I don't know if this counts as advice...might not be the same for everyone.But, what I find usefull is to just walk away.

Don't try to get it all done at once. I don't mean to let layers dry or whatever.

What I mean is...do some work..then...leave it alone for a few days.then look at it again and do more.

It helps to have several ships going at once in various stages so you can ignore one for a while and do something else.

What I find helpful is approaching a ship with fresh eyes now and then. You will notice things that go to some sort of psychological 'invisible' land. Especially if you are free handing some sort of pattern like stripes or checkers. The little imperfections somehow vanish when you keep working on the same thing but pop back into reality after you ignore it a while then look at it again.

Another reason I do it is because I don't often have a plan for a paint job. Just a rough idea. And stopping ...doing something else for a while then going back to a older project helps stimulate some ideas. And it gives you time to refine a concept rather than plow through the fog of " I'm not sure what I want out of this."

So, I'm not saying repainting miniatures is 'art'....its ' crafting' or 'hobbying' but not art.

However, it can be approached like art in a way. ....fluid....dynamic...an evolving result. With higher expectations for what you want out of your canvas....er...spaceship...

You can say to yourself..." I want a green stripe a red star and blue engines on this one."

Or you can say " I'll start with this sort of color...add a bit of that....see where the happy trees live and maybe when it's at that point I could put a bird on it and go get an espresso"

Maybe some of that makes sense.

Makes sense to me.

I have been known to become so focused on something that I make a mess of it. Usually from not taking a break.

Something I've found useful is knowing when to stop . I've seen some paintjobs that just get too busy and the overall look is compromised.

If you want a ship that has a basic colour scheme, then settle for that scheme and know when you've got there. Velvetelvis said to walk away, and this is something I agree with. Take a step back, and look at what you've just done. Is it missing something? No, then leave it for a few days and ask yourself that question again. Is it still missing something? No, then it's FINISHED! STOP PAINTING IT!!

Sometimes subtlety is better than brashness. Especially with base ships like a TIE swarm or Z-95 swarm. Give them all a subtle squadron marking that helps them stand out from other player's ships, but something that's not going to scream " I'm the ace here! Look at me! ". Because most opponents will want to kill that one first, just because it the flashy one.

Even when you're painting an ace's ship, you need to know when you have to stop. If there's some special markings it requires, try and get them right the first time so you don't have to keep going back to make small touch-ups. Otherwise that TIE Bomber you were painting will have that many coats of paint on it, it'll be the size of a TIE Punisher!

Parravon and Velvetelvis both have really good points here; as a new painter the worst thing you can do for your self-confidence is spend too long on a mini. Don't read this forum and expect perfection of yourself of the kind that you see in some of these threads, because *you will not get it*, not for a while. And IMO at least, you're far better off painting 5 minis, getting progressively better, then spending the same time painting one to about the same standard as the last, because you paint your 5, you now have a completed squad or two.

You get much better much quicker if you paint *more*.

Everyone talks about using thinners. Are they necessary for Citadel paints, or is water just fine?

Water is fine, getting some flow aid or drying retarder or both is a much more advanced step.

I only ever thin with water, if at all.

Unless you're using an airbrush in which case thinner is much more necessary.

in response to the walk away comment.. I'm in my 40s now, so can only paint for 30 mins or so at a time before my back or hands start to hurt, so even if you don't need to walk away in order to freshen your perspective, I highly recommend taking regular breaks in any case.. my other advice would be to pace yourself, by which I mean don't undertake something that quickly sickens you. I speak from experience when I say there is nothing worse than looking at a half painted army of 20+ (or 200+) models and realizing you've lost all interest in finishing them.. so while I think it's good to have ships in different stages of completion to keep things interesting, don't decide you're going to re-do all of your 40 Imperial ships in one sitting. that's a great way to screw up 40 ships and (probably) mean you won't be playing with them for a long time too.. start with a couple of ships, or a small squad of tie fighters, see how they look as you go along and decide if you like them... if you have a gaming night/tourney coming up and you want to do something specific for that event, pick a ship with the specific objective of having it done by that date. I tend to find having a deadline in a few days is great motivation to knock out 3 or 4 minis.

Ok, just found a couple of my posts from about 13 months ago, so I'll just copy/paste them here.

Stick to acrylic/water based paints. Simple to clean up afterwards, wash your brush in water (and yourself, the tabletop, t-shirt, table cloth, curtains....). Try not to go to wild (unless that's the intent!!), and keep paint schemes to around 3 colours. Regularly clean your brush even if you're still using the same colour (probably more of a hint for the larger ships/models). This is so your paint brush doesn't get too clogged up.

