Prepping Metal Minis Question

[Wihtesparrow]

Even though I'm still in the process of painting (slowly but surely) my first mini. . . I thought I'd like to know what it's like to work with metal minis. So I picked up some of Warmachine's Grundback Gunners!!

I do have a question though. I know that minis have a residue on them from the casting process and that washing in warm soapy water and scrubbing with a toothbrush and rinsing is supposed to remove this residue. But, are they supposed to be any more shiny after you wash them due to the residue removal or is the removal less of a visual confirmation? I've heard some say that they get more shiny after washing, but I washed as thoroughly as I could and look at the results (1st picture: before scrub/wash 2nd picture: after). The third picture is in place to show how shiny the metal got whenever I was removing mold lines/flash with an xacto knife. You can see a clear division between almost a matte finish on the right of the top smoke stack and straight up metallic shine on the left of it. I just wanted to know how much difference there was supposed to be in the appearance of the metal after successfully removing the release agent residue from washing...because mine essentially seemed the same before and after and I'm fairly certain I don't have a toothbrush as abrasive as an xacto knife.

 

[TrystanGST]

Don't worry about shininess. If you've soaped it, you'll be ok. The exacto is removing metal, which is why it's shinier. Hopefully your toothbrush isn't!

 

[Wihtesparrow]

Boom...solved. Thanks, buddy.

 

[RuneBrush]

Some people actually buff their mini so the whole piece is polished.

 

[Einion]

Some people actually buff their mini so the whole piece is polished.

QFE

The old-school prep technique for metal figures is that the entire thing should be shiny when you're done*. Some of that was just tradition - a "this is the way things are done" kind of thing - but other than the smoothing of the surface there's a reason for doing this that's not so obvious: you're removing oxide from the surface so you get a better bond with the metal. This is helpful for the primer, but it's even more important for the glued surfaces; those at the very least should be shiny metal because otherwise you might be bonding oxide to oxide, not metal to metal.

*From a brushing with a brass or bronze brush, gentle rubbing with fine steel wool or a fibreglass eraser, burnishing with the side of a needle and other techniques.

Einion

 

[TrystanGST]

...and then an arm falls off and ruins your paint. Excellent insight as always, Einion.

 

[PegaZus]

Just for show, here is a link to two metal flats that I shined up, the results of what Einion was talking about: Link.

They were as "powdery" as your parts are when I started. Worse probably.

 

[Wihtesparrow]

Egad!! I guess not so simple as I originally though. Now I want to shine them up. I'll try to see where I can pick up a bronze/brass brush/fine steel wool. Einion, you helpful little person, you. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

[Einion]

:good:

One of the best kinds of brass-bristled brushes to use for this can often be a suede brush if you can still find the right type. Bristles tend to be a bit thinner, and hence softer, than your typical brass brush in a kit from the DIY place/hardware store, although those can work too. I have an older model of the Harris suede brush, must be around 30 years old now and still going strong.

A quick tut on the Prince August site showing a brass brush in use that I happened to stumble across, here.

Steel wool is a great conformable abrasive, very good for lots of jobs in the hobby so well worth having some on hand. The finest is 0000 grade, which is hard to find now (esp in a large pack) but well worth hunting down as it's noticeably finer than 000. I like to describe it as like steel candy floss (cotton candy) to give an idea of just how soft it is in case you ever see it packed with a different grading system.

The scratch pattern that 0000 leaves is nearly invisible to the naked eye, smooth enough that you could prime straight over it so it's a great last-step smoother/finisher when removing file marks or sanding scratches.

Einion