Some of you might find this a dumb question, but nearly all my miniatures painting experience is with the unpainted variety of miniatures. Painting pre-painted miniatures seemed weird, like shouldn't I strip the miniature of paint before even attempting to repaint it? Also if I didn't, wouldn't another coat of paint potentially ruin any detail? Clearly my fears are unfounded, as there are some crazy Armada and X-Wing repaints, but I still have questions (also this thread can't be a terrible idea, since this forum seems pretty active, and I can't be the only one wondering how this goes).

So far I have a core set, a CR90 I bought on a whim since it was at a deep discount, and a Rebel fighter pack as a Christmas present from a friend impulse bought for no good reason (he doesn't even have a core set, nor does he plan on it...). The only real issue with the fighters is I can't make the detail brush get to the model fast enough before the tip dries out.

The CR90 poses a different issue. Should I prime the entire thing and just start fresh? I mean, let's say I want to paint different colored stripes, how would I paint over the red that's already on the ship? I want to do more than just repaint the red parts. Doing a complete repaint poses different issues, though, like the exhaust glow, and that residue on the engines, I'm not sure how to do that myself.

I also have an Assault Frigate on the way. This seems like a really popular model to repaint, and I feel the same way (no canonical appearance means little to no qualms about repainting my only one). Do people just spray the entire thing with primer before getting started? How about the chipped paint effect on a miniature so small? Also, how do you do the thing where you paint only a single panel? That last one seems obvious, but then you have to deal with wide crevices between panels, highlights, deciding how offset you want the panel color to be....

It's been a while, but I have painted a good deal of character miniatures. However, the last time I painted a vehicle was a REALLY long time ago, so I kinda need help in this department :/

Personally I just repaint over everything since nearly all of the paint on FFG models so far is quite thin. Some people do take preference to stripping, but that's entirely up to who's doing what and I personally have never felt the need to do so. However, since I'm not really the type of person who tends to do entire ships (except if it's a simple wash coating) a stripping might be what you're looking for. I can't help you with engines, but I know from experience that painting over the strong reds on the CR-90 can be difficult. I did mine with almost completely undiluted yellow paint over those sections and while trying, was worthwhile.

For a "chipped" paint appearance you can add small bits of a flat type of salt by doing a simple application of a thin water wash, sprinkling the salt, allowing that to dry, then painting over it. Once the paint job is finished and dried to your desired colours you can simply use a dry cloth or a dry gentle paper towel to wipe away the paint with salt under it, giving that battered but not burned appearance. :3

Right! Engage Ex-Painting Demonstrator Mode!

I am going to go under the assumption here that you want to do something awesome with it, so I will be adding a lot of steps here, each of them stressed as super important . However. Consider that the perfect job. Not everyone is going to do every step, or even advise you that every step is neccessary. I'm going to give you every step however, you so can be completely informed along the way, and you can decide what parts you can skip over to ignore and take time/professionalism away from the Job. I won't hold anything against you, I'm just here to completely inform .

The paint on the FFG models is fairly thin. However, it, like most pre-painted models, seems to be some kind of funky hardwearing latex-based horror . You won't strip it off easily, not without damaging the model underneath - my ISD has taken a serious impact and chipped some of the paint off one edge, but even that edge of blank plastic to paint is very thin and very hardwearing.

The latex paint, oh, how horridly it holds everything . It will make everything chip or wear off it, that's what makes it itself so hard wearing. Its designed to repel almost everything.

This means you need to prime . NOT just paint it black/white . You need to prime it. That means a quick soapy water wash, a rinse to get all of the soap, oil and handling residue off it. If you want to, pry the Plastic Ship clip (if present) out of the bottom at this point. I've found VSDs, Gladiators and AFMK-IIs come out fairly easily (some on their own!), but the MC80 has been a total and utter bastard to shift without damaging.

Once the model is clean, you need to dust it with a Primer . And I am referring to a Primer paint. Personally, I use a Grey Based Poly primer I get at Home Depot for $7. The important part about it is it is a Primer . A Black or White paint just hits the surface and sits there - and if it doesn't completely adhere, then it'll be rubbed off that **** Latex Paint like just about everything else.

