I recently decided to try out speed painting "Space Rangers" by em4 Miniatures which are basically uber-cheap
SM knock-offs. I used a combination of spray basecoating and dipping in varnish. Here's the result:
Basically I primed the miniature white (to cover the glossy plastic the mini was made from) then sprayed it again with dark gray primer (the kind that they sell at Wal-Mart). Then I painted the inner components of the armor, the gun, the visor, and the base. I then dipped the miniature in Olympic All-in-One Varnish "Special Pecan" and flicked off most of the varnish onto my gravel driveway. One the varnish had dried, I coated the miniature with Krylon Matte Varnish, then added flocking to the base. Aside from the about six hours you need to wait for the varnish to dry, the process was quick and easily duplicated with pretty reasonable results.
To see a more detailed description of the process, and a few of the mistakes made along the way, click
here