So, I've started my endeavor of painting miniatures after reading countless threads on it, watching hours of YouTube videos and buying a couple hundred bucks worth of painting supplies. (Look at my signature for evidence of my purchasing madness)

I sat down and did the easiest repaint I could think of: Green A-wings:

Not bad for a first repaint ever and while I had a ton of fun, I did this at my kitchen table and had a variety of issues... So my questions are as follows:

1. Could you recommend a good (affordable) workbench to get?

2. What is that green grid I always see miniature artists have in all of their YouTube videos? Is it part of the workbench?

3. I need better lighting, is there a good adjustable light you would recommend?

4. Do you use anything special to hold your mini's while painting?

On question 4 I thought I had a solution where I whittled down the end of a wooden stick from a crafts store... And managed to slice my finger really good with an exacto knife because I am a moron.

Evidence: http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f223/Daktoth/63400C14-07CE-4794-9E1D-5F0032B1F605.jpg

I avidly shop at an online retailer that started off with books and named itself after a river, and don't live within 100 miles of a decent hobby shop, so recommendations I take would probably be fulfilled through them....

Thanks!

Question 3 is the easiest one I think. The green grid is part of a self healing cutting mat. I really recommend that you get a decent sized cutting mat if for no other reason than to spare your table some wear and tear.

1. I wouldn't get a workbench. I would recommend some cardboard under your painting area, and that cutting mat for solidity/weighing down the cardboard. I bought a craft table and never use it, always just use the kitchen table.

2. The green grid is hobby self-healing cutting mat "Hobbico"

3. I don't use a better light, but I have heard of a couple recommendations for an "OttLite". I have pretty good lighting in the kitchen (much better than where my craft table is) and it works better letting the little animal into the backyard.

4. I should use something special to hold the minis, but most of the time I put them on a flight stand and rest the stand against the table while painting. There are numerous micro-vices, etc. I don't carry all my stands with me when I play. (have 7 in my plano case, and tons extra in storage) I have thought many times about cutting the fingers off rubber gloves and using a couple fingergloves while painting. I tend to not get things perfectly dry before starting the next coat. I wonder if that river thing sells patience?

Actually just got a new kitchen table that might work well, but I have Dogs and will probably set up in a room free of random floating dog hair... My golden is adorable but man does she have a ton of hair.

Thanks for pointing out what those mats are, definitely going to order one straight away

For a lamp I use something simple akin to this from Target/Walmart. A lot of painters like the daylight bulbs, as they're supposed to give a more natural view of the paint, rather than being colored yellow by a traditional bulb. Honestly, I never play outside, and so don't really worry about it too much.

Cutting mats are fantastic, for all sorts of hobby things.

If you're looking for a dedicated hobby table, anything sturdy, comfortable, and height-appropriate will do. A good surface that you could move around & use on a kitchen table, etc, could probably be simply made from a sheet of MDF.

Those Green As look great.

Nice work. I too am going to get back into modeling and detail painting.

This is what I have right now. And have no issues.

1.Workbench - but a smaller size. I cover it with a yoga mat for a little cushion when I lean on it and for spill/glue protection. I need to get one of those cut pads too.

3. Lamp

Could probably find something better on Amazon or "Amazingon" as my wife and I call it as we order everything on it and never have to leave the house.

Thanks for the compliment on the A's. The other thing nobody pointed out is that you'll always want to tweak them or change something. It may eventually drive me mad...

I have ordered a self healing mat and desk lamp. I think it came down to just not knowing what this stuff is called. Thanks for the advice

I paint with a piece of wax paper on a regular table that I can mix paints on and water them down without making a mess. When I'm done I just (carefully) crumple it up and throw it away.

The easiest thing to use to hold Xwing minis while painting them is to jam a toothpick into their flight stand hole and tape it to the hole with some masking tape. This is actually how I primed mine first too, I then stuck the toothpicks into a spare piece of styrofoam packing to dry.

Keep plenty of water cups available to clean your brushes - especially when messing with metallics and don't cross contaminate them. There's nothing more annoying than discovering silver metallic flakes in your black wash when you're shading robes on another model.

The self healing mat you see isn't meant for painting, it's for those of us who cut a lot plastic with Xacto knives when working on conversions.

The self healing mat you see isn't meant for painting, it's for those of us who cut a lot plastic with Xacto knives when working on conversions.

Yeah, that makes sense... Maybe one day I'll try that. Doesn't hurt to be prepared! I should pick up some plasticard...

I bought some Green Stuff on a whim in case I want to try out making a mold too. There are so many things to learn I can find on YouTube.

A few tips that might help:

Try to use natural light when painting, sit next to a window when painting(if right handed have window to your left, and vice-versa for lefties).

Blue tack your model onto a paint pot or other sturdy item, it'll be easier to hold and wont smudge the paint.

If you don't wear glasses I'd recommend a cheap pair of magnifying reading glasses(I got mine from Poundland), they really help see the details clearly.

To mark out panel lines use wash like Flory Models Weathering Wash(black).

An airbrush and compressor can be bought quit cheap these days, great for natural shading and object source lighting...

As stated above -- Hobbico cutting mats and OttLite lights are fantastic (OttLites usually found at sewing/quilting stores -- I discoverd them because my wife's a quilter).

I usually put my X-wing minis on their stands to paint, but for things like 25mm minis I tack them to about a 4-inch length of 1" diameter dowel, which provides something hefty to hold on to.

An airbrush is definitely on the wish list, but I have a ton of mini's to buy at the moment. Maybe I'll grab one for Christmas

I got bored and started looking at airbrushes. After perusing the aforementioned online retailer I realized I have no idea where to start

From what I gather I need a 10-18 psi compressor and I don't even know where to begin on the actual airbrush. Are any of the starter kits on there any good?

If you're only painting Star Wars minis then an airbrush is like buying a Ferrari for a couple of small autocross races (unless you have a ton of money laying around in which case spend away). If you're getting into the larger world of miniature wargaming then an airbrush would be a good investment I wish I had made about 10 years ago. They're not made for detail painting, they're good at basecoating and painting large (Decimator on up) sized models.

A set of nylon brushes from Walmart will give you more control and a chance to learn how to care for brushes before spending more money on nicer options. Do you have a Games Workshop near you? They have a ton of tools, brushes, and paints that are more expensive than craft store options but are generally good quality.

I play a variety of board games and have other miniatures there I can paint (like Imperial Assault for example). I have some decent brushes already and actually use to paint ceramics in my younger years. I'm translating some of those skills to this.

I agree that an airbrush is overkill for just this, but I've got a pretty good job and figure a hobby where I can waste countless hours is a decent investment.

The closest thing I have to a hobby shop is Michael's, no games workshop that I can find. I just order stuff off amazon as I find the need.

I got bored and started looking at airbrushes. After perusing the aforementioned online retailer I realized I have no idea where to start

From what I gather I need a 10-18 psi compressor and I don't even know where to begin on the actual airbrush. Are any of the starter kits on there any good?

Do a search for airbrush in these forums. I was just looking into it and found a good link where he shows some detail work and talks about what to buy for beginners.

For more advanced stuff like airbrushes I'd recommend coolminiornot.com as a pretty solid resource with tons of tutorials.

Thanks for the advice, I'll look them up