I've never seen you post anything about minis. Explain. - Mike Monaco
Other than the pre-painted minis that Wizards used to produce I've never owned any miniatures. In all honesty I've never really had an opportunity to own any as getting to a gaming store has always been an hour long trip (in some cases even more) so miniatures were always a low priority as I had to concentrate on the things that I needed like gaming books.
Lately though I've really started warming up to the idea of painting my own minis and have been trying to find a good introductory set to start with. I'm thinking about buying one of the Warhammer sets because you get a lot of figures to screw around with, but they're expensive. I don't know, what would you suggest for a new miniature painter to experiment with?
Well, I'd go with whatever is really cheap -- Reaper "bones" and second-hand pre-painted plastics like MageKnight stuff and WotC are both reasonable options if you can't find decent used metal minis. I really enjoy touching up pre-painted stuff, but that might wait until you get some practice doing details.
ReplyDeleteWarhammer stuff is very nice but expensive as you say.
I have seen "lots" of old minis go pretty cheap on eBay too, but usually a lot are broken or need to be stripped of their existing paint, which can be a hassle.
Caesar Minis is a good choice if you want a whole mess of figures cheap.
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=39 -- a little smaller than modern RPG minis but nice, and you can fill in the ranks of monsters from anywhere.
I mostly use the cheapo craft paints you can get at craft stores -- acrylics, sold in small bottles at places like Michael's, Jo-Annes, or Pat Catans, maybe Walmart or Kmart have them too, I don't shop there. Just make sure you buy some decent brushes, a 1, 0, and 2/0 or 3/0 will be enough, the main thing is having & keeping pointy tips on the brushes, which means taking care of them.
It's a great, relaxing hobby and you end up with some cool stuff to show off.
And I'm off to order some today!
DeleteStripping old paint is pretty easy - dump the figures in a jar full of Simple Green degreaser and any paint will come right off. I use a flat white spray enamel as a primer, and then usually acrylics - from the crafts stores, they're cheaper - to paint the things.
DeleteNot that I do much in the way of miniatures... :)
- chirine
Ha!
DeleteYou know the longer I use Simple Green the more I'm convinced that it can do anything.
Back when I played table top war games in high school, I painted with the acrylics paints from the hobby stores, mainly because mom was artsy fartsy and already had shelves of the shit. The color selections are immense. The washes however you need to get from the the mainstream paint houses, at that time it was Citadel Paints. Washes REALLY help define the details by adding shades/shadows.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely use primer! Nothing shittier than spending 5 hours on an Ultramarine just to have his fucking face flake off cos' the fucking dog bumped the table and Sgt Kickass took a header. That said, also use a matte sealer afterwards. I liked the spray can varieties of both.
Mike is right, really easy to fuck off a brush by leaving paint in it. Make sure to rinse often and well. I kept the clear plastic tubes on protecting the bristles when not in use.
Lastly, if I didn't like how it turned out, I'd primer that bitch and start over. Don't be afraid to clean the slate so to speak.
Do you have to strip the figures first or do you just prime over and start again?
DeleteWashed it off. Hot water and a scrub and I was back to metal.
ReplyDeleteFolkart by Plaid was the brand, lots of colors and cheap too.
Speaking of, I'll go through some boxes this weekend, might still have some.
DeleteHave you ever used an oil based paint? Or is that like a major no-no since you can't take it off?
DeleteBTW I probably have some figures I could send you for practice. Let me know what scale you go with -- I have some big "28mm" and some smaller 1/72s. I got an assload of minis BITD by buying clearanced board games like Lionheart and Battlemasters, as well as plenty of extra 1/72s. email me at mike period monaco at symbol yahoo.
ReplyDeletePrimer is important. I have started using white gesso for everything but you need to wash plastics in dish detergent to get all the mold release grease off them!
expect an email incoming my friend!
DeleteNevermind, my email hates me. Let me see what I can figure out.
Delete