Hello, I was goaded into doing a review today, hehe, so I'd thought about it a bit and decided to talk about what I'm good at: painting. Mark Twain once said write what you know and I don't know much but I'd thought I would bomb some of my knowledge in a series on painting. Today I'll go over some basic info so if you are not a fledgeling painter you can skip this first post and catch up later if you wish.
Choosing the tools of the trade:
Primer: The best primer I've found is Interior/Exterior fast dry spray paint. You can buy it at Wal-mart for $1.30. Please remember this is a spray paint, not a traditional primer, it will clog detail if used too heavily. I will get together with Tenzion soon to do a vid on proper techniques for using this product. This is the first and most important step in miniature painting so practice is important. I suggest using extra sprue or a cheap generic model.
Brushes: There are several of these products out there made by multiple companies, some are good, many are crap. I use a new pack of generic brushes for each commission. These brushes can be bought at any arts and craft store in your neighborhood and I use them for my metallics, dry brushing, and face detail work. The generic pack brushes will hold up through 80 to 100 troops and are disposable, that's why I use them for my metallics and faces. Also, if you look for them, they have some of the smallest brushes you can buy with out spending too much. A pack of generic brushes made for acrylics costs around $5 American.
Citadel brand: These brushes are the ones I use for everything else. If you take care of the citadel brushes properly you can keep them for a long time. They have a good selection of brushes, but there are some to avoid. Never use a brush you spent 7 to 15 bucks on for dry brushing or metallics. Our hobby is expensive enough with out having to buy a new brush every two weeks. I would suggest picking up these types; a Large brush, Regular brush, Detail brush, and the Wash brush. These have served me well, and with a simple soap and water cleaning after I'm done they have lasted through 1000+ figs. It is important that after you clean your brushes you should bring your brushes to a point and store them either flat or hanging point down. The newly formed point should not touch anything, this will keep your brushes from splitting or forking for a longer period of time.
Wet palettes: These are Important when doing large armies, they allow you too keep your paints moist and ready to go. I have kept paint mixes for up to 2 weeks at a time. I suggest picking up the P3 Wet Palette. I love using this product, it has its own case that seals, and you can buy a refill pack that has plenty of sheets for usage.
Flow Improver: This is a must for most paints. Winsor & Newton makes a great acrylic medium flow improver, I bought 250 ml for $11 its concentrated and will last me years. This will allow you to have more workability with your paints, and will thin them adding to the flow of the paints so you wont leave brush strokes. When using this product you may have to coat a model with a color a couple of times, but this is a goal your trying to reach. It is better for your models to have multiple coasts than just one. If you paint with just one coat of paint this can cause the paint to flake on metal models and rub off on plastics. I aim for 2 swipes of coverage for all my painting jobs.
I'll return soon with Part 2 choosing the right paints for the job, please feel free to leave comments or questions.
