Painting flowing fabric

Flowing fabric refers to things such as; cloaks, capes, dresses and flags, to name just a few. I've been trying to both get faster and better when painting those parts of miniatures.

There are a number of common techniques that I come across regularly including, layering, stippling, wet blending and glazing.

Having tried some of those, I have tended towards glazing.

To be clear, I am not an expert at painting cloaks etc., I still need a lot more practice, but this is what I have achieved so far and the process I have used.

1. Prime the miniature

I normally use black, but for this technique, some brighter colours may be easier to apply over a white or grey primer.

2. Take a photo of the model before I start.

Use a single light source from the front and off to the side of the area I intend to paint. This becomes the reference to see which areas are in shadow and which are in the light.

3. Cover in the base colour.

This is the colour that I want the end result to look like. In most cases cloaks do not have any fine detail to obscure, so the paint can be applied in a relatively thick coat.

4. Select the paints.

I tend to use three colours and black. A dark, base and highlight colour.

5. Paint in the deepest shadows.

Typically I mix a little black in with the darker shade colour. This is watered down to a normal layer consistency. I paint this at the bottom of the deepest folds.

6. Paint the edge shadows.

This is commonly a thinned down darker shade colour mixed with the base colour. It is painted on the shadow side of each fold. The reference photo can be useful for this stage.

7. Start the highlights.

This uses a mix of the highlight colour with the base colour. Paint over the crown of all the folds.

8. Let that paint dry.

It needs to be dry enough that the next stage will not take all the paint off but it can sometimes help if the paint is not fully dry.

9. Glazing

This is not one step but the same process applied with different shades of the colour.

The glaze is a very wet, translucent, mix of paint. Before applying, soak up some of the water from the brush on a cloth or paper towel. I find getting the consistency right is a little difficult, but the aim is that the colour applies thinly but does not flow down and pool in the recesses.

In my case there will be four boundaries, the colours to glaze are as follows:

• Deepest black to side shadow - glaze with the side shadow colour, pushing the paint towards the deepest shadow.
• Shadow to semi-highlight - glaze in the base colour pushing the paint towards the shadow.
• Semi-highlight to lit side - glaze in the base colour pulling the paint towards the highlight.
• Lit side to deepest shadow - This is not necessary for sharp creases. It's for more sweeping folds. Glaze in the base colour mixed with the darker shade. Pushing towards the deep shadow.

It takes me a few attempts to get a smooth gradient. Sometimes I do better than others. This is where I need to practice.

Lastly. Depending on the colour, I'll add a highlight to the very top of the folds and glaze this to blend it towards the base colour. For sharper folds I use less glazing.

Some of my efforts are better than others, but I think I'm improving.

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Not sure how to paint miniature tanks

I am still undecided how to paint model vehicles. Particularly the sorts of tanks and APC's that are used for grimdark future tabletop games.

The process I used the previous time that I painted tanks, was not entirely to my satisfaction. To find better ideas, I've been watching YouTube videos. Most are in some way similar to what I had already been doing, however they gave me some ideas.

For the most recent vehicles I did the following.

I started by airbrushing the base colour. I tried using a gradient on each side, but the wash obscured that, so for this process, it was a waste of time.

I painted in some of the details, before using a couple of washes. The undercarriage, wheels and tracks are washed in black. The undercarriage is in shadow, so it did not need anything else.

Behind airbrushed, front sepia wash

On the desert style vehicles I used a sepia wash for other colours a black wash is my preferred choice. The wash on the panels brings out the contrast however, it also changes the colour significantly. Not surprising. Pushing the wash about with a brush to get rid of the tide marks was not as effective as I had hoped. The result at this stage was still a little mottled. It gets fixed by the next stage.

An alternative I saw on one video was to use a cotton bud to clean off the outer surfaces of the panels more thoroughly. I did a test panel with the sepia wash and that looked tidier and nowhere near as yellow. Something I may consider for future use, but my feeling is that the dry brushing makes that a largely redundant process.

In both of the following photos, the model in the foreground is after it has had the wash applied. The model further back is after that has been covered with a layer of dry brushing.

For all of these models, I used a large dry brush to reinstate the base colour to the panels. The tip I got from several YouTube channels, and the change I made from my previous process, was to leave a little more paint on the dry brush and apply it in a circular motion. It takes a while but I think this works well. It covered the panels while still leaving enough contract.

The dry brushing leaves the edges of the tracks dusted in that colour. In some colours it is a good dirty effect, however for most it is necessary to tidy up the edges. Not too perfectly, another dirt colour usually looks good.

Adding in the final finishing touches is the quick bit to do. This included re-instating the colour on some of the pipes, edge highlighting a couple of areas and a touch of silver dry brushing to the edges of the tracks and other areas that would get worn.

With a darker base colour I do some slight edge highlighting of the panels with a dry brush, but I didn't think that would be noticeable with the sand colour.

As these are for tabletop use and are not display models, the final stage was to spray with a matt clear coat. I painted them over a number of weekends and evenings, so I am not sure exactly how long any of them took. It feels like they took a little more time than I would have expected, but that is probably just due to the size of the models.

I'm happy with the end results. 

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Reference videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9BmFT-tfV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvsFy0eK298

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNRW82j3nE

Models:

https://www.myminifactory.com/profile/WarZoneMiniature/store

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Field gates

We needed to replace a few posts so we took the opportunity to also fit some new gates.

