Figure Painting

[wjstix]

Except for fleshtone paints, I usually just use what I have on hand. For my freelanced road I use dark blue and light blue on the diesels and passenger cars, that works well as clothing colors. Caboose red, boxcar red, engine black too. I usually use Preiser figures and use the white plastic they come in to represent white shirts. So for a man in a suit, I'd just paint the flesh areas, paint the suit say dark blue, the tie caboose red, shoes and hair black. I sometimes mix colors, a few drops of red and white to make pink for women's clothes for example.

[gear-jammer]

Great tips.

I super glue the figures to a roofing nail, and drill holes in a 2 x 6 similar to the method recommended in painting tips at www.musketminiatures.com.  This allows an assembly line with little mess.

Sue

[jcopilot]

Delta Ceramcoat can be found at craft stores like Michael's and Joanne's Fabrics. They usually have a better selection than Wal-Mart.
Good paint and cheap too - what a combo!

Jeff

[edo1039]

I use Delta Ceramcoat and at $.87 for 2oz bottle how can you go wrong,check out your local WalMart in craft dept.

[robengland]

It will be a fine day when the paint manufacturers rename "flesh" to "honky" or "gweilo" or "gaijin" or "falang" or .... Model rail crowds are often unrealistically mono-racial. Regardless of the time period, crowds everywhere in the last hundred years have always been a mixing pot.

[Tracklayer]

I no longer have the eyes or patients for such work - even in O gauge...

Good luck to you.

Tracklayer

[SpaceMouse]

I learned something that helped me a lot when I was just starting the hobby.

Paint the entire figure in black before you start painting. Then when your are painting with a brush, the creases in the clothes, the facial features, etc, are highlighed in dark shadow.

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BR60103

I'll refer you to my friend Brian Fayle's site
http://www.brifayle.ca/
for a course on figure and detail painting.
He uses a basic acrylic set.

http://www.brifayle.ca/

That is a very good site with simple to understand info! Good that Acrylics are used. I don't miss the smell or hazards that come with the solvent based paints.

Thanks!

[BR60103]

I'll refer you to my friend Brian Fayle's site
http://www.brifayle.ca/
for a course on figure and detail painting.
He uses a basic acrylic set.

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TexasEd

orsonroy,

I am printing your guide out as I have a package of the MTH unpainted figures that need some attention.

Thanks,
Ed

Glad to be of help, Ed. As a more thorough guide, you might want to try out this painter's guide by Games Workshop:

http://uk.games-workshop.com/hobby/painting.htm

(don't forget to look inside all the hyperlinks!)

GW, as they're known, makes the most popular miniature wargames on the planet, and they spend a lot of time and effort in teaching people how to assemble and paint their miniatures (so they sell more!). Even though the individual miniatures may not be appropriate for our hobby (how many of us need Lizardmen?), the techniques and use of colors are always useful. And the site is chock-full of great pictures!

[Dough]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy


...The effect is almost always universal: Shakes the Clown Gets Kicked in the Nads....

LMAO[;)]

[TexasEd]

orsonroy,

I am printing your guide out as I have a package of the MTH unpainted figures that need some attention.

Thanks,
Ed

[mondotrains]

Hi,
I'm a fan of Delta Ceramcoat because of the great color selection and price. In order to get a thinner, more smooth coating from it, I dilute it a little bit with water. It then dries with a much duller coat so I can skip spraying with Dullcoat.. Try experimenting with various dillutions. Place a few drops of Delta Ceramcoat in your pallete and then add one drop of water. Mix and use. If it's too thin, add a couple more drops of the paint. I was surprised at first how a little dilution resulted in such a smooth, dull coat.

Hope this helps.
Mondo

QUOTE: Originally posted by chutton01

I'm not going to add anything, since orsonroy pretty much covered in 6 steps everything I've read (and everything I more or less do) concerning model figure painting (BTW, the dark wash and dullcoat steps I find absolutely essential for realism, and also help cover your tracks when all you have handy is a gloss color...).
Anyway, I do have a question in regards to Polly S vs. Creamcote (I tend toward Testors usually myself - yes, wear rubber gloves and work in a ventilated area, and one bottle of a particular color can last for 100s of figures...) - I had understood that Creamcote leaves a rougher finish, perhaps more suitable to painting brick walls or rock faces than (relatively) smooth figures - if not, what am I missing?
Also, any tips on painting Asians? (East and Southeast Asians - with Model-Master leather flesh, black straight hair, and - for men, a mustache - I have Indians down pat) The many (hundreds) of asians I've met in real life (dated a few of the ladys too [^] ) do not have a particularly 'yellow' skin color (they almost all did have jet black straight hair), and I think Presier (my prefered brand - 120 unpainted figures for $24) modeled their Asians by using the dreaded slanted eyeslits via black paint... not too realistic, but stylistically it made it's point. Any other suggestions?