Never dip your brush completely into the paint pot, in other words, never dip it in over the metal ferrule part of the brush. Paint gets into the base of the bristles, and you'll never get it out. This leads to your bristles starting to splaying out rather than keeping to a point.

If you put your paint brush away after using it, put the plastic tube over the top any good brush comes with on it, to help protect it. When I do it, while the paint brush is still wet I run it over my slightly clenched hand so the bristles go along one of your palm lines, and slowly rotate the brush. This helps the brush keep its point. And never leave your paint brush bristles down in your water pot!! If left for long enough, it will bend your bristles and it's nearly impossible to straighten them.

If you're hanging your paint brush up for a while a thin smear of petroleum jelly on the bristles will help keep them for when you come back. Then when you go to use it again, wash the brush in warm soapy water to remove the petroleum jelly.

Mix your paints on something white. This will let you see the colour better. A white saucer or tile is good, and it's easy to clean. If possible, use natural light. Even better if it's coming in over your opposite shoulder (left if you're right handed), so you don't case shadows over your work.

If buying paint for the first time, and you have a limited budget, you need your 3 primary colours (red, blue, yellow), white & black as an absolute minimum. If you know in advance you're going to use a colour(s) straight up (lets say purple), then get those as well. You can mix a mot of your colours from your 3 primary colours. In this game, a couple different greys and silvers will go far as well.

Washes are a little advanced, but nothing to be scared off. There's a good tip I saw in a video on YouTube for

The Testors paint are a good quality paint, but are you using their acrylic or enamel? Enamel could prove tricky, as if you decide to repaint your ships, you need to use something like mentholated sprits to strip the paint, and that's probably going to melt the ship!

The video linked above, also mentions using the Citadel Agrax Earthshade for those rust stains, where rust has run down from a vent or rivet or whatever. Don't need to use much, and try to follow the contours of the model. This sort of thing is probably when the ship is parked up for a while, so they'll be heading down towards the ground.

Brushes. Someone has already mentioned elsewhere on these forums you need at least a 0, 1 and 2 paint brushes. These will get you through most of your painting. For the larger ships, and those with large amounts of flat surfaces (like B-wings), you will want some chisel/flat paint brushes. These will be more helpful in a slightly larger sizes. Basically buy what you think will help you the most. And buy a couple of different sizes in them too.

There are various types of bristles too. I myself prefer a sable. They're a nice soft bristle and hold a point well, and also hold paint well and has a nice flow. These are named from their original source, my favorite family of animals, the mustelids. Or the same family that the weasel, skunk, otter and my personal favorite, the ferret, comes from. In particular, the Sable, though a variety of mustelids are used to provide fur for paint brushes.

You can also get synthetic sable paint brushes. I have used some of these, and they're pretty good too, and helpful in that they're cheaper than true sable paint brushes.

Also mentioned plenty of times on these forums is thin your paint. These ships have plenty of fine detail. You'll get better results of you try for several thin coats of paint rather than one thick coat of paint. It's also not a bad idea to give it a quick coat of varnish/lacquer after your base paint/before you give it a wash. Will protect the work you've already done, and if you stuff up and flood the ship with a wash, then wash it under a tap and let it dry.

There are a couple of different finishes for varnish/lacquer. But it basically comes down to flat, matt & gloss. If you think you'll be abusing your figures by taking them to plenty of tournaments, a gloss coat is thicker than the others. So you might want to use a spray gloss when you come to finishing your paint job. But then won't it be too shiny?? True, so if you don't want a shiny ship, after the gloss is dry (wait for at least a day, or use a hair dryer), spray it again with a quick coat of flat or matt.

Be careful with spraying your ships with varnish/lacquers. The varnish/lacquers can react with your washes if they're not 100% dry, and could look like parts of your ship is 'fogged'. This can also happen when you spray a different varnish/lacquer over another. So make sure they're completely dry.

You can also get varnish/lacquers in brush-on form. A bottle of gloss varnish/lacquer is perfect for things like cockpit windows, lights & engine glow.

And it shouldn't have to be said, but only use varnish/lacquers in a well ventilated area.

Drybrushing is where you add paint to a paintbrush, then wipe most of it off. Use a rag (paper towel will do, not your mothers best table cloth or your girlfriends dress), and wipe most of the paint off the brush. It will probably look like there isn't any paint on there. That's good. Also, don't use your good paint brush!! Use one that's seen it's best days already. Drybrushing destroys paint brushes. Once you've loaded up a paint brush and then wiped most of it off, then light brush the paintbrush against any detail where you want to leave highlights. It takes a little practice, but is a quick way to add detail. And you can drybrush before and/or after a wash. Depends on the result you're after.