The hardest bit was getting the old broken post out of the ground.

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Post processing resin prints

The trouble with the cleaning process for resin prints is that it means exposure to isopropyl alcohol (IPA) fumes and handling uncured resin. Wearing nitrile gloves is enough to solve the uncured resin risk but the fumes are more difficult. I could wear a mask while handling the models but despite having extraction the smell was obvious in the workshop for an hour or more after finishing.

Taking some advice from articles and YouTube videos I have now changed how I handle the process. I've almost completely eliminated the IPA smell and reduced the time I am handling the models before the resin is cured.

My 3D print area August 2026

I bought a wash station from Heygears. I liked the look of the double canister arrangement so that one box can easily drain the IPA into the other without any exposure to the IPA. What I hadn't expected was how much more efficient the agitating platform was at cleaning the models.

One 4 or 5 minute session in the Heygears Wash setup and the prints are completely clean. 

Tip: An important bit of the process is that the prints have to be supports downwards in the IPA. This is so that any drips of resin end up on the supports, not the models.

My Process Summary

• Put on Nitrile gloves.
• Turn on the extractor and position it over the wash area.
• Fill a wash box to the max marker with IPA. This is only necessary when the IPA gets too contaminated and needs a refresh.
• Put the prints or the entire build plate with the models still attached into an empty wash box. The print supports should be facing towards the bottom of the tank.
• Seal the box and put the full wash box above with the drain connected to the input valve of the empty box.
• Open the upper valve and upper air vent and wait for the IPA to drain onto the print.
• Remember to CLOSE the valve (I keep forgetting!)
• Put the now full box on the wash platform and run for 4 or 5 minutes.
• Now for the reverse. Put the full wash box on top of an empty wash box and drain the IPA.
• Remember to CLOSE the valve.
• Open and remove the prints. If not already done, remove from the build plate.
• Leave to dry. I only wait just enough time for the surface to dry and for anything to have drained out of hollow models.
• Cure the prints with the supports still attached.
• While the prints are curing I usually do any cleaning, such as residue from the emptied wash box.

With the prints now cured, they can be handled and cleaned up without gloves.

All done with very little exposure to uncured resin or IPA and no lingering smell.

Removing cured supports

On small models, I find that removing the supports can be done as they are even when cured. For models with large areas of support it is helpful to soften them in warm water.

I use a plastic food storage box. The temperature of the water is not critical. I find even lukewarm is sufficient. I usually start with water that is about as hot as I would have for a bath. Not as hot as my wife has in her bath. Just about bearable to put my hand in.

With Heygears PAF10 (PVC-like) resin, the supports become very soft and easy to remove. Much easier than they would be before curing the print.

As the models are clean, not tacky and I am not wearing gloves, the support removal has been much easier for me than it used to be.

Reusing IPA

It's not a perfect process, I'm still left with a short exposure to open IPA containers when cleaning and swapping IPA. If I wash with the build plate still attached the IPA tends to get dirtier than if the models are removed first. The extra resin from the build plate requires that I have to swap out the IPA more often. 

When the models don't come out as clean as they should or before that if I remember, I'll clean the IPA. I use a clear container that fits in the cure station. This is so I can cure the resin within the IPA. When cured the resin is easy to remove from the container. I sometimes use a silicone scraper to help. The now cleaner IPA can then be reused.

IPA cleaning process:

• Pour the dirty IPA into a clear container.
• Seal the container.
• Cure in the cure station for 20 mins.
• Drain the IPA via a filter funnel into a storage bottle or one of the wash boxes for reuse.
• Scrape the cured resin off of the clear container ready for the container to be reused.

Sometimes I repeat the process because it is the resin on the outer edges of the container that get cured likely leaving some uncured deeper inside.

Note: Curing resin in IPA, does not get rid of the dye. The IPA retains a cloudy grey look while the resin removed tends to be a white gel.

Cleaning up resin spills

There will always be times when some uncured resin gets where it's not wanted, or just the run off from the build plate while removing the prints.

This needs to be handled and disposed of thoughtfully. The simple solution I use is to cure the resin with a small handheld 395nm UV lamp.

I was surprised how short an exposure the resin needs to become rigid. Less than a minute is sufficient.

Build Plate Lift

I've made myself a frame to help lift the build plate out of the wash boxes.

Mk2 lift frame

This is mark 2. The handles on my previous version were inadequate.

Download:

Reflex build plate lift 3D print file CC-BY-NC-SA

Change of plan:

Despite designing and testing the frame to lift the build plate, I have decided that removing the models from the build plate before washing them is the better option for me. The minimal time required to separate the prints from the plate adds very little extra exposure to uncured resin and no extra exposure to IPA. It means the IPA needs less frequent replacement.

I do like the nice clean build plate, but I'm still tending towards removing the prints before washing.

I can always deliberately include the build plate in the wash from time to time.

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Reference:

https://store.heygears.com/blogs/blog/how-to-clean-resin-prints

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Heygears Reflex maintenance menus

I had cause to contact Heygears to calibrate the level of my Reflex printer. The maintenance menus are password protected needing Heygears Support to provide a temporary passcode.

The options are strictly controlled with built in checks to make it difficult to mess it up. In this case, at the time I initially tried to carry it out, it was too hot. I had to get up early the following day to carry out the calibration.

Maintenance Menus

As mentioned, the maintenance menus require a passcode supplied by Heygears support. I took the opportunity while I had access to take a record of what is available.

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