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Post by: legoburner
Poll suggested by MrMerlin
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Post by: shadowsnip
I usually spend an hour and a half to two hours (setting up the airbrush, then painting)
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Post by: cricketofdeth
I voted half an hour.
But it really depends of the number of troops I'll be using in an army.
For example; skaven clanrats I can do in less than 15 minutes each, and the basic paint job plus wash/highlight looks good because I'm fielding 200.
For GK paladins, I tend to spend 1 hour for each one, or longer if I don't get the frost-fade how I want it the first time. These need to look better individually because I'm fielding a lot less of them.
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Post by: Doklunggraba
An hour for me makes my figures look table tob ready. And also pick up and stare at ready ;D
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Post by: The Apothecary
I think the longest I spent on a Basic troop was 3 days. But I tend to spend a few hours on a every model.
However I spent 3 minutes on my Necron Army
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Post by: Johnny-Crass
For my beastmen I got it down to 15 minutes I gor but I paint around 20 gor at a time
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Post by: nerdfest09
About half hour per mini so i don't get discouraged by the tediousness, some i'm painting slowly over a few hours but I always have a 'fast' army on the go that i can crack on with quite quickly, at the moment, Dark eldar are a fast army for me with less than half hour per mini and my Sallies are a slow army taking a couple hours each one.
Nerdfest09
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Post by: MrMerlin
Hey lego, thanks for adding my poll
its several days for me; i really hate having a model in my army that could look better; though my first 30 boys were done in half an hour each..... AAARGH
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Post by: mega_bassist
Takes me about an hour per Fire Warrior...Crisis Suits are about 2.5-3 hours...Man, I'm a slow painter
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Post by: Rampage
I paint my squads in batches, using the production line method, and it takes me about 5 hours for a squad of 10. So I said 1/2 an hour for a single troop.
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Post by: abhus
Well , i have 120 miniatures to paint .ORKS FTW!!!! got them in august , Have not painted them , but i guess it takes a long time.
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Post by: Deathly Angel
I takes me over a month to convert and paint one basic CSM sadly, but it's worth it in the end.
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Post by: Dunwich
Several hours, but sometimes over the course of days or weeks.
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Post by: infinite_array
I think it depends on scale and format.
For example, a 28mm figure would take me longer to do than a 15mm figure, and even longer than a 6mm figure.
And it depends on the style of the game. I'll put a bit more effort if each model is on it's own desperate base, as opposed to being in rank-and-file during play.
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Post by: mwnciboo
Coloured Primers save an awful lot of time! about an hour per troop (total) using the line painting method.
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Post by: Reaper Man 2020
I voted several days, as I tend to take my time no matter what I am painting. Sure I could churn out acceptable table top standard in about half an hour per model but this is my hobby and I take pride in it. I suppose I also model and paint far more than I play.
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Post by: Brunius
Well, I've got about 5 veterans sitting on my desk that have been waiting for me to paint them for more than a year...
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Post by: HoverBoy
A few minutes, in multyple sessions.
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Post by: SilverMK2
For my CSM, it probably takes about an hour each.
For my SM, it will take longer, probably 2 hours each, as I have a lot of airbrushing and masking to do on each one on top of the regular painting.
My IG took about 30 minutes each.
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Post by: vigilante87
Other. reason being is I don't complete them in one sitting. I do a batch of 10-15 a time and it takes me about a week. So I guess the cumulative time for one model would be half hour, hour...ish.
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Post by: MrMerlin
vigilante87 wrote: Other. reason being is I don't complete them in one sitting.
well, i guess those who chose "several days" dont do it in a single sitting either.......
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Post by: Ogryn
Depends on what it is. But about 30 minutes for every Eldar model.
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Post by: Redbeard
Hard to say, as I paint units at a time. I think, though, that dividing the steps by the number of models would yield an answer of over an hour per man.
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Post by: DreadlordME!
9.9998382 minutes.
NO!
9 minutes for most but beastmen 4 min a gor
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Post by: Gutsnagga
I personally paint all my basic troops in batches, but they take about an hour individually. (ORKS!)
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Post by: Locclo
I also paint in batches (Orks as well), but I'm a fairly quick painter and my standards aren't that high considering it's a horde army. I probably spend about half an hour or less per mini, but it still winds up being about 9 colors for each guy.
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Post by: CallsignNeptune
It can range from a few hours to a couple of days. Depends really on if i'm doing them in one sitting or not.
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Post by: Milisim
Basic troops I aim for 30 mins at the most.
Vehicles about 2- hours.
Elites and HQ I try to go for about 2 hours a model...
I just cant spend an more time on basic infantry guys knowing they just get dragged off the board en masse.
I just spent 3 weeks painting these firewarriors aren't they pretty!
dakka dakka dakka...
Please remove your pretty firewarriors please.... Thats 12 hits with no saves.
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Post by: Howard A Treesong
The more you paint at once the less time they take per head. Makes sense right?
The last units I painted were my Dogs of War and they were several hours a night for a week or more. So it's over an hour per miniature.
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Post by: susejo239
As long as it takes.
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Post by: MrMerlin
Milisim wrote:Basic troops I aim for 30 mins at the most.
Vehicles about 2- hours.
Elites and HQ I try to go for about 2 hours a model...
I just cant spend an more time on basic infantry guys knowing they just get dragged off the board en masse.
I just spent 3 weeks painting these firewarriors aren't they pretty!
dakka dakka dakka...
Please remove your pretty firewarriors please.... Thats 12 hits with no saves.
yeah, but its not only about playing with them. Its also about having an awesome army.
I did take alot of time on my grots, even though they rarely ever survive turn one.....
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Post by: evildrspock
I just spend one whole day, probably 10 hours, figuring out my 2 test Eldar Guardian Defenders. I may be able to cut the time down, but the level of detail, shading and edge highlighting 'm striving for will probably still take me 3-4 hours a model, I can be slow when doing precise details. Usually it's a few hours a day, for a few days each, on a set of models, like me working on 2 Farseers for an hour or two a day for the whole last week. It can take lots of time to get the right effect I want - basecoat, wash, drybrush, wash, touch-up, all for the bleached bone/sepia ink on my Eldar - now let's do another color on the armor/robes!
