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Painting 10mm ACW Figures in 7 Steps


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5 March 2002page first published

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Reader Alamo36t sends in these tips for painting American Civil War figures in 10mm scale:


This method is called Seven Step Dab, Dab, Dabadoo 2445 and it's copyright, so don't get any ideas.

10mm ACW figures

These runts paint up quite nicely. I did 24 in no more than 45 minutes.

  1. Remove flash
  2. Prime black
  3. Hot glue to wide craft sticks
  4. Dab with white on high areas (i.e. top of cap, upper part of arms and thighs, shoulders, packs, rifle butt)
  5. Now dab on ACW Union whichever blue you prefer, just enough to cover the white highlight you gave them and maybe a little over that
  6. Do rifle butt, back pack, haversack (cartridge box leave alone - you could highlight it with a little dark gray if you want, it's black anyway), flesh (I do it first coat darker, second coat lighter for that 3d effect)
  7. Finally, I highlight the blue of the jacket with a lighter shade of blue on the upper upper parts that would see the most light
10mm ACW figures

All this was done in no more than 45 minutes, promise. Remember get just enough paint on the brush so you really don't need to stroke ( because there isn't eough room to). You only need to dab carefully and the paint will flow just right for the mini.

Oh! I forgot to mention the obvious - paint the base. Don't forget it like I always do until I'm flocking the guys.

10mm ACW figures

I do have a suggestion for all games using 10mm minis - use enough light so that you can really appriciate the figures. This is my main complaint at many wargames conventions - not enough light. Guys spend hours and hours painting minis and preparing terrain and when they run a game it's practically in the dark. Accepted wargamers are not the most handsome bunch, but hey, the minis need to be lighted to be appreciated.