50 replies to this topic

[Red King]

So I've gotten into collecting metal Battletech miniatures.

Well, maybe I'll use them once I've gotten a good amount more - BUT I'm anxious to paint most of them

I've done a few already,





I got jealous of people getting gold Clan mechs so I decided that having a gold AS7 in real life is better




What paints should I use? [I use Citadel Paints and I don't really have much confidence with them ]
Brushes or air brushes? And any particular brands?
Metal or Plastic?
How do people get numbers on their miniatures so well?

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

I find Model Master to be pretty good. I use it for my 40k minis.

[Red King]

Do you use normal brushes or air brushes? [or a mixture?]

I'm preeeeetty new to this

[Archon]

Numbers / logos / unit insignias are often actually decals. The only place I know of to get them is from Fighting Piranha Graphics; http://www.fightingp...hagraphics.com/

[Red King]

Archon, on 27 May 2014 - 03:16 PM, said:

Numbers / logos / unit insignias are often actually decals. The only place I know of to get them is from Fighting Piranha Graphics; http://www.fightingp...hagraphics.com/

Oooh I've been looking for a place like that, thanks!

[t9nv3]

Battletech minis are actually good for the new painter. To make them look good... all you need to do is basecoat with your dominant color, wash, drybrush, then highlight with your secondary color. You can get an Army Painter primer that matches the dominant color (or just go white). Use a GW wash, then drybrush the dominant color over that using whatever paint you like. GW paint has lots of pigment and needs to be watered down a bit (good for beginners though). Privateer Press seems to be a good middle ground for paints. Then you can just add whatever highlights you want.

Looking at your models, the only thing I would do differently is add a wash stage to really make all the details pop

Oh, and for metals, just use GW

Edited by t9nv3, 27 May 2014 - 03:31 PM.

[Barantor]

I've never painted BT miniatures specifically but I've painted the everloving snot out of fantasy minis, 40k minis and various sundry micro armor vehicles.

Always, always always wash your minis, either on the sprue still or with these single part ones just as they are in the white. Sometimes a company that casts them aren't as diligent about getting any release agents off the minis after they come out of the mold. I would use dishwashing soap and then dry them out overnight.

Prime them. I use citadel paints too and the spray they have is pretty nice. If you have an airbrush setup with some acrylics then that can work too. I always use acrylic since it washes out easy and can be thinned with water. For anything that is supposed to be metal (mechs, vehicles, space marines) I use a black undercoat. Metal colors show up better with a black base coat.

Base coat. The color that the majority of the mech is going to be. Sometimes it might be two colors. If you were painting that Atlas in FWL colors you could get some purples and go at it.

Small Colors. Paint all the little things. Red atlas eyes, those forearm stripes you want, the metal hinge joints, whatever you like.

Wash. No, not soap and water. Mix some black paint with some water (I like a 1 to 3 ratio of paint to water) and get a bit bigger brush and soak up your wash and go to town. You want to cover the model to where it looks almost wet. Now let that sucker dry over night and don't skimp on drying time. This gives shadows in all the cracks and makes all the negative details (holes, cracks, joints) really pop out from the surrounding colors.

Brighten. If something needs to brighten up from where it was washed then paint it. Do this for things like a window or an area that might be newly painted and hasn't had the sands of caustic valley blasting it yet.

Drybrush. Do this if you want the edges of things to look worn or damaged. That corner of the catapults ear that you scraped up against a mountain in Terra Therma when you turned to quick should not have a lot of paint left. Use a metallic color like a gunmetal if you want it to look like unpainted metal. Put a little bit on your brush then run the brush across a cloth or paper towel to get most of the paint. Paint across the edge so that the paint only sticks to the raised bits. You can do this as much as you want, but remember to do it on parts that make more sense. Look up drybrushing miniatures on youtube if this didn't make any sense.

Final highlights. If you want a reflection glimmer on the eye of the atlas or the window of the catapult, put that dab of white on there now where it makes sense. Lenses to lasers get done now as well as any little things that might have been covered up by the wash.

Protect that biz! If you have a can of matte acrylic clear coat then now is the time to spray it on, so long as you are happy with the model. This helps protect that awesome (double awesome if it is an actual Awesome!) paint job that you just worked so hard on.

