Sanding?

[Shawn R. L.]

Aside from removing mold lines, how much sanding do you do on an average fig? I have noticed the higher scoring fig\'s look flawless, molding wise. Is that from a flawless casting or alot of picky sanding?

 

[generulpoleaxe]

i have had to start sanding minis as a lot of the ones i have had over the last year or so haven\'t been the best.

the hasslefree stuff is good, but everything else has needed a lot more prep work.

 

[electrolito 77]

I do A LOT of sanding on metal minis especially. Most of the time I have to re-sculpt most of the detail becuse of bad cast mould lines, like the ones that no matter how careful you are it is just ruined to begin with (most GW and Rackham mini\'s). I notice that even though I just started doing Rackham, their mould lines and flash is far worse than GW, might be that I just get bad casts... But yeah, to sum things up, I do a lot of sanding, and depending on the quality of the cast, go further to re-sculpt and smooth out with fine mlilliput and GS mixed, . Yeah preparing mini\'s is the only part I hate about this hobby, that is apart from conversion work, just the cleaning part...

 

[Aidan K]

I bet you\'ll find that the painters with the best scores spend the most time prepping, including sanding, their minis!

As an average painter, I have never sanded a mini, but do the best i can with some needle files and scalpels.

 

[CrookedEye]

When I pick up a mini I go through all the blisters they have in the store to find the cleanest one, but yeah, I do a ton of sanding and smoothing on anything that I care about even a little bit.

It\'s a pain, but hey, gotta do it.

Zach

 

[Hinton]

I do a lot of sanding, filing, etc. on my minis. Some I get are fairly decent and don\'t need too much work; others are just horrible with mold lines - including some with mold lines in the hair.

On average, I\'d say that I spend about an hour or two cleaning the mold lines, removing flash and all that.

 

[DaN]

plastic stadard ones: Quick scrape over with knife and maybe file on the worst parts.

Plastic characters/large pieces: More careful scraping and filing, maybe twice as long as usual.

Metal figures are usually characters anyway (in my case), but due to the shine I seem to find lines and flaws more difficult to spot.
In this case I tend to a fair bit of scraping and filing after a quick spray over of primer - which helps me to see the detail easier. Then, after I\'ve removed as much as I can see/be bothered with I do a proper coat of primer.

 

[Ritual]

I use to smooth out most surfaces by sanding or using a fine diamond needle file. I fill in pits and such with watered down putty if necessary. A smooth surface will help you getting better results. I can easily spend 5 hours preparing a mini for painting (including assembly, filling the joints, removing the tab etc.).

 

[Dragonsreach]

Yep sand with 800 grit Wet & Dry paper on rough surfaces. Also do the wet milliput trick on pitmarkings where needed.

Sometimes I\'ve even burnished the surfaces with a Dremel and brasswire brush for extra smoothness. (Spam in a can Marines)

 

[matty1001]

Iv never sanded any figures, one or two holes with GS and milliput, a scrape with a knife and thats about it. Maybe iv always just bought well cast models.

 

[Ritual]

@matty
It\'s not like you can\'t paint a mini without sanding it, but the smoother you can get the surface the better your mini will look when it\'s done! So, I usually spend a little extra time on sanding and fixing things before painting.

 

[matty1001]

I know, but iv never noticed the need to sand one. The only stuff i have needed to sand is resin.

 

[Hinton]

Originally posted by matty1001
I know, but iv never noticed the need to sand one. The only stuff i have needed to sand is resin.

Guess you\'ve been really lucky or something. It seems like every other mini or so that I get requires hours of cleaning and prep work because of all of the flash and mold lines.

 

[matty1001]

The longest iv need was about 5hrs for Adrea\'s Volgor the skull Hunter, but that needed double pinning, and greenstuffing along all the joins.

 

[Ritual]

Even Hasslefree minis with their extreme high standard of casting gets a run over with the wet and dry before priminig! I have yet to see a metal mini that wouldn\'t benefit from a bit of sanding.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Ever come across those \"mystery details\" that you\'re not sure what the blazes they are and are probably some gob in the mold? I do find myself removing suspect stuff because it just dosent make sense or simply adds to the clutter. I have also been sanding down some of the rivets. Some are more like rounded peg\'s than a proper, low profile rivit.

 

[Hinton]

Originally posted by Shawn R. L.
Ever come across those \"mystery details\" that you\'re not sure what the blazes they are and are probably some gob in the mold? I do find myself removing suspect stuff because it just dosent make sense or simply adds to the clutter. I have also been sanding down some of the rivets. Some are more like rounded peg\'s than a proper, low profile rivit.

Oh yeah. There have been a few times where I\'ve sat and looked at a mini trying to figure what something was.

Is it part of the clothing or is it flash? Is that supposed to be a pouch of some kind? And just what in the hell is that thing??

Like you, if it doesn\'t make sense or if I just can\'t figure out what it is exactly, I remove it.

 

[Arkzein]

Never sanded one myself either, usually get rid of mold lines with my old, rather rough, needle files. Though I must admit I am terrible for leaving little bits of mold lines/miscasting in hard to see/file places on non-\"special\" models. No one would probably ever notice, but I know they\'re there.

As for *aside* from removing mold lines? None whatsoever, the thought has honestly never even crossed my mind. (Mind you the same of which could be said for a lot of things before finding CMON, I was a terrible painter until then).

May try out a little wet/dry paper and see.

 

[Talonicus]

I always file, scrape and sand minis. Plastic, metal or resin. You have to get a good finish before you can paint. My soft brass wire brush is also constantly used. A smooth surface to paint on is worth any time it takes for preparation.

Most minis seem to need a \"wash\" vof milliput to smooth out imperfections.
Maybe I am just anal.

Nigel

 

[Avelorn]

I\'ve noticed that most rougher parts on my minis are because of bad prepping work. So I have started taking more time doing it now on my display work. Definately the worst part of this hobby. But at the same time it feels silly to spend so much time on a mini just to have certain lacklustre spots because of bad prepping.