[macchoo2]

Hell-o, Gary here, as an old military modeler, the trick is not to use the same shade twice. That means no painting from the bottle. Use a paint pallet and lighten as you go. the next thing is use plenty of thin washes, to hight light or darken the figures. that about it, take your time and enjoy.

[der5997]

One final addition to your kit. May I suggest a bottle of India Ink. Dilute this down (down down) for use as a final wash. It, like the umber face wash mentoned above, will settle into all the crevases. What it does is to create a look of shaddows. Try it on a finished model, and compare the results. Have fun.

[orsonroy]

QUOTE:
Anyway, I do have a question in regards to Polly S vs. Creamcote...I had understood that Creamcote leaves a rougher finish, perhaps more suitable to painting brick walls or rock faces than (relatively) smooth figures - if not, what am I missing?

Delta Creamcote has a finer pigment base than do most of the other craft paints, so it's pretty smooth. I personally find a "grittier" fini***o be more realistic than a completely smooth one though, so don't mind using the other brands of craft paint (I mix 'N match at will, regardless of the make). The final coating of dullcoat tends to smooth out all but the bumpiest of surfaces as well.

Frankly, I can't remember the last time I painted a figure or scenery element with anything but latex paint, and I've been painting miniatures since 1982. I do have a few old mediocre attempts with Floquil and Testors...never again!

QUOTE:
Also, any tips on painting Asians?

I've painted over 150 Japanese naval infantrymen in 20mm scale, as well as four 25mm Samurai chess sets, so have painted my fair share of Asian figures (I've still got a small Mongol horde in 25mm to paint for a diorama. I love Dixon!). I mixed a batch or "flesh" (caucasian) with varying amounts of raw and burnt sienna until I got several acceptable Asian skintones. I used a Taiwanese buddy of mine as a pallette to check the color match! (which goes to show you: when in doubt, refer to lots of color photos as a guide, or the real thing if possible!). As with all my other figures, I didn't bother painting facial details, instead giving the figures a light wash of burnt or raw umber (lightly; umbers have a tendency to REALLY darken skintones!).

[chutton01]

I'm not going to add anything, since orsonroy pretty much covered in 6 steps everything I've read (and everything I more or less do) concerning model figure painting (BTW, the dark wash and dullcoat steps I find absolutely essential for realism, and also help cover your tracks when all you have handy is a gloss color...).
Anyway, I do have a question in regards to Polly S vs. Creamcote (I tend toward Testors usually myself - yes, wear rubber gloves and work in a ventilated area, and one bottle of a particular color can last for 100s of figures...) - I had understood that Creamcote leaves a rougher finish, perhaps more suitable to painting brick walls or rock faces than (relatively) smooth figures - if not, what am I missing?
Also, any tips on painting Asians? (East and Southeast Asians - with Model-Master leather flesh, black straight hair, and - for men, a mustache - I have Indians down pat) The many (hundreds) of asians I've met in real life (dated a few of the ladys too [^] ) do not have a particularly 'yellow' skin color (they almost all did have jet black straight hair), and I think Presier (my prefered brand - 120 unpainted figures for $24) modeled their Asians by using the dreaded slanted eyeslits via black paint... not too realistic, but stylistically it made it's point. Any other suggestions?

[StillGrande]

Orsonroy is dead on. One thing to add is to not get discouraged if they don't look great at the start or even after a few colors are added. I have been through this will many of my mini armies and have begun to think I have made a serious error until the last color is added. Have been very pleased at the end.

Also, can't stress doing a few at a time. 10-20 is best. You can get really sick of painting even faces on 100 figs (trust me, I just finished 400 american paras in 20mm). Finishing a few at a time lets you see some progress, and gives you ideas for how to do the next batch.

For civilians, look at what colors are popular now. Blues and whites tend to be common. Testos makes some okay acrylics in a nice little set (the brush is okay for priming, but get a couple for really painting).

Also, remember that the figure will be viewed from a distance. 3 foot rule generally works. The faces statement is dead on. Most of the figures I see with face detail look like someone dropped a brick on their foot (giant eyes) or clowns (too much color).

[orsonroy]

The best way to paint figures is to study how the military miniature painters, and especially the wargamers, paint theirs. Wargamers are used to painting 20-50 figures a week to build armies of a thousand or more figures each, and they can all pretty much paint the pants off any model railroader in this area.