At this point you can mount the mini on the base as you see fit and then add flock, sand or what you like to the base to give it some pizzazz.

Hope this helped.

For reference I have painted over 5,000 40k figurines and countless fantasy figures. I won several local contests in Seattle around 2002-2004 for painting.

[Bartholomew bartholomew]

I use testors enamel paint with brushes myself. But I am used to those from when i used to do plastic models.

http://camospecs.com/

This is a link to camospecs. A site for battletech mini painting. With galleries and how-to tutorials.

Edited by Bartholomew bartholomew, 27 May 2014 - 03:31 PM.

[SpiralFace]

vallejo is also pretty good for this, although a bit more expensive.

When you work in golds, I've always been of the opinion that you should prime white, Paint it up as a nice "medium" gold, then use washes (Sepia wash all over followed by a deeper "green" wash to get into the cracks and crevasses.)

Highlight up to either your base gold or a more "vibrant" gold or silver after that and then you should be good.

Have fun.

[Barantor]

Akagami, on 27 May 2014 - 03:16 PM, said:

Do you use normal brushes or air brushes? [or a mixture?]

I'm preeeeetty new to this

When you are starting out use the testors brushes you can get from walmart/hobby stores. They aren't great but you will end up messing them up at first if you don't watch it, so no need to spend money on really good brushes till you are ready for that kind of investment.

Buy some concentrated Simple Green if you live in the US, it is a non toxic cleaner that you can get anywhere there is a large selection of cleansers. Some groceries put the concentrated formula near the automotive section since some folks use it to clean engines. It is citrus acid base and if you put a metal or plastic mini in it overnight you can usually scrub the paint off them the next day with a toothbrush. Bonus is it doesn't seem to ruin any gluing jobs you've done. I used to buy used crappily painted minis from folks all the time and then do this and repaint them. Great way to save money on minis.

Blu-tac to the model and a really big cork from wine or a hobby store will help you hold the mini while painting when you are starting out too. Cut a slot in the cork, shove the slot for the base of the mini in there with some blu tac and it won't come out till you want it most times (heavy ones it might fall out).

[Red King]

Wow, that's an impressive number of minis you've made. Definitely a guru

I've gotten a few of those techniques down, like drybrushing with a metallic paint do show scratched paint and battle damage

I just need a lot [LOT] of practice!


If I decide I'm not keen on a paintjob and want rid, what are my options?

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Akagami, on 27 May 2014 - 03:08 PM, said:

So I've gotten into collecting metal Battletech miniatures.

Well, maybe I'll use them once I've gotten a good amount more - BUT I'm anxious to paint most of them

I've done a few already,





I got jealous of people getting gold Clan mechs so I decided that having a gold AS7 in real life is better




What paints should I use? [I use Citadel Paints and I don't really have much confidence with them ]
Brushes or air brushes? And any particular brands?
Metal or Plastic?
How do people get numbers on their miniatures so well?

I use Citadel paints myself, one of the biggest things I can say, is to echo what the people over at /tg/ always say.

and I quote. Ahem. "THIN YOUR PAINTS!"

Seriously this will solve 90% of painting problems, thin your paints. The other thing is choose a basecoat that will compliment the color's you're using... want colors to pop, best to use a basecoat of white... want them subdued, or very dark? use black... grey works well for a middle ground. Everything you paint in addition will either pop, or be subdued based on the base coat.

Don't be afraid to layer after having thinned your paints.

I myself have painted a 2500 point army of Ultramarines in 40K, and probably around 4 company's of battlemechs over the years. not all of them are prides and joy's of course, but many of them came out impressive enough I get complimented at the tables I play at.

Buy an assortment of brushes, broad brushes for basecoating and the like... and smaller brushes for detail work [these can get expensive of course.]

Inks help with detailing also. keep that in mind.

I'll pop up some pics of some of my mini's when I'm less busy and have a chance to take pics.

[Sephlock]

Flash Frame, on 27 May 2014 - 03:56 PM, said:

I use Citadel paints myself, one of the biggest things I can say, is to echo what the people over at /tg/ always say.

and I quote. Ahem. "THIN YOUR PAINTS!"

