Preparing your Miniatures
Preparing Your Miniatures is essential to a great finished product. Take a little bit of time to think about:
Mould lines and gaps
A bad seem or mould line can impact the finish of your miniatures and destroy the realistic effects you work so hard to create.
Always take the time to remove mould lines and fill gaps in joints to ensure the quality of your finished product.
Sub-assemblies
Don't rush into completely assembling your models. capes, weapons and wings can get in the way when painting detailed miniatures. Consider creating sub assemblies and painting them separately befor final assembly.
Priming
A classic start for a clean look.
Getting the right primer coat gives your paints better adhesion and increases the durability of your work.
Whether you use white to make your colours vibrant, Black to create sharp edges and shadows, or a zenithal base to work with contrast. The right primer coat is essential.
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Basing
Often overlooked, high quality bases bring your minatures to life. They help set the scene of your miniatures worlds and ground your work in reality.
Its always worth giving your miniatures story some thought to ensure a consistent scheme to an army...
Weathering
No battlefield is clean, adding damage and weathering effects builds realism for your miniatures.
Rust
Apply a thinned reddy-brown colour such as Vallejo Dark Rust Wash effects to recesses where water would gather or drip. To add lifelike rusting effects
Chips and damage
Take a small piece of packing sponge, dip it in a dark brown such as Rhinox Hide. Dab it on some paper towel to remove excess paint and then lightly dab corners and panels to create realistic chipping effects.
Soot marks
Using a drubrush, dab Vallejo Engine Soot above the openings of exhausts and vents.
Mud and dust
Using a weathering brush or clean drybrush, apply a weathering powder such as one of Vallejo's Pigment FX range to the bottom 1/3 of your vehicle and fix with a light spray of laquer.