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Post by: Melkhiordarkblade
I said several hours, mainly because when I paint troops I paint them all together. It's nice that I can paint one colour on them all before moving on to the next, but it gets boring so I usually walk away and wander aimlessly between layers of paint.
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Post by: PapaPiggy
Are we counting smoke breaks and being lazy into this? I have pretty much a thirty min. paint job. But because of my lungs needing smoke and me finding something else that seems better, it takes forever to get models painted.
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Post by: The Mad Tanker
Not quit sure, I paint most of the models on the spur, then assemble them and then add details. So the time I spend painting my basic troops is for a whole squad, so maybe 20 minutes per.
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Post by: Boogie
I also tend to paint basic troops in groups but I think up to one hour per base.
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Post by: Leech
To paint one troop models would take me a day of two. However I do them in big batches which really takes over a week, more if it's a complex unit likeTyranid warriors.
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Post by: Ma55ter_fett
I'll let you know when I finally finish one.
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Post by: Gutstuf Ugfang
2 hours average per model because theyre orks and making every single one slightly different with checks and dags takes awhile.
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Post by: ICleadpeople
A ghood solid paint job is doable in about an hour for a mini I have painted in the past.
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Post by: DemetriDominov
It's actually probably more since I paint fairly slowly, but burning more than hour on an IG model that will spend less than 10 minutes on a game board has never seemed right to me. I'm blessed with a fairly gifted hand though so even though I think I'm slow, what I do is done quickly and acceptably well. I take a whole lot more time on the models i really like though, as well as everyone else does I'm sure.
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Post by: chromedog
For mass-combat games, maybe an hour overall per meatshield. For skirmish games, about 2 hours. This includes cleaning and prep, assembly and painting. Here for a good time, not a long time. Life is too short. Slap some paint on them and set them to battle. (I may not be the world's best painter - I don't claim to be - but I won't play with an unpainted model.)
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Post by: KoganStyle
I take my time on my skirmish game minis - I took 5hrs on a Fusiler mini for Inifinity even though he will never get to the field of battle (he was a test model for colour schemes)
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Post by: oadie
I tend to paint in short bursts, spread over a rather long period of time. I probably spend several hours finishing one model, but it usually takes me a few weeks to actually put that time in.
Granted, it does vary with the complexity/desired finish of the model. I'm currently working on an Infinity fig that's taking me about as long as I usually spend on a small batch of Ork Boys (which I tackle 4-6 at a time - more would break me, less loses any benefit to assembly-lining).
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Post by: sheps
If I think about the time it scares me!
I paint troops in batches of 5 and probably have them looking good enough to scrutinize at about 1-1.5 hours per model.
I also always have 3 things on the go so while one coat is drying I'll assemble something else or spray some terrain etc etc.
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Post by: Vampirate of Sartosa
I can paint about three marines in an hour and a half, doing them simultaneously.
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Post by: sarpedons-right-hand
I spend a couple of hours painting basic troops. But only as I've gotten older.
Before that I'd spray the base colour (blue, red or silver) wash, highlight and add details. Gotta love Space Marines huh?
Now I don't touch GW minis with a 12 ft barge pole, I lavish as much care and attention as I think the mini deserves. I'm in no rush and tend to paint because it helps me relax.
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Post by: Daemonhammer
depends, but between 30min and 1h
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Post by: AethyrKnight
Half an hour for the basic Tyranid troops (the little guys), but I'm a crap painter anyway, so..
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Post by: Adrian Fue Fue
I have several armies to paint, At the moment I am in a small room with roommates. I have a mattress and a chair as my work space so, only a few at a time. It takes me 2 hrs to build and paint 10 bases. Each model on top of that takes about 3 hrs to paint, and the last hour is just touching up everything for all the models.
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Post by: Sharkvictim
susejo239 wrote:As long as it takes.
Well played.
I was able to crank out plague marines about 30-45 minutes a pop (not counting conversion time, just painting), but dark eldar has slowed things to a crawl. After about 8 hours I have one wych 70% done. Ouch.
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Post by: Sky57
I voted several hours, but that mainly just comes out to me being kind of a gakky painter. I enjoy painting, just takes me awhile, and I am not very good at it.
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Post by: Vini
Thanks to the fact, that i'm a beginner, i usually spend several hours to paint only one gk pally Now after a few piece i'm a bit faster, around 2-3 hours Just finished a stormtalon under 23 hours :O (coffee and cigarette breaks included)
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Post by: Steve steveson
Depends on the mini.
For a basic DA I guess about 1 hour. Base green, silver, red, bone. Washs, add a mid green, red and bone, drybrush the silver and then highlight. Not much to them.
DA's in robes take a little longer, probably 1.5 hours.
Orks, annoyingly, take even longer as they have more colours, the green takes more layers. 5-6 diffrent shades, although some only have 3 (I try and make every batch with diffrent skin colours. The way I see it they won't all have exactly the same skin colour, and as long as I mix the models with diffrent skin in squads it looks good).
Tau, probably about 30-40 mins. Not to many colours and they look good with a flatter paint job.
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Post by: Orkaswampa
mega_bassist wrote:Takes me about an hour per Fire Warrior...Crisis Suits are about 2.5-3 hours...Man, I'm a slow painter
Takes me 5+ hours for a crisis suit (paint mine white)
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Post by: Diezel
Melkhiordarkblade wrote:I said several hours, mainly because when I paint troops I paint them all together. It's nice that I can paint one colour on them all before moving on to the next, but it gets boring so I usually walk away and wander aimlessly between layers of paint.
LMAO YES!!! i do the exact same thing! ahaha
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Post by: Mattlov
On the single mini, if I only painted it? Probably about a half hour.
For my gaunts, a good third of that time is waiting for the ink to dry.