Awesome post, lots of good information there!

If buying paint for the first time, and you have a limited budget, you need your 3 primary colours (red, blue, yellow), white & black as an absolute minimum. If you know in advance you're going to use a colour(s) straight up (lets say purple), then get those as well. You can mix a lot of your colours from your 3 primary colours. In this game, a couple different greys and silvers will go far as well.

I'd like to expand on this. Very short version, I'd start with a green paint as well.

Disclaimer: (edit: actually kinda noob and lazy at painting), but I am into colour theory and put it into practise with very good results.

Long version:

Paint doesn't really have true primaries. The red, yellow and blue model is historical, but is basically wrong and should have stopped being taught a while back. You can get a red, yellow and blue, and mix them for orange, green and purple, you'll probably get a really nice bright orange, a quite good green, and a crappy brownish purple. Switch them for slightly different shaded "primaries" and one of the other secondaries will come out muddy and awful. There are no three base colours that will mix together to give good, bright secondaries. The short version on why this is, you're not using the subtractive colour model, you're mixing together mediums that have already had this model applied to them...the way to use primaries in paint is (what the paint shops do) start with white paint and add cyan, magenta and yellow pigment to shade the paint.

Instead of using Red, Yellow and Blue, one popular method is Warm Red, Cool Red, Warm Yellow, Cool Yellow, Warm Blue, Cool Blue. Cool Red being a red-that-tends-to-purple, and Warm Red being red-that-tends-to-orange... You'd use Cool Red and Cool Blue to mix a nice purple. Warm Red and Warm Yellow for orange. Cool Yellow and Warm Blue for Green. Why are we still using reds yellow and blues when I've said that they're not primaries? Well they are a good set of bright colours to mix from, and as there are no true primaries it doesn't really matter.

My own base mixing colours list is: Warm Red, Warm-ish Yellow, Green, Warm Blue, Cool Blue, Purple. This is based on the kinds of colours I mix a lot (I like my blue end of the spectrum). If you do lots of scenery, you'll probably want to look at also getting a cooler shade of yellow, for example. I think that spreading your base shades through the spectrum like this is better than the previous solution, which seems too attached to the traditional model.

Short version: You can get frustrated trying to mix from too small a colour selection. Ignore the "primary colours" thing. Instead just think about colours that are closer to each other and mix from the two closest you have. If it comes out awful and brown get a closer colour. If you're going to use a lot of that colour, get that colour itself. I definitely recommend getting a good green instead of trying to mix it from yellow and blue.

Also as go paints....

There's lots of good (expensive) acrylics for this hobby.

And there's lots and lots and lots of crappy (cheap) paints.

Try both.

I have a set of acrylics from hobby lobby. They are in tubes. Vary wildly in quality from one color to another. And come in a set of ...i think it was...30 paints for about 30 bucks.

It's garbage.

I LOVE IT.

Saved a ton of money. And have lots of greens, blues, purples, reds etc in it.

For white and black..for dirt cheap they have bottles of acrylic.

I recommend using these junk paints because what you will learn is...properly thinning paints down. You will have to learn it because they are a pain in the butt to work with.

It's great for learning.

Also..get just a very few of the high end stuff from a gaming store.

Nuln oil...mandatory.

Sepia tone...like nuln oil but brown...highly recommended.

From there get one of two that you really like and don't want to have to try and mix.

Like...some of the specialised browns and greens.

But you don't need four different oranges when you can alter some regular old orange to be slightly lighter.

Yes...cheap junk paint.its wonderful. You'll hate it for a while because of the work required to use it. But it's important...you'll get a sense if what "correctly thinned" paint looks like and how it will behave.

When I say thin the paints ,I mean tap water.

Hope it helps. And opinions are different. But I don't like to spend a ton on paint.

I'm not sure if painting with 'standard' acrylics is good idea. I mean, it's cheaper solution, but it may be frustrating. Ships painted with too thick paint will look awful, it may discourage new painters.

I would recommend buying cheaper acrylic paints, but those dedicated for miniatures. In Poland we have Pactra paints. Generally they are bad in comparison to Vallejo/Citadel, but are much cheaper (costs about half the Vallejo price), so start in this hobby doesn't hurt your wallet so much.

