Random Questions

[Sir Dibblet]

So after doing another mini which I am supremely proud as it is my 3rd attempt ever, I have a few more questions:

1) Why do my mini's seem to have rough surfaces ? Is this from the priming process or something I am doing during the painting process? (Priming is my best guess)

2) Do you get noticeably better results from thinning your paints with a thinning agent (like using airbrush thinner even though I am not airbrushing) or does distilled water work just as well?

3) Should I thin my metallic paints as much as I thin my regular paints? I feel like i only use metallic for very fine details and when I thin them they require many more multiple coats before getting them to pop like I want them to.

4) Speaking of thinning paints; how much should I thin them? I am taking shots in the dark on varying degrees of thinning.

5) Can I use non gaming/model acrylic paints? Money is always an issue for a struggling grad student like myself and paint's are expensive. The local craft store has a huge selection of 2oz bottles of "premium" water based acrylic paints for $1.50 each and I was wondering how much quality difference there is. E-bay hasn't shown too much promise in this realm (although I have bought 5 new sets of, 4 War machine and one LOTR's from E bay have only spent 60 bucks so Ive got plenty to work on now!)

6) Are there any tools, such as ultra fine brushes or otherwise that anyone can recommend for doing the super fine details such as eyes? I did OK with what I have (and I have some very small brushes) but even those felt too large.

7) Which are better for painting, Metal or Plastic? I know that for the most part everything is heading to plastic but there are still a lot of metal mini's still available cheaply and was wondering if they are easy to paint on. From what I have seen they don't always seem to have the same detail as plastic ones do...or maybe that's just poor photography on the internet.


Also: My 3td attempt (I'm patting myself on the back here a bit) I had A LOT of trouble with the face and had to re-work it a few times but I think it came out OK and I now know what not to do next time.

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[Sicks]

I'll attempt to answer some of these if can

1. Could be a number of things, paint not thinned enough, small flakes of old paint can sometimes come out from the brush, dust particles that land on wet paint, its difficult to say for sure, you should notice if its brush strokes though which is usually from the paint being a bit too thick

2. I find a medium (thinning agent) works better for me but others just use water, I find even extremely thin paint is easier to control with gw's lahmian medium than if I just use water, its a matter of taste and practice really

3. Depends on which you are using, if I'm using a gw base a thin it just a little to get it smooth but my Vallejo air metallic goes on really smooth without thinning at all

4. With water not very much I think, just enough to keep it smooth I think the general rule of thumb is one part water to one part paint, multiple thin coats is better than one thick coat, it helps preserve detail and keep a smooth finish

5. I've never tried any, but I believe there was a person here who made a set of model paints which are roughly half the price of other companies, think they are called warcolors

6. Windsor and newton series 7 are popular, I've only just got one though and haven't tried it out properly yet, if you struggle with eyes paint them first before painting the surrounding area, Theresa link to a good tutorial in the sticky thread here

7. Not much difference really in terms of painting, I find paint can run off the metal models easier but if you can avoid touching them while you paint its not a problem

 

[MAXXxxx]

1. Mostly could be: priming, dust in the air settling on the paint or too thick paint.

2. No. Once you learn brush control water is more than enough.

3. As much as regular paints? No. Metals tend to separate badly if really thinned. But a little is always ok. Although for VAC you can paint very nice even without thinning them.

4. There is no good advice. As thin as you can handle while still having progress, also it depends on manufacturer and even color. That said for basecoat I usually have a 1:1 , for shading and so between 1:2 and 1:6.

5. In theory yes, but in general they give a rougher finish. I tried 1 or 2 , but they were not for me. Now I rather have less colors of quality paint then a lot of frustrating ones.

6. No, no ultra fine brushes . A good quality brush is all you need. For eyes (and in reality for the whole figure) I use either a WnN7 size 0 or a raphaell 8404 size 0.
Also if you are lazy like me you can use a sharpened toothpick. The advantage is that the eye size will be the same for both eyes and is pretty easy to control.
7. After the primer doesn't matter. Metal models can be more detailed, plastic is easier to convert or change.

 

[airhead]

Here's a link to help with eyes:
https://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/12

The size of the brush doesn't matter as much as the shape of the tip. Actually using some of the ultra small brushes is worse as they don't carry enough paint to keep from drying out before you can dot an eye. Also brush sizes are not an industry standard. One company's 0 may be another company's 2. A good sable brush is a must and learn to take care of it.

What and how are you priming? Rattle can? Brush on? What brand?