The other part is, its just a dusting . You don't need to swallow the miniature in Primer. You need to dust to provide a base surface - the Primer itself will effectively etch into the surface of the latex paint to completely adhere, and then provide a surface itself for your Paint to Adhere to.

Honestly, These are Important, and Overlooked Steps in - ALL MINIATURE PAINTING - . Once upon a Time, Old Bastards like me, who were taught how to paint in Grandparent's Garages, were informed that all Models, regardless of their material, will involve some sort of mold release agent . Yes, even big multipart plastic models. And that every model should be cleaned before assembly , and even lightly cleaned after assembly before priming to remove hand and finger oils. Metal, Plastic, Resin, Pre-Painted, all should be prepared the same.

At this point, you can paint away. Always with the recommendation of Acrylic Model Paints. You can use cheap acrylics you pick up at Walmart, but realise that they will require a different set of effort.

As for painting, I'll switch now to colour matching .

I found that the base colour for the Cr90 and the matching colour on the Nebulon B was effectively, an Ivory colour (Vallejo Model Colour Ivory, or P3 Menoth White Highlight are almost identical), followed by a light wash in the vein of GW Devlan Mud , or, if you can't get that, 50/50 watered down Agrax Earthshade .

The Scorching on the Engines is mostly drybrushing in nature. Effectively, get a slightly larger, stiffer brush, put some paint on it, wipe it off on a tissue/newspaper until almost no paint is seen coming out on to the paper and there seems to be none visibly left on the brush itself, and then dust the end of the engines with the dark brown, dark grey, or whatever scorching colour you want.

Paint Chipping. There's a couple of ways to go about it... But for most, ther is a consideration of what the paint is chipping off , miniature wise... If you want the paint to be chipping off and exposing a previous paint scheme, or chipping off bare metal, then the effects are similar. For Large paint chips, once you've painted everything your "top" colour, paint a section of Black where you want the chip to be... Then infill that part of black with silver (for bare metal) or a blotchy coat of your desired "original" colour, leaving a tiny black border around the colour... For smaller chips, wearings, and blasts... Consider either a dark brown (or black) stipple (similar to a Drybrush, but "poking" the brush onto the model, instead of dusting over), or even drybrushing...

For larger "hazard spraying" and "Pockmarks", say for a meteor (or missile hit) that spalls and adds shrapnel/spray damage around the original, consider "flicking" a tiny amount of paint onto the model using a toothbrush - put some on the old toothbrush (or a stiffer larger brush) and literally pull back and flick the bristles towards it... Practice somewhere else first until you get the idea, but it provides a nice organic splatter effect.

Repainting Single Panels can be difficult - but starting with a gentle watered down paint, make sure you get all of the panel lines, without going too deep into the panel receccesses... And then realise that most but not all of FFG's models paint schemes involve a Dirty Black Wash... You can really see this if you split your Assault Frigate or Victory SD open - because of the Clamshell model design, a lot of the Black Wash will collect inside the lower half and you can see it there, on the bare plastic... If you can replicate that (with a gently watered down Wash such as GW's Nuln Oil or Badab Black , or even P3s Armour Wash , or even potentially the most godliest of them all, a 50/50 watered down Tamiya Smoke ) you can fill in those panels lines and have a good day, as it will begin to resemble the finish on the original model a bit.

I'll probably return to keep editing and adding to this article as I go, so until this bolded message is removed, consider the article a "Work in Progress"

how do you paint pre-painted miniatures?

with post-paint!

just an FYI to other people reading

The other part is, its just a dusting . You don't need to swallow the miniature in Primer

he means a light spray not drowning/dunking it.

