Holy~Heretic wrote:Models: AoBR.
Great start for a Marine army. If you're looking for cheap additions the best place is ebay by far, especially for Marines. You can usually pick up someone else's start-out marine force pretty cheap.
Holy~Heretic wrote:Undercoats: Black primer paint. Is brand important? Can a cheap can of car spray paint do the trick?
Car paint is usually glossy, and you want a matt paint. The point of a primer is to seal the model and to give you a good base on which to put your own colors, so car paint really isn't the best idea. The citadel primers are pretty good. If you're looking at doing a single color Marine army, and you want to get an even finish, you might look at using graphics spray acrylic in the chapter color, and then use washes to give definition. I used Burntlack graphics spray on my Tau (see my signature for the link) and the crisis suits came out very clean and bright. If you want to do a dark-colored army, you may be able to choose (for example) a dark green graphics spray and skip the primer stage altogether. You can get graphics spray paints from most art shops - they're a bit more expensive than the Citadel primer sprays, but they are available in a large range of colors and can save you a lot of time.
Holy~Heretic wrote:Paints: ??????
Citadel paints are generally quite good, though there are other brands of Acrylic hobby paints available. Again, check a local arts store. I generally stick with citadel, though.
Holy~Heretic wrote:Brushes: ??????
On the other hand, Citadel brushes are not the best value in the world. You can usually get better brushes for less money from a fine arts/painting store. For general detail painting, you're looking for a size 00 or 0, going up to a size 1 for larger areas.
Holy~Heretic wrote:Tools: ??????
At the start, for stuff like
AOBR and plastic kits, you only really need a hobby knife, to clean up tags and mould lines. Again, visit the arts store and you can pick up really cheap scalpels which do the job really nicely. You also might want to invest in a pair of side-cutters (snips) for getting models off the sprues, whicb can be found in any hardware/auto store. Unless you're planning on conversions, you don't need any more tools.
Holy~Heretic wrote:Basing: ??????
Depends what you want to do. If you want to texture each base, then paint and highlight it like you would the model, you need fine sand, which you can get from
GW or a building supplier. On the other hand, a much simpler solution is to use static grass or colored flock. These are available from
GW or model train stores (like everything, it's cheaper if you get it somewhere other than
GW!!)
Holy~Heretic wrote:I also have some general questions about painting collecting
*Is the starter kit that GW offers any good?
*I'm keen to try and paint my marines like my avatar, can anyone reccomend a way to do it?
*Is painting hard to pick up? Will the first 30 marines I paint look like crap?
*Is there a tried and tested way of painting space marines that is idiot proof and has a clear tutorial?
*Should I just go down to a GW shop and corner an employee and make them tell me theirs sercrets?
* The painting starter kit? Yes, it's probably a good buy to get you started. Once you decide on a color scheme you can augment it with paints you really need, unless you're planning on a really simple scheme, in which case you can just buy individual pots. You're gonna need Black, White, some sort of Silver, Green, Red and Flesh to do pretty much anything, plus the colors for your chapter scheme.
* I'm not a great painter, but if you're just starting out, I would recommend the following simple steps (this is what I would do) - Prime the models White. Spray the models with a Burgundy graphics spray - give the models multiple coats of Black Wash and then maybe one of Brown Wash (Devlan Mud) to give definition to the red - Highlight the red - Paint any details/trim black - Paint the trim silver - Paint the details (if you want a certain detail to be bright green (for example) you might paint it black, then white, then the white bits green. This gives the green a black 'outline' separating it from the red armour)
* Yes, the first models you paint will look like crap. But just take your time. At first, don't paint 30 marines. Do all the spray/wash stages to, say, 5 marines (there's not much can go wrong in this stage) and then do the details on each marine individually, and take your time. Remember to use the smallest detail brush you feel comfortable with, and don't use too much or too thick paint, and you'll get the hang of it!! Once you know what you're doing you can do 5 or 10 marines at once..
* There's lots of ways of painting space marines. The one I've detailed above is tried and tested, and gives good results for beginners because most of it is spraying and washing and not actual fine painting. But you could also learn to drybrush, and do your marines that way, or if you want to really jump in at the deep end you could try layering on each marine. This will take AGES though
* In my experience, going to
GW and asking leads to someone trying to sell you a load of stuff you don't need. You can find all the advice you need on here!
If you want to have a look at my armies, please do. I'm not a great painter by ANY means, but I can tell you how i did my marines and my tau, which are both armies which require you to paint large, smooth armour plates.
Hope that's helpful
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