Author Topic: A newbies attempt to answer his own questions. And comes up with more.. (Read 12536 times)

AnejoDave · « **Reply #30 on:** 22 August 2011, 09:59:04 »

Yea, new blades only. I've learned this lesson more than once in my life.

Started painting yesterday on a Cauldron-Born. Difficult mech to start with, perhaps, but my Kingfisher is unprimed and needs an arm re-attached.

Going very odd with the scheme, just to see how some things work. I'll post pics in Stages.

StCptMara · « **Reply #31 on:** 22 August 2011, 21:42:55 »

Oh! One more good tip for new painters!

Just because you have gotten half-way through the painting of a miniature and it looks horrible
means NOTHING. *looks at the Atlas, Archer, and Fire moth on work table that looked horrible two days ago,
and now are coming together* Seriously! Minis seem to, for me at least, look horrible until the point where everything
starts to come together from the point of a single detail or touch. Do not dismiss a mini as "failed" until you are
finished.

(which does make me wonder: how many of the vets posting in here have that happen with them?)

EvilOverlordX · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 August 2011, 11:15:38 »

Quote from: StCptMara on 22 August 2011, 21:42:55

Oh! One more good tip for new painters!

Just because you have gotten half-way through the painting of a miniature and it looks horrible
means NOTHING. *looks at the Atlas, Archer, and Fire moth on work table that looked horrible two days ago,
and now are coming together* Seriously! Minis seem to, for me at least, look horrible until the point where everything
starts to come together from the point of a single detail or touch. Do not dismiss a mini as "failed" until you are
finished.

(which does make me wonder: how many of the vets posting in here have that happen with them?)

I agree, 100%. I'm working on the first two 'mechs in a "Four Horsemen" lance. My "Death" 'mech, which is a Nova Cat Prime, started out with an undercoat of Reaper Master Colors' Ghoul Skin, and then a coat of Moldy Skin. I wasn't feeling too happy about it at that point, so I decided to a wash with a really diluted Light Green, about 7 or 8:1, since corpses should be kind of moldy. I was much happier after that, although it did appear suspiciously like the Statue of Liberty :). A couple of dry-brushings have fixed that issue, and it's nearly complete.

John.

Grave · « **Reply #33 on:** 24 August 2011, 15:27:07 »

Another thing about hobby knives, Xacto knives, and anything else sharp you're using to create an effect or remove glue/sprue/file something with: Go slowly. If you're using a properly sharp blade, it shouldn't take a lot of force and should cut cleanly. You can remove a fingertip with an Xacto knife, especially if you're pushing hard at an awkward angle and the knife is particularly dull.

Try to cut away from yourself, and when you absolutely can't for some reason, invest in a set of clamps. Clamp > finger removal.

AnejoDave · « **Reply #34 on:** 30 August 2011, 13:10:30 »

And my first NIB Mini purcahse is?! 20-840 Warhammer. 12.99

StCptMara · « **Reply #35 on:** 30 August 2011, 22:19:27 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 30 August 2011, 13:10:30

And my first NIB Mini purcahse is?! 20-840 Warhammer. 12.99

Is that the 8K or the standard Warhammer mini?

AnejoDave · « **Reply #36 on:** 30 August 2011, 22:59:22 »

The cardboard is a nice blue color...

StCptMara · « **Reply #37 on:** 30 August 2011, 23:15:58 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 30 August 2011, 22:59:22

The cardboard is a nice blue color...

Oh! An unseen! Well, then..it will be as easy to put together as the 8K

RJM · « **Reply #38 on:** 31 August 2011, 01:19:59 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 30 August 2011, 13:10:30

And my first NIB Mini purcahse is?! 20-840 Warhammer. 12.99

You picked up a NIB blue-carded WHM for $12.99? That's a pretty great price!

AnejoDave · « **Reply #39 on:** 31 August 2011, 09:53:31 »

Considering the one not put up as Buy it Now is currently over $45, and the last one (not NIB) I bid on went over 60, I'm ptetty estatic, thus the slight bit of bragging.

When you start with the Second Edition and Reinforcements2, the old Warhammer has a special place in your heart.

Now if only my painting was going better.

I've done some work on some plastics. The orange I've got looks...interesting when put over a black base coat. Rust looking, even. not sure how it'll turn out after more coats.

The green mixture I created though works really well. I'm pretty happy with those two mini's.

I'm going to buy a Crab to work on my Drybrushing on.

Starting next week I should be painting metal.

What is the best brush-on primer? Winter is coming and spray cans arn't going to work so well.

StCptMara · « **Reply #40 on:** 31 August 2011, 10:56:58 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 31 August 2011, 09:53:31

I'm going to buy a Crab to work on my Drybrushing on.

