Now that there's a separate forum for it, would anyone care to post a howto for beginners? What supplies are needed, techniques, etc.?

I don't know the first thing about painting and would be interested to know how to start.

I don't want to ruin awesome models.

Please give advice people.

Ok will do.

I agree, I would love to see videos. Tips pictures anything to help out I have just started painted them and do not want to mess up any models. Also if I do mess up how would I clear the paint? I clear coat one I painted could I dip it in paint thinner and or water clear it then re prime? For a clear canvas

Ive put a guide up, no time to do pics at the mo, about to go to an NYE party

Good day all. So first off this is my take on repainting. Everyone else may have a different take on it. As a bit of background I have been painting since about 1992-1993. I am not the best painter in the world, but I am pretty proud of what I do paint and that experience bleeds into Battetech, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy/40k, Warmachine, and now into X-Wing.

Anyway, first thing I do is wash the miniatures. I just put them in some warm soapy water and using a toothbrush just give them a good once over. Nothing crazy.

Then, depending on the color scheme, I use some spray primer to coat the mini. I use several thing coats, allowing each coat to dry before going ot the next coat, which is why I tend to do so in batches.

I noticed that the details on the mins are pretty good, and as long as you don't use a thick coat of paint you should be find.

After the coats of primer are all dry(give it a few solid hours) I select the colors I want and block them in by mixing a small bit of water so the paint is not thick and fills the details too much. Basically this means if I am using red, I select the areas I want to have a road color to them and paint those areas. I do this with any/all colors I plan on using. Metallics included. At this point the ship will look very generic, don't be surprised.

Once that has been completed, I use a layer of wash on the miniature, something like Nuln Oil from GW works fine, if you want something less dramatic, go with a darker brown wash or even a colored wash if you plan on going with a striking paint scheme, like an all green ship.

The washes take a bit of time to dry, so make sure not to rush it. Let them completely dry. This time period you will see all the details being picked out. Do not be afraid to use more wash, or thin some wash out a bit if you feel some of the gaps and details were not hit good enough.

Once dry, place a small bit of that paint color you used to block in, put it on a palette plate, piece of aluminum foil, a wet palette, just anything that won't absorb the paint, and add a small bit of water to thin the paint a bit. Then carefully go over those areas again, just make sure not to add paint into the gaps, or else you lose that feeling of depth.

Once you have done so with every colored area, then it is time for a bit of highlights. Take a lighter color version of the paint you used, and mix about a 50/50 or 75/25(original color/lighter color) ratio and a small bit of water to thin it. Use this to highlight, going for the edges and such. This will add more depth, and should bring it all to life. Be careful and don't go overboard, because then the dramatic effect is lost.

***Take heed, if you are wanting to lighten up red, DO NOT use white to do so! Use an orange! In fact try not to ever use white if you can help it, look at your paints and select the color in the same family who is slightly lighter. Blue? Use a lighter blue, or a VERY small bit of white. Red is a big problem because it tends to turn pink!

Ultimately it takes a bit of practice, but don't let it deter you from trying, it is quite the satisfying feeling to see something you painted on the board. It is also nice to know that no one can mistake your painted ship for their own.

Example of one of my repaints below:

excellent post, everything i tried to say but clearer!

Would you mind reposting this in my 'painting your ship thread too?'

Sure thing, will do!

Echoing the "don't use white to lighten". White is very good at washing out other colors, so it is best reserved white paint jobs (mixed with a healthy dose of grey or black), or for jeweling cockpits (where washing out colors is good for looking like light glaring of the surface).

This will be a start, I'm spray paint primping one now. Then will start my 1st paint try just never painted where I had to add water I have always been a spray paint type of guy. Thank you for your post

Been playing Warhammer 40K, badly, since the mid to late 90's. As such, I have a box of Citadel paints. I have not done much with the X-wing mini other than painting in Rebel engine colors. FFG has done a pretty great job on the minis. I did paint up a Kath Scarlet as seems to be a normal thing to do among those inclined to repaint X-wing minis =)

I will also highly recommend using a spray primer to paint models. I am in fact going back and redoing models (cleaning them with a simple green soaking of 24 hours, letting dry, then priming) as I find the primer helps the base colors "stick" better and makes the overall finish much, much much better.

