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Recently picked up several old minis. Now most are young enough to be of the unleaded variety, but nearly all of them are turning colors, like so: Is this something that needs to be dealt with, or can it be primered and painted and forgotten about with no ill effect? If care is required, what is the best course of action?

My long time generic bad guy, the Giant Mountain Troll by Sandra Garrity, came out of the carry box to get cleaned, repainted, and repaired. His nose suffered a long drop to the floor flattened his bulbous nose considerably. Here's his stock photo from the catalog: Here he is with his paint cleaned off with Simple Green double dip and his nose filed back to sort of bulbous. Since he was well and truly beat down, I decided to make him my next piece with Lunkh being finished and the Hellborn Troll being mostly done. Stay tuned.

Quick question on cleaning brushes. How often do you thoroughly clean them? Obviously cleaning them each time you use them is necessary, but do you go so far as to thoroughly clean them each time you change colors? Or do you just give them a good water rinse between colors? Some of both depending on the paint/colors/etc.?

After so many threads concerning brush selection and brush care, we have the occasional tidbit of things not to do to a brush. So I've decided we needed a series of common mistakes that newcomers and old pros can make when using, storing, cleaning their paintbrushes. For starters: 1- When cleaning your brush in a water cup, DO NOT smash the tip on the bottom of the cup (I had old firm hair brushes when I started the hobby). The hairs will get bent around the ferrule, break and the bristles will splay like crazy and lose whatever shape they're supposed to have. 2- Poking with a fine point. It may seem like a good idea for making eyes, but that point will eventually curve. Everyone, contribute your wisdom or tales of errors.