Mini painting: help me with Cleaning and Polishing

[Tom Cashel]

Okay, so I've got the concept of removing flash with an X-acto knife, and priming is a snap. But there's a few procedures on which I'm not quite clear.

What do you use to "clean" miniatures? Hot soapy water?

And "polishing"...fine grain sandpaper? Please enlighten me.

 

[pogre]

What do you use to "clean" miniatures? Hot soapy water?

Cleaning a miniature is usually necessary only when using plastic figures. A release agent is used when popping them from the mold that can muck up your paint job. The only other time you need to clean a miniature is when it has been used in a game and handled quite a bit. In that case, it is a good idea to clean the grease from handling off. In both cases warm soapy water should suffice.

And "polishing"...fine grain sandpaper? Please enlighten me.

Most people use a fine file, available from micromark and lots of other places, to finish preparing the figure. The main purposes of filing or sanding is to get rid of the mold marks your exacto knife does not.

Polishing is only used by painters who keep some of the miniatures parts bare metal (like swords). In that case a fine sandpaper is employed to rub the metal to high shine and gloss is usually applied over the top. I personally do not like the look, but many military miniature enthusiasts do.

I hope that is helpful.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Thanks, pogre. That is very helpful, and this bit especially so:

Most people use a fine file, available from micromark and lots of other places, to finish preparing the figure. The main purposes of filing or sanding is to get rid of the mold marks your exacto knife does not.

How fine? I have a set of three files, but I'm not sure which to use on those mold marks. It's not such a problem with Reaper figs, but lately I've been painting some Cthulhu pieces from RAFM...much more messy with the molds and lines and whatnot.

 

[shouit]

FYI, I have found that washing a mini after it has been prep, is a very good idea even with metal minis. They still use a releasing agent and the soap and water will allow the primer to stick better.

Sometimes, I forget to do it though...

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I find that the file I use most has a rounded surface to it with a pointed end. closer to the fine side of rough vs. fine. The curved file helps me reach into smaller places, and prevents me from taking off more than the flash lines than I want to remove.

I haven't had to clean or polish any of the pewter mini's I have painted, but I do give them a brushing off ( and sometimes even spray with canned air ) before priming them to remove small bits of metal/dust and cobwebs that may have accumulated.

 

[pogre]

I have an assortment of files, but I'm with BFG on this one.Perhaps one step up from very fine sand paper or so.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Cleaning a miniature is usually necessary only when using plastic figures. A release agent is used when popping them from the mold that can muck up your paint job.

Not quite true. Metal minis use a release agent as well, and it really needs to be cleaned off before painting.

I usually fill the sink with hot water and a good squirt of dishwashing liquid and scrub the minis with a toothbrush. I don't get too intense in scrubbing, since dish detergent is designed to cut through grease, and that's pretty much what the releasing agent on the minis is. After that, I pat them dry with a papertowel and let them sit overnight to finish drying.

 

[pogre]

Certainly there is no harm in cleaning the metal miniatures, but I have never had a problem with the pewter release agent. Most of the release agent falls off before they even hit the blister.

A few years ago when I visited with the 'eavy Metal crew from Citadel they all admitted they never washed pewter minis. Still, there is nothing wrong with doing it - I'm just lazy.

Most companies use a powder style release agent that has graphite in it. It falls off much easier than the oily release agent they use on plastic figs.