Painting - how to get started

1. Remove the ingate with a pair of side cutters or a small hack saw. Be carefull not to remove too much metal and leave a flat in the figure.

2. File the cut surface back into the shape of the model.

3. File off any flash from the figure, the flash is the raised line formed by the joining of the halves of the mould. The bottom should be flattened if necessary. Even the slightest trace of flash left on a figure can make it more difficult to paint.

4. Glue the figure to something to make it easier to hold. A small piece of wood superglued to the base makes a good handle.

5. Wash the figure in warm soapy water (normal hand soap is the best) in preparation for painting. Use an old tooth brush to give the figure a good scrub. You remove all the talc from the surface and make the figure shine. After cleaning the figure avoid touching the surface to be painted.

6. Prime the pieces with a mid grey undercoat then allow 24 hours to dry. Use white if you want your model to have bright colours, however this makes it more difficult to see detail on the model. You can use car spray primer, which leaves a slightly rough surface. This is good for achieving dry brush effects.

7. Paint the detail which is difficult to get to such as faces and then paint out from that. If the figure has an over all colour it may be best to paint say the whole colour of a coat and then paint the straps on over the coat colour.

8. Paint as supplied is usually too thick. Thin with the appropriate thinners until it covers the areas touched by the brush but does not spread to other areas. Several thin coats of paint will give a better colour & leave no brush strokes.

9. Thinning a paint and then washing over a surface of a similar colour will leave a trace of the colour in the folds (as paint will tend to dry away from raised areas). A darker colour over a lighter shade of the same colour gives the effect of the shadows over the folds of a cloak.

10. Shading or dry brushing will enhance detail on the figures giving better depth and animation. A slightly lighter colour on the edges of items that get worn, on leather boots and the edges of bags gives a more realistic effect.

11. We recommend that you give the figures a coat of either matt or gloss varnish. Remember however never to varnish over metal finish paints as this may cause the metallic sheen to spread to other areas which you have carefully painted.

Coating: Giving an area an opaque layer of paint; primary colours with no white content, ie, red or yellow may need an initial base of white before applying the coat.

Washing: a mixing of paint with water so that it is transparent when applied and freely runs into the recesses of the miniature. It must not be too watery, or it will run all the way down the figure and onto your hands. Colours with a large component of white pigment, (opaque colours), do not make good washing colours.

Drybrushing: Painting with pigment where the vehicle, (i.e., moisture), has been removed from the brush with a tissue. Technique to be used sparingly as it ruins brushes and can produce an unpleasant chalky texture. Mastery of this technique though, can produce magical results.

Highlighting: Gradual increments of progressively lighter tones graduating towards the protruding parts of the miniature. The technique is the one most commonly used in miniature painting to best effect. It is good to consider whilst highlighting that adding black to a colour does not make it deeper, but darker; similarly, adding white to a colour does not make it lighter, but whiter.