The one you have all been waiting for..

Well, for those of you who want to know how to paint figures that is.

In this post I'm going to go through my 'simple' method for painting figures. I've been painting figures like this for 20 years or so (ever since I was painting figures for Railmaster for export to keep myself feed while doing my masters). This method may not work for you, but it works for me and will give you acceptable results in the minimum time. Those who really want to go to town can search out many of the excellent fantasy and military miniatures painting sites out there on the web. However I've used this system to paint batches of 60-100 figures at a time, and for most people it will be more than good enough.

At this point I should point out that you should have a rough knowledge of clothes colours in the period that you are modeling. Otherwise people are going to point out that hot pink shirts are a bit out of place in your 1950's country station.

(I'll apologise for the pictures now. they sort of relate to the writing but I've done somethings out of order as my brain tends to wander a bit during the job. sorry)

To start with I suppose there will be the chat on brushes and paints.

Brushes;

I tend to buy Tamiya. These are widely available, are quite cheap and hold a point really well after a lot of hard use. I've tried artists brushes but they always seem to wind up looking like a bush. whatever you choose it will need to have a good point, and not much smaller than OO size. anything smaller will not hold enough paint to work with (however I have been known to paint with brushes with 5-6 bristles for some really fine jobs).

Paints;

I use a wide mix of Humbrol, Tamiya and Vallejo. Humbrol enamals are the old bog standard. they cover well, and if they were not sold in those silly tinlets would be great (the paint always forms a skin inside no matter how hard I try to keep the lids on tightly). Tamiya acrylics are good to use, but can go a bit odd as they can dry a bit fast. Vallejo are really nice to use, and cover well. they do have a tendency to scrape off quite easily, so a coat of matt varnish is a must. I've not had any experence with any of the other modeling paints available out there (games workshop etc). I would choose acrylics over enamals as they are much easier to clean up and less toxic. Whatever you do, do NOT use house paint. This will just result in 'blob men', which considering how much time you spend on everything else for your layout, is like drinking casked wine every night for the rest of your life ( or Tui beer)

Right, todays victims are some of the Priesler TT scale figures, kindly 'lent' to me for this purpose by ECMT and Wes.

Preparation;

I've tried two methods of painting here. 1/2 the figures have been left on the sprue so that they are easier to handle (but mostly so I could tell who's were who's). First up remove any plastic flash left over from the moulding process. This was not so easy on the figures attached to the sprue. Some people also advocate washing the figures with water and detergent. I've never really bothered with this for plastic figures. An undercoat of some paint is next. this can be either brushed on or sprayed. Choose a light colour (the best probably being light grey). For some odd reason I've chosen Humbrol flesh. Make sure everything is covered, but don't make the coat too thick.


Painting;

I paint from the inside out mostly. this means starting at the skin and slowly working outwards to the outer layers of clothing.
First up is to paint the flesh. get a good covering and don't worry about going over onto clothes etc as we will be painting over any splash later. Next up is shirts. These tend to be lighter colours ie whites, creams etc. I select 2-3 colours for this. laying the figures out paint every 2nd or 3rd one a particular colour (depending on whether you have 2-3 colours). We are going to continue this sort of process with the rest of the areas, and eventually will wind up with no identical figures. take the 2nd colour and starting at the second figure again paint every 2nd or 3rd one. repeat with the 3rd colour. Again, splash these on EXCEPT where they come up to the flesh areas. here you will carefully paint up to the line. try to get the edge as clean/straight as possible. Its not the end of the world if you can't, but it will look better later. Womans shirts and T shirts tend to be brighter colours.

Next after this is ties. I select dark colours (greys and blues). paint a straight line from the top of the shirt to the bottom running over to the jacket where necessary.

We then move down to the opposite end of things. Pants and skirts. Again select several colours (3-4, but one more than the shirt colours) I normally would pick a mid grey, black, blue and possibly a khaki for the men, and some lighter colours for the women (possibly some greens and browns or even red if you are feeling adventurous). Paint these on using the same method for the shirts and ties (ie every x'ed figure where x is the number of paints you have choosen) and if the figures shirt touches the pants/skirt paint carefully up to this line and try not to go over it. Also try not to go over any flesh colours as well. If you do, just leave it till the clean up at the end.


Are we having fun yet? Jackets are next. These tend again to be darker colours (greys, and browns, maybe greens). Paint these on as previously, but now with a bit more care as there are multiple areas where you will be approaching previously painted colours. Again just paint up to the line between the colours, and try not to go over it.


Now we are into the easy stuff. Bags and other accessorys can be painted. Bags tend to be leather and only really colourful in more modern periods. you can have a go at painting the starps, but its not easy, and will be dealt with in a later step mostly.

Hair is quite simple. I only use 4 colours, Black, brown, a light brown/yellow ( Tamiyas desert yellow is very good), and grey. Choose a mid to light grey. You will probably not be able to see the hair moulding, so just use a bit of common sense to apply this where you think looks right. Don't be afraid to experiment with facial hair (for men) but make sure that it doesn't look out of period.
Finally finish up by doing any hats etc. These can be any colour really.
Opps, almost forgot the shoes. I paint mine mostly black or brown, but for modern periods almost anything goes.

We now have a couple of finishing steps. First up, take each colour in turn that you have used and go over all the figures that you have painted and touchup any flaws, or bits that you have missed previously.

The next two step really tidy things up. Brush on a 1:1 mix of Tamiya smoke (X19) and water which will run into all the crevices and joins between colours. It adds shadows as well.

Left to right; Mr and Mrs Goring return with the shopping; 'No, my wife is at home'; 'Should not have brought that cheap watch in Singapore'; 'See spot run....'; 'Wish I'd brought a book'; A full head of hair; A model of me 20 years ago; 'Go the Naki'; Nondescript child.

Secondly, give each figure a VERY light drybrush with a light colour ( I use Vallejo 'iraqi sand'). Dip the tip of a widish soft brush in the paint, and then wipe it mostly dry on a tissue. This should leave a very light dusting on paint on the bristles. Brush this very lightly over the figures and it should highlight the raised areas. Be very careful as its easy to overdo.

I find these steps improve the look quite significantly, making you appear to be a far better painter than you really are.

One final step once you are happy with everything is to seal it all with a coat of matt varnish. Make sure that this is properly mixed, as it can do funny things.

Having painted both batches now, I would be inclined to paint as much of the figure as possible on the sprue. its much easier to handle figures this size, and you don't have to keep touching them untill later in the process.

I have added a thread on Nz120.org so that we can further discuss this topic and answer any questions etc that anyone might have on any of this.