Hints and Tips 

Tips and advice on painting miniatures

This section is my attempt to share some of my experiences over the years. Some of these nuggets of knowledge have been discovered from surfing the web, some by trial and error, but most by chance. If I recommend a product then it is not due to some deal with the manufacturer, it is because I think it’s the best that I have yet tried.

There is a wide variety of brushes, both in terms of size and material and selection of the right brush can make a huge difference to the result, but like all these thing is a matter of personal preference. For the last ten years I have been using sable brushes for all jobs except dry-brushing and varnishing. Kolinsky sable brushes seem to last longer and retain their shape much better than other materials. This means that although they cost more, they last you much longer.

Most brushes are measured using numbers ranging from 30/0 to 30, where 30/0 (30 zeros) is the smallest and 30 is the largest. For 28mm scale models you can ignore most of the brush sizes, 000 to 4 are the best sizes to use.

Recently I discovered miniature brushes, these have much shorter bristles than standard brushes meaning that you have much better control of where the paint goes. Without a shadow of a doubt the best brushes I have tried are “Windsor and Newton Series 7 Miniature”. These have a much finer point than other brushes that I have tried and so you can use a Number 2 brush to paint lines that you would normally use a Number 0 or smaller.

If I had to buy a complete new set of brushes I would buy the following:

• A 3/0 for extremely fine detail (pupils of eyes, etc)
• A 0 for fine work (belts and buckles, edge highlights, etc)
• A 1 for detail work (skin, small areas of clothing, etc)
• A 2 for large areas and washes (coats, etc)
• A 4 Squirrel/pony hair for varnishing
• A 4 for bases – Not top quality, but still sable.
• A 4 flat for big dry-brushing.
• A big (8+) soft natural bristle brush for dusting.

Paints

I only use acrylic paint, this is because they don’t smell, don’t need chemicals to clean the brushes and dry very quickly. If you ask a dozen painters what the best type of paint to use is, you will get a dozen different answers. There is a wide variety of ranges of acrylic paint and within each range the consistency of the paint can vary from colour to colour, in fact some brands can vary between pots of the same colour. Bearing all of that in mind I’m not going to say which paint is best, I haven’t come across a range that is better than all of the others and I haven’t examined all the available ranges. All I can say is these are the paints I have tried and their plus points. If you are going to try a new range of paints then don’t go mad and buy the whole range get half a dozen key colours and see if they suit your painting style.

Games Workshop paints are readily available and a wide variety of fantasy colours, which a number of other ranges try and emulate. They are quite pricey for 12ml, but they are highly pigmented and generally quite consistent in their quality.

Vallejo Game Colour provide a range of colours based on the colours provided by Games Workshop. They come in 17ml eye dropper bottles that are very easy to store and use, although the nozzles do have a tendency to clog they can be unblocked easily with a paper clip. They tend to be less viscous than Games Workshop paints and have a tendency to settle so need a good shake before use. Vallejo model colour provides a massive range (150+) of colours for historical periods; these are the same quality as Vallejo Game Colour paints.

Wargames Foundry provides a range of paints that are matched in “triads”. This range provides a main colour with a shade and highlight colour. This makes painting using the “Kevin Dalimore” three-colour method incredibly easy. They come in huge 20ml pots and are a very nice consistency.

Andrea paints come in 17ml eye-dropper bottles, just like Vallejo paints. I have only tried a small sample of the paints, their skin range and white. They are of a much thicker consistency than other paints and more heavily pigmented, so can be thinned quite a lot. The skin range is a pair of triads that provide fantastic results.

Liquitex Soft body paints are ‘proper’ artists acrylics. The come in 59ml bottles or tubes and are the same consistency as Games Workshop or Wargames Foundry paints. They don’t have the range of colours that miniature paint ranges do, but they do have all the essentials and a few others beside, such as parchment that is an off white that provides a much better colour for eyes.

There are a wide variety of shapes, sizes and materials for palettes that range in price accordingly. I’ve tried quite a few now, ones with 3, 6 and 12 holes, folding palettes, I have even considered investing in proper artists palettes. However, not long ago I found the perfect palette, a white 6-inch ceramic bathroom tile, costing £5 for 100. Being 6 inches square the tile has much more room than most palettes. Being flat it allows you to use the whole space. Unless you are mixing paint for a tank then its not likely that you will need a well in you palette. I have left the best feature until last, if you soak the tile in plain tap water for an hour acrylic paint will lift off. Of course with something this good there has to be a down side. Firstly dropping the tiles would not be a good idea, they make quite a mess. Secondly, the underside of the tile is rough and will probably scratch the dinning room table, so it’s a good idea to make sure that there is always something underneath it to protect it, such as a rubber mat.

Preparation

Until recently I used car spray paint to undercoat my models. After a prolonged spell on inclement whether I searched for an alternative method that could be achieved inside, away from the wind and rain.

Firstly I clean any mould lines and flash from the model and then I give it a quick wash in mildly soapy water and a good rinse. The model then gets left to air dry for a few days. I then attach the model to the base that I’m going to use and hide the model’s integral base with Vallejo Course Pumice Paste. That then gets left for a couple of days to dry.

After attaching the model to a painting pole I apply a thin coat of metal primer. I water this down to about the same consistency as my paint. Then this gets left for a couple of days to dry properly.