Plus, it means I get to repaint more ships, now that I've been painting for a year or so. A few things I have found that have helped me along the way:

Use some templates for your first couple repaints. Do Green Squad A-Wings, or something along those lines that is fairly easy and has been done time and time again.

If you have an unsteady hand, or want to make sure your lines are straight, this hobby tape has helped A LOT with my work, and it's cheap. You don't need a lot, and it's super tacky but won't pull paint up with it as you remove it. It's awesome. I've found I can often reuse strips many many times before they are "dead." (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-Masking-Tape-6mm-Wide-w-Dispenser-87030-For-Plastic-Models-Crafts-/321097664854?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4ac2e98956)

Find a good space to work. I like having my own little corner of a desk where I keep a lot of my hobby supplies, makes it easy to break them out when I'm ready to sit down and work.

When buying paints, like Armond said above, buy and use lighter (similar) colors for highlighting. I missed this when I first did my round of paint buying, and found my fist paints had a couple of dull spots here and there, where highlighting would have made them pop. GW Paints are easy to understand in this regard, as they make it simple by offering Base colors, Layer colors, Dry Colors, etc.

Clean your brushes after EVERY session. They are the tools that will make (or break) the look of your ships.

I'll probably come back with some other thoughts at some point. Off to add another primer layer on an A-Wing.

Masking Fluid, Testors or Tamiya masking tape and finally. silly putty.

I always have the Testors tape pack sitting here when I need it and the Silly putty, well that is usually like .50¢ at the dollar store, those are nice when you need to mask of a section on these ships and the greeble is preventing you from really masking it off good.

I have a bunch of Citadel paints and P3 privateer paints. How are they for painting? Are they on the higher end of the quality spectrum? I hate their yellow, but love the washes, so easy even if your paying for diluted ink

i swear by foundry paints.

I use white to lighten the colour in my example as im talking about doing 'ship shades' which are usually grey.

I'd agree that if you're doing say 'red' adding white just makes it go pink, you need to lighten with yellow, orange or just use a lighter shade of red. But i was trying to be concise.

Foundry paint is perfect as every colour comes in three tones.

shade, main and light.

So if you buy 'moss' as a colour, you get moss A, B and C and it makes mass painting armies very quick as you can do three stage highlights without having to mix colours.

As a side note foundry paint is made by the same company that used to make citadel paint in the 80s when it was brilliant. Citadel paint isnt so good now but their washes and shades work well and their 'foundation' paints are great for a base to put light tones on a dark base.

i get asked a lot of questions about airbrushing, so i figured i would post a short post i wrote on getting started with an airbrush. hope you all dont mind, but it seemed like it was one of the how to's that we were missing.

1) Prime your miniatures.

2) Thin your Paints (water is fine).

3) Practise! Don't expect to be awesome.

Give things a go! The worst that happens is you strip the paint and start again.

Also, don't be afraid to try new things with paint. Paint is very forgiving, because you can always strip down the not-so-good paint job you did and try again later. You only risk one mini this way, and when you feel your skills are up to par you can repaint the other ships to your liking.

Another thing I would do is go on eBay and get some old Micromachine Star Wars ships. They're about the same size and have nearly the same level of detail, so you can practice on them without worry. They also accept regular model paints rather well I find, and you can strip them many times to practice new techniques and such.

1) Prime your miniatures.

2) Thin your Paints (water is fine).

3) Practise! Don't expect to be awesome.

Give things a go! The worst that happens is you strip the paint and start again.

There's really no reason to prime these miniatures.. the paint job is easily overpainted and makes a good base.. also, no need to strip them either.. priming these can soften the details if you get a heavy coat.. just my 2 creds

there are a lot of how too's posted on these forums, and i was curious, should we request that the how too's get "stickied" for easy reference?

The paints review by brand is great, i have had very positive feedback to the airbrush 90, and the other how too's have been great, i think it would be a good idea to keep them around when people have the same questions over and over, as is bound to happen as this hobby continues to grow.