Knuckles Eki said:

Yes the molds are hirst arts. My friend also made boards for descent using some of hirst arts other molds

I'm about to take the plunge into miniatures painting and I have a question on sealant. I got some Testor's Dull-cote. I also wanted a gloss because that's supposed to add a stronger coat and sometimes I DO want a shiny fig (maybe not with Doom though). Anyway, I thought I'd get the same brand and the guy at the store sold me Testor's High Gloss Enamel Overcoat (Product #1814). Is that what I want? I ask because it seems odd that I'm using acrylics to paint, but an enamel overcoat? Should I take it back and get something else? Thanks!

I find that a water based clear varnish does the job very well. I use J.W. ect.'s Right-Step Water Base Clear Varnish with a Matte finish. It glosses the figure a bit, but it works great and is a lot cheaper than the stuff GW puts out. I bought my bottle for just a few dollars at Michael's Craft Store and I still have over half a bottle left after painting the full set of Descent and two of its expansions!

Trump said:

I went ahead and returned it and got a semi-gloss. I'm happier with that, but I do wonder how glossy it'll be. I look on the shelves and see gloss, semi-gloss, and high gloss and they're from different companies so I don't know what to think. Oh well, it'll work out. I think I can dive in on Sunday. These won't be award-winning figures, but I feel confident I can do something decent from all of the tips I've read.

Here's another odd question. I assume many people paint the bases... but do you ever paint the bottoms? Regardless, do you use the sealant on the bottoms or is that unnecessary?

Gorgeous work! Indeed it does seem to add a lot to the gaming experience.

I like to paint and seal the bottoms just to keep air from getting to the plastic. I've read they last longer that way, but I don't know if it is true.

Trump said:

Excellent work everyone. I would like to get mine painted up sometime too.

Trites and zombies done. Marines partially done. Demons started. Hell Knights primed. Whew! All this and I have to get after those Descent minis right afterwards.

Here's a couple of tips for neophytes like myself. DON'T agonize over making your minis as good as everything you've seen. Be happy with your own work. Mine are the greatest, but I am quite pleased with the results. My other tip has to do with washes. After trying a few methods, I came upon the easiest. Have a small container of water. Rinse/soak your brush. While still wet, get a little paint. Spread over mini. If it's too dark, just get some more water on your brush and keep running it over the mini until you get what you want. This is FAR easier than trying to mix a wash ahead of time and hoping for the right darkness.

And I have another question for you vets out there. I'm using primarily Folk Art paints. I'm using Citadel for the metals. So far, this is going quite well. I do have a problem with the red though. It doesn't seem to go on dry as a solid coat so that I really have to do multiple coats to get a solid bright red. Would using Citadel paints help this? Their Boltgun Metal goes on smooth and solid with one coat.

Trump said:

Quoted for Truth. Especially with a big bits game like Doom or Descent. I'm a perfectionist at heart too, and despite myself I always try to paint as much detail as I can, but it will take you years to finish if you obsess about detail. These minis don't have as much detail as other (more expensive) minis games, so just do something that looks good from arm's length. That's about as close as you'll get while using them anyway.

I'm one of those crazies who bought two copies of the game just for more minis. I managed to get the base games done because, at the time, I had a very boring unsupervised job with lots of spare time on my hands. Now that I have proper career going, I wonder if I'll even find the time to finish the expansion minis (x2.)

Since my last post here, I've asked around and there seems to be a consensus that red/orange/yellow just doesn't go on well with one coat and I just have to live with it.

Here's yet another tip for the newbie painter. Paint the demons first. This is not because they're the easiest to paint (although they may be), but because you will get a sense of accomplishment faster than you will with any other figure. I only have one base coat on the skin and one on the cybernetic parts and it looks SO much better that I am inspired to press on even more. I mean, I'm happy with the results of my zombies, for example, but I didn't really feel the progress until I was sealing them.