Good choice to be practicing with dry brushing on. The shape of the mini actually makes it BEG for drybrushing
to do your highlighting.

Oh..one thing I recommend: Art pens! The very, very fine ones work very well for some things(like doing the
panels when you find yourself doing bright/light colours)

As for brush on primer..that, I am not too sure on. Heck, I only recently started using primer...

Papabees · « **Reply #41 on:** 31 August 2011, 11:21:18 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 30 August 2011, 13:10:30

And my first NIB Mini purcahse is?! 20-840 Warhammer. 12.99

Wow. That was a steal. I look forward to blowing it up. :D

Charlie Tango · « **Reply #42 on:** 02 September 2011, 13:28:50 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 31 August 2011, 09:53:31

What is the best brush-on primer? Winter is coming and spray cans arn't going to work so well.

If you can find it, I like to use No-Prep Metal Paint from DecoArt. Now you will need to get a bottle of their Clear Medium to thin it, but I have found it to make a tremendous brush-on primer. And it even comes in colors, which makes it REALLY easy to paint certain schemes. (Sword of Light? No problem. Marik Militia? No problem...)

AnejoDave · « **Reply #43 on:** 02 September 2011, 13:45:34 »

Awesome, what Ratio, or just follow the directions on the Medium?

Charlie Tango · « **Reply #44 on:** 02 September 2011, 15:14:58 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 02 September 2011, 13:45:34

Awesome, what Ratio, or just follow the directions on the Medium?

I usually do 4 drops paint to 1 drop medium, but I tend to mix in small batches. You will want to put it on what will seem like pretty thick but it tightens up pretty well. Obviously spray primer is *better*, but I like this stuff.

You will want to get a bottle of cheap white vinegar also; the directions on the paint say to clean the surface (in this case the assembled mini) in vinegar and let it dry before painting. It's not absolutely necessary but I find it adheres better if I do that.

StCptMara · « **Reply #45 on:** 11 September 2011, 08:51:57 »

So.....reading this thread, and seeing a number of the painters I respect recommend ColorPlace spray primer, I was thinking
"You know...maybe I should try that..."

Now, today, I went to prime a test piece for a paint scheme, and the last round of holiday presents for my group(It takes me
time to paint a mini, especially when I paint presents which require me to put ALOT more care into, and so have to take breaks
from), I noticed that, aside from my current grey primer(Krylon because Wal-mart was out of my normal grey primer) they were all...
ColorPlace Primer. I could not help but laugh!

(That said, while I will use the Krylon grey up.....I do NOT like it as much as the ColorPlace)

TheDean · « **Reply #46 on:** 11 September 2011, 20:47:23 »

Quote from: AnejoDave on 15 August 2011, 19:49:47

Okay, as I manged to cut myself not a minute into trimming my first mini, what do you guys do/use to prevent cuts?

Sharp blades. Practice.

AnejoDave · « **Reply #47 on:** 20 September 2011, 09:41:39 »

So I picked up some Galeriea Flow Improver and attempted to make a wash based off the directions on the Flow improver.
20 parts water(brita filtered) 2 drops flow improver, one drop black paint(From JoAnn's, can't recall brand). Mixed by in my normal paint tray(.99 cent thing from JoAnn's). At the very least, I think I'm going to do this in larger batches in the future. I'm not sure I was able to properly mix such a small amount in little divots of my plastic tray.

I had done some reading on how to apply a wash and just went at it.. I'm not at all sure I got the results I was expecting.

https://picasaweb.google.com/atwooddm/BattletechPainting?authuser=0&feat=directlink

At this point, I'm very much still in the "try it until its done, then wipe it clean and try it again" stage of painting.
I'm going to 'finish' the Cerberus , Otscout and Kingfisher and the Kingfisher will definitely be going in the PineSol. The other two may stand as examples of 'first drafts' of my paining work. If I dislike them so much I redo them, the Exterminator in the background will get painted immediately and will serve that purpose.

While I was getting the flow improver, I saw the 'artist paints' that they had. Is the reason noone uses those due to the need to mix your own with flow improver, medium, extender, etc?

AnejoDave · « **Reply #48 on:** 20 September 2011, 15:32:55 »

Discovered BrushThralls while slow at work today.

That will help quite a bit

TheDean · « **Reply #49 on:** 21 September 2011, 11:46:44 »

Hmm, your wash seems to be siting on the surface to much, it looks like it's getting into the crevasses but it's also glazing the model. I would increase the pigment a bit and increase the flow enhancer and try it on a test model. The other thing to note is the second coat goes on much better as the the paint is less poorest and so the was has a better tendency to slip into the cracks.