There are a couple of guides in my blog. #shameless

Personally I just repaint over everything since nearly all of the paint on FFG models so far is quite thin. Some people do take preference to stripping, but that's entirely up to who's doing what and I personally have never felt the need to do so. However, since I'm not really the type of person who tends to do entire ships (except if it's a simple wash coating) a stripping might be what you're looking for. I can't help you with engines, but I know from experience that painting over the strong reds on the CR-90 can be difficult. I did mine with almost completely undiluted yellow paint over those sections and while trying, was worthwhile.

For a "chipped" paint appearance you can add small bits of a flat type of salt by doing a simple application of a thin water wash, sprinkling the salt, allowing that to dry, then painting over it. Once the paint job is finished and dried to your desired colours you can simply use a dry cloth or a dry gentle paper towel to wipe away the paint with salt under it, giving that battered but not burned appearance. :3

Hmm, I didn't realize the red on the MC 90s would be that tricky... I guess I could just try and paint those parts gray and go from there?

I also know about the salt trick, but I wasn't sure if it would work on such small a scale. Guess I'll keep it in mind for the frigate, though.

Right! Engage Ex-Painting Demonstrator Mode!

I am going to go under the assumption here that you want to do something awesome with it, so I will be adding a lot of steps here, each of them stressed as super important . However. Consider that the perfect job. Not everyone is going to do every step, or even advise you that every step is neccessary. I'm going to give you every step however, you so can be completely informed along the way, and you can decide what parts you can skip over to ignore and take time/professionalism away from the Job. I won't hold anything against you, I'm just here to completely inform .

The paint on the FFG models is fairly thin. However, it, like most pre-painted models, seems to be some kind of funky hardwearing latex-based horror . You won't strip it off easily, not without damaging the model underneath - my ISD has taken a serious impact and chipped some of the paint off one edge, but even that edge of blank plastic to paint is very thin and very hardwearing.

The latex paint, oh, how horridly it holds everything . It will make everything chip or wear off it, that's what makes it itself so hard wearing. Its designed to repel almost everything. [...]

Oh man, I too am an Old Bastard, I just haven't been in the swing of things for a loooooong time. Which is why I was concerned about painting over paint. I had considered washing everything, but that seemed a bit excessive. I guess I'll give my models a wash.

I was also worried about the color of the Rebel ships as I noticed they aren't gray like starfighters. It's also sort of the color of A-wings, so I'll keep that in mind.

Honestly this is a lot to take in, but it's not bad. I was kinda hoping this would become that sort of thread (I found plenty of threads showing off painted miniatures, but so very few that explain how it was done...).

how do you paint pre-painted miniatures?

with post-paint!

lol

There are a couple of guides in my blog. #shameless

Guess I'll have to go through that blog. Looks pretty cool so far.

The paint on the FFG models is fairly thin. However, it, like most pre-painted models, seems to be some kind of funky hardwearing latex-based horror . You won't strip it off easily, not without damaging the model underneath - my ISD has taken a serious impact and chipped some of the paint off one edge, but even that edge of blank plastic to paint is very thin and very hardwearing.

I'm nowhere near the painter that most of the guys on here are, so you won't find much useful input from me... but I can definitively say that ~90% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol, at the concentration you can find the States at any Walgreens/CVS) will strip the paint easily and without damaging the model. I've stripped at least one of each of the models at this point except the ISD, and can say that the hardest was the MC80, which took about 10 minutes of active work to get clean.

I've used two techniques:

1) Use a clean rag, dab it in alcohol, and rub the model down. This works okay, and makes efficient use of the alcohol, but it's a lot more difficult to get the model completely clean. Efficiency is the best reason to do it this way.

2) Fill a Tupperware ~2/3 with the alcohol, and literally soak the model in it for 10-15 minutes. Then use a rag to wipe it down, rinsing in the alcohol as necessary. The only model that required any amount of effort to get clean was the MC80, which I had to scrub with a fricking toothbrush to get in all those grooves. I reuse my alcohol by just storing it in a sealable Tupperware, to mitigate the inefficiency of this technique.

The sticking thing Dras mentioned is the best reason to strip. This is mitigated by primer (which you should do for a full repaint whether you strip or not); stripping mostly just helps you hold on to that little bit of detail that the original paint would wash out.