Man this post is kinda still alive? I did paint one of my Revenants. That was before my wife left me. I needs to get some brushes as I ruined the ones I had when I had to move back in with my parents. I will posts pics when I can get a camera to do so!

Trump said:

How well a colour covers is largely dependent on what base coat you have underneath. Ideally you want a white base coat under bright colours like yellow or red, but even then you may have to make a couple coats. Of course, with dark, scary Doom figs you probably want a black (or other dark) base coat to maintain the atmosphere, which makes those few bright parts that much harder to cover. In my painting exploits, I've found it easiest to start with a black base coat over the whole mini and then paint all the bright parts white before moving on to colours. Takes longer but looks better, imho.

I've also found that coverage can vary even by the canister of paint. Sometimes a particular pot ends up with a bit more water than average and the colour runs as a result, requiring two or three coats to get a nice solid cover. Other pots of exactly the same colour have less water and cover much better. That's not really something you can control, of course, but in my experience it's not a common issue either.

Very nice! It's always encouraging to see others get their painting done, hopefully encourages me to get mine done

-shnar

Boy did that flash show off the blue I didn't cover up! At least it can't be seen by normal means

King of Terror said:

Those are tricky little nooks to get covered anyway. The paint has a way of bubbling over those little holes and not actually going in, I find. The minis look fantastic though, well done!

Thanks! Now I only wish that I had the other Arch-Viles and imps out to keep the same colors! I remember what I used but the mixes might not turn out the same

got me some GW paints to help. Also I am brown washing this batch of Arch-Viles. so far they look good...

I guess I'll show my progress too. (Before I've only showed to my family and friends.)

I've never painted miniatures before. My ultimate goal is to paint all the 200+ figures of the War of the Ring some day and I because I want them to look good I felt I needed a project to practice with first. I chose Doom which has mostly gathered dust on my shelf lately.

I've studied lots about techniques and theory but nothing beats practice. I've settled to paint all the figures of Doom and it's Expansion before I move to WotR but the progress has been sloooow. I started sometime spring 2009 and I've only gotten this far.

Above are the first miniatures I've ever painted. Actually the left-most blue-one would be the very first.

Next I painted Imps. The Revenant on the left means that it's the next one on the list.

Here you can see an Imp in a bit better lightning. I might revisit those eyes and make them darker because now they seem to just blend in the skull..

And the Revenants. I'm very pleased with the result. I feel like I'm already better at this.

A couple days ago I finished with the Trites.

Next I'm going to paint the Archviles so expect new pictures in 2-3 months (at this rate). By the way, Haslo, I hope you won't mind but I will steal your idea of flames behind rib cages.

These are the first you've ever painted? Wow, you're good. I especially like your imps, very good technique.

It's good to see this thread active again. Maybe it'll inspire me to get painting again. I stalled out on the Mancubi and haven't touched the Cyberdemons. I really want to get Doom (not the expansion yet!) done before hitting the Descent figs that REALLY need some love.

Lets bump this. What is a safe way to clean the paint off of them?

King of Terror said:

Clean the paint off? Why on Earth would you want to do that? =P

I've stories about Pine-Sol baths being good at softening up the paint, followed by a rigourous toothbrushing to scour it off. I've also heard brake fluid mentioned, although I'm pretty sure that was for metal minis. Wouldn't recommend it for these guys anyway.

From my own efforts to strip (GW) minis, it takes a fair bit of time. Even then I ended up scraping a lot of paint off with an xacto knife, not a process I would recommend on the softer plastic these guys are made of.

Are you displeased with your paint jobs and wanting to try again? Honestly, I'd say it's too much effort to get them stripped and repainted. Just leave them as they are. Make your next project better, keep these ones for the memories.

Edit: On an aside, I've heard gloss sealent is "harder" than matte. Traditionally I've used matte sealant on my figures, and the only complaint I have with it is how I can't just pile the minis into the box anymore because they'll all get stuck together. Would a gloss sealant create a hard enough cover that this wouldn't happen anymore? Or would I still have that issue with shinier minis?