Hey X-wingers!!!

Do you find it better to use brake fluid to strip the paint off your ships or do you paint over the existing theme?

I've just painted over. I know a lot of people strip though.

Jsut paint over it. You can see mine here: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/92926-ice-squadron-custom-painted-rebel-ships/

I was leaning towards painting over it. Thanks for the info. I will post some pics....unless it looks like complete crap. Than I'll lie about how good it looks and say my camera is broken.

The times I have used brake fluid to strip paint (off of GW miniatures) it has softened and slightly deformed the plastic so I won't use it. The paint jobs on x-wing minis are thing enough to just paint right over with no concern.

Noooooooooo.... post them up in the repaint thread, gives us a bump back to the top.

Like the others have mentioned no stripping needed, just overpaint you'll be fine.

I do ok on repaints, and I post mine up.. you shouldn't be ashamed to post yours. We are relatively forgiving on repaints.. lol. Probably because we want to see more.

No need to strip.
I've heard stories of brake fluid hurting the plastic though, so be careful what you strip with if you decide to do so

I've asked before but just double checking

Do you have to do a wash first?

Or can you just paint over the original with whatever color you want

Just paint.. use the original as your base cote, and thin your paints a little so you don't diminish the detail.

I've asked before but just double checking

Do you have to do a wash first?

Or can you just paint over the original with whatever color you want

thin your paint and go with thin layers until you have the desired effect.

Also, use water based paint, fixing any mistakes are easier until you become more comfortable with your technique.

Brake fluid is excellent for stripping acrylic off of metal miniatures, but I wouldn't use it on plastic. Some have said thin your paint, but just make sure it's not too thin. You ideally want to get good coverage with a minimum number of coats. The more coats that go on, the less detail you'll see.

The same goes for the other extreme, it the paint's too thick, there goes the detail.

To follow on from Parravons comment regarding the thinning of paint, there are roughly 8 Gazillion painting tutorials online (in the form of articles, videos, interpretive dance, haiku) - find a good one and use those techniques. If you are buying Citadel Paints, find a GW tutorial, or if P3 paints, see if Privateer Press have one. That said, most acrylic model paints behave in a similar fashion so you can just play with them. If you really bugger up a paintjob you can easily clean off your acrylic paints and start from scratch.

I just did my first repaint and also followed the advice to overpaint with thinned paints.

It depends on the kind of plastic. I've used brake fluid for years and never had a problem. I even left one model soaking for over a year with no apparent softening.

That being said, I did re-repaint one of my Firesprays, and I wanted to strip it since it already had a lot of paint on it. Brake fluid worked just fine, although I didn't leave it in there for a year.

I guess I should have clarified in the original post. I have been painting and playing miniature games since 1995. Just never worked with models like these.

I have had great success with brake fluid for GW minis, just curious how FF models held up.

I've asked before but just double checking

Do you have to do a wash first?

Or can you just paint over the original with whatever color you want

thin your paint and go with thin layers until you have the desired effect.

Also, use water based paint, fixing any mistakes are easier until you become more comfortable with your technique.

How do you know if it's too watery the paint?

What are some good paint brushes to use, but not expensive?

When painting do you do freehand or use stencils and tape to get nice straight edges?

I've been wanting to do kath Scarlets on the Firespray. Looks nothing fancy but I'm afraid if I start may find I'm in over me head lol

I've asked before but just double checking

Do you have to do a wash first?

Or can you just paint over the original with whatever color you want

thin your paint and go with thin layers until you have the desired effect.

Also, use water based paint, fixing any mistakes are easier until you become more comfortable with your technique.

Ok here's is another question.

How do you know if it's too watery the paint?

If you can't see any colour, you've got too much water. Mix and thin then load your brush and try it on something first. If the coverage seems good, hit the model.

What are some good paint brushes to use, but not expensive?

I get mine from the local model shop as they are specifically designed for just this job. They're normally about $3-4 each and I only generally need a really fine tip and a medium.

When painting do you do freehand or use stencils and tape to get nice straight edges?

It depends on how steady your hand is. I can get away without masking for small areas but if it's too big, masking is a good idea - just in case. The trick with masking is to use a nearly dry brush and successive coats. That way you won't have overly wet paint leeching under the masking tape.

I've been wanting to do kath Scarlets on the Firespray. Looks nothing fancy but I'm afraid if I start may find I'm in over me head lol

Actually the colour plan on her ship looks really simple as it clearly defined by the panelling. Give it a good coat of white/pale grey and then hit it with the red. This is probably a really good model to start with.

Good luck!

Ok here's is another question.

How do you know if it's too watery the paint?

What are some good paint brushes to use, but not expensive?

When painting do you do freehand or use stencils and tape to get nice straight edges?

I've been wanting to do kath Scarlets on the Firespray. Looks nothing fancy but I'm afraid if I start may find I'm in over me head lol

• How do you know if it's too watery the paint?

Like Parravon said, if it goes on so thin that you see no color change or if it simply pools.

• What are some good paint brushes to use, but not expensive?

Model shop, craft store or if you are in the States, Walmart has a set of inexpensive brushes that are great for starting with acrylics, Daler & Rowney. do not buy the synthetic brushes. I recently picked up a set a nice brushes for $4 had like eight brushes in the pack which included a 10/0 brush for great detail work.

• When painting do you do freehand or use stencils and tape to get nice straight edges?

A little bit of everything plus masking solution, silly putty and waterslide decal paper. Silly putty is fantastic for getting down in the grooves of the smaller ships when you are applying multiple wash colors and you need them separated.

• I've been wanting to do kath Scarlets on the Firespray. Looks nothing fancy but I'm afraid if I start may find I'm in over me head lol

Kath is a great re-paint to start off with, you are mainly following the lines in the panels that are already there. mask off the canopy and the wings and apply a base coat(usually some kind of white), add your red panels then apply a wash and add weathering effects.

some better quality synthetic brushes can work fine however though!

a synthetic brush can also be used to paint enamels and in my opinion if you are not a pro at brush maintenance, it holds a tip better!