More than anything, I strip because I like the idea of starting from a blank slate. And because it's so very easy that there's really no reason not to if you're doing a complete repaint.

Good luck!

The paint on the FFG models is fairly thin. However, it, like most pre-painted models, seems to be some kind of funky hardwearing latex-based horror . You won't strip it off easily, not without damaging the model underneath - my ISD has taken a serious impact and chipped some of the paint off one edge, but even that edge of blank plastic to paint is very thin and very hardwearing.

I'm nowhere near the painter that most of the guys on here are, so you won't find much useful input from me... but I can definitively say that ~90% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol, at the concentration you can find the States at any Walgreens/CVS) will strip the paint easily and without damaging the model. I've stripped at least one of each of the models at this point except the ISD, and can say that the hardest was the MC80, which took about 10 minutes of active work to get clean.

I've used two techniques:

1) Use a clean rag, dab it in alcohol, and rub the model down. This works okay, and makes efficient use of the alcohol, but it's a lot more difficult to get the model completely clean. Efficiency is the best reason to do it this way.

2) Fill a Tupperware ~2/3 with the alcohol, and literally soak the model in it for 10-15 minutes. Then use a rag to wipe it down, rinsing in the alcohol as necessary. The only model that required any amount of effort to get clean was the MC80, which I had to scrub with a fricking toothbrush to get in all those grooves. I reuse my alcohol by just storing it in a sealable Tupperware, to mitigate the inefficiency of this technique.

The sticking thing Dras mentioned is the best reason to strip. This is mitigated by primer (which you should do for a full repaint whether you strip or not); stripping mostly just helps you hold on to that little bit of detail that the original paint would wash out.

More than anything, I strip because I like the idea of starting from a blank slate. And because it's so very easy that there's really no reason not to if you're doing a complete repaint.

Good luck!

I always get worried that I might damage the model in the stripping process... guess I just have to remember alcohol comes in plastic bottles. I'd be sad to lose a CR90, but it's probably the best ship to try this out on. I'll be sure to post pictures if/when I paint these models.

I always get worried that I might damage the model in the stripping process... guess I just have to remember alcohol comes in plastic bottles. I'd be sad to lose a CR90, but it's probably the best ship to try this out on. I'll be sure to post pictures if/when I paint these models.

Well, in fairness, different kinds of plastic respond differently to different solvents.

That said, unless you get models that are made out of something other than all of mine are, they'll be fine. I definitely tried it on a CR90 first.

Not meaning to hijack but using them as examples...

Akizuki and Teruzuki are the first models that I hand brush over the original paint and it yields impressive results. Though you have to thin the paint just enough to let it coat thinly over the original coat yet not diluted enough to let it run along the panel lines. Also, you've got to wait for it to dry before you put subsequent layers. Each layer would be translucent. Fret not. Slowly build it's opacity up.

Prince Rupert and Prince Albert on the other hand, they were primed using Mr SUrfacer 1500 Black and thereafter airbrushed.

I treat the paint on them as primer and paint as normal from there.

So I guess a bit of an update, since I got the sudden opportunity to go paint last night...

I was gonna go out last evening, but my friend said that he was bored and wanted to paint. I rushed and finally got all my painting supplies from my old apartment (long story), got back to my current place, stripped the CR 90 while I stepped out to buy parchment paper (which I ultimately ended up not buying...), got all the paint off and dried it, and got on a bus just in time. When I got to the store I primed the ship and did a basecoat of Menoth White Highlight (which I already happened to own!). Then came the stupid part. I decided to put some salt on the model, then follow up with a coat of dark green for the chip effect, but I missed the part about using flat shaped salt. And then I did a stupid thing and put the green on too thick! It was coming out too thin when I started so I overcompensated by making it too thick. This "morning" (haha) at home I tried to do the highlight before trying to take off the salt, but the salt didn't fall off as planned, and I realized some detail was lost in the green, so now the ship is soaking in alcohol again. Hopefully I'll do better a second time, and I'll have

better news.