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Post by: Joshua Von Wolkestadt
I'm an IG player, so things have to be quick and easy. I spend about half an hour on my basic troop type.
Not including drying time!
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Post by: ghpoobah
I've found using coloured primers, block painting and dip means I can pump out table ready figures very quickly, 1 hour tops not counting drying time
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Post by: Jensvejmand
it's hard to tell, because I paint the models over several days, but only like 1 hour a day.
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Post by: Ensign Elliott
I normally paint Imperial Guard (Steel Legion) or C18th British Line Infantry so tend to bloc paint 5 or 6 at a time of one colour, then go onto the next colour etc... Normally takes about 1/2 an hour to do one colour, though depends on the colour.
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Post by: Lloyld
It really depends of the army, with my Orks, I still have a lot to paint, but I still end up taking around 30 minutes - 1 hour per boy.
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Post by: Farseer Tahril
Put simply, too long.
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Post by: SorataZ
As Orkz are best painted in an assembly line kind of way, I do just that. Painting my first batch of 5 Boyz took 10 hours because I tend to focus too much on details for my own good
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Post by: General_Marshall
Over an hour per guardsmen, about a day of work to batch paint five. As for Sisters, ten hours per model.
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Post by: mydartswinger
As long as it takes to get it where I'm happy with it. Generally between 30 minutes to an hour, though.
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Post by: nemesis5490
with forgeworld ten man tatical squad costing £60 i take several days to paint one mini but i do heavy damage and use oils pigments the works also the bases are a pain using powder
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Post by: BenchianFingers
When I first started I tried the assembly line technique and ended up with models that today I'm very frustrated to look at let alone field on the table.
These days it depends on the army. For some reason space marines with their smooth lines and armor joints I can only do one a night after work; about four hours... but that's several layers of paint, highlights, eyes, glow/power effects etc. I can crank out three or four Krieg units with the same level of detail in the same time it takes me to do one marine.
For independant characters I take several days in chunks of about four hours.
One question I have for folks out there is: Do you guys fully assemble models before painting? Paint on sprues? Or partially assemble, paint something that might be covered by say a bolter across the chest, and then move on?
I put everything but the arms/weapons together, then paint it. Paint the arms and guns and then set them across the chest if that's where they're going to go. Exceptions to this are when the arms/weapons aren't covering anything.
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Post by: evildrspock
With Space Marines, I assemble completely before painting. With Eldar, I partially assemble the bodies, and paint the arms/head/weapon on the sprue, for accuracy.
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Post by: dalsiandon
I do my troops assembly line style so it might take an hour to do a line of troops in one color and then five minutes with another color so...it really varies.
There was one occasion where from start to finish I did about 15 termaguants with fleshborers in about 4 hours, by the same token I'm working on a Deathwatch Kill Team and Rhino for them and while the black is relatively simple it's all the other colors they have that really make them take a lot longer. I put about 4/5 hours into the rhino alone, and probably have put 9 or 10 in the troops, which is about an hour a guy and that's just the basic troops, but I still have the more complicated characters from the unit left.
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Post by: KalashnikovMarine
I assembly line paint my basic troops like my battle sisters, so I really have no idea how long it actually takes to paint them.
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Post by: heroscaper1515
I take about 3 to 6 hours per basic trooper, but it depends on the army. Usually, dark eldar take ages due to all the different colours whilst space marines take about 3 1/2.
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Post by: BrotherVord
My word bearers, cultists, and imperial guardsmen all take me about a half hour because i'm mass painting and don't actually care a great deal about them individually (I don't play the army, I have them for our deathwatch rpg)....my black templars take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, I've painted about a hundred of them and have it down to a science
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Post by: alanmckenzie
Several hours. But since I don't get the chance to paint much, this may be over several weeks.
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Post by: 1068SCP
Days. I'm pretty terrible at painting.
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Post by: General_Marshall
Taking time doesn't mean you are terrible.
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Post by: TheContortionist
all my time. i play tyranid.
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Post by: Color Sgt. Kell
A normal marine or catachan takes me around an hour to 90 minutes.
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Post by: cox.dan2
Usually I paint the whole unit at once and it take a few hours, with all the drying and whatnot.
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Post by: Jacknife
Ive recently been painting up some imperial guardtanith first, and all i have to do is spray them chaos black and finish off details with a brush, which all takes about 10 mins, discounting spray drying times and converting/painting camo capes, but i used to spend 1-3 days on my csm when i first started painting
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Post by: Exalbaru
I'm new and thus very slow, hoping to speed up though. When I get back home I plan on getting some of the P3 inks and trying those on my MEQs
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Post by: Sunoccard
can't really say, since everything almost all my normal troops are batched. Fastest I recall doing was 20 bloodletters in about 6 hours, so that about 18 minutes per. Longest was about 4 hours per for a CSM squad.
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Post by: Grimaldus99
I tend to do them in batches of 5 for my Black Templar... takes a few days as I've gotten to the point of individualizing most of the troops lol...
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Post by: SneakyMek
I'd like to put as much time in on a basic trooper as it takes to make me feel good about the end result of it.
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Post by: btr75
Not counting assembly, but counting all other prep, flocking, and sealing work, it takes me about an hour for each model. I might be at a point where it is more like 50 min.
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Post by: chromedog
About an hour all up.
Cleaning, assembly and painting.
Rank and file don't get special treatment.
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Post by: varl
I spend at least a couple hours on each marine, across several sittings. I work on anywhere from one to five troops models at a time, but I've moved away from the assembly line method because it's just not fun. I'm hoping to speed my process up a bit for my CSM army without compromising quality at all; get the airbrush more involved, etc. that's just painting time, mind you. clean up and assembly is easily another hour each. damn mold lines...
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Post by: zipboom
I spend far too long on them!
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Post by: Thrall420
if priming counts as painting, I did a 3000 point Black Templar army in about 45 seconds. lol
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Post by: brentyboi
Even in batches it averages a few hours per model, i suppose this is why my armies are never finnished. oh well, if they look good its time well spent.
