I've just finished painting my first miniature with Tamyia acrylic (that's what I had on my workbench) and ready to move to the weathering phase.

When painting my 1/87 models, I typically spray a testers dull coat to seal my base colors before weathering, allowing me to add and remove weathering without damaging the paint. Do you guys do the same with your miniatures?

I'm planning to stop my my LGS to pick up some Citidel Nulin Oil as I've read about using it for panel lines. I've read it flows well. If I use it, should I seal with a gloss coat to help the Nulin flow?

Generally, it's a good idea to seal your base paint job before tackling weathering. If you were just going to paint on battle scars and dry brushing, you could probably skip sealing the miniature. But if you're planning on using washes, like with the Nuln Oil, or dry pigments, then it's probably a good idea to go with a coat of whatever you're sealing your miniatures with. Another factor would be the drying time of said sealing coat. Make sure you let that completely dry, either over night or helping it along with a hair dryer or near a heater (even a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb bent over closer to the miniature helps).

Nuln oil comes in standard and gloss versions, the gloss one flows better into the cracks, though being gloss you might want to matt varnish afterwards.

Do you use weathering pigments ? Great way to add dirt and grime and if you don't like the look, just wash it off and try again (then spray varnish to seal).

Another way is the sponge method... tear off a bit of sponge from a blister pack, dab into some black / brown paint, dab it a few times on some paper to remove the excess and then proceed to dab onto the model to give some nice wear and tear damage. Good to go over with some metallics and add the odd bit of metal to be dabbed areas to break them up and show where there damage has gone through the ships paint.

37 minutes ago, Vindicare101 said:

Nuln oil comes in standard and gloss versions, the gloss one flows better into the cracks, though being gloss you might want to matt varnish afterwards.

Do you use weathering pigments ? Great way to add dirt and grime and if you don't like the look, just wash it off and try again (then spray varnish to seal).

Another way is the sponge method... tear off a bit of sponge from a blister pack, dab into some black / brown paint, dab it a few times on some paper to remove the excess and then proceed to dab onto the model to give some nice wear and tear damage. Good to go over with some metallics and add the odd bit of metal to be dabbed areas to break them up and show where there damage has gone through the ships paint.

I use a lot of weathering powders on my 1/87 stuff. Gonna give them a try. They wash off easy as well.

The sponge idea sounds great for some chipped paint effect.

thanks for the tip on the gloss Nulin. Hope to pick some up tomorrow.

One suggestion I would make is to use a satin or gloss varnish to seal the paint before weathering. It does two things. One it prevents washes from "staining" the paint job. By this I mean if you're just doing panel lines and mess up, it's easier to remove the wash that's outside the lines.

The second benefit is being able to remove pigments or pastels easier than if they were applied over a flat coat. Once you're satisfied with the paint job then flat coat it.

On 6/13/2017 at 5:31 PM, Vindicare101 said:

Nuln oil comes in standard and gloss versions, the gloss one flows better into the cracks, though being gloss you might want to matt varnish afterwards.

Do you use weathering pigments ? Great way to add dirt and grime and if you don't like the look, just wash it off and try again (then spray varnish to seal).

Another way is the sponge method... tear off a bit of sponge from a blister pack, dab into some black / brown paint, dab it a few times on some paper to remove the excess and then proceed to dab onto the model to give some nice wear and tear damage. Good to go over with some metallics and add the odd bit of metal to be dabbed areas to break them up and show where there damage has gone through the ships paint.

Careful with the new GW Gloss Washes, it takes a lot of applications of matte varnish before the sheen goes away sometimes.

Small synthetic brush and some medium grey applied as streaks, dragging from edges of the hull on the front of the ship, going back towards the rear works nicely.

You can also go to the extreme and try salt weathering http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting-weathering/weathering/apply-realistic-paint-chips-salt/