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What is your opinion on this, Ive always hand painted everything and am pretty good, but i just stumbled on this technique and am intrigued. Painters. do you like or dislike? and why?

I kind of like for my rank and file and troops. It get a bit dirty sometimes and it is easy to overdo, so I'd recommend splashing the shade on instead of dipping the whole miniature into it - at least You get the control of things and see what goes there. It's a bit messy and You should do all highlights before - if You do any. Another story is dulling it all down, where You can spoil the things with spray pretty fast and get that frosty look on them.

I love dipping. As I have several armies, I paint one with dipping technic to make it grow fast. This leaves me more time for the other ones.

With practice, it's possible to get a good result. Check my log if you want to see some examples, all my orks except vehicles are dipped.


Just don't forget that dipping is not magic, a proper work before drowning the minis into the wood stain is necessary for a good result.

Dipped my Death Guard mainly because my right arm was in a cast. Didn't turn out too bad IMO:

I would highly advise brushing on the "dip" instead of actually dunking the model. A brush gives far better control and a more even finish.

I am going to agree with Mad4Minis, I think it looks better if you brush on the "dip" from my own trials and errors

dont dip in dip

paint it on, even with a sloppy brush, it will look better
have another crap brush nearby to sap up anywhere it gets too thick.

Dipping without "dipping" takes so much more time. ^^
I tried both solutions and didn't really notice a gain when using a brush.

But one of dipping's interest is that it goes pretty fast to get a model done. When doing one to three models, why not using a brush. For 5+ men squad, I made my choice. :p

* splortch*

For instance : no brush used here :

These were done by dipping as well

I played around with the technique myself, but only on terrain pieces. I bought a few Minwax products (classic black and walnut) and was disappointed with the results. I think you have to make sure you get the right product; e.g. for Minwax, go with the water soluable product vs the oil based product.


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BTW: great examples posted here guys, I have been very impressed with how well they can turn out as well as the speed of the process. Thanks for sharing your pics - it's motivating me to continue to experiment with dipping.

I've dipped before, and it's a bit less messy when you brush it on (use a crappy brush, then kiss it goodbye).

If you're not looking for a Golden Daemon, your arm is in a cast, and/or you're looking for a plain rank & file type of army, dippin' is ROCKIN'.

If you want to increase your painting abilities, dipping is fine, just don't use it as a crutch (it's easy, TRUST me...). Some serious painters see dipping as cheating and may shun those that use the technique, but ignore them. Washes and drybrushing were once viewed in the same regard.

Also, most applications call for the "Strong" tone (Dark tone is a bit extreme, and the lesser tone, light? Mild? It's just usually not enough).

Good luck, post images.

Fascinating, also thanks for all the pics guys. I do know few people who look on dipping as a bad idea, but i also have like 100 miniatures to paint and sometimes I'm not in the mood to hand detail everyone. Recommendations on the varnish you guys like to use?

I went with Army Painter - both Darktone Quickshade and their Matte Varnish. The only advice is to shake the varnish can vigourusly for 3-5 minutes (seriously) or warm the can up. And never ever spray that stuff outdoors.

rayphoton wrote:Recommendations on the varnish you guys like to use?

I use Golden Acrylic Polymer matte varnish. It's a brush on product that you can find at any art store and is really quite inexpensive. My friend buys the 16oz (that's right 16!) and we split it among our club members. It usually takes two coats to completely get rid of the shine from the dip, but it dries quick and in a few minutes you can easily see where it needs reapplying.

I used to use hardware store matte sprays, but they cost more (though they're cheaper than any other spray matte varnish) sometimes leave a touch of satin sheen, and you have the hassle of having to set up for spray.


As to dipping in general, I'm a vocal proponent of Brush dipping as well. It isn't much -if any- faster overall, but being able to do it at your desk with minimal cleanup (rather than outside with shop clothes, etc) is a real bonus. I also like being able to have a touch more control over my work. Most of my stuff is simply block painted, with a bit of drybrushing and then a dip. I like the results that it gives and as I am not a particularly patient person (but play alot of different games and have many different projects) it helps me to get all the figs I need to the table in a reasonable amount of time.

Here's a fairly extensive pictorial How-To on the subject of "Brush Dipping" that I made for my club's blog..

http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/01/with-liberty-and-brush-dipping-for-all.html

Also consider Minwax Polyshades Satin instead of Army painter. Folks have been using them to dip figures for decades before Army Painter came into existance. It's just about the same product for 1/4 the price! From the Blog post...

The Army Painter/Minwaz equivalents are:
Soft Tone/Pecan — A light brown dip, best used for applications where only a little shading is called for. This is my least used dip, but good to have around.
Strong Tone/Antique Walnut — A more heavily pigmented brown dip. This general purpose dip is good for almost everything. This is by far the most common dip I use.
Dark Tone/Tudor — This is a unique dip with black pigment. It is best used with colors that you would not want to add a brown hue to. Blues and some greens can look great with this dip, though it is by no means limited to those colors. I find myself using this dip more and more frequently.

