New to Miniatures

[Little Hawk]

Hello,
I am new to the miniature hobby having just been converted from model railroading. I had a former co-worker and friend give a bunch of us model railroaders a workshop on Military Miniatures and he also reccomended this site very highly for refference and support. From the postings I have read, I can understand his reccomendation. I was fortunate enough to be with a couple of friends when we visited my friend's home and saw his workshop and collection. I knew when he turned on the lights to his show cases that I was hooked. I have no idea yet what period of history is my favorite and was told that will take time. I do have a couple of questions. Do most of you buy your miniatures by mail order ( as no hobby shop I have ever been in has anything like what I have seen here). I also noticed in the postings here that some paint in acrylics and some paint in enamels and tube oils. What is the main difference. I have been modeling for about 15 years and have ammassed quite alot of enamels and wondered if this would be the best route to start out with since I am familiar with them.

Thank you for your patience for a newcommer.
John Hawk

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Welcome John:

I'm new to the site also but have beeing doing milaitry figures for a long time. You will find this site very, very friendly and helpful.

My take is that most of the figure modellers use acrylics, specifically the recently developed Andrea or Vallejo lines, or artist's oils. You don't have to be wed to one or another but realize that trying to learn both at the same time may be akin to learning French and Italian in parallel - lots of commonality in concepts but lots of potential for confusion in the detail.

I would recommend that you start with acrylics. Personally I would not recommend the use of enamels as you will not find a lot of modellers working in this medium and this may limit the potential for guidance from others. However, enamels can work very well as the results produced by a certain Mr. Horan attest!

If you do start with acrylics, it may be wise to order a basic selection of colours by mail if you can't get them locally (although if post your location some of the memebrs may be able to direct you to a local source you don't know of).

Get a good colour mixing book too - perhaps on line or at an art shop (we can make recommendations).

Get good brushses and learn how to take care of them.

Grab a figure, undercoat it and have a go! Just don't get frustrated if the initial result is not what you want.

I think many get their figures by mail. Do you have an favourite period in history or a favourite country? Let us know and someone can recommend some good figs., scales and sources I'm sure.

I'm also sure you will get more advicie from the memebrship over the next few hours.

Cheers and welcome again.

Colin

 

[mikec55]

Welcome John,

I've used only acrylics (with varying degrees of success at this stage) which are a fast drying, waterbased paint, no thinners needed, just clean your brushes with water & a small touch of dish detergent. I can't speak for oil or enamels, never used them. As far as buying figures, ebay can be a good source as well as mail order. Also, if you happen to live within driving distance of any of the major shows throughout the year, Atlanta, Valley Forge, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc, there's always a dealer area set up with just about everything under the sun figure-wise available. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[Guy]

Hello John and welcome to the Planet.
You can check pf's link section for some of the vendors who advertise online and most of them have an online catalog as well. Colorado Miniatures is one that I have heard alot of good comments about and they are close to you too. I would seriously think about continueing with your use of floquil paint as you have alot invested and as you become more confident in your abilities, branch out and try acrylics. Some people use all the mediums depending on what result they are trying to achieve. I enjoyed having you and the others here the other night and we shall have to do that again.

guy

 

[frank h]

Hi John,
Wellcome to the Site
I believe the figure world,has never looked better for someone
starting out.
The quality of the figures available, the diversity of paints and
painting techniques, all backed up by a vast amount of information
whether in book form or on line.

As for on line, this site is the place to be, for any help or advice.
Freely given by some very,very, nice people..........enjoy

Frank

 

[JCOX]

Hey John, Welcome to the planet!

As others have stated - time period, paint medium, techniques etc. are very much a personal preference thing. You will find a wide mix here. The best thing to do is just dive in and post some in-progress pics here as you go. I'd also encourage you to get with others (like your friend who introduced you to this site) and learn by watching them. Another great help would be to attend some shows and talk with the different folks there. Hope you find this hobby as enjoyable as we do!

