"How much for a "Wargame" quality 28mm paint job?" Topic

Not including the cost of the miniature itself, how much should a basic 25/28mm (infantry) mini cost if painted at "Wargame" or "Tabletop" standards.

For the sake of this poll the mini can be from any time frame but should not be an overly difficult mini like Napoleonics or 40k monsters, etc…

Thanks.

Well Fernando just advertised a 15% sale. They're a highly recommended painting service to begin with, you can always get a quote from them.

miniaturelovers.com

'Tabletop standard' is still pretty subjective.

My definition of Tabletop Standard, is what I paint my figures to: simple block painting, followed by The Dip. I spend around 10 minutes of actual painting time, per 25-28mm figure, and this includes the Dip'ing, which I actually paint on, quickly. At arm's length, they look good enough to game with.

If they want a simple basing technique, I would paint PVA Glue on the MDF bases, dipping them into a mixture of 2-3 colors of sand, mixed with model RR ballast, which looks like larger rocks surrounding the figure. It's not bad looking, quick, and easy. It adds around 5 minutes per figure, so 15 minutes per figure, and this is working in an assembly-line fashion.

If I were to paint and base for others, for a fee, I would need $15 USD/hour, minimum. That would translate into $3.75USD per figure. To paint 100 figures, I would charge $375 USD, spending 25 hours painting them all. I would prefer to make $30 USD/hour, so that would increase my fee to $7.50USD per figure, so for 100 figures, I would receive an income of $750 USD for 25 hours of work. Note that I have factored in the simple bases for these calculations.

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To answer your question, succinctly, I would say $3.75USD per figure to $7.50USD per figure.
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Just some napkin calculations to think about. This assumes, of course, that I enjoy painting for others, who would be willing to meet my terms… Cheers!

I was looking forward to this thread. But apparently everyone is staying away like it's radioactive.

I was looking forward to this thread. But apparently everyone is staying away like it's radioactive.

That's because it is. If you think that anyone is going to pay $7.50 USD per figure for the paint job advocated by Sgt Slag, guess again.

I have sold painted figures in the flea market for $3 USD each,usually Old Glory 28mm. However its not my living,just hobby money.

I would not pay for something I love to do myself.

There are many thing to take into account when you are trying to figure that. First of all, what you consider wargame or tabletop level: this can vary wildly. With this it will also change the time you need to paint the single figure. Then you should consider whether this is something you are doing in your free time or if it is the job your living comes from: this will generally mean also that, in the latter case, you need to factor in your costs also the taxes and all the other dues relative to the country you are living in, while often the former is performed without paying taxes of any kind.
Once you know how much time you will need, how much that time is worth to you and what costs you need to cover, you can easily find out the price yo u need to charge

We can offer our collector quality at 1.70 USD per foot.
Please see different qualities here;
link
We have special offer till 30th June,2019. Please email the figure count for a quote.

I can paint up your miniatures for you from £4.50 GBP each, which covers the following:

Prep and Priming
Basecoats over the whole figure
Washes over the whole figure
Main area highlights
Face and hands highlights
Insignia details
Base prepared for basing

Check out more here:

link

This basic level is my 'Warband' level.

Thanks!

link

1 dollar.

That's for no prep, just 3 colours + base colour.

It does depend what you call wargame quality. I feel anything quick, thats more than one colour would fulfill the request. The more colours the better, plus highlights, washes so on, but they aren't needed to play games. Anything more than bare plastic or metal with some contrast (eg more than 1 colour) should work at least.

The H Man for the win.

I didn't think it possible that $1 USD paint jobs can still exist in today's world, but if it's a vanilla scheme you can speed paint fast enough you can live off of it.

Cheers.

They are good for of loads of skeletons, orcs or Napoleonics/ACW and the like.

As with most things, you get what you pay for, it all boils down to your definition of "wargame quality". Painted miniatures are not a vital necessity, many people, especially in the tournament scene, are more than happy to play with unpainted figures. Many others feel that having them painted enhances the experience (well, I do for sure, of course) and there you have the personal preference dictating the level of "pop" you like to see on your table: once again, some are happy with flat cardboard cutouts and $1.00 USD paintjobs, others want more immersive experiences with fully modeled tables and more accurate paintjobs. To each his own.