airhead

Uncle Sam's Misguided Children Sub buddies call all other ships "targets" LST = Large Slow Target

Tommorrow is Veteran's Day or Rememberance Day. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Instead of a sponge brush, have you considered a natural sponge and dabbing it? Never completely cover an area. Nearly cover the black with a dark gray and work your way up to a light greay with less coverage each time you change paints. the natural sponge will not get down into the creases and will enhance the depth and texture. something like the way they did this: http://www.hot-lead.org/advance/texturing_marble.htm

mattmcl, you can find W&N S7's at large chain, fine arts stores (Pearls, Sam Flax, Dick Blick, etc.) You can also find them on-line at a few places. Rumor has it that someone is selling them on ebay even. I know that Michaels does not carry them. Try one, I think you will find that a 0 is about as small as you need. They have such a better point than any of the lesser/cheaper brushes that I have used. I have settled on using a 0 mini and a 1 standard for 90% of my work now. **** I have also found that Reapers Master Series brushes (black handles) stack up very well against W&N S7's. There are some differences, but they hold up well to serious painting.

The link to Dragon Miniatures is great. I think you have a slight misunderstanding of what a light tent is supposed to be and do. Heavy paper will not transmit and difuse the light, it will be near opaque. The material should be somthing that you shine light through. The fabric will disperse and difuse the lighting as it comes in, giving the illusion that the mini is lighted from all directions instead of one or two points. Two lamps is about the minimum for a light tent with 3 better. Try cheap halogen desk lamps or standard bulb swing arm lamps with the HalogenA bulbs in them. As to fabric for you light tent, try window sheers. Nice white thin 'curtains'. I got some to cover a sliding glass door for less than $20 and was able to cut them up.

If you lived closer, I'd bring my airbrushes by.

google up some spider picks or tarantuala picks. Find one you like and use it for a guide. I am personally fond of something like this:

Have you tried reducing the paint with some flow improver or glaze medium? Put a bit of the paint with a lot of reducer in a sealable container (old paint bottle or film can) add an aggitator and shake away. Most tube acrylics require a bit of work to reduce to the levels that we can use.

miliput is water soluble while pliable. you can make a dilute miliput 'wash' to fill in pinholes in resin models. Better models wont' have much in the way of pinholes, but some of the garage shop stuff you gotta do a lot of body work on. Prime well. Duplicolor automotive primer (Wal Marx and others) or similar should work. Tamaya is great primer, but a bit pricey for my usual stuff.

Basicly, you got a carrier for a supersized con-ex box. I'd almost leave the cargo area vertical wall to maximize the interier. Looks like it could be double decked as well. Possible gun pods on the box as well as the carrier. The box becomes your fortress/defense point.

There is a major difference between getting a 100-200 piece army on the table quickly vs. painting a gold demon winning entry. If your aim is to teach young painters to get an army on the table, assembly line painting techniques are in order. But you do give up lots of quality with this type of painting. If you take a pic of one of these minis and blow it up on your monitor, you will see the skin looks like stucco from the unthinned paints. From across the table, it looks fine. Back to answering your original question. Use a toothpick to transfer a few drops of paint to a pallet (cheap white ceramic tile from the home center works fine). Add a few drops of water or your favorite mix of goop - I start at 1:1 paint to thinner. If you are going to layer up highlights, then then more for each layer. This does 2 things. It stops your paint pot from drying out. The GW design exposes lots of surface area to the air when the lid is open. And it helps you become a better painter.

If you can get and maintain a good point with the red handled brushes, use them. Don't count on them lasting for a long time. I have some Reaper Master Series and W&N S7's that are over 5 years old. (I don't think the Reaper's are - but I bought them as they were released.) I paint at least every other night for about an hour a session. I am brutal on my brushes and am just now looking to replace my W&N "0" that does 75% of the work on my minis. Switching to W&N's (or Reaper's Master Series) - there is a bit of adjustment as they behave just a bit different than the hog or synthetic brushes. You have to learn to pull the paint - not push it. Would you rebuild a race car engine with a cresent wrench? It is a good general purpose tool, but there are better more specific tools out there.

You say "was" as in you are no longer working on these. Why?

You use flow improver to stop inks from flowing? You use this stuff straight?