-jim cox

 

[Lou Masses]

Hi John,

Welcome to the crackhouse of figurepainters

I echo everything else everyone said thus far plus-

1. I know someone said it, but if you can, go to a show. Tell us where you are and we can tell you the closest and when-maybe even arrange a carpool.
2. Get a few books. Starting out, they come in handy. Shepard Paine's book on painting figures is outstanding (Kalmbach books), Bill Horan's is also outstanding and he works in enamels (I think it's out of print though unless Osprey bought it). Also try subscribing to a few of the magazines -Historical miniature, Figurines from France, Soldatini from Itally. It doesn't matter if you can't read the "How to" articles in the French and Italian magazines (although Soldatini includes a translation), you'll lear a tremendous amount justby looking at the work of others (see #1 above)
3. Don't get scared. We all painted "toys" in the beginning. Practise, practise, practise-that's all it takes.
4. As for dealers, visit www.sentinelminiatures.com or www.redlancers.com. Both of these gentlemen have every kit imaginable and online you can see color photos.
5. Try everything. Anything that you think will work probably will. Keep experimenting and never loose sight of the fact that it's supposed to be fun.

Good luck and have fun!
Lou

 

[KeithP]

John-

That was an excellent post by Lou.

If I may, I will recommend two other books that are in my "library"

1.) How to Paint Realistic Military Figures by Phil Kessler
-Good overview of fig sizes and materials as well as covering basics of oil, enamel and acrylic.

2.) Getting Started Painting Dio Figs in Acrylic by Bret Avant
-Good for basics of acrylics with focus on 1/35th.

Welcome to you as well.

Keith

 

[MSzwarc]

John,

Welcome to pF. I, too, am relatively new to figure painting, and still trying to learn the methods. If you're already comfortable with enamels, then that's the way to go, I believe. Knowing your materials is half the battle. Since I came to figure painting from stick and tissue aircraft, I'm still trying to learn to use paint instead of dope.

As far as finding what interests you, only you can decide that. As I said, I came to figure painting (and attempting to sculpt) from an interest in building stick and tissue WWI aircraft. I was interested in the possibilities of making realistic pilot figures for the planes. Once I started looking at figures, I found myself drawn to samurai figures. I spent three years in Japan as a kid, and I suspect that in my dotage, an interest in Japan is resurfacing.

Beware of where your interests may take you, however: I read a lot of Japanese history and culture now, and am studying the Japanese language. Figure painting can lead to a desire to learn ! I love this aspect of the hobby. I absolutely hated history in school. But now I can't read enough of it. Everything I learn leads me to something else!

You asked about mail-ordering figure kits. I live pretty much in The Middle of Nowhere, with no decent hobby shops for about 100 miles, so I buy all my figures through mail order. I have had good experiences with the following businesses:

The Red Lancer
Michigan Toy Soldier
Squadron

There are many other fine dealers out there that other pF members can point you to, but these are the dealers that I have personally ordered from with good results.

Good luck, and enjoy the hobby !

 

[Little Hawk]

Thanks fellows for your input and response to my posting. The books and reference materials listed above I will start to look for and accumulate. I have found that all of you are eager to share your knowledge about this hobby. I also wish to thank Guy Herrick, who just left here in Lawton, Oklahoma after giving 5 of us a workshop on the basics of painting Military Miniatures. Guy gave each of us a 54mm figure that he says he got from subscribing to different Miniature magazines for us to learn the basics of clean-up and preparation prior to painting. He also went into each type of paint, its benefits and pitfalls, how it works in relation to the others. Guy brought different types of bases and talked to us about groundwork and scenery. Guy had made copies of the articles that appear in planetfigure and they each disappeared to the new owners. Guy also brought the various types of kits available that come in resin and white metal and gave us a list of different suppliers where we could obtain these kits. He also brought along the basic tools needed, which most of us had except brushes, and showed and described the techniques of preperation.

The highlight of Guy’s visit was the display he set up on the dining room table of about 30 of his figures representing the many different periods of history that can be found in this hobby. At about midway through the workshop, my wife and another wife of one of the guys here joined in and was also given a figure to clean-up and prep. I never had my wife show an interest in any of my hobbies and she was as excited as I was to see his display and work on a figure. We all look forward to traveling to Oklahoma City in the coming few weeks to continue the workshop at Guy’s home. (My wife says I can’t go without her). Many thanks again Guy.

John Hawk

 

[RobH]

John WOW!

Excellent!

Well done Guy!!!

Award for the man, please!!

Rob

 

[mikec55]

Yes indeed, very well done, Guy! That was a very classy move and it sounds like you've made some converts. If you decide to take your show on the road, let me know when you'll be in NW Indiana.

Mike