Here's some stuff I've dipped. Not going to win any awards, but it's definitely good tabletop quality and I am pleased. In the end that's all that matters. If you like the way dipping looks, then go with it, if not, there are many other ways to paint.

AK-Satchel wrote:I played around with the technique myself, but only on terrain pieces. I bought a few Minwax products (classic black and walnut) and was disappointed with the results. I think you have to make sure you get the right product; e.g. for Minwax, go with the water soluable product vs the oil based product..

I do have to disagree with this though. Minwax Polyshades oil based products are the most similar to Armypainter in composition and work very well in my experience. I can't speak to how the water based products work, but the oil based products are an accepted standard and work very well. Also, rather than "Black", try and find the shade "Tudor". You may have to have your hardware store order it, I've only seen it for sale at ACE Hardware. Worth the effort though, as it's a great alternative to "Dark Tone" but is less opaque than "Black".

This fellow did a test and it will show you the disastrous resuts of "Black" on a minaiture
http://strangevistas.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/speed-painting-and-dipping-space-rangers/

I do agree though, that Antique Walnut (equivalent to Strong Tone) is a great standard dip shade for almost anything.

i personally dislike dipping in most scenario's. but i can see the benefit of dipping when you are creating a horde army.

what i dislike about it is i dont want the same color shading on my pants as i have on my face. it just looses visual interest that way

And the Minwax can be used straight out of the can?

I don't use the technique personally. To me it doesn't seem "finished". My technique is usually: Prime, base coat, wash, highlight,(sometimes second wash and highlight) and then detail.

If I stopped at the wash stage, the model would look ok, but not up to the standard I hold myself to.

Dipping is great for turning out good "tabletop" standard models quickly and easily.

It certainly won't rival a really careful proper paint job but it will get your army out on the table much more quickly.

I don't like dipping either, but that was before I decided tyranids would be a good second army...

Eilif wrote:

This fellow did a test and it will show you the disastrous resuts of "Black" on a minaiture
http://strangevistas.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/speed-painting-and-dipping-space-rangers/

Thank you for sharing that link - his "Exxon Valdez" space ranger was pretty similar to my experience. It looks like he used Mahogany over red and over grey and got two completely different results. I was looking for a black pigmented polyshade and Tudor wasn't available at my store so I tried classic black; it covers too much and looks like an oil slick. I tried Walnut and it covered too much as well, turning the whole piece brown. I think I need to take more time to clean up raised features but from everything I've read, this wasn't really a required step.

The grey models in the link used Pecan. It's roughly equivalent to Army painter Soft tone. If you're finding Antique Walnut to be too dark, then give pecan a shot. Remember though, that an essential part of dipping is making sure that you get enough of the dip off either by extra shaking or as I do with a brush.

The Dwarf and Junkers (roman looking dudes) above were brush-dipped with Antique Walnut.

Cleaning the flash from models is very important. If you leave a flash line, the dips tendancy to sink into grooves and fall from edges will make it far more obvious.

I would avoid Mahogany in general unless you have some specific need for a redish tint in your dips.


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SoloFalcon1138 wrote:And the Minwax can be used straight out of the can?

Yes. Some folks dilute it, but in general you can use it strait out of the can, the same as you would Army Painter Quickshade.

Minus: what are you using? my minwax walnut gives MUCH stronger effect than whatever you are using, I'm actually pretty shocked at the results you are getting

I dip my tyranids, and put it on quite heavy - they come out looking almost wet and gooey - which is perfect for slimy bugs.

one important note - do some test pieces first - depending upon the dip (color, etc.) it may change the colors of your mini (besides just darkening it) - so make sure you get what you want (I use the minwax right out of the can).

I did many tests for colors with my bugs, to get the exact look I wanted - took a while, but absolutely worth it.

Best of luck!

Grundz wrote:Minus: what are you using? my minwax walnut gives MUCH stronger effect than whatever you are using, I'm actually pretty shocked at the results you are getting

I use a wood stain I bought in a supermarket. It's the shop's brand "Carrefour" and the color is "Chêne rustique" (rustic oak in English). I don't know if this will help non french people though. But it's a simple stain that should be available in any country, under a name or another. It's a dark color, the product looks almost black but is a strong brown.
I dip the orks entirely in the pot, and then use a salad spinner to remove all the excess stain. So the dip remains mainly in the recess and only leaves a thin layer on the rest of the mini.

Some pictures of the process :
- Base coats :


- Dip the models :


- They look like that after their "bath" ^^ :

Doesn't look good at this stage, hu !

- Use the power of the spinner :


The models inside were not dipped, I used them to show how I lay my minis into the spinner.



After that you let dry for at least 48 hours, you finish the base and put some mat varnish. And you're done.



And a pix of the stain I use :