Painting an army

Painting an army is not the same as painting an individual figure. I'm sure it could be done the same way, but for me, there needed to be some compromise to be able to get enough done in an acceptable time scale.

I have limited the number of colours and only painted the details that add significantly to the overall appearance. They need to look good at a distance, it's a bonus if I can also get them looking good close up.

What I have learnt is that, perhaps, the thing that makes the most difference for me is the colour scheme. If I can use a wash, it is faster. Because of that, the tan uniforms were much quicker than the blue cloaks.

The models also have a significant effect on the efficiency to paint. This is fairly obvious, that the ornate miniatures take a lot longer than the simpler jump suits and by far the fastest are chunky models like space marines. Vehicles are relatively quick but the amount of paint coverage needed, even with an airbrushed base coat, means that they take a while.

Another significant factor for me, is painting faces. I'm not particularly adept at it and frequently going over the same tiny detail adds to the time and the thickness of paint, spoils the result. I'll be on the lookout for more models with full face helmets.

There are other factors that can get in the way! Cats, for example :-)

All that said, I'm pleased with the results.

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Painted gold visor effect

I have a lot of sci-fi miniature infantry to paint and many of them have closed visors. Inspired by Halo's Master Chief, my initial idea was to paint the visor gold. With a few images in front of me I soon realised that needed more thought.

I stumbled across an easy method that I think works to produce an acceptable visor at a distance.

To be clear, I am sure there are more attractive solutions with layering and blending, but that is time consuming to do for a tabletop army.

Step 1 - base coat in black

Step 2 - brown dry brush

This looks best with a midtone or dark brown colour. It helps to give some depth and variation to the lens.

Step 3 - gold lines

To get an initial reflection effect, I paint two vertical metallic gold lines. They both have a gap between the peak and the start of the line and end before the lower edge of the visor. The first is about a third of the way round the visor facing the assumed light source. The second is shorter and between that line and the centre line.

Step 4 - gold dry brush

Next, I dry brush the same metallic gold very gently over the whole lens.

I have a narrow makeup brush that I use for this. It is small enough to restrict the area the dry brushing affects.

The effect usually looks acceptable at this stage. The next step is optional.

Step 5 - gloss clear coat

Adding a gloss clear coat is not essential. I usually clear matt coat the entire model to protect it for handling. The gloss clear coat is added only to the visor area, after the matt coat has dried.

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