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Post by: Exalbaru
I am definatly considering an air brush just for base coats and primers though, I just dont have enough free time to get much accomplished
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Post by: s12demon
Never exactly time myself but picked the hour option, though its probably between 30 mins and an hour depending on the mini
On a side note wasnt there a near identical poll to this a couple of months ago, or is it just me
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Post by: varl
given that this post originated in jan 2012, you've probably seen it once or twice before :p
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Post by: Mad Boss Morgrot
Firstly depends on the miniature I'm painting, complexity of paint job. But generally they can be "tabletop" ready in about 15-20mins. But for the quality I want it takes hours. I still have chaos marines I started about 2 years ago!
In my defence I now have 90boyz, 40 angels and in the region of another 70chaos to paint..... I know its too
Much!
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Post by: caledoneus
Well, for a basic trooper, depends on how many their are to paint
ogres.... 2-30 minutres total each (do a few at a time)
skaven.... 5-6 minutes total each (do hordes at a time)
average for the average troop, I'd say around 15 minutes per guy though
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Post by: Aeroroot
I think it really depends on the model. Im trying to do some unique heavy weapon imperial guard, so those are taking me about 5 hours each (2 for painting, 3 for conversion). My old space marines and dark angels take an hour for the torso, but its hard to measure since I try to do a squad at a time.
My biggest problem is my unpainted models vastly outnumber my painted ones, so I get distracted with all my projects. I end up fast-tracking some stuff, and sometimes end up doing a sub-standard job on it so it can be done (like my kroot; I hate kroot). If I am able to paint at a reasonable rate (about 12 hours a week, or a full squad) I think I have enough models to last me for over 6 months of painting.
I actually find basing can be more time consuming than painting, especially if you get into water effects.
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Post by: PrehistoricUFO
Anywhere from one hour to two hours. depending on the race of the model. A Necron can be done to a high standard in an hour, but a space marine can take two or more for me to do to a high standard.
Heroes take me tens of hours, I treat everything like a display piece.
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Post by: OneManNoodles
I play guard ... weeks
tho I'm still adding to a platoon I started 2 years ago!
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Post by: Canine Gallows
I've spent about 4 or 5 hours painting a Chaos Cultist I think....
It takes longer when I do not know what colour scheme I want to go with.
For example: my first Chaos Cultist of the group of Renegades had a colour scheme that just happened and then I decided to add chemical stains to his coat and a skull print to his gas mask and I just get carried away.
When I started my Orks I would spend about three hours painting one and from what I remember, that was a rough job too.
In all fairness though, I'm using the smallest brush I could get from my closest Games Workshop and I really enjoy painting so I'll take my time.
I have a load of really badly painted Tau that I want to get to work on but the Kroot really put me off... I've re painted one of them and they went from green to white.
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Post by: ImotekhTheStormlord
takes me 2 mins per necron warrior.
God I love them.
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Post by: evildrspock
It takes me 2 minutes to sit down and get my paints out. Just sayin'.
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Post by: dementedwombat
I've only done about 25 fire warriors, but each of those took about 45 min to an hour to get at what i would call "three color minimum plus a little" (i.e. some extra colors on doodads). Not sure on exact timing, but I remember queuing up a bunch of MST3K on my laptop for background noise and getting about 3 tau done in 2 movies. Of course, I was using the fine detail brush for everything and going slowly in dread of paint getting where I didn't want it.
Now I actually know that drybrushing and washes are a thing I think I could do a lot better in the same time. On these guys I was way too worried about maintaining the black primer coat in low areas. I should have just thrown paint on then went back with a fine detail brush or wash and added the black back in.
http://s985.photobucket.com/user/dementedwombatUSA/library/Painting%20Examples?sort=3&page=1
This was black spray primer. The grey was just the foundation base coat gray (I tried adding other greys but everything was too light for what I wanted). Red was the base coat red with whatever the darkest color GW makes on top of it (and the second darkest for mechanical doodads).
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Post by: 13whited
The Apothecary wrote:I think the longest I spent on a Basic troop was 3 days. But I tend to spend a few hours on a every model.
However I spent 3 minutes on my Necron Army
This made me lol.
My buddy's necron army is still in the process 2 years later XD.
BUT. his monolith looks absolutely beautiful
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Post by: AntomanElven
About 15-20 mins for boyz, longer for more important units
some of the vehicles can take days Automatically Appended Next Post: About 15-20 mins for boyz, longer for more important units
some of the vehicles can take days
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Post by: zman111
ive got orks down to 10 flat including base coating (not dry times tho) then again my orks all wear brown overalls essentially.
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Post by: zellway
I get about 2 or 3 colors and the base done and play. After each game if I think they fit into my list they get the full paint job. Kinda my way of having a MVP type of painting.
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Post by: NuggzTheNinja
Sort of impossible to say since I batch paint. I spent 2 hours painting brass trim on 5 Chaos Marines last night, but that takes forever and is probably the longest part. I'd estimate that it takes about 6-10 hours to paint up a squad of Chaos Marines. Meanwhile, I can paint Imperial Guard tanks very quickly...the economy of scale is different because the work lends itself very well to batch painting.
When you're painting trim you don't save a whole lot of time by batch painting, but if you're doing sponge chipping or something like that...you save a ton of time. I can do ~3-5 Imperial Guard tanks in a 2 or 3 hour session and have them looking very presentable. Infantry take a bit longer but not by much.
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Post by: meecham63
Depending on the troop, 30mn to 1 hour : a grey knight marine would take more than 1 hour, but a basic termagaunt would be 30mn max
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Post by: Feasible
I paint Spehsh Mahreehns so I only take like 90 minutes to 150 minutes to basecoat, wash, highlight and all that.
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Post by: tom_gledhill7
I wrote an hour, although I'm not exactly sure because I do them on mass. I assume if I just sat there and painted one, I could complete it in an hour.
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Post by: Jonavic
I always feth up my miniature if I dont take any breaks, so i'm never rushing.. Always taking my time
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Post by: ComTrav
As others have said, batch painting makes it a little tricky to estimate--and of course it depend on the troops!
