geaugan

The copy I have is in both english and French. Some of the english translation may give you a little chuckle but its very understandable. I enjoy drilling holes with my pine vise.

Brushes are a very personal thing. I am a 100% oil painter. I bought a selection of the Rosemary & Company Series 33 brushes and have been superimpressed with them. The handle is slightly thinner than a W&N Series 7 but still has a good "feel" to it. My personal opinion is that the W&N Series 7 you get today is nothing like the one's we bought 10 years ago. For the price, Rosemary & Company leads the pack.

Sam and any others that might be interested: http://www.timelinesforum.com/ Go here and look at the very top of the page. The first block is a seven page article with photos written by Phil Kessling. Phil is one of the finast historical miniature painters in the US.

Sam: If I may make a suggestion. I have been painting in oils for over 20 years. Basically I paint flats (zinnfiguren) and branched out into mini's in the last few years. Buy the very best materials that you can afford. The brand most used by "figure" painters are the Winsor & Newton paints. They are expensive but they are the best. I have hardly made a dent in tubes I bought 20 years ago. A speck of oil paint goes a long way. Do not buy student grade paints. They are inferior and have a lot of filler in them as oppsed to the pigment intense artist grades. A capped tube of paint will last longer than you will. Other well known brands are Rembrandt, Schminke-Mussini, Lucas and Sennelier. MIchaels carries W & N. Some of the online art stores like Dick Blick, Pearl and Art Supply Warehouse carry these paints and run speicals. W & N Series 7 brushes are considered the Cadillac of brushes. But any "good" quality Kolinsky sable brush works well. If you don't want a solvent smell, Turpenoid or a DIY oderless thinner work well as a thinner and medium. It helps if you put some of your colors out on an index card before you use them to soak out some of the oil. Soaking out the oil and the use of some thinner will help you get a matte finish. Oils do not dry matte unless you help them along. Baking your figure in a low temp crock pot also helps to matte them down. You will need to get 10 or twelve tubes to get started. Theoretically you can mix any color from the primaries but remember that you will need a cool yellow, a warm yellow, a green blue and a purple blue, a red-orange and a blue red plus a white. Mixing a black is simple and many painter don't use black in their higlighting and shading. When working in oils you need to learn how to mix your own colors. There is no such thing as a tube of "vomit green." Almost any standard white or light gray primer will work but it does need some "tooth" for the oils to adhere. I have undercaoted with Humbrol matte white enamel, Tamya matte white acrylic, and white Pelikan Plaka. They all wrk fine. As for tutorials which is a term that seems to be something unique to mini painters I would suggest that you check out the Timelines and Planet Figure forums. There is a ton of info including video on working in oils. To be honest I have tried acrylics and have always gone back to oil. You can do things with oil that I think are impossible with acrylics, enamal or or watercolor. The extended learning curve is worth the effort. I hope I have helped and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Actually this is someone putting a copyrighted Andrea production on the internet. They were selling this disc a few years ago and I think it is still in their catalog. I agree it was very rudimentary material.

So there is no confusion. Dullcote and Glosscote are laxquer based. They should be thinned by lacquer thinner only. Unfortunately unless you buy their own thinner in a small bottle your only other choice is usually a gallon container. It is very dangerous stuff to mess with so don't strike a match or take a really deep breath. Those of us that used to frequent auto body shops in the 70's remember the smell well,

"I am about ready to throw away the paints and miniatures I recently bought because I just can't use the damn things." When all the in-coming stops my basic point is that the original poster seems to think he needs to give up the hobby because he can't find primer in Florida! I do have to hedge my comments a bit. I forgot about you gamers. In my end of the hobby if you pick up one of my figures you better be a judge or have me standing next to you. Otherwisw it could get very messy

I hope you people understand that my mention of Latex housepaint was in jest but this just isn't rocket science nor does one have to spend as much time as the guy that tested 15 different kinds of primer. When does he get around to painting? In my opinion that is either anal or having entirely too much time on your hands. Or he's an engineer If you have a choice get a $2.00 can of primer and start painting. Personaly I use brush on Humbrol flat white or Model Master flat white. I have 20 year old flats in my collection that still have all their paint. In the end, It's the paint that is on-top of the primer that counts. A very famous flat painter once said, "the paint may fall of my figures in 50 years, but what do i care, I'll be dead."

Actually you are making this all much more difficult than it is. I have been painting rounds, flats and mini's for 20 years or more. You can prime with latex housepaint if you want. All you want is to cover the metal with something that has a little "tooth" to hold your paint. In the old days, when figures were actually lead, you used to seal to avoid "lead rot." The new alloys don't rot. Go to Walmart buy a can of flat whie or black and "dust" it on your figure. The paint should almost be dry before it hits the figure. Every painter you talk to will give you their thoughts on the "definitive primer." There ain't no such thing. Now paint!

Confucious Say: He with the most bottles -- paint the worst. Learn to mix!