"mini cost and pro-painting" Topic

Okay, we are in early stages of this, but I now have stl files (from Knuckleduster) of things like dead horses and bison and standing horses for my dismounted rangers, and so forth. Once you have the 3d printer the minis are only pennies each. It will not be long before I can get some really nice minis for maybe a third of what I pay now, buying the stl files and printing as many as I want.

I have only rarely paid Fernando to paint for me, but -- especially as I get old -- I think that will be far more attractive when the money I save on the minis can go into a pro paint job. TOTAL cost to me might stay the same, within my hobby budget.

Thoughts?

Knuckleduster has just started to release stl files (for personal use only, per end user agreement) for their Old West factions, which have a half a dozen gunfighters in mounted and dismounted versions. If you only get one the cost is pretty close to what you pay for their own-printed physical mini, but a lot of the cowboys are generic enough that I'd want three of four of each painted distinctly. Counting the cost of the stl, which is about $4 USD/figure for the mounteds, and with resin prices, I think were I to do say 2o riders and same on foot, each to be painted uniquely, it would come to maybe $2 USD or $3 USD per pair, which is 20% or 30% of normal. At that cost for the "lead: -- the resin -- I can easily justify paying for a good paint job.

Of course I enjoy painting my own, but there are times when you have money but not TIME, or when the octogenarian eyes just are not up to it anymore.

Age can certainly affect one's desire to paint. The figs I recently completed could easily be the last ones I paint.

The figs I recently completed could easily be the last ones I paint.

My brother, who was my last wargaming buddy (and had been for the last ~55 years) passed away in 2024 with MND. I didn't paint at all for 9 months after that, and now I only paint to finish off armies.

I enjoy the painting. The difficulty in finding opponents is frustrating, but at least I have the joy of creating the miniature army--or even the complete miniatures game.

That said, if you don't enjoy the painting, or the quality of your own work bothers you, by all means talk to a pro. As noted, the price of a figure is falling rapidly.

robert, yes, and increasingly I am playing solo, and writing rules and scenarios and such.

Painting is one of the joys of the hobby for me, so I wouldn't consider saving money by outsourcing it.

Wait till you get OLD!

Or just are in a period of your life when you have money but no TIME.

I'm 70 and paint a couple of hours every day. In the dark days of the Northwest winters, a day without painting is like listening to Bill Withers sing "Ain't No Sunshine" on a loop.

Age is also my issue. It's not just painting but it is the time to do it. What I mean by that is I don't have too many haircuts left and I need to accelerate my projects, so I can enjoy them while I am still able to. I am outsourcing more of my painting. I just wish there were some good reliable painters here in the states.

doc mcb, if having your mini's professionally painted for you, satisfies you,

Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!!!

No one's opinion matters but your's. It is your money, spend it however you dang well please! LOL!

When I started out collecting my fantasy armies, I paid a local friend to paint them for me: he had painted 10,000+ mini's of diverse scales at that point, circa 1995. After he showed me his brand new, .75 caliber black powder musket my payments had purchased for him, I decided that I could fill the trunk of my car with high quality paints, brushes, etc., for what I had already paid him. I began painting for myself after that.

I made a conscious choice to paint for myself, knowing full well, my painting skills were far inferior (well, I thought so, anyway). LOL!

I thought that I was painting to a low standard (see below), which I am happy with. I do not enjoy painting very much, but I don't have the funds to pay a pro, so I make my bed, and I lie down in it. I am happy with my choices, and that is all that matters… If people don't care for my paint work, they can find someone else's game to play -- I never lack for enthusiastic players who want to join my games with figures I mostly painted myself.

To be brutally honest, the pro painter, and others within our old gaming group, were duly impressed with the quality of my brush work early on. Around 10 years later, one member of our local gaming group, who paints to a very high quality level, bought a bunch of my painted figures from a mutual friend, not realizing I had painted them, years before (I sold them to raise money for a charity project that fell through). He was so very proud of them when he showed them to me… I never told him they had been mine, that I had painted them. ROFL! My painting is basic, but not terrible, apparently. Cheers!