Ork boyz are simple, and if they end up a little messy, that's part of the charm.
I wanted to have a much brighter, more colorful Army with Empire...and I think I made it through a whole unit of Greatswords before simplifying my techniques.
I may not spend a whole lot of time on an individual trooper, but I feel like as a whole they are a defining part of my army, and viewed together they should look good.
One of the things I like about skirmish style games is I feel like I can take the time with my basic troop models; there's no crush of "ZOMG I have 50 more of these guys" or "well, I just need the base colors on here, a few minor mistakes won't be noticed on a table with 100+ models."
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Post by: dablueguy
mega_bassist wrote:Takes me about an hour per Fire Warrior...Crisis Suits are about 2.5-3 hours...Man, I'm a slow painter
Me too
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Post by: danpieri
It depends.
If its a special character or model, I can spend a couple of hours easy fixing this and that detail over and over. Sometimes, the brush moves right and it can be quick. My Captain America went smooth and I got him built and painted in about an hour.
If its a basic troop, I usually do the whole squad together. 1st color on all. Second color on all. Third color on all. Small details on all. etc. etc. etc.
I can get a squad of 10men done in about an hour.
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Post by: Colony's
Half an hour, basic ones
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Post by: Commissar Benny
I generally spend between 8-12 hours painting, another 1-2 hours basing.
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Post by: ChaosxVoid
Took me a little over 7 hours to finish my 5 wraithguard units, not including finishing their bases, they are my basic troop choice cause of the spiritseer aha
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Post by: IXLoiero95XI
I spend 1 to 2 hours panting Fire Warriors, Pathfinders and Kroot
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Post by: Kaiserbudheim
It'll take me a few days, but that's because I only have a small daily painting window during my lunch break at the office. On top of that, I tend to do assembly line painting so one day will be all chainswords, another day will be all helmets, etc. Well I suppose if I were to divide the time equally, it would be several hours/troop. Ah whatever - I dunno, I'm tired, hadn't had my coffee and I want to go back to bed - -
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Post by: Farseer Anath'lan
Really depends on scheme. Darker schemes are finished a lot faster then lighter ones in my experiance. Painting kabalites takes 20-30 minutes, but god forbid guardians in Biel-Tan colours.... hell on earth if you make a mistake.
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Post by: Jimsolo
Probably takes me 2-3 hours per troop, but that's spread out over a great deal of time, since I do them assembly-line style.
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Post by: greywind55
i tend to do like 20 at once?
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Post by: Lord Arturius
I voted an hour per basic troop. I like to use the assembly line method as well and if you break it down it comes to about an hour. I dislike having models that I think I could have painted better.
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Post by: FURIOSO
Each dark eldar I paint has 3 different green highlights so they take a fair bit of time I'd say but wyches and stuff are so much quicker maybe half an hour per wych same with Hellions,the only thing that takes considerable time is the skyboard and the tribal freehand work which looks in my opinion rubbish but oh well
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Post by: crazyfoxdemon
It can depend on a lot of different factors.. First off, which army am I painting for? I tend to spend a lot more time on my Sisters of Battle and Dark Elves then I do on my Orks; simply because I have so many damn Orks. Also, how bored am I when I'm painting? Depending on that, I may spend a lot more time painting then normal.
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Post by: Archie The Death Rider
One hour.
When finished i refine them all.
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Post by: trexmeyer
Up to half and hour for basic troops and blocky Imperial vehicles. Several hours for characters or beasts.
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Post by: Ruberu
About a hour for me. and about two hours for my Imperial Fists, so much yellow!
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Post by: leivve
A standard cadian takes me around a hour, give or take a few minutes. But since I kit bash them into Knights of Nexburg it takes me about a hour and a half to paint them.
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Post by: Ir0njack
My IG take about a hour per. Most of that is due to detailing and livery. Not a single Crimson Cavalier will take to the field not flying the colours of noble Vorradis!
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Post by: Hive Fleet Cerberus
2 hours or so, with drying times. I like to give them each a little personal feel, and as I'm just starting up it really gives me practice. However, since I'm playing tyranids, it sadly leaves most of my army unpainted at any given time. (I only paint one a day)
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Post by: LotLP
I voted "about an hour", but honestly it takes me multiple hours because I'm just that slow
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Post by: Boss Drachenfels
1-2 hours i would guess
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Post by: Carlson793
Depends - are we talking calendar time or actual brush-to-model time. Brush to model is maybe a few hours, but that's in short bursts of a few free minutes over days/weeks/more.
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Post by: Snilbog
Usually about 2 hours to get the wyches highlights right
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Post by: Melevolence
Less than a half hour per Boy. They don't need to look super marvelous as they spend very little time on the board in the grand scheme of things. It's the things I bring less of that get the most attention. (Such as Koptas and Walkers). Boyz and Gretchen get the basic treatment (Green skin, white teeth, red shirts and purple pants) and off to the carry case they go.
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Post by: TNT925
Depends on what I'm painting. Blood letters only take a few minutes. It's just base black, drybrush dark red, wash, drybrush light red, wash, good to go.
My tau on the other hand have a primarily white color scheme, so they can take quite a bit of time....
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Post by: M0ff3l
So far I've only painted my necrons. And those are just prime black, paint silver, add green to the tubes and orange to their armor plates.
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Post by: Franko
I've recently started painting Orks and have found a quick and easy way to paint the masses.
Spray Brown, paint skin, paint metal parts, wash, highlight.
I can get that down to about half hour to 45 mins now if I work on one model at a time.
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Post by: Nyoom
I've been taking an assembly line style approach to my painting, but it still takes me a while to paint anything.
I've been working on a set of 5 terminators for a week now, averaging about 3-5 hours of painting a day, and they're still not done!
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Post by: Reality-Torrent
It takes me several days to paint and I frankly don't understand how it would be possible to do it any faster.. Well unless you just airbrush the whole thing with one color, or if you can sit and paint all day long, which I guess most people can't because well, family, work..