Seriously this will solve 90% of painting problems, thin your paints. The other thing is choose a basecoat that will compliment the color's you're using... want colors to pop, best to use a basecoat of white... want them subdued, or very dark? use black... grey works well for a middle ground. Everything you paint in addition will either pop, or be subdued based on the base coat.

Don't be afraid to layer after having thinned your paints.

I myself have painted a 2500 point army of Ultramarines in 40K, and probably around 4 company's of battlemechs over the years. not all of them are prides and joy's of course, but many of them came out impressive enough I get complimented at the tables I play at.

Buy an assortment of brushes, broad brushes for basecoating and the like... and smaller brushes for detail work [these can get expensive of course.]

Inks help with detailing also. keep that in mind.

I'll pop up some pics of some of my mini's when I'm less busy and have a chance to take pics.

What, no advice on adding cutie marks?

[Barantor]

Thinning paints is kind of a case by case basis for me depending on what brush I am using and how I want the paint to stick to the miniature. If you have a very small bit that you want to paint you will sometimes want a thicker paint so it stays where you put it until it dries.

Bigger stuff like big 40k vehicles? If you aren't using sprays/airbrush then by all means thin them down, just make sure when you thin that you mix the everliving snot out of it so you don't get color inconsistencies. I am colorblind so I am very picky about shade variations since I tend to see some of them more and then others not at all.

Airbrush paint should always be thinned, it is required unless you want some clogs.

Don't use too much paint on your brushes, if it isn't fast enough with one brush, get a bigger brush and if you can't control where the paint is going get a smaller one.

Never be afraid of trying something even if you think it might look odd, you can always start over with the simple green method I mentioned earlier.

Some hobby stores sell flat sheets of modelling plastic. Use this to practice any techniques you want and don't be afraid to change out guns or swap poses once you feel confident in your ability. Some of the best miniatures I have done have not ended up in the same pose they came out of the blister/box with and a lot of weapon/arm/head swaps have happened over the years too.

[InspectorG]

Only thing i can add is if you want thinner paints and washes, add a tiny drop of dishwashing soap to the water to thin it. You know, Dawn. Dont worry if it is bright green or blue that wont matter.

I havent painted mechs since the 90's but i did many GW vampires and zombies.
If you want a 'rough' look use 2-3 similar colors and 'slap' the pain on using the darkest first, then mid over 'most' of the model, then the lightest over the areas that are exposed mostly to light. Use a large brush in doing this. For smaller parts/beginning of detailing but before wash/highlighting, use only 2 colors.

Then washes can be applied, i used to do 2-3 washes. ink plus water thinned with dish soap. Experiment a bit with the soap on your 'scrub' models
A cool effect is a bright wash over a dark color. Can make clothes look like silk, or mechs look like they are about to explode.
Black 'charred' area, with one -thin-deep red wash, a -thin- orange wash over the same area though not as much surface area after the red is completely dry. Then a -not thin- yellow wash over the orange. Can afterwards highlight with a bright yellow in the cracks.

Another tool: chromatic grays
you can get a natural gray by mixing two opposing colors. Yellow/purple, blue/orange, red/green
They have to be the same tone(exactly opposite on the color wheel/180degrees difference in spectrum) otherwise you get brown.


But this is a bit extraneous and i only used it on zombies and washes for pale flesh tones.

Hope this helps

[Red King]

All of this really helped.

Much, much appreciated.

[Joseph Mallan]

I moved on to:

vallejo paints. Most have a great consistency, and stay bright, blend well, and has a great Military pre packaged sets. Also the Gold Paint I had by them was fantastic.

Also... Make up brushes for Eyelining make very good dry brush brushes

Edited by Joseph Mallan, 28 May 2014 - 06:51 AM.

[Hayden]

Your black primer coat is rather dark, unless you're maybe painting a paint scheme with extremely dark colors or in black or dark grey. A lot of people think white is the best primer color, as it allows for the broadest possible use of colors; If you have a dark base it will mess with the appearance of lighter paints.

I personally paint a lot of my minis in St. Ives Gray/Green, so I tend to use a light gray primer. But really, that's just personal preference.

