For my continuing series on crafting/modding....
(I hate the word pimping, not for the obvious reasons, but my brain doesn't really make a connecting analogy between dressing up the game and pimping. I suspect that the phrase really comes from awesome purple hats with fringe and the infamous goldfish shoes.)
...I come to the realization that I am inadequately prepared to actually paint minis. We're still unpacking, and will be for a few months. There is plenty of space to paint, but I packed my game room with a sort of glorious bravado that dismissed the pithy notion of labeling boxes as to their contents. We went by room instead.
I have 2500 board games. That's a lot of freaking boxes. So I've been unpacking, and stacking games on the shelves, looking for my beloved Reaper paint sets.
Class 201: Prepping
First step to prepare for painting is to rinse off the minis. Only once have I ever been witnessed the horror of watching paint just flake off a figure, but I spend the 10 minute or so to bathe everything.
With plastic minis, they usually spray this oily stuff into the molds before casting that makes it easier to remove the minis. Paint doesn't like it. A quick bath in dishwashing detergent followed by a long rinse is probably all that is needed. But a toothbrush can be used if you are really worried.
For today's classes I am stealing two ideas from other people. For base coats on the minis, I'm stealing Chris Miller's (MillertimeRC) idea. Use Army Painter colored primer in the 4 iconic colors. He basically does the full Army Painter speed painting technique and painted his set in a couple of hours. Check the BBS gallery for his take.
I've been using Army Painter primer for plastics alternatively with Rustoleum plastic primer. The Army Painter seems to maintain more detail, but at a pretty hefty cost. Cans are $12-$15. And the excuse to have some of the colored primers around for speed painting
And Army Painter primers always got a mixed set of reviews. I think I found out why. If it has a big white button, it is a reformulation that works really well. There are some older cans still around which kind of suck. The base coats are slightly uneven, and the paint doesn't come out in as precise a fine mist. It also doesn't seem to have the amazing coverage that the shiny new cans have. Roughly on par with the Rustoleum, but in more colors.
In this pic, yellow and red are old cans, blue and green are new.
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Of course, this isn't close to done. We'll need to actually paint the detail, and provide a scheme which lets you tell the fighter squadrons apart. As soon as I find the magic box.
Class 202: Stands
My painting technique probably works out so that I can add the stands now. That will give me something to hold onto while painting, and as long as I have a basecoat down, I won't be making much of a mess.
I was NOT looking forward to trying to get stands on these. Generally, the procedure is drilling a hole with my Dremel drill press, and carefully gluing to the top of whatever fragile spiky thing is the top of my stand.
Getting ships to stay on the things is a major pain, especially with smaller ships like the fighters.
For once, the very flat bottoms of the minis is going to do some good. Francis Lalumiere (weishaupt) came up with the idea of just gluing black cubes under his figures and being done with it.
I do like black as a stand color, but I have a totally original idea that is not at all related to black cubes. Completely different. Totally.
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So the not-cubes can just be glued on with superglue. As both sides are flat with a decent surface area, CA glue will create a bond that isn't going to be coming apart anytime soon. The ships weigh as much as the cyl....not-cubes, so I do worry a bit about how stable these will be. I'll finish painting (BOXES!!! They task me!) and then add a Fender washer underneath if it needs more support.
And the bases look really good at game table view height. They do kind of vanish against the board.
A couple more pics of the minis in progress, and then I'm off to actually play boardgames for the first time in a couple of weeks.
![]()
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(I hate the word pimping, not for the obvious reasons, but my brain doesn't really make a connecting analogy between dressing up the game and pimping. I suspect that the phrase really comes from awesome purple hats with fringe and the infamous goldfish shoes.)
...I come to the realization that I am inadequately prepared to actually paint minis. We're still unpacking, and will be for a few months. There is plenty of space to paint, but I packed my game room with a sort of glorious bravado that dismissed the pithy notion of labeling boxes as to their contents. We went by room instead.
I have 2500 board games. That's a lot of freaking boxes. So I've been unpacking, and stacking games on the shelves, looking for my beloved Reaper paint sets.
Class 201: Prepping
First step to prepare for painting is to rinse off the minis. Only once have I ever been witnessed the horror of watching paint just flake off a figure, but I spend the 10 minute or so to bathe everything.
With plastic minis, they usually spray this oily stuff into the molds before casting that makes it easier to remove the minis. Paint doesn't like it. A quick bath in dishwashing detergent followed by a long rinse is probably all that is needed. But a toothbrush can be used if you are really worried.
For today's classes I am stealing two ideas from other people. For base coats on the minis, I'm stealing Chris Miller's (MillertimeRC) idea. Use Army Painter colored primer in the 4 iconic colors. He basically does the full Army Painter speed painting technique and painted his set in a couple of hours. Check the BBS gallery for his take.
I've been using Army Painter primer for plastics alternatively with Rustoleum plastic primer. The Army Painter seems to maintain more detail, but at a pretty hefty cost. Cans are $12-$15. And the excuse to have some of the colored primers around for speed painting
And Army Painter primers always got a mixed set of reviews. I think I found out why. If it has a big white button, it is a reformulation that works really well. There are some older cans still around which kind of suck. The base coats are slightly uneven, and the paint doesn't come out in as precise a fine mist. It also doesn't seem to have the amazing coverage that the shiny new cans have. Roughly on par with the Rustoleum, but in more colors.
In this pic, yellow and red are old cans, blue and green are new.
Of course, this isn't close to done. We'll need to actually paint the detail, and provide a scheme which lets you tell the fighter squadrons apart. As soon as I find the magic box.
Class 202: Stands
My painting technique probably works out so that I can add the stands now. That will give me something to hold onto while painting, and as long as I have a basecoat down, I won't be making much of a mess.
I was NOT looking forward to trying to get stands on these. Generally, the procedure is drilling a hole with my Dremel drill press, and carefully gluing to the top of whatever fragile spiky thing is the top of my stand.
Getting ships to stay on the things is a major pain, especially with smaller ships like the fighters.
For once, the very flat bottoms of the minis is going to do some good. Francis Lalumiere (weishaupt) came up with the idea of just gluing black cubes under his figures and being done with it.
I do like black as a stand color, but I have a totally original idea that is not at all related to black cubes. Completely different. Totally.
So the not-cubes can just be glued on with superglue. As both sides are flat with a decent surface area, CA glue will create a bond that isn't going to be coming apart anytime soon. The ships weigh as much as the cyl....not-cubes, so I do worry a bit about how stable these will be. I'll finish painting (BOXES!!! They task me!) and then add a Fender washer underneath if it needs more support.
And the bases look really good at game table view height. They do kind of vanish against the board.
A couple more pics of the minis in progress, and then I'm off to actually play boardgames for the first time in a couple of weeks.
