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Old 10-15-2021, 02:37 PM   #61
woodchuck
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Painting minis

Quote:
Originally Posted by beetle496 View Post
Are decals applied after the gloss varnish?
After, the decals adhere better to a smooth surface.
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Old 10-17-2021, 09:59 AM   #62
beetle496
 
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Default Re: Painting minis

With these miniatures, I am trying two new techniques for me:
  1. metallic (spray) base coat
  2. avoid using a brush at all (!)
I am enjoying these choices, but I am far enough along to tell that (2) is not going to work out because I am going to have to do some brush touch-ups with the metallic paint. So that means spraying into a dixie cup to get the liquid I need. It also means I need to get some thiner to clean up the brushes I use. Avoiding a mess was a good part of my motivation for (2), so a bit of a double whammy there.

For all my miniature painting, I have figured out that I very much like to use a colored spray base coat (after primer). But up to now, I have not needed an exact match in a liquid paint to the spray, because I was dry brushing over the colored spray base coat. With these miniatures, the metallic base coat is the main feature, and I am not dry brushing.

With the benefit of hindsight, and had I not already been invested in a bunch of metallic spry paint, the way I would do this is:
  1. white spray primer
  2. color spray base coat
  3. metallic dry brush (as Magesmiley suggested)
  4. optional: wash if light color base coat used
  5. spray varnish
If, like me, you want to get these miniatures painted with minimal effort, I will also take the liberty to share that I am getting good results from metallic oil paint markers. But even with the ‘fine’ tip, oil paint markers cannot get into the grooves of these miniature, and the results are not as good as using a brush. Still, I am finding the results to be satisfactory, and a little bit better than I was expecting!

If you are new to miniature painting, or otherwise be hesitant to mess with oil paints, this what I would recommend:
  1. black spray primer (which will show through many of the crevices)
  2. variety of metallic oil markers
  3. flat black oil marker (for tires)
  4. optional: flat gray oil marker for guns
  5. optional: oil markers in a variety of colors (for details, and maybe not all of your cars need to have their main color be metallic)
  6. spray varnish

Last edited by beetle496; 10-18-2021 at 06:52 PM. Reason: points -> paints
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Old 10-18-2021, 06:57 PM   #63
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Default Re: Painting minis

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Originally Posted by woodchuck View Post
After, the decals adhere better to a smooth surface.
Thanks @woodchuck! I also picked up a decal softener solution, and decal setting solution. I had no idea there were such products! My FLGS had at least two different brand names, and (when I went back) I think I might have found a third. (The instructions on that brand were in Japanese.)
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Old 11-07-2021, 07:05 PM   #64
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Default Re: Painting minis

I had a set-back with the spray varnish I used. That didn’t stop me from putting decals on a couple cars though, as I was just too impatient to not try it out. They are very sharp! I did some modeling as a kid, but never got the hang of decals, so I am very pleased that this part looks like it will turn out well for me.

I also used (Pinewood Derby) flame decals on two figures. Those decals turned out to be dry-rub transfer, which I would not have not bothered buying, had I read the small print. Those worked okay, but now I need a reliable gloss coat more than before!

My varnish was the same brand (Testors) as most of the other paints I was using. A few of the miniatures ended up with very, very small pock marks. Not unlike one might get from bubbles, but small enough to be pin pricks. The varnish went on smoothly enough, and it was a thin coat. (There was no visible foam or bubbles when I was done.)

Could this be a side effect of spraying the varnish when it too cold? (Yes, the directions say “room temperature”. That is not really a possibility for me this time of year.)

The varnish also caused paint to run on two of the figures. That is quite annoying, obviously. At this point, my choice to try and avoid brushes has (1) wasted more time than it saved, and (2) I am finishing with brushes after all. It is all just as messy as I had feared! If I paint Miniatures Sets 1 and 3, it almost certainly will not be with spray metallic oil paints!

Last edited by beetle496; 11-07-2021 at 07:25 PM.
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Old 11-07-2021, 07:49 PM   #65
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Default Re: Painting minis

Beetle,
Clear Coat can be temperature and moisture sensitive. It can also be sensitive to the distance from your model. I find that if I don't back farther away than I do with primer, sometimes my clear coats have a gray look.

I've never tried them over oil. The only time I had one cause paint to run was when I got in a hurry and the paint hadn't dried properly.

I use Testors for flat and gloss clear coats. For matte clear coats I sometimes buy a big can at Hobby Lobby from their regular spray paint aisle. You can get more for about the same price as the Testors.
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Old 11-07-2021, 08:34 PM   #66
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Default Re: Painting minis

Thanks @JimTullis for those insights. On some of the figures, the varnish did end with a gray look! I was less worried about that because my main objective at the time was to get a smoother surface for the decals. That part worked well enough for four of the miniatures.

I think I need a different clear coat product. Given the weather, maybe a liquid? (So I can do that step inside.)

The varnish acting a thiner (but just for one brand of the oil markers I was using) is something I read that can happen. The phenomenon is one of the reasons the instructions say to do a test spray. But a test spray would have delayed my progress a whole day. In my case, about half the twelve miniatures had no problems at all from the varnish, so a test spray would only have had a 50/50 chance of giving me some warning!

Last edited by beetle496; 11-07-2021 at 08:39 PM.
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Old 11-08-2021, 07:20 AM   #67
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Default Re: Painting minis

Beetle,
When I'm using new paints or techniques I often spray different base coat options on a piece of cardboard (often a frozen pizza box). Then I'll try the new paint or whatever and then spray it with clear coat. Sometimes I'll also try different clear coats this way. It adds a day or two to my process but I can often sneak it in while waiting for the actual models to arrive or to dry from the cleaning step.

I've already done some of this for Car Wars, but I haven't had time to cleanup the models. I might not get to paint until spring. :(
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Old 11-09-2021, 06:46 PM   #68
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Default Re: Painting minis

@JimTullis – It would not have occurred to me that glossy card stock was a sufficient stand-in, so thanks for another good tip.

You are clearly more professional about painting than I am. How much cleanup do you feel the minis need? I am about done with the core twelve, and have no regrets about skipping that step.

It turns out I have a whole unopened set of glossy acrylics. Just Testors, but that is a good start. I do not remember buying them. I think I must have picked them up before I bought the bunch of spray metallics from when A.C. Moore closed two years ago. It makes no sense to me that I would have purchased that paint set for Car Wars, but I can’t of what other projects I might have had in mind.

I do like how well some of the minis are turning out. Shiny! But not having a liquid that exactly matches the spray has been a problem for me.

I broke out my flat acrylics to finish off the guns and some other details with the core twelve. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy brush painting with modern water-based acrylics! And now that I have a whole set of paints, which would be a shame to waste…

I didn’t think I would bother painting Sets 1 and 3, but now I think need to buy Sets 2 and 4, and paint all twenty. No hurry, but if I do that, each set would get a team color (red/blue/green/yellow). With five distinct cars, each player could probably pick something that reflected their build. If I find a Plano box that is a good fit to the vacuum-formed trays, that might be too tempting a path to resist!
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Old 11-09-2021, 08:06 PM   #69
JimTullis
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Default Re: Painting minis

Beetle,
I always wash my minis with warm soapy water to make sure there isn't any mold release left on them. Since these are hollow, drying will take longer. Also, several of mine have some gaps that need to be filled and some rough spots along the mold lines.

I'm not a pro painter, but I've had several years of experience.
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