[Barantor]

Hayden, on 28 May 2014 - 07:15 AM, said:

Your black primer coat is rather dark, unless you're maybe painting a paint scheme with extremely dark colors or in black or dark grey. A lot of people think white is the best primer color, as it allows for the broadest possible use of colors; If you have a dark base it will mess with the appearance of lighter paints.

I personally paint a lot of my minis in St. Ives Gray/Green, so I tend to use a light gray primer. But really, that's just personal preference.

I find that if it is machinery or trying to be a black coat gives it that dark undertone that screams "menacing". Metallics really pop with black as an undercoat for some reason too and I've never had as good luck with it with white.

Gray is ok and I almost go with that over white. I don't know what it is about white but for some reason every now and then I got a color that just would not cover it up all the way. Was probably bad paint once that threw me off it completely lol.

Also when you are new to painting, don't worry as much about the minute details. Get a good piece you can look at from arms length, when you are satisfied you can do that consistently then move into more. Many times folks won't concentrate on the plethora of troopers you have since they all look the same, but then look at heroes/commanders/sergeants. Having a consistent paint job is as important as having detail.

Patience is pretty key too, if you find you cant get something right then put the piece down and stop for a while and get something to drink and stretch your legs a bit before going back out.

Also make sure you have both kinds of light present when you paint. I used to have just a big lamp on an arm I used and didn't have natural light so my minis would have odd shadowing or color choice. Sometimes it isn't possible if you can only paint at night, so I ended up getting several lamps and placed them around my office so that light hit the mini from different angles and didn't result in me missing something due to shadows.

[PieRat]

I use a variety of different acrylics. Everything from Citadel/reaper/Privateer, to my favorite which is Vallejo model colors. Someone posted a picture of them above. You can find them at any Hobby Lobby store in their model section in case you do not have a local gaming store that would carry miniature paints. Vallejo also makes a very very fine line of game color paints. Like the model colors but geared more toward miniatures (more thinner).

Now what I will say now is very controversial in miniature paining depending on which forums/websites you frequent. A lot of times I will use acrylic craft paints. These you can buy at any craft store...I.E. Michaels, Jo-ann Fabrics, etc... Also at places like walmart. Compared to 3-5 bucks a bottle for a small miniature geared paint dropper you can pick up a 2 ounce bottle of acrylic craft paint for a buck and some change. Yes some are not as highly or finely pigmented as "some" of the miniature geared brands mentioned here, but 99% of the time I find them just as comparable. Stay away from the cheaper store brands and you should be okay. I have found the best of the craft paints to be Delta Ceramcoats.

There are many different techniques out there to creating beautiful painted miniatures. There is no wrong or right technique. Just some are better at achieving a specific result than others, and also you just have to find which works for you. The reason I endorse the cheaper craft paints is for me working in multiple thin layers is the best technique I have found. I basically prime my mini, then add the base coat(s) plural there in case I want to do both light/and dark bases on a miniature. Then I will usually do a couple of prewashes to determine the highlights and shadows, and do a mixture of wet blending/dry-brushing/glazes to build up the different colors.

Anyway I am currently working on a clay golem that I have done in all craft paint. I will post a pic of it here when finished. Again the miniature geared paints are excellent. Trust me I have my fair share of them much to my wallets dismay. Once you have some techniques down do not over look the better brands of craft acrylics. As they can be just as good and you have a ton of different shades/hues to choose from with those. Also if you get good kolinsky sable brushes take care of them! get you some brush soap, and dip them in hair conditioner after heavy use. Try and use distilled water for rinsing brushes in use, and also if you are using any metallic type paints. rinse the brushes in a separate container then your normal paints would be rinsed in to keep metallic flakes from crossing over to places on your mini where they are not wanted. It Is a good idea to keep separate brushes for doing metallic for the same reason.

Again this is just all my own opinion from my own experience and techniques I use.

Also good websites wit tutorials are... Cool Mini or not (cmon), dakka dakka, reaper, privateer press. There are more out there those are just the ones off the top of my head at the moment.

My laptop keyboard here at work is experiencing a weird lag so I apologize up front for any typos in this post.

PieRat

Edited by PieRat, 28 May 2014 - 07:38 AM.