Frustrated...

[Cerridwyn1st]

I was looking at the last picture, the one of the wraith, and thinking how much a little ink would help the boots, vest and gloves. Lately I've been painting areas that I want to be leather with a dark fleshtone (like Hill Giant Brown) and then using brown ink on top. I've really come to like the look. The highlights have a nice leather look, and the creases are well shadowed.

 

After that, hit the tracings on the vest with a lighter color, like white leather. It will look like they are blacklined when they are not.

 

OK, about primer. My personal fave is Duplicolor Sandable Black Primer. You can get it at Walmart. Even in Florida's high humidity, I haven't had problems with bubbling, ect.

 

I recently found out that Duplicolor has a white primer. I bought some at Advance Auto parts. I've primed some figs and like how they look, but I haven't painted them yet. The white does look like it works as well as the black.

 

I don't use soap and water to clean my minis any more. I'm not very patient, and water takes too long to dry from the surface of the mini. If I prime too soon after washing, the paint bubbles, which I hate.

 

Instead I clean my minis with rubbing alchohol. It does a nice job of removing anything from the surface of the mini, and dries almost immediately.

 

a big soft brush (like a cosmetic blush brush) will take dust off the surface of the mini if it's beeen sitting around a while after priming. Did you ever keep nuts and bolts in the storage where you now keep minis? If so, there might be a residue of machine oil in the bin that's coating your minis, and would interfere with paint adhesion.

[rowdymon]

Thanks guys...

 

The bolt holder is new...and I put foam on the bottom of all the drawers to kep stuff from chipping...I've been thinking about using some aluminum pistol cases to start storing all my mini's while they are waiting to be painted..

 

On the blacklining...I thought that was supposed to happen after the painting was done...DOH! I'm trying to teach this old dog some new tricks here, so y'all be patient, I got hardheaded at 30, and it takes a bit more of a beating these days to get the lessons across...*laugh*

 

I'm currently trying to teach myself to pin small pieces for my two Warlord armies...boy, it's kind of a pain in the rear trying to not drll a hole through something like a mini's hand...*LOL*

 

I think I'm going to keep these mini's painted though, on second thought, and put on display to show the progression of my painting...maybe later on I'll go buy the same mini's and repaint them and show them side by side...hmmm...now that's an interesting concept.

 

Now I just need to get a mini who's paint won't chip or slough off and practice some more highlighting...

[Qwyksilver]

I'm currently trying to teach myself to pin small pieces for my two Warlord armies...boy, it's kind of a pain in the rear trying to not drll a hole through something like a mini's hand...*LOL*

Don't worry about drilling through. That's what a little daub of 2 part epoxy is for, to plug the backside of the through holes.

[Chastity]

On the blacklining...I thought that was supposed to happen after the painting was done...DOH! I'm trying to teach this old dog some new tricks here, so y'all be patient, I got hardheaded at 30, and it takes a bit more of a beating these days to get the lessons across...*laugh*

I do it after.

 

I think if you do it before, it allows room for mistakes, and allows you to make the lines as thin or thick as you want them, because you can cover them with the paint. And like Tommy said, it shows you just where everything is.

 

I do it after, because ... well ... I actually don't know why. But it works for me, I think because I'm kinda messy with my basecoats, so I'd just cover all the lining up.

 

Try doing it beforehand, and try doing it after to see what suits your painting style best.

[Lars Porsenna]

This really sounds like a primer problem. IIRC GW primer is notorious for paint adhesion problems. I'd ditch the GW stuff and go with Krylon or some of the other reccommendations. I use Krylon and have used about a dozen different paint brands, and flaking has never been an issue...

 

Damon.

[Enchantra]

Well to me it looks like a threefold issue:

 

A) Try a different primer.

B) Thin your paints more.

C) You need better brush control.

 

All of those come with time and brush control takes practice. Primer is one of those things were the amount of humidity will affect how it looks.

[dargrin]

Just a thought. The sell cheap lighted (is that right?) free standing magnifying glasses at craft stores. Could help.

[Brumbor]

When I paint my mini's I stick them to the top of a small watter bottle with blue tack or double sided tape. That way when I paint I dont handle the mini. It helps alot with paint chiping off. After you dull coat it just pop it off.

[Mclimbin]

I sometimes have problems with paint rubbing off while I am painting it, especially on the tips of weapons and on the head. I think I unconsciously handle these parts even though I stick my minis on a small tea can to avoid handling.

 

What I do to rectify this is to touch up the primer with Reaper's paint-on primer, which has never given me problems by the way, then re-paint the offending area, then seal it with Vallejo matte varnish. Works like a charm!