.S.-based service, and found one out of Maine, their website said they had vast historical references, and their work featured in overseas museums, plus they had a 30-45 day turnaround. I contacted them, told them I had about fifty figures (half Warlord Waffen-SS) and they would take the commission. Long story short, the figures they sent me were atrocious! The work was sloppy, the equipment colors wrong, and the SS troopers had the most interesting non-camouflage colors I had ever seen, with camouflage patterns that I could not match up to any of the reference books I own, it looked like this service out of Maine hired color-blind children to paint the figures. I put a down payment on the work, but told the service I was disappointed with their God-awful and that I would have to re-do the figures to make them presentable. I must say they were quick in the turnaround time, and their work showed it! If you want me to name this service so nobody gets their figures poorly painted, I will, so nobody else pays for advertised "quality" work and get figures with paint jobs that a 5-year old would have been embarrassed to admit to painting. This service even had the gall to tell me they stand by their historical research. Okay, but for Waffen-SS camouflage uniforms, at least use the correct color paints and patterns.

Having finally gotten myself organised enough to be able to present an order with detailed painting instructions to give it a try early this year, I am now quite happy to have this option in my game planning arsenal.

My second such order jsut arrived, and I am near done prepping my third. Now that I have a pretty decent understanding of how the process works, and the time involved from prep through likely delivery, it is a great time-management asset to supplement my own painting.

I was wondering why gamers who have large lead mountains and plastic piles don't use painting services.

Who says I don't?

I love good figure painters. I wouldnt not use them. Problem is more finding reliable, talented ones but once i do, I will stay with them.

It's about division of labor, I am good at what I do and it aint figure painting. Paying for painting frees me to do what I was born to do :)

@Buck215,

A long time ago, I too had some Waffen SS painted up by some place in Asia. They were well painted but the colors were extremely bright and vivid. I dont mind some art but these guys looked like they went through a fruit salad car wash. I kept them because the amount of fun my gaming friends and I had in making jokes about them far outweighed the flamboyant colors.

I was wondering why gamers who have large lead mountains and plastic piles don't use painting services.

Again, I like to paint my own figures !

I don't buy myself dinner and pay someone else to eat it ! LOL !

Or pay someone to go out, etc., with my girlfriend either !

On the other hand I do pay someone to cut my grass, repair my SUV, etc., etc.,

Legion 4, and having a mountain of 6mm helps keep it in house!

Having gone through the process of assembling full painting instructions for 28mm figures, I still save a lot of time in the end. But I can paint a wicked lot of my own 6mm minis in the time it would take to prep instructions for someone else to do them.
^,^

and having a mountain of 6mm helps keep it in house!

6mm is God's scale …

K – do you have others watch your movies for you?

Another good point !!!!

I was approached by a guy at the recent hurricon in Florida. He was looking for a painter of both 15mm and 28mm historicals. Getting them returned in a timely manner was the top priority for him.

So priorities will vary by client and the painter, in regards to the question.

K. It helps to switch off from the daily grind, and the research is one of the most enjoyable parts. Apart from that I find painting services, with the possible exception of 6mm figures way too expensive these days. I used to use DPS back when it was about $2 USD to £1.00 GBP so their stuff was really cheap, and when you could trust that Asian firms weren't recasting figures which were turning out to be about 2 mm shorter than the original product.

D, E, F I am a pretty good painter, enjoy painting and now have more than enough time as I ecently retired :-)

Painting, researching, building, basing, and organizing my armies aren't 1/2 the fun, they're 3/4 of the fun. OK, a number of guys said that their hobby is wargaming not painting, fine no problem, game on. But if I ever hear one of them critiquing my or any ones handpainted armies that they organized, researched, and painted, (one did many years ago, only once I might add) they will be in for a serious verbal ass whopping.

I have paid a friend to paint a few of my miniatures, but mostly I don't due to a mixture of C, E, and F.

Also, my lead mountain isn't that large. If I just willed myself to stop buying new stuff, it should be gone within a couple years.

E, I, A, and G in that order

I fed, clothed, educated, and raised two humans who occasionally paint figures for me. Does that count as paying for a service?

I

Or if I don't get to them I will sell them.

It is a little of both C and D. I painted a tremendous amount over COVID, The whole Russian First Western Army of 1812 in AB 18mm. I only had a service paint some of the detailed cavalry like Uhlans, Cuirassiers, and Hussars.

I am willing to pay up around $4 USD for high quality but any more than that is just not worth it to me. $6 USD-$9 is just too high and I can be picky since I already have about 5,800 AB figures painted.