Starship Painting Advice

Adventures and starship battles in a universe where the stars are dying.
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NukeHavoc
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Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

Damon (and anyone else who's interested).

I want to get a jump on painting my fleets. Do you know of any good online tutorials? Or can you give me a quick rundown of where to start -- e.g. should I prime them, then do a spray paint base coat (you alluded to this in the other thread).

Ideally I'd like to at least get some initial painting done by Thursday.

Ken
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by Lars Porsenna »

Step 1: Assemble all metal parts. For these ships, I would leave off the plastic part that fits into the ball joint. Note on both my packs you might have to drill out the holes slightly. Test fit the plastic parts to determine which ones need to be drilled and which ones are fine as-is. For assembly you should be able to get away using a decent superglue. I use Loctite from Lowes/Home Depot; avoid Crazy Glue which is too runny IMHO. Also look at the edges of the figure: the molding process often leaves a ridge of metal or a thin wafer called "flash." This should be cleaned up either with small metal files, fine sandpaper, or a sharp hobby knife (depending on how much metal there actually is).

Step 2: prime. I use either Krylon primers, or Wal-mart $1 valu-cheapo spraypaint. The Wal-mart Flat White actually works pretty well, and dries very fast. Krylon typically takes several days to dry thoroughly, while Wal-mart brand takes a day if that. For the Hazat ships, if you plan on paining them red, I reccommend a white primer -- this will make the red much brighter (Red is typically a weak pigment to begin with, and often bright reds are also transparent, so if you want a bright color, best to use over white primer)

Step 3: paint. If you're doing the Hazat ships, Testors makes a rattle can of Flat Red spraypaint, available at the hobby store (I know FREX Tranes n Lanes has it, because that is where I bought mine). I would NOT use Gloss colors, as these are much more tricky to use, take longer to dry-to-the-touch, and often have weaker pigmentation. For Li-Halan ships Testors makes a few flat grays, which might work. Also would work with Star Wars too. Especially Light Gull Grey.

Step 4: detail painting. I don't know if you will want to get to this stage, but for the black on the Hazat ships, Testors Acryl Flat Black is the stuff to get. It's an acrylic so it washes up with water. I use it very often. Note testors also makes an enamel, requiring thinner to clean up. This is the wrong stuff (more labor intensive in the clean up phase, more poisonous, and trickier to use -- it's a good paint but not neccessarily for beginners).

Step 5: Clearcoat. When you get to this stage it's probably best to just bring them to me and I'll shoot them with my airbrush. If you want to go it by yourself, pick up a can of Krylon Clear Gloss, and Krylon Clear Matte. The gloss is for the initial protective coat, and the matte dulls it down and adds a second layer.

As for tutorials, I don't specifically know of any good ones as I'm past that stage, but Reapermini.com has some decent articles, as does Coolminiornot.com

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
My Book Blog: http://bookslikedust.blogspot.com/
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

Thanks Damon - what do you use for drilling - an electric drill with bit? Hand drill? Dremel? Something else?
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

Just to be clear, once you've got things painted, do you glue the plastic mounts to the bottom of the ship, or is the idea that they rest on the mounts? If so, do you just glue the ball joint (and not the rest of the stick base?)
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by Lars Porsenna »

NukeHavoc wrote:Thanks Damon - what do you use for drilling - an electric drill with bit? Hand drill? Dremel? Something else?
I use a variable speed drill, drilling at low rotations. It's definitely something you need to have a little skill to do. A dremel would work too, but it would have to be variable speed (mine only goes down to 1000rpm, too high for this sort of work). The reason being is you want to go slow so you don't drill straight through it... :)

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by Lars Porsenna »

NukeHavoc wrote:Just to be clear, once you've got things painted, do you glue the plastic mounts to the bottom of the ship, or is the idea that they rest on the mounts? If so, do you just glue the ball joint (and not the rest of the stick base?)
Well, I find the fit is so tight, I don't need glue. However, if it's a bit loose, glue is the solution. Yes, you should do everything after painting.

All I did was glue the little ball to the "stick" on the base, and then pushed that into the part that mounts to the ship. This way I can remove them for transport.

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
My Book Blog: http://bookslikedust.blogspot.com/
My Minis Blog: http://minislikedust.blogspot.com/
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

FYI - Hobby Lobby (@ 248/33) had Testors paints.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

What are you doing with the fighter bases - paint them matte black?
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by Lars Porsenna »

NukeHavoc wrote:What are you doing with the fighter bases - paint them matte black?
Yep. Pretty much.

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
My Book Blog: http://bookslikedust.blogspot.com/
My Minis Blog: http://minislikedust.blogspot.com/
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

For Li-Halan ships Testors makes a few flat grays, which might work. Also would work with Star Wars too. Especially Light Gull Grey.
My other fleet is al-Malik. I'm thinking I need a light green for the base coat, as it would be easier to paint the dark blue in over the green than visa versa. What do you think?

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/us/mi ... malik.html
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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Lars Porsenna
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by Lars Porsenna »

You always want to paint dark colors over light, so that may work.

Damon.
"Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum"
Modeling the Ecuadorian Military: https://ecuadorianmilitary.blogspot.com/
My Book Blog: http://bookslikedust.blogspot.com/
My Minis Blog: http://minislikedust.blogspot.com/
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Starship Painting Advice

Post by NukeHavoc »

I've got half of the first coat of flat red on the Hazat fleet. It's looking ok; the paint sputtered a bit coming out of the can at first (should have done a test fire) but I think i'm off to a good start.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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