Re: favorite painting techniques?

trapper wrote:

>    I've been playing FT for about a year and other table top war games
for a
> few years now,but I'm just getting into the miniatures themselves.
I've
> gotten a basic working knowledge of painting and preparing the minis
from
> various newsgroups,FAQs,and magazines. What I'd like to know are
specific
> techniques people prefer for the painting of their ships. What kind of
> primer do you use? What color patterns and details seem to work well
for
> you? Do you use decals? Do you kitbash or add other accessories to
your ships?

	Well, I'm not the worlds greatest painter in the universe, but
here
goes:

	Primer:  I used to use some generic brand of gray primer. 
However I
use Armory brand white primer now.  It dries faster and it grips the
paint  better.

	Paint scheme:  Well, it depends on the mini.  For my FT ships, I
tend
to stay to a standard battleship gray color scheme.  For genre specific
ships, I try to get as close as possible.  
	
	Detail:  FORGET IT!  I can't paint detail for the life of me. 
My hands
are not steady enough.	(Remember Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles?)  So
decals are my only source for letters, numbers and insignias.  My local
game store sells W.W.I aircraft decals for Hostile Aircraft miniatures. 
They would work great for NSL ships.  Right now, I'm painting some minis
for Heavy Gear and I am using decals from... gulp... THE EVIL
EMPIRE!!!!  The chests of my Hunters and Grizzlies proudly bear the
regalia of the the CNCS' 63rd Heavy Gear Regiment--Prophet's Swords.
(Ok, they're Dark Angles decals.  I dare GW to sue me!)

	Finishing Touches:  Of course, the whole mini gets a nice coat
of
Krylon matte finish.  For ground pounders they get some flock glued at
their feet.  For starship minis I like to use large based flight stands
for BIG ships (Carriers and SDNs) and normal bases for everything else. 
My large flight base supply is running dangerously low now that the Evil
Empire has done away with Space Fleet.	However they do have some new
large bases that they use for their Falcon Grav tank and Necron
Destroyer minis.  I hope they sell those separately soon.

> PS: Mark Siefert,welcome to the HGML!

<Bowing to Thunderous Applause>  Thank you... Thank you... 
-- 
Later,
Mark A. Siefert

	"I know that I will never be politically correct
	I don't give a damn about my lack of etiquette
	As far as I'm concerned--the world could could still be flat.
	And if the thrill is gone--then it's time to take it back!

				     --Meat Loaf
				     "Everything Louder Than Everything
Else"

cthulhu@csd.uwm.edu		 http://www.uwm.edu/~cthulhu/index.html
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