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Post by: Januine
Several hours but not all in one go. Usually over the course of a few days to a week or so.
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Post by: Greldinard
Well, I work with an assembly line too.
Generally from 40 to 50 models.
It's a brainkiller, but it gets my painting time down to about 1h/model (including undercoating, basing, washes, basic highlights, weathering)
and up to 3h for big models (i.e. bane blade).
They won't win me any serious competitions, but they suit me fine.
BTW : using some hot lamps (not too hot, mind you) helps cutting dry time
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Post by: benbo11
I voted 1 hour but I usually take about 1 hour and a half to 2 and a half.
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Post by: KaptinBadrukk
Here is the way I operate:
I build the model, spray paint it white, then sit down and paint.
First, I give it a base coat. Then I give it either brown or black inkwash. Then, I give it the final coat. 5 stages 3, technically 4 painting stages.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Or, as long as it takes.
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Post by: TheManWithNoPlan
I paint my squads in batches, and time really depends on the miniature I'm painting. I'll spend more time painting a tactical marine that I will an eldar guardian, but it usually totals to about 0ne-and-a-half to three hours per miniature
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Post by: Talys
My troops are painted no differently than any other model. The only time savings is that they are usually simpler models.
But really, I will spend as much effort on a BA Tactical as I would a Sanguinary Guard, or as much time on a Kabalite as a Succubus.
The exceptions are Eldar and Necron troops. Eldar Guardians are dumb, old models, and not worth the effort to paint with any particular care. Necron Warriors are so easy to paint that they're done in no time.
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Post by: thegreatchimp
Modelling and converting 4-7 hours. Painting 7-10 hours.
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Post by: granander
I have been thinking about logging the exact time but I am a little afraid to
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Post by: FenixPhox
I tend to spend the most time on the first model of the troop then everything else goes faster.
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Post by: TyranidPainter
If you remove the time it takes waiting for paint to dry & just consider the time spent painting I guess it'd take me about 5hours per mini. But I tend to paint in bulk so overall it rounds up to less than that.
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Post by: Xenomancers
I am relatively new to painting seriously. The first complete troop squad I painted successfully was a GK term squad - It took me 2 days to complete the last 5 - so I'd say about 3 hours per model when all is said and done.
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Post by: Shed_pon3
I once spent 8.5 hours applying over 22 paints to a skittari ranger.... In one sitting
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Post by: commissar yager
Imperial guardsmen I feel the pain 4 hours on 20 of them
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Post by: TheManWithNoPlan
A squad of ten rank-and-file marines will usually take me about six-seven hours.
But my nebula eldar take much longer as they are done individually and take several hours.
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Post by: oldzoggy
I paint mini's while I watch series.
It takes about 2-4 episode of ~45 min for a few rank and file troopers or a single hero .
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Post by: Ravenous D
It all depends. I classify models under tiers of textures, the more textures the more time. Basic space marines are 2 tier models (armour and metal) so about an hour, whereas even the basic ork boy is a 4 tier model (armour, metal, cloth, flesh) So they take upwards of 2-3 hours. Bear in mind all this is with layering, proper airbrushing and micron pens have sped up painting models for me by at least 50%. Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a quick way of doing awesome guardsmen
Prime white
Apply watered down khaki, enough that you can just see the white but not the recesses
Carefully apply watered down forest green to the armour and guns
Watered down elf flesh (or whatever it is now)
Lightly dry brush from a top down point of view, it should be going on like a light dusting.
Paint metal.
Agrax earth shade the bejesus out of it.
The end result looks really good for the 15 minutes put in and you can go back and layer and wet blend them if you like. I painted a 1000pts of Plague marines in 12 hours before a tournament and came in 3rd for painting.
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Post by: granander
I kept a bit of track when painting a few squads of DeathWing terminators and I seem to average about 10-12 hours a model including prep.
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Post by: alyxander100
I paint assembly line style, so i dont know the time it takes to paint 1 miniature, large or small, troop, elite HQ or otherwise
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Post by: Dropbear Victim
I barely paint. Can't stand painting.
The few models I have painted probably took me 3 hours for pretty terrible paintjobs. And thats with half-arsed rushed "drybrushing" which was more like spreading a normal brushworth out over the whole miniature and no highlighting whats so ever.
The few times I get in the mood to do it, I waste a tonne of money on the paint, get home and stick it in a box or drawer because I no longer want to do it by then. It usually dries out before I want to paint again too as I usually go years between getting them back out.
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Post by: War Kitten
About half our per guy.
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Post by: Sword Of Caliban
I'm a very slow painter but I also don't like playing with unpainted models. I'm cursed....
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Post by: saturn999
even for a nurgle themed army i still take a half hour to an hour to paint one guy. i did take over an hour to two hours to paint each guy in my troop of noise marines. six guys almost 12 hours. twas fun though!
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Post by: GamesEtc
I selected several hours, as I often do 5-10 at a time and takes a few hours
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Post by: mavrah333
Not the best question. It depends on the faction. Eg for Warhammer 40K, grey knight > skitarri > eldar > guardsmen > grot.
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Post by: BunkhouseBuster
This is hard to answer, as I do all my infantry in batches, usually in groups of 4 to 10 models at a time. And it depends on how steady my hands are and if I have to do a lot of touch up on the models before I can call it "finished".
Really, my best answer would be "as long as it takes"
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Post by: AutomatedMiner
Far too long. As in, way longer than I should do.
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Post by: durecellrabbit
I do assembly line painting for basic infantry which makes it a bit hard to tell but I think it takes me about 4 hours per model.
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Post by: Commodus Leitdorf
Depends on what I'm painting really. My Empire Army I usually batch paint in groups of 5 while watching whatever on netflix. usually a few hours because I am easily distracted while doing it.
My current Project of Ogres can be a few days as I have spent quite a bit of time on each model....also while being easily distracted. Took me all day to finish an Ogre Irongut from beginning to end.