I havn't done it to any X-Wing Ships, but on the Stripping note:


I found, in Armada, for some reason, the AFMK-II's paint is different to just about everything else. The Paint surface is pitted or something in comparsion to everything else.

This meant, when it was primed, repainted, and then washed....... The Wash didn't flow, it just stained the surface... Like an Ink rather than a Wash.

I had to strip the original down to plastic and repaint it before the Wash behaved...

So hopefully X-Wing never has that issue, but its something to keep in mind as a possibilty or potential

In this topic, I can add that when I wash ships and I want my wash to stay between panels, 1st I wet (not sure if this word is one I should be using here xD) my model with thin coat of water and then i apply dots od wash into recesses. Thinning your wash may be also useful.

Besides water, airbrush flow improvers and thinners are good. They also make your paint dry slower. I like to thin my paints with 1-2 drops of thinner/flow improver, 1 drop of Vallejo Glaze Medium (I don't remember how it is called in Citadel language ) and then some water if paint is still too thick.

I'm not sure if painting with 'standard' acrylics is good idea. I mean, it's cheaper solution, but it may be frustrating. Ships painted with too thick paint will look awful, it may discourage new painters.

I would recommend buying cheaper acrylic paints, but those dedicated for miniatures. In Poland we have Pactra paints. Generally they are bad in comparison to Vallejo/Citadel, but are much cheaper (costs about half the Vallejo price), so start in this hobby doesn't hurt your wallet so much.

I havn't done it to any X-Wing Ships, but on the Stripping note:

I found, in Armada, for some reason, the AFMK-II's paint is different to just about everything else. The Paint surface is pitted or something in comparsion to everything else.

This meant, when it was primed, repainted, and then washed....... The Wash didn't flow, it just stained the surface... Like an Ink rather than a Wash.

I had to strip the original down to plastic and repaint it before the Wash behaved...

So hopefully X-Wing never has that issue, but its something to keep in mind as a possibilty or potential

In this topic, I can add that when I wash ships and I want my wash to stay between panels, 1st I wet (not sure if this word is one I should be using here xD) my model with thin coat of water and then i apply dots od wash into recesses. Thinning your wash may be also useful.

Besides water, airbrush flow improvers and thinners are good. They also make your paint dry slower. I like to thin my paints with 1-2 drops of thinner/flow improver, 1 drop of Vallejo Glaze Medium (I don't remember how it is called in Citadel language ) and then some water if paint is still too thick.

I've tried doing washes, with little success so far. But I work with enamel paints rather than acrylics so that could be the issue for me.

But... a friend told me that if the ink wash isn't behaving properly you can try adding a drop of liquid detergent to the ink as it make the ink behave differently. Something to do with "surface tension". Further investigation and practice required here.

Fortunately I didn't ruin my X-wing minis because I used an old 1/72 aircraft model that was missing a few bits as my test bed for the ink wash. If you're unsure about any technique, find a really cheap aircraft model to practice on first. Once you've mastered your desired technique, try it on your X-wing minis.

I'm not sure if painting with 'standard' acrylics is good idea. I mean, it's cheaper solution, but it may be frustrating. Ships painted with too thick paint will look awful, it may discourage new painters.

I would recommend buying cheaper acrylic paints, but those dedicated for miniatures. In Poland we have Pactra paints. Generally they are bad in comparison to Vallejo/Citadel, but are much cheaper (costs about half the Vallejo price), so start in this hobby doesn't hurt your wallet so much.

I havn't done it to any X-Wing Ships, but on the Stripping note:

I found, in Armada, for some reason, the AFMK-II's paint is different to just about everything else. The Paint surface is pitted or something in comparsion to everything else.

This meant, when it was primed, repainted, and then washed....... The Wash didn't flow, it just stained the surface... Like an Ink rather than a Wash.

I had to strip the original down to plastic and repaint it before the Wash behaved...

So hopefully X-Wing never has that issue, but its something to keep in mind as a possibilty or potential

In this topic, I can add that when I wash ships and I want my wash to stay between panels, 1st I wet (not sure if this word is one I should be using here xD) my model with thin coat of water and then i apply dots od wash into recesses. Thinning your wash may be also useful.

Besides water, airbrush flow improvers and thinners are good. They also make your paint dry slower. I like to thin my paints with 1-2 drops of thinner/flow improver, 1 drop of Vallejo Glaze Medium (I don't remember how it is called in Citadel language ) and then some water if paint is still too thick.

I've tried doing washes, with little success so far. But I work with enamel paints rather than acrylics so that could be the issue for me.

