Alright, I haven't painted any miniatures in nearly 2 decades, but I'm feeling the itch and really want to get back into it. But before I do, I've got some questions. These have probably all been answered elsewhere, but a quick search of the forums didn't turn up anything for me. If someone wanted to point me in the right direction, I'd be most grateful.

What kind of paint do people recommend? Back in the day, I used enamel model-paint, but I'm not sure that's the way to go. I'd like something that lends itself well to doing washes and/or something that can be used in an airbrush.

How exactly do you go about doing a wash?

For that matter, what process do people recommend for painting in general? All the way from priming to completion.

Any particular colors I should pick up? I'm interested in anything that might match FFG's paint scheme.

Any other advice before I dive back in?

Thanks!

1. Paint choices:

Any paints at the FLGS will work fine, although I somewhat dislike Army Painter's bottled paint (but like their spray paint). Citadel is great but very pricey. Vallejo paints are awesome. Acrylic water based is the way to go, in my opinion, for the easy cleanup and the fact that it doesn't smell horrible.

I've never used an airbrush for models, so I can't answer that.

2. Washes:

Most people swear by Citadel Nuln Oil, but other companies make decent washes too. When you want to put a wash coat on, first spray a gloss coat and let it dry. Then paint your wash wherever you need it, making sure you have a q-tip on hand to remove excess. I will frequently dilute my wash 1:1 or more.

3. Process:

a) Clean your model. Use like a drop of dish soap in a cup of water, and scrub gently with a toothbrush.

b) X-wing models don't really need a primer coat, since they already have paint on them.

c) If you are changing the color dramatically, you may want to paint an undercoat of your base color before starting on details.

d) Layer from dark to light, and then do a wash. I usually spray gloss sealer before a wash and matte sealer afterward.

e) Then, I dry-brush to bring out highlights that have been lost to the wash.

f) Next, I add the details (astromech markings, squadron markings, et c.)

g) Finally, I decide if it needs light effects (engine glow, guns, and so forth). I add the glow, seal it with matte sealer, and then hit the glow areas with some paint-on gloss coat.

4. Colors:

I would start with the basics: Black, White, Grey, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Brown. You can mix pretty much anything with those. I would encourage you to get a wet pallette (Privateer Press makes a nice one) and use that to mix your paints and paint from. I used to use an old plastic plate to mix my paints, and always got annoyed when it dried up quickly. A wet pallette will allow you to mix and keep it usable for an entire session, and maybe even for another day or so.

5. Other advice:

Lighting! Get a lamp with an adjustable neck to allow you to put light right where you want it. Also, get an LED bulb to cut down on the heat it puts out. More light is better.

Reading glasses. Even if you don't use them normally, you will want them. Your eyes won't hurt for an hour after painting if you find a pair at a magnification you like.

Some kind of workspace: lots of people use a self-healing cutting mat for the modification part of their work. I use an old cookie sheet lined with paper for painting. It lets me drop trash like toothpicks and q-tips and easily gather them later, and keeps the desk from getting covered in paint. And glue. And whatever I'm using to base the non-vehicle minis I paint.

I hope this helps! Good luck in your painting endeavours!

^ What he said except I paint light first then the darker colors. Reds and yellows are a pain to paint. They usually require a white or very light grey undercoat.

If you want to try a wet palette there's a cheap way to go. Use the bottom packaging from a large X-Wing model like the Ghost. Fold up a paper towel and wet it down. You don't want it sopping wet just very damp. Now for the most expensive item. Parchment paper or baking paper. A small roll will last you several years and runs about $5. Make sure you get the white kind. The brown works but will throw off your colors. You want to put the paper over the towel shiny side up. There's your wet palette with minimum cost. To keep the paints workable over several sessions you can slide into a zip lock plastic storage bag.

One last thing. If you go with a dedicated work light try and get a bulb that is color balanced for day light. Regular fluorescents burn cool and the light is greenish blue. I'm not sure about leds but they are usually marked. The reason I mention this is if you're trying to match FFGs colors you'll get a truer representation of the colors as you paint.

All the above is good stuff. I'll add a caution that may or may not be neccesary, but better safe than sad:

Most hobby paints, and especially Vallejo, contain a chemical that, if ingested, will eventually cause nerve damage. While most of us don't go around drinking paint, painters who wet and 2 brush blend tend to be brush lickers. If you are or intend to be in this camp, take extra precaution to only lick the clean blending brush. Or, as an additional recommendation, Privateer's P3 paints are non-toxic, designed to be blended, and work very well with most thinners (or their own mixing medium) and water for dilution to airbrush consistency. They also have a good line of inks and washes that I've found to be good enhancements to their paint line. Finally, their paints are designed specifically to be handled when dry (for game pieces), and they tend to have a bit more durability and elasticity than some brands. I've never seen them wear off plastics, and my X-wing repaints replicate the look and feel of the FF factory paints very closely.

That being said, as a painter I tend to use whatever color I need, and typically multiple paint lines inhabit my pallet and coexist nicely. Brands I personally use and recommend, other than P3, are: Vallejo (Game, Model, and Air colors, and the Vallejo Thinner is what I use almost exclusively to thin for airbrushing), Citadel (grossly overpriced IMHO, but the line is great for beginning painters), and Reaper Master Series (their triads of paint, shadow/base/highlight, make color manipulation fairly risk-free).

Finally, you can't go wrong with farming YouTube for tons of painting tutorials. Information is rampant, and the tough part is figuring out just what tips you want to try first.

Have fun and chime in with any other questions!

Definitely acrylics. Paints are a lot more health and environment friendly. Thinnable with water and not needing the smelly, toxic and environmentally problematic thinner agents. Biggest point though, you can mix acrylics to get any shade you want.

