The Commander Series Forum

I've been trying to improve the quality of my miniatures, mainly the painting and as such have read a variety of painting guides on the internet and there seems to be almost as many methods as there are wargamers.

Black base coat, dry brush base colour and high light, block colour, black wash and high light, base colour and a layer of washes. A variety of washing methods some including various cleaning products to break surface tension. Some using inks and some acrylics. There was even a comment in one of the guides that dry brushing was a last resort to save a poor paint job.

I've tried a few of the methods and they seem to give similar outcomes and I think my last batch has turned out quite well. So I thought I'd ask the members of this forum for any suggestions they might have and if there are any other tips on painting they would like to share.

Chris

Try the new Games workshop washes- their Badab Black and Devlan Mud (brown) work a treat in most circumstances. I find that I tend to do my washes after I have done any dry brushing as it ties it all togetehr a bit more.

Black undercoat, wet-brush base colour, dry-brush hightlight for darker schemes. Undercoat base colour, brown ink wash, dry-brush hightlight for lighter schemes.

Try this guide www.intobattle.com, and have a look at the tutorials, I think they are among the best 6mm I have seen painted...There are also some good links on he site to other painters

Do a google search on Ritterkreig. I use troys method adapted to acryllics and without the regular trips to the oven. This is the most inspirational site IMHO, although intobattle is good too.

The Link to Ritterkrieg ( another excellent site) is on the intobattle site

Pete uses the same technique as I do.

Undercoat black, wet brush base colour, dry brush highlights, wash with Games Workshop washes- brown or black depending on how light the base colour is. Then maybe a final very light drybrushing.

If theres a camo scheme to do, I do that after washing and make sure I use very very thinned paints- about 50/50 water and paint. I then migh t do the final drybrush on top of that.

I tend to use GHQ pieces, which makes a difference because of their detail.

Use to make my own Magic Wash with GW Inks and Johnson Klear, but have now gone over to the EXCELLENT GW washes.

The approach I now have is base colour (usually a Vallejo paint as these are good and thick), with no undercoat, then a wash of the GW wash (Badab Black for Green coloured units, and either Devlan Mud or Gryphone Speia for Brown/Sand coloured units. When all dry, give them a dry brush of the original colour. Finally pick out details (engine decks, tools, tracks etc) with a two tone paint job (dark shade, light shade).

For units which have a camo scheme, I paint the full scheme, then do a wash. When dry, I then pick out the detail with a very light dry brush of GW Bleached bone.

Final step is the basing, where I don't mind getting the paint from the basing on to the models, as this adds weathering to them.

Normally work on 10 - 15 models at a time, and takes about 3 evening sessions to complete them - (1) base coat and wash (2) highlight and detail, then base coat for bases (3) finish off bases (two or three stage drybrush highlight then static grass in patches).

Finally have recently taken to giving the models a coat of Klear about 3 days after I've finished painting them. This gives them a protective coat, and is easier to apply than varnish. A day or two after the Klear has been applied, I then give them a good coat of Dullcote, and they are then ready for battle.

FR

PS Have now taken this approach for 6mm, 15mm and 28mm figures - use a base coat of their uniform (taken to using the Army Painter sprays), hit them with a GW wash, then paint highlights on in the appropriate colour. Have found this to be both quick and of a good quality. Did try the Army Painter dip, and got reasonable results on 15mm and 28mm, BUT as the dip took 24 hours to dry, I didn't find myself saving any large amount of time, so prefer to use the GW Washes.

PPS The GW Blue wash is GREAT for Naval bases - I use Gold Molding gel from the art shop to shape the sea base, paint them GW Ultra Marines Blue, give it a good coat of the Blue Wash, and then highlight the wake and the crests of the waves with white paint.

Forgot to say that one of the best tips I got from the Ritterkrieg site is to use flat/square ended brushes for the drybrushing, rather than the normal shaped ones.

Found that these give a better finish, and are quicker to use than normal brushes.

I buy mine in Tescos for £3 for a pack of 4.

Also, while I'm impressed by the intobattle site, and have tried to emulate the white undercoat and series of washes approach, I found it difficult to get a regular and repeatable result, so have reverted back to the above.

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I'll just have to try the different methods until I find one I like.

Only thing I'd add to this is that in 6mm you will do well to accentuate tones - so make everything slightly lighter; another good trick with camo schemes is to paint on the scheme in the pattern you want, wash, then paint a thinned lightened layer inside the original lines of the camo scheme - this will lift the paintjob & make the camo scheme stand out on the table - you can see this effect on my Chinese armour here: http://nikharwood.pbworks.com/%22Chinese+Dawn%2...