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Post by: Captain_Control
I'm new to painting and I feel like I'm super SLOW! I am trying to paint models in bunches of 3-5 at a time.
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Post by: Nordicus
I would say a couple of hours, if we don't count drytime in various stages. Of course it varies per faction, but it's usually in that time-sphere.
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Post by: Lord Inquisitor Nathandar
I usually spend about an hour which is why I do sometimes but a big blob of ork boyz already painted on Ebay
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Post by: biggie_reg
I've gotten into a good rythm with my SW troops but still spend several hours on each mini, usually a 5 man group will take a day to base paint and a day to finish. But I think whether you use an airbrush or paintbrush can really mean the difference on time, especially with the priming and base painting. I use a paintbrush btw.
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Post by: Mymearan
Hard to say because I paint in groups of 5-10, but I'd say several hours per figure even for the simplest of infantry.
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Post by: BigWaaagh
I'm going several hours per mini. I'm also throwing in prep time for the occasional gap filling and the cleaning of burrs and mould lines.
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Post by: ThirstySpaceMan
Small infantry models I take on in squads. About a day per squad depending on conversions. I can bang out a knight in a day with motivation. That said not one drop pod I have is anything other than base coated because feth them.
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Post by: Avatar 720
I loathe painting, but I'm also prideful and fairly a perfectionist, so I can't face getting them professionally done but they need to be up to some sort of personal standard. It usually takes days for a single 28mm figure or FoW infantry base, and squads can take weeks if I even manage to stay motivated.
The last army I painted was Italians which were rushed and only really 75% done. The entire process was like pulling teeth. Got a German army that needs doing for about two weeks... I don't even get any feeling of accomplishment from it, just a feeling of "I never want to do this again".
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Post by: Mymearan
ThirstySpaceMan wrote:Small infantry models I take on in squads. About a day per squad depending on conversions. I can bang out a knight in a day with motivation. That said not one drop pod I have is anything other than base coated because feth them.
If you can paint a squad in a day I wouldn't expect them to be anything but basecoated honestly... that's insanely fast!
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Post by: angelshade00
One hour on average, but it greatly depends on the models. Night Goblin Fanatics I could do 20 in about 2 hours.
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Post by: Akar
I put down a few hours, but that's because I do a unit at a time.
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Post by: KingGarland
As long as it takes.
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Post by: Ryuhoshi
It depends on the miniature and the base I'll want for it, so the correct answer for me would be "as long as it takes".
Anyway, on a basic skeleton minion I spend a total amount of 15-20h + 2 days on the base (counting the drying time). In a "only paint" recount It would be 3-5h more or less.
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Post by: Cat_astrophe
I know this is a little late, but a few minutes. As long as I can play games with them, they serve their purpose well. However, I am learning patience.
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Post by: Howlin' Mad Murdrean
it depends. If im doing squads of basic troops as described, I use the batch method. That al,lows me to paint a full squad in 2-3 hours. However, if i'm doing a vehicle or heroic fugure.. it takes substantially longer...
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Post by: ProwlerPC
I want even my basic troops looking good so I spend several hours on them.
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Post by: Engine of War
Depends on the infantry model.
If its a Guardsmen. (one of MANY) then I try to make it a few min in an almost assembly line style work.
Its its a Skitarii or an "important" infantry model such as a custom guy it can go for several hours.
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Post by: ian
Im trying to bring my paint time right down so i can get my armys painted . Im saving my warlord and special models they will take me about 5-8 hrs each but they are painted to a display standered . Im really trying to find the balance between having a fuĺl painted army and it not taking years to complete
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Post by: FrozenDwarf
several hours not counting in drying time.
im not a good painter and i keep to tabletop standard but i am a perfectionist in my mind.
this is allso the reason i loose inntrest long before even one squad is finished, so i have to stick to skirmish games that only have a handfull of minis.
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Post by: Memphiston
Bolt Action, Russian troops...far too many to spend a tonne of hours on.
Still, they get good love and attention
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Post by: Haravikk
I tend to paint troop type miniatures in batches (I do with most characters as well, if they have a similar colour scheme); so start to finish it's several hours, but on average probably works out at around a half hour per model (for troops) so that's what I've put, though 45 minutes or so would probably be more accurate.
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Post by: Freddy Kruger
I voted several, in reality it's around the 2 hour mark. The vast majority of this is waiting the 30-45 mins for the ink wash I'm using to dry.
Also, I do a production run of around 6 models at a time, so even though it's 2 hours, it's for several models.
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Post by: Lord Xcapobl
Several weeks for me.
I just don't have (or take) as much time to paint, and sometimes I just lack a paint and the project grinds to a halt for a week or two before I get to be near a shop to purchase paint. I know, online stores, postal delivery.
It would probably be feasible to get one basic troop miniature done in a couple of hours from spray priming all the way up to and including basing, if I have no distractions, and all my materials and paints are sorted and present. And while parts of it are drying, I would pick up the next miniature, assembly line style. Right now I have a line of 20 Genestealers primes black, painted their skin tones with three progressively lighter shades, and waiting for me to start on their carapace and teeth and claws.
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Post by: Imperial_grunt
I batch paint so I can't really pin down how long it takes for any one model, given that I do it over the course of at least a few days. I think my first test model that I did alone though took about 2 1/2 hours though.
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Post by: Megaknob
Several hours and I have to force my self to stop as I strive for prefection
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Post by: Thymais
I aim to paint 10 men in a hour or so using batch painting, averaging at 10 minutes a model.
If only I could be bothered to spend longer on them...
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Post by: Shadow Walker
Several days as I always find something to improve/correct.
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Post by: Kandela
Oh boy, I can spend almost 6 hours making sure that this one guy is as perfect as I can get him to be
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Post by: jeff white
batch painting, over the course of several days once or twice a week as I get time, averages to maybe 6 or 10 hours for 10-20 models, so maybe 30minutes-1 hour each depending on the model.