But... a friend told me that if the ink wash isn't beha_ving properly you can try adding a drop of liquid detergent to the ink as it make the ink behave differently. Something to do with "surface tension". Further investigation and practice required here.

Fortunately I didn't ruin my X-wing minis because I used an old 1/72 aircraft model that was missing a few bits as my test bed for the ink wash. If you're unsure about any technique, find a really cheap aircraft model to practice on first. Once you've mastered your desired technique, try it on your X-wing minis.

Try a gloss or satin varnish before washing. It keeps the wash from soaking into the pores of the paint. Think a drop of water on paper vs wax paper. To break surface tension a small amount of alcohol will work.

With enamels the gloss coat will also work. Try using artist oils for the wash. Put a dab of oil paint on a piece of cardboard to soak up some of the oil. That will speed the drying time. Thin with white spirits and you should be good to go. Rather than using an overall wash try a 'pin wash'. A little time consuming but it picks out details without muddying the paint job.

Awesome post, lots of good information there!

If buying paint for the first time, and you have a limited budget, you need your 3 primary colours (red, blue, yellow), white & black as an absolute minimum. If you know in advance you're going to use a colour(s) straight up (lets say purple), then get those as well. You can mix a lot of your colours from your 3 primary colours. In this game, a couple different greys and silvers will go far as well.

I'd like to expand on this. Very short version, I'd start with a green paint as well.

Disclaimer: (edit: actually kinda noob and lazy at painting), but I am into colour theory and put it into practise with very good results.

Long version:

Paint doesn't really have true primaries. The red, yellow and blue model is historical, but is basically wrong and should have stopped being taught a while back. You can get a red, yellow and blue, and mix them for orange, green and purple, you'll probably get a really nice bright orange, a quite good green, and a crappy brownish purple. Switch them for slightly different shaded "primaries" and one of the other secondaries will come out muddy and awful. There are no three base colours that will mix together to give good, bright secondaries. The short version on why this is, you're not using the subtractive colour model, you're mixing together mediums that have already had this model applied to them...the way to use primaries in paint is (what the paint shops do) start with white paint and add cyan, magenta and yellow pigment to shade the paint.

Instead of using Red, Yellow and Blue, one popular method is Warm Red, Cool Red, Warm Yellow, Cool Yellow, Warm Blue, Cool Blue. Cool Red being a red-that-tends-to-purple, and Warm Red being red-that-tends-to-orange... You'd use Cool Red and Cool Blue to mix a nice purple. Warm Red and Warm Yellow for orange. Cool Yellow and Warm Blue for Green. Why are we still using reds yellow and blues when I've said that they're not primaries? Well they are a good set of bright colours to mix from, and as there are no true primaries it doesn't really matter.

My own base mixing colours list is: Warm Red, Warm-ish Yellow, Green, Warm Blue, Cool Blue, Purple. This is based on the kinds of colours I mix a lot (I like my blue end of the spectrum). If you do lots of scenery, you'll probably want to look at also getting a cooler shade of yellow, for example. I think that spreading your base shades through the spectrum like this is better than the previous solution, which seems too attached to the traditional model.

Short version: You can get frustrated trying to mix from too small a colour selection. Ignore the "primary colours" thing. Instead just think about colours that are closer to each other and mix from the two closest you have. If it comes out awful and brown get a closer colour. If you're going to use a lot of that colour, get that colour itself. I definitely recommend getting a good green instead of trying to mix it from yellow and blue.

Very valid point. I am a bit old school, and will admit that what I said on the topic of the 3 primary colours was something I learned several decades ago in school when I was a wee tyke. Thanks for the brush up (pun intended!) on the primary colours. 8]

Woo! First ever post, here goes:

My current repaints (if they can even be called that) have only been limited to touch-ups on the Millenium Falcon to add black wash carefully lined into areas that were missed in the factory job, plus a blue/white exhaust glow, and adding a three layer purple to the windows on my TIE Phantom to make it look like the Whisper card art.

However, I can add the following suggestions: Whatever you are painting, be it an entire model or just a section, prime it with something. As a 40K fan all my stuff is GW, and so far I can state that their brush-on black primer works a treat on the FFG plastics. In addition, all my paints are thinned down with their matte 'Lahmian Medium' which makes the paint a lot more scratch resistant. I then end with a brushed on coat of Lahmian on its own, as it also works as a matte varnish to seal and protect my work.

Got some xwings in flat black waiting for a full repaint, very keen to see if my vision will come to life as intended....