"Priming 10mm Napoleonics--Need Advice " Topic

Re-starting my 10mm Napoleonics project and I need some advice on priming them.

I have figures from Old Glory and Pendraken and I like them both, especially OG artillery and Pendraken artillery crews and cavalry. I have not decided if I like the OG infantry strips or the Pendraken infantry in singles yet. I will wait and see how each paints up and how I base them.

I have some experience painting 15mm and 3mm Napoleonics. Previously I have always used a white primer; gesso for my 15mm. 15mm is large enough to see the details with a white primer and 3mm doesn't really have any details to see, and I like how the colors pop using a white primer, especially 3mm.

But my 50+ year old eyes are having difficulty seeing the details on 10mm Napoleonics when I prime white. And if i cannot see the details when I prime white I know I will not be able to see the details when I prime with either black or grey.

I am thinking of doing one of the following, but I would like to hear what others who paint 10mm Napoleonics do.

1. Prime white and wash with black?

2. Prime black and dry brush white?

3. Prime grey and either wash or dry brush?

4. Something else?

Is one (wash v. dry brushing) easier and more user-friendly then the other? Is either one more effective then the other for picking out details and adding depth to the finished figure?

Thanks to everyone who responds!

I'm the same age. For me, the answer was to get better lighting and better glasses. That was much, much easier than changing my painting style!

I've been painting 6mm Napoleonics by starting with a black wash over white primer. I've found it gives decent shadows and definition on details but without making the colours too dull. I definitely prefer it to painting on black primer, which I did for my first few units.

Have you considered priming in the main uniform color thereby saving a step? Blue for French and so on?

EC-yes I have thought about priming in the main uniform color, but…
1. Who makes primer in multiple color?
2. I still need to see the details (straps, cross belts etc) of the figure I am painting.
3. I am painting Austrians right now.

Thanks for all the replies, keep them coming!

By all means light and glasses. But in 10mm top two preparation choices would be
2) black prime and dry brush white or
4) white prime and wash with raw umber. This last is especially helpful for light or "warm" coat colors such as Austrians.

If speed is the primary consideration, black prime and dry brush white throughout.

The Army Painter makes a line of colored spray primers. I have used several- red, blue, black, white and dark green, olive green and bluish grey- and have been satisfied with the results.

Black primer…better light

"Wargames Illustrated" #155 for August 2000; article by Peter Berry "I Can't Possibly Paint Anything So Small…"

Black prime and layer in the highlights and details; I've tried this technique for 10mm WWI and N/12mm Napoleonics and ACW and found it very effective.

I'm nearing my 60's, glasses were a help, but once I got an Optivisor to magnify what I could see, I was able to continue painting as I had for the last 30 odd years.

I am around 20 years older than OP, wear glasses, have early cataracts, but still use white primer on my 10mm Napoleonics, League of Augsburg etc. but without a wash over the primer. Key is to have proper prescription spectacles and excellent lighting – pure daylight LED does it for me, 5000K and around 1500 lumens output. Tried an Optivisor, but could not get on with it at all. With 6mm ACW I went for black primer, drybrushed white and then used very dilute acrylic paints to effectively stain the primer, may work for some darker 10mm Napoleonic uniforms, but not really suitable for my Italians.

I'll second the Army Painter suggestion. I paint 10mm in Britains Detail style, using the main coat colour as a base and pick out the significant top colours ( brown packs & muskets, faces, black helmets & pouches etc) with a finer brush. I don't bother shading because I find it darkens the figures too much for my tastes, especially black (which I use as a primer on everything else!). Big blocks of colour are easier for me to identify at arms length.
Having said that, all my 10mm collections have stalled as I return to 20mm – like most 50 somethings, my eyesight is not what it was…

I prime my 28mm minis white and wash black, it helps with the cartoony look I want for Infinity.

For my Napoleonics, I'd use the Army Painter color primers. Or Krylon camo paints (primed my Portuguese Cacadores with Krylon khaki, picked out the cuffs and collars, washed with a light brown).

Am in the process of painting 250+ 10mm Austrians. Primed white, black magic wash really helps bring out the detail.54 with glasses, LED daylight lighting, still couldn't pick out the detail without a wash. The white becomes greyish, but just layer on some uniform white with finishing up touches. The reds/light blues/orange and yellow facing colours do not turn out very good with black prime. The primer used is the most important. A rough powdery texture makes painting harder, a satiny smooth surface is preferable. P3 has been the best so far, Army Painter and GW did not work as well. I tried dry brushing the white, there just wasn't enough pigment to make much of a difference.

I prime grey. Black eats the light, white is too bright to see the detail.

I'm a third for Army Painter. I prime in the uniform coat color, then do the trousers in either white or gray depending on nationality, hit the belts in white, then finally backpacks, collars/epaulets, cartridge bags, weapons, etc, in rough detail. Then use Army Painter dip, but brush it on, as dipping is good for 25/28s, but way too much for 10s.

As for figures, I really like Old Glory infantry strips. At 10mm it's hard to base the figures in close order, I.e., elbow to elbow. OG strips really solve this issue.