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Post by: Galmakh the moonkiller
Depends on the army, Deathguard miniatures have far more detail so I can spend hours doing them but a standard tactical marine maybe a couple hours and a Necron warrior and hour or less
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Post by: Lion of Caliban
It varies. I only paint for myself so my general rule for my models is, the more of them I field, the less detail is needed. A swam of 50 orks on the table and they get about 15-30 mins each. same for guardsmen. But things like tactical marines and such which run in smaller units and will be under closer scrutiny I tend to spend a little more on. Vehicles are a similar thing. But on a longer scale. Leman russ tanks I spend about 2-3 hours on as I may field 5 at a time. But someting like a Storm Raven or Baneblade will be there for half a day making sure to do it to the best of my admittedly average ability.
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Post by: Creeping Dementia
Several hours of actual painting time per model, I usually paint 5 minis at a time though. So depending on my work schedule, family life, sleep deficits, it's somewhere between 2-4 weeks for every 5 models.
I'm a quazi-perfectionist so I can't really do less detail as it would really bug me. Unfortunately that translates to it taking much longer to 'finish' an army. But I will take longer and get more advanced techniques in on my character models, only work on one or two at a time, etc.
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Post by: Sgt_Smudge
I batch paint my Guardsmen and normal Marines, so I don't really have a definite time for them. I know I can get through about 10 in a day, including food and other breaks.
My current Primaris army is something like 3 hours a model, for a basic guy.
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Post by: ValentineGames
Several hours. But I batch paint. So it's hard to say.
But I can usually churn out 6-12 models in maybe 4-6 hours.
I've done 48 in 12 hours before.
Including bases obviously.
Vehicles I can churn out in 4 hours or spend 2-3 days working on depending how nicely I want it to come out.
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Post by: Smotejob
Depends... My grey knights I paint one at a time to a character level and can take a couple hours.
My guardsmen I paint in batches of 5 and prob takes about 1h to paint all 5 +time for washes to dry
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Post by: Private Benjamin
Depends on the army / model; basic Guardsmen should be plentiful so quickly painting them is fine, however adding extra details and bits is the way to win awards as it shows you have taken that extra effort!
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Post by: ccs
Around an hour or so? But it depends upon the model as well.
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Post by: Just Tony
As long as it takes. Each army is different.
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Post by: Rob Lee
Depends what it is. I've not painted any basic 40k troops for a long while, and I still have 10 Deathwing Terminators that I started 2 years ago, airbrush undercoated in what I think is possibly a Vallejo variant of Ushabti Bone, it it's not actually Ushabti Bone, waiting to be painted...
Having said that I have recently been painting my core set of Warhammer Quest (1995) models, doing the greenskins, and typically I take about an hour to do one Orc model on it's own. But I'm not a great painter and they're not painted to any high standard, just basic colours and a couple of washes. I try to paint in an assembly line, but it gets boring very quickly and I give up and paint a whole model!
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Post by: Nordicus
Really depends on the model;
A plaguebearer: Couple of hours
A chaos space marine: Couple of years of trimwork.
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Post by: Edd Crumpett
Depends on how I'm doing them, and how good I want them to look. My personal T'au take me a lot longer than my brother's entirely 3D Printed 'Nids. A single firewarrior can take upwards of 3 hours, 6 genestealers took me 45 minutes.
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Post by: Not Online!!!
Nordicus wrote:Really depends on the model;
A plaguebearer: Couple of hours
A chaos space marine: Couple of years of trimwork.
The new more baroque ones certainly don't help that situation
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Post by: Argive
Probably around 3-4 hours in actual painting time. As pointed out with batch painting you kind of go through the different colours/details in a conveyor belt.
My basic guardian scheme is yellow over black so thats many many thin layers so takes loong.
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Post by: Ernestas
My first miniature took me more than a week to paint, but of course, I wasn't painting every day. From start to finish it took 20 hours. I was learning on my way, redoing a lot of stuff, working very slowly. Though, I love to paint and have attitude that it is better to spend as long as it takes to get a result you are satisfied with than to rush this process.
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Post by: DalekCheese
I’ll spend maybe 90 minutes on a guardsman, maybe longer. I’m a fairly quick painter, but I like having every detail correct.
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Post by: LeperColony
About 19 years, apparently.
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Post by: DalekCheese
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Post by: Oborosen
All in all, this basically depends on the troops that it is you're going to be painting.
When it comes to some imperial guard squads, or more mundane space marines. This can be done with relative ease and with very little preparation.
I can spend upwards of 15 minutes painting singular models in a round robin rotation. Basing, washing/dry brushing and highlighting. Can all be taken care of rather quickly.
But generally, yes. If this takes into account all of my troops from the army that I'm building. Several hours will have to be my choice.
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Post by: Luunar
Ahhh god I spend days and days on each model.. I just like to get them to a higher quality and can’t bring myself to take shortcuts, which really affects time efficiency xD But I like to think they look good after!
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Post by: Misclicking ork
I voted a few hours, but it really depends on my mood, and the paint scheme, so for example, I painted my looted rhino in only an hour, due to it mostly being blue, metallics, a few other colors, and weathering (is that the right word?) of dusty paints to make it look like it's in a dust storm, and the fact that it is mostly flat also helps, but I can spend an outrageous time on grots.
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Post by: Smotejob
Depends. My cadians I can batch paint quickly, and can finish 10 in a couple hours. My grey knights get a few hours per model.
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Post by: TinyLegions
However long it takes for me to be satisfied with them.
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Post by: Shadow Walker
No rule. I hate painting but when I finally decide to do this I can be very picky and sometimes I can return to some minis or even details to paint/repaint them over and over again until I am satisfied.
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Post by: KidCthulhu
I find this really hard to answer because I assembly-line my basic troops and some are MUCH easier than others. I can bang out Plaguebearers much faster than I can finish Genestealer Hybrids.
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Post by: Smotejob
Depends. 15m per guardsmen. 2ish hours a grey knight.
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Post by: bullisariuscowl
Usually spend an hour on an ork because of my moron painting skills, but after picking up chaos legionaries it takes me a couple sessions depending on time I have.
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