Painting minis; getting started

payn · Aug 20, 2022

I have been busy this week painting up some BT minis. I am looking into canopy work and fine details for my Davion lance (Vicktor, Enforcer, Hunchback, and Raven). I started a Kurita lance (Banshee, Grasshopper, Centurion, and Hatchetman) but ended up just going a desert camo look instead. Finally, just started today on a merc outfit fire blaze orange look (Marauder, Archer, Valkyrie, and Stinger).

Sorry my phone camera sucks.

MGibster · Aug 20, 2022

payn said:
I have been busy this week painting up some BT minis. I am looking into canopy work and fine details for my Davion lance (Vicktor, Enforcer, Hunchback, and Raven)

It's tough getting a nice photo with a camera phone. Those are looking pretty good. And some sort of blazing orange color is certainly an easy way to make your mechs distinctive on the table.

There are a few things I like about the BattleTech miniatures. Well, at least two things.

1. They look like combat vehicles. I'm not arguing that mechs are realistic, only that BT mechs look like they're designed for war rather than designed to be aesthetically pleasing. Shermans, Jeeps, and T-34s weren't winning any beauty contests no matter how good or bad they were.

2. Mechs are much cheaper to buy and look better than they did 25 years ago. It's a little disappointing that I can't but individual mechs, but a 4 pack for $25 sure beats purchasing one for $8.00 or more.

I'm halfway through the BT boxed set. I have four more to paint, and I'll probably do something a bit different just to add a little variety to the mix.

The tough thing about camouflage is that it is designed by nature to hide details. Even on a larger scale model, a lot of the detail effects are difficult to see even in person because the camo pattern breaks up the model. But at the 10mm scale, I guess you really don't need to worry so much about the detail.

MockingBird · Aug 24, 2022

Retreater said:
Vallejo is a solid choice. I prefer the dropper bottles to the paint pots of Citadel, and it comes out to a bit cheaper too.
Because I'm not fancy, I use a lot of Army Painter's stuff. It's also in dropper bottles and even cheaper than Vallejo. It just took some effort to get the paints the way I like them. They came out a little thicker than I liked and took a lot (a LOT!!!) of shaking to be able to paint with them. Putting some medium and ball bearings in the bottles really helped this.
The Army Painter brushes are also a good mid-point in quality and price. The Regiment and Character brushes are the ones I use for most things.
Army Painter makes a Speed Paint as well. I don't like it as well as Citadel's Contrast paint line. However, I don't think either would work well with mechs. There are no metallics in the lines and they don't do great on flat panels (but work better on cloth, fur, leather, etc.)

Don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but the Vallejo model air is a bit thinner. I use it in airbrush ( that's what it's for) but I've also brush painted with it and it works fine.

MGibster · Aug 27, 2022

I present to you, one Panther light mech. Da da da da-da da-da da da da da da da da da da.

payn · Aug 27, 2022

MGibster said:
I present to you, one Panther light mech. Da da da da-da da-da da da da da da da da da da.

View attachment 259225

Is that a metallic paint?

MGibster · Aug 27, 2022

payn said:
Is that a metallic paint?

I used six drops of Metallic Medium from Pro-Acryl and added two drops of magenta ink from Liquitex. If you want your own metallic colors, I recommend inks plus the metallic medium.

Warpiglet-7 · Aug 27, 2022

payn said:
I have been busy this week painting up some BT minis. I am looking into canopy work and fine details for my Davion lance (Vicktor, Enforcer, Hunchback, and Raven). I started a Kurita lance (Banshee, Grasshopper, Centurion, and Hatchetman) but ended up just going a desert camo look instead. Finally, just started today on a merc outfit fire blaze orange look (Marauder, Archer, Valkyrie, and Stinger).
View attachment 258526 View attachment 258527 View attachment 258528 View attachment 258529
Sorry my phone camera sucks.

I like the big mech in particular!

Also if anyone is interested I have the key to well painted minis!

My daughter paints better than me. I am running a sweat shop! She is doing a squad of skeletons for me not more than 3 feet away as I type this!

I am a genius!

Richards · Aug 27, 2022

I'm a little surprised you haven't stylized this as a "Paynting Minis" thread.

Seriously, though, nice work all around! I learned long ago I don't have the patience or the skill (or the patience to acquire the skill) for painting minis.

Johnathan

el-remmen · Aug 27, 2022

While I've played D&D since '83, and used minis since about '97, I didn't start painting them until 2020 - and in that time I have painted over 200 minis (probably over 300, but I only started counting this year). I use cheap brushes. I have tried more expensive ones, but maybe I am just bad at taking care of them or using them right, but they don't seem to last any longer or do any better a job for me.

As for paints, I use all kinds. I don't really care. I am decent at getting these minis table ready and some of them do look pretty good - but I don't worry about it too much. I prime everything black (even minis that are supposedly "pre-primed") that way if I miss the hard to reach spots it just looks like shadows.

Oh and someone else on here once recommended that I use a thinned out pink as an undercoat when painting yellow or white - colors that tend to have poor coverage. I don't know why, but it works!

Mad_Jack · Aug 28, 2022

el-remmen said:
While I've played D&D since '83, and used minis since about '97, I didn't start painting them until 2020 - and in that time I have painted over 200 minis (probably over 300, but I only started counting this year). I use cheap brushes. I have tried more expensive ones, but maybe I am just bad at taking care of them or using them right, but they don't seem to last any longer or do any better a job for me.

As for paints, I use all kinds. I don't really care. I am decent at getting these minis table ready and some of them do look pretty good - but I don't worry about it too much. I prime everything black (even minis that are supposedly "pre-primed") that way if I miss the hard to reach spots it just looks like shadows.

Oh and someone else on here once recommended that I use a thinned out pink as an undercoat when painting yellow or white - colors that tend to have poor coverage. I don't know why, but it works!

I once painted a mini with a Q-tip and latex house paint samples just to show somebody it could be done well*, lol...
The important part of any brush is whether or not it keeps a nice sharp point, and I've had cheap brushes that did that for years and expensive ones that crapped out quickly. Cleaning them well after every use and making sure that you don't get dried paint up into the ferrule is important for making a brush last.

As for undercoating, any fairly light mostly-neutral color can be used for an undercoat on a color that doesn't get good coverage (and is a good way to subtly change the character of the overlying color), but a light pink definitely works for yellow or white. When using metallics, most folks generally undercoat with black or blue for silvery metal, and warm brown for things like gold or brass.

*Also... Fingerpainting, lol

Painting minis; getting started

payn

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MGibster

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MockingBird

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payn

He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...

MGibster

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Warpiglet-7

Cry havoc! And let slip the pigs of war!

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