The next stage is the undercoat. I normally undercoat the base with white gesso and the model with black gesso. Gesso shrinks as it dries, so it provides a tight undercoat. However its much thicker than most normal paints and so its very easy to obscure details with it, always apply it thinly. The reason behind the white base, is it requires less coats of my standard base colour to cover than black. I add about 25% Ultra Matt medium to the Black gesso and then thin to the normal consistency of paint. The first coat should be really light, just adding a hint of colour to the primer, rather than actually turning the model black. About half an hour later you can go and add another coat which will build up the colour. Normally a final third coat is needed to give you a uniform undercoat. Once you are happy with the undercoat then leave it for a few days to harden and then it should be ready to paint.

Not only does varnishing helps protect the finished paint work, but it can also enhance the colours. Personally I have always dreaded varnishing models, because it can go horribly wrong. I have read many pieces on what to use and why method A always works and method B never works, but I think the results are as much down to environment as they are the method and materials. So that said, this is what works for me, it might work for you or it might not.

After finishing the model and checking it over I leave it in a cupboard for at least 24 hours, longer if I have used washes. This allows the paint to dry totally. The most important part is to protect the model from dust during this phase, but if they are in a sealed container they won’t dry out properly. If dust is a major issue then I would suggest placing an inverted cardboard box over the models to try and shield them a bit.

Once the models are dry apply a coat of Humbrol Gloss varnish, thinned by adding about 10% White Spirit. As always its better to apply two thin coats rather than 1 thick one. If you apply varnish to thickly then it won’t set properly, meaning you might as well not have applied it in the first place. Leave the model in a well ventilated but dust free place to dry, it should be touch dry in 15 to 30 minutes, but it needs to be left for at least 24 hours to properly dry.

Then apply a coat of Daler~Rowney Soluble Matt Varnish. Again this wants to be thinned by adding white spirit. It needs to be a bit thinner than the gloss varnish and applied to about the same thickness as a normal layer of paint. When the varnish first goes on it is very glossy, but as it dries it becomes more matt. It takes about 24 hours to become fully matt, but you should know after about 30 minutes if it is going to need a second coat.

My method involves some superstitions and is not based on scientific principles, it works for me and I’m sticking to it. I understand that gloss and matt varnish are the same hardness, the only significant difference being that the matt varnish has matting agent added. However I can’t bring my self to apply matt varnish directly onto a model, because of an incident that happened some years ago when I trashed a squad of 20 models by applying matt varnish without gloss, they all turned white. Now I know that this was more likely to be a dodgy tin of varnish, or not leaving the paint to dry, but I still can’t risk it.

Sometimes is possible for models to develop glossy patches after they have been touched, this is usually oils from the skin rather than the matt varnish rubbing off.

I used to paint models whilst holding the base and resting my finger on their head. I always found that I would rub the paint off the boots/feet and head. The paint rubbing off was due to not priming the models properly; however I had a think about how I could hold the models more securely. I had seen people with models on wine corks, but that didn’t work out for me, I’m just too clumsy. So I brought a length of 25mm dowel and a piece of 2”x2” and set to them with a saw and drill. The result was a number of 4” long bits of dowel (just a bit bigger than my fist) that slots into 12” long bits of 2”x2”. This lets me pick up the model I want to paint, have a nice firm hold on it and then drop him back into the secure base. For cavalry riders I glue the moulding tag into an upturned 25mm square base. To attach the models to the poles I use Blu-Tac, I got my fingers burnt once to often using a hot glue gun, literally.

Taking photographs of your miniatures is very difficult. You end up with a photo that shoes the model 3 to 10 times the real size and every detail and mistake is magnified. The secret to photographing miniatures is to ignore that detail until you have got the photo to the right size.

I’m not going to tell you which camera you should buy, the market changes to quickly. However here are some generic hints and tips that might help you choose which camera to use and how to use it.

• Lots of light (preferably daylight bulbs) 3 lights of about 150+ watts positioned one to the left at 45 degrees on to the right at 45 degrees your camera wedged in between them and one above the camera at about 45 degrees of vertical.
• You need macro mode. Check the focal range and position your camera accordingly (probably 1 to 10 cm)
• ISO The higher you go the grainier it will become, so stay down low.
• A timer will stop wobble when you let go of the shutter button.
• White balance, check that white is white by taking a photo of a bit of white paper. If you camera has a setting to change the white balance then pick the best one you can.
• Aperture controls how wide the shutter opens and therefore how much light it lets in. So this needs to be tuned to the lights that you are using.
• Exposure affects how long the shutter is open for and therefore how much light it lets in. So this needs to be tuned to the lights that you are using.

My method of finding the optimum setup is to take one model and take a picture of it with the default settings, then pick one parameter (say ISO) and go through each of the different options, download the pictures, work out which is best then stick with that and move on to the next parameter. Its time consuming, but if you make sure you write everything down when you find the settings you only have to go through it once.

I use three foolscap box files, two for the base and one for the back. This lifts the ‘floor’ of my ‘studio’ just enough so that the flexible desk lamps can point straight at the miniatures. In the two lamps there are 160watt equivalent (32W energy saving) daylight bulbs, these bulbs take about 5 minutes to warm up to a constant colour. I use a graduated blue back ground printed from this PDF file. I place my models about 5cm away from the camera and snap away. Each time I turn the camera on I check the white balance and settings are OK.