I used to be heavily into wargaming, mostly for the painting and assembling armies aspect of the hobby. I've painted well over 10,000 miniature figures and 30,000 vehicles and aircraft over the years, both for myself and others. I've won a few awards at GenCon and other regional wargaming conventions for my efforts, so I feel confident in the painting advice I'm about to give you:

1) Only use flat, water-based paints. Generally, the cheaper the better. The cheap plastic bottle craft paints by Apple Barrel, Delta Creamcote, and other manufacturers are the de-facto standard figure paint these days, at least for anything smaller than 58mm (about G scale). I used to use Polly S until they changed their paint formula. Once I switched, my end results got better and my wallet stopped screaming every time I plunked down $3 for a 1/2 oz bottle of paint. Generally, figure painters use grey or white flat spray paint to primer the figures. Floquil is the hands-down favorite.

2) Assemble a painting tool kit. You'll need a pallette or two, QUALITY brushes (sable or camel hair only) in several sizes (generally, lay in a stock of 000, 0 and #1 brushes; they're all you need for just about ANY painting. I can paint a 4mm wide by 2mm high Union Jack with a 0 brush; it's the tip that's important for fine work, not the number of hairs), a water cup, paper towels, a pipette or three, and something to hold figures with. Generally, I use wood tongue depressors.

3) Lay in a stock of paint. As above, only bother with the really cheap ($.55 per jar) craft paints. If you get into painting figures, you'll wind up mixing your own colors,so you don't have to go out and pick up one of each color. Get the basics (and several blacks and whites), and a few of the "specialty" colors (especially gunmetal, bright silver, and several tans). I've got well over 100 jars of craft paints, but I generally default on the same 20-30. Don't forget to get the four basic browns: raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber, burnt umber. And most paint lines carry a "flesh" (caucasian) color. Pick up one, and be prepared to darken or lighten it according to your needs. It's simpler than laying in a stock of several skintones.

4) Start painting. There's no real good rule for how to do individual figures, except to say that it's always best to paint the same way someone gets dressed. Start by painting the skintones, and then working from the inside out. Undershirts, shirts, pants, coats, belts, bags, shoes. You can be sloppy with the undercoats, but work more carefully with the outer layers of clothing. With practice, you can paint special effects like stripes and plaids (ask me about my Scottish Jacobite army in 15mm!), but save those for when you've mastered the basics. Since acrylic paints dry so fast, paint figures assembly-line style. For smaller scales, I generally work in batches of 20. Paint one color on all or some figures, and by the time you're done painting the last figure in line, and have cleaned your brush, the figures will be dry enough to accept the next color. Don't forget to clean and re-shape the tip of your brushes often, and don't load the brush with paint: you generally only want to use the tips of brushes, not the whole brush. If you're getting paint onto the metal part that holds the bristles, you're doing it wrong.

5) Painting special effects: DO NOT PAINT THE FACES. It'e virtually impossible to get a realistic-looking face in smaller scales. Many people who think they know what they're doing will paint a white dot for the eyes, a blue dot for the pupils, pinkish red lips, and black slashes for eyebrows. The effect is almost always universal: Shakes the Clown Gets Kicked in the Nads. Instead, give all skintones a light wash (10-1) of raw or burnt umber. The wash will settle in the crevasses of the face and fingers, highlighting them but not calling attention to them. Also give figures a general wash of either black or umber to highlight the folds of the clothing. You can also lighten the upper ridges or folds of clothing by adding white to the base color and drybrushing. The mix of light, base color, and shadow is something that can be overdone, so go easy (less is more). The results are well worth it, especially with larger scale figures like O (but do work very well in HO as well).

6) Let the figures dry, and hit 'em with a layer of Dullcote (any brand will do; Krylon flat is the cheapest and works the best). Store them in a safe, padded place until you're ready to add them to the layout.


Painting figures for model railroads is dead easy. It's simpler than wiring, painting engines, or handlaying track, but is something most modelers don't do. With what plastic model railroad figures cost, and given the fact that you can paint right over any mistakes, it's a simple skill that every "real" modeler should work on.

[Anonymous]

Tutaenui, What era are you modeling? Clothing for the most part is multi colored. However, all of it needs to be flat. If you can find some badger spray plaids and stripes, this would be great, and let me know where you found it! RR folks are denims and gray work clothes.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Interesting question. Personally I rather enjoy painting figures, though many people find it tedious. Being in O scale helps a lot. I have built up a collection of Polly Scale paints over the years.

Start with flesh, and to be realistic, don't forget people of color. You'll need plain white, and black for mixing, and a half a dozen good solid colors, especially blue. If you have modern work crews some fluorecent safety colors are a nice touch. Use your imagination, and dress them up. HAVE FUN!![:)]

[tutaenui]

I have a 100 or so O scale figures inhabitating the layout wearing nothing but grey primer and I am now ready to paint them. Can you suggest a core collection of paint colours I should purchase so I can paint them. Please give brand and colour eg Badger, pale flesh. Note I also want suggestions for clothing colours.
thanks