As paint I personally mostly use none of the typical miniature game colours, but Marabu (great value for my money).

Very good tips above. Yellow is indeed a pain.

Most of the FFG models do not need a coat, just wash them with disc washer before painting over. Some of them are not grey plastics, but brown (e.g. Hwk) or green (e.g. Scyk, Kihraxz) base. These might need a base coat, depending on what colour you choose.

Do not paint in full sunlight. You paint then much too dark, the model looks horrible inside under lamps.

All the above is good stuff. I'll add a caution that may or may not be neccesary, but better safe than sad:

Most hobby paints, and especially Vallejo, contain a chemical that, if ingested, will eventually cause nerve damage. While most of us don't go around drinking paint, painters who wet and 2 brush blend tend to be brush lickers. If you are or intend to be in this camp, take extra precaution to only lick the clean blending brush. Or, as an additional recommendation, Privateer's P3 paints are non-toxic, designed to be blended, and work very well with most thinners (or their own mixing medium) and water for dilution to airbrush consistency. They also have a good line of inks and washes that I've found to be good enhancements to their paint line. Finally, their paints are designed specifically to be handled when dry (for game pieces), and they tend to have a bit more durability and elasticity than some brands. I've never seen them wear off plastics, and my X-wing repaints replicate the look and feel of the FF factory paints very closely.

That being said, as a painter I tend to use whatever color I need, and typically multiple paint lines inhabit my pallet and coexist nicely. Brands I personally use and recommend, other than P3, are: Vallejo (Game, Model, and Air colors, and the Vallejo Thinner is what I use almost exclusively to thin for airbrushing), Citadel (grossly overpriced IMHO, but the line is great for beginning painters), and Reaper Master Series (their triads of paint, shadow/base/highlight, make color manipulation fairly risk-free).

Finally, you can't go wrong with farming YouTube for tons of painting tutorials. Information is rampant, and the tough part is figuring out just what tips you want to try first.

Have fun and chime in with any other questions!

I think you'll find only certain reds and yellows are toxic in Vallejo's acrylics. I'm pretty sure they contain Cadmium to get the vibrant colors.

Thank so for all the responses everyone! You guys are awesome. "Likes" all around!

Interesting that so many of you recommend acrylics. For some reason I had gotten it into my head that acrylics were cheap and/or not as good as other paints, but seeing as how so many of you like them, and as how my wife already has a box full of about 50 different colors of acrylics.... well, I think I'll give that a go.

I suppose I'd also like to ask about doing lighting mods. I've done a little bit of lighting projects on a bigger scale (i.e. Installing strings of lights inside display cabinets), but haven't ever done anything small scale. Anyone have any recommendations as to where I can go for parts? And what parts do you recommend? Specifically batteries and switches. All of the lighting projects I have done use large transformers that plug directly into the wall, and I'm not enough of an electrician to know what kind of battery to use or even what to look for to ensure I don't over-/under-power my LEDs.

All of the above is really good advice There is not much to add there. If you use cheaper acrylics you might want to thin them more than usual and paint more coats. I made a website with some (hopefully) useful tips and some pictures to go with it: http://xwingminiaturespainting.com

Welcome back to the joy of miniature paining

Thank so for all the responses everyone! You guys are awesome. "Likes" all around!

Interesting that so many of you recommend acrylics. For some reason I had gotten it into my head that acrylics were cheap and/or not as good as other paints, but seeing as how so many of you like them, and as how my wife already has a box full of about 50 different colors of acrylics.... well, I think I'll give that a go.

I suppose I'd also like to ask about doing lighting mods. I've done a little bit of lighting projects on a bigger scale (i.e. Installing strings of lights inside display cabinets), but haven't ever done anything small scale. Anyone have any recommendations as to where I can go for parts? And what parts do you recommend? Specifically batteries and switches. All of the lighting projects I have done use large transformers that plug directly into the wall, and I'm not enough of an electrician to know what kind of battery to use or even what to look for to ensure I don't over-/under-power my LEDs.

Years ago, like 40, a mfg brought out a line of water based latex paints. They thinned with water or their own thinner but were a pain in the butt to use. The model had to be meticulously clean. Any mold release or finger oils HAD to be removed. Any amount of oil remaining either caused the paint to ball up like water on waxed paper or if it laid down, would come off in sheets when masking was removed. I tried it a couple of times but found I was spending more time with painting prep than I was with painting. After that there was no guarantee that the paint wouldn't lift. Even went so far as to wear cotton gloves when handling parts.

As for lighting try model train software. (www.modeltrainsoftware.com) Leds down to pico size are available. To get an idea of the (small) size, take a 30 gauge wire, without insulation, fold it in half. That bend is a little smaller than the led! They also have specialty kits to mimic arc welding and fires.

They also carry software to make gfaffiti! If you can't find what you want, you probably don't need it.

All of the above is really good advice There is not much to add there. If you use cheaper acrylics you might want to thin them more than usual and paint more coats. I made a website with some (hopefully) useful tips and some pictures to go with it: http://xwingminiaturespainting.com

Welcome back to the joy of miniature paining

Be careful when thinning these paints. If you thin too much there may not be enough binder to hold the pigments together. Think tempera paints we used as kids. Or pigments mixed with water as a weathering aid. GW has Lahmian medium. Liqutex has several acrylic mediums. Use a little of this when thinning out paint beyond what's normally used.

Paint is usually made up of three components. The pigment that gives it color. Solvent which can be water, alcohol, lacquer or odorless thinner. A binder that holds the pigment together. There's videos of Mig Jimenez using weathering powders on YouTube. He mixes them with water to get clumpy mud or other effects. You don't want to be able to rub your paint off.