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I'll echo mold lines and add drilling barrels, I wish someone had pointed out to me what a drill vise was for, hehe!

I'm regretting buying a gw paint set 5 days before the new paints came out.

 Kosake wrote:
Brown ink = liquid skill.

Oil washes are actually an ancient form of black magic.

Codex Creep.

Do not use enamel paints.
That was bad...

 Evertras wrote:

 Kosake wrote:
Brown ink = liquid skill.

Oil washes are actually an ancient form of black magic.

I am interested in the differences in oil wash vs citadel washes. I see videos of really great shading with oil wash and I have yet to see the same result from the new citadel line.

I wish someone had told me about Vallejo premium in 60ml bottles. And that I could buy 100 of these...

... off ebay for nothing, and mix every colour I would ever need for less than the price of a Citadel starter set.

At least now I finally have the colours that I always wanted. Like the perfect NMM gold, and proper shadow/highlight shades of my commonly used colours. It's just a shame that I had to waste so much money on those stingy GW paints first (half of which have dried out now).

Non-craft related: I wish someone had told me that all the miniatures I didn't buy in the 90s because they were 'too expensive' would be worth a fortune today. I guess I'm lucky that I did manage to collect quite a lot of squats, which are like gold dust now. But I really wish I'd bought more Necromunda stuff. And that I had the foresight to grab a whole fleet of Rhinos when they only cost £4.99 each!

Why did no one tell me captains are awful I lost so many games, not knowing why.

Rory1432 wrote:
Why did no one tell me captains are awful I lost so many games, not knowing why.

Yah, but every SM player should have one on the shelf. They are iconic like that. They were also the go-to HQ in 4th IIRC. Who the best choice is shifts.

Metal figures , i really wish some one would have told me to buy one of them first. The amount of money i'd have saved by parcticing on one of these then stripping it and trying again would have saved me countless pounds "BUY A METAL MODEL "new people to the hobby as you can reuse them time and time again rathering than using countless plastic ones.

 sing your life wrote:
I'm regretting buying a gw paint set 5 days before the new paints came out.

Dunno, I prefer some of the old paints. Dheneb stone vs Rakarth flesh would be my big one. Preferred the older colour. And DA green was more of a yellow green, wheras Caliban Green is more of a blue green. I digress.

-Mould lines
-You only start to see improvement of your work after at least 15-20 models, tho that might be personal
-Pure white is nearly impossible to make look good.

I would have to say 3 main things that I didn't know before but found really improved my painting:

1) Thinning paints makes the model a lot nicer
2) Highlighting is important it makes a crappy model into a good one
3) Buy good brushes....JUST BUY GOOD BRUSHES

I would also say make sure you know what you want before you start playing or start an army. You don't want to spend a bunch of money for an army you don't really like.

1) test fit pieces before you glue, especially when dialing with large, multi-piece models.

2) thoroughly wash and wipe models before you paint them. Sometimes multiple cleanings.

I'll add another round of "Thin your paints!" After stripping a half pound of paint off of my Space Wolves I've finally managed to get them looking halfway decent.

I'd also have to say buy no more than two boxes of figs at a time and keep up with the painting. I've got Wolves, Tau, Empire, Skaven, Ultramarines and Blood Angels all to paint. That's after getting rid of my DKoK and previous GK and Dark Eldar...

Sirzachary wrote:
I'll add another round of "Thin your paints!" After stripping a half pound of paint off of my Space Wolves I've finally managed to get them looking halfway decent.

I'd also have to say buy no more than two boxes of figs at a time and keep up with the painting. I've got Wolves, Tau, Empire, Skaven, Ultramarines and Blood Angels all to paint. That's after getting rid of my DKoK and previous GK and Dark Eldar...

I have 3500 points of empire still in shrink wrap and I have 3k in ogres and iv painted 8 models ...yeah buy a box, budget according. Cheers
Gunnar

To not buy any other models until you've completely finished your current ones.

-If you can, use a dual action airbrush, an iwata hose and a compressor. I only ever just brush details now - everything else is airbrush work. The differences are just astounding. The speed helps too. Today alone I finished a drop pod, a 5 man squad of Grey Knight purifiers, and a squad of Black Templar Neophytes, all in excellent quality.
-Never use GW glue.
-If a paint you want is available in Vallejo (model or game), use that instead of citadel.
-Don't spend money on scenic bases - just make your own using corkboard ($12 a the local art store), or go grab tree bark.
-Dice up the sprue, then prime'n'paint. Makes the process that much faster and easier.
-Youtube painting videos for ideas. awesomepaintjob and buypainted are my watchwords when it comes to that.
-Invest in real brushes. You get what you pay for.
-Oil Wash. Learn to do this.
For much larger models (dragons and monsters and stuff) get that stuff primed and painted before you glue it. Magnatize light-weight but large things - like wings. This helps with transportation like no other.

Seriously, airbrushing is the way to go anymore. Some people love sticking to standard brushes, and that's cool. To each their own, but keep an open mind. Seriously, go check out buypainted on youtube. You learn so much from this guy.

 Shenloanne wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
I'm regretting buying a gw paint set 5 days before the new paints came out.

Dunno, I prefer some of the old paints. Dheneb stone vs Rakarth flesh would be my big one. Preferred the older colour. And DA green was more of a yellow green, wheras Caliban Green is more of a blue green. I digress.

.

I personnaly prefer ALL the Old colours, now i have to relearn all the new colours and mixing that i did, nothing matches with what i used to do, and i allready hate painting, so this is not helping.

That you don't HAVE to use a paintbrush for everything. Sometimes, a fine pointed ink pen is the better tool. Especially for dotting eyeballs, writing, checkers etc.

 Cave_Dweller wrote:
That you don't HAVE to use a paintbrush for everything. Sometimes, a fine pointed ink pen is the better tool. Especially for dotting eyeballs, writing, checkers etc.

Back when I was starting out I didn't have good brushes. For fine detail work I took a small scrap of paper towel and twisted it into a point. This gave me a far more precise tool then my brushes, and was the only way I was able to do anything as small as eyes.

Ninjakinshu wrote:
-If you can, use a dual action airbrush, an iwata hose and a compressor. I only ever just brush details now - everything else is airbrush work. The differences are just astounding. The speed helps too. Today alone I finished a drop pod, a 5 man squad of Grey Knight purifiers, and a squad of Black Templar Neophytes, all in excellent quality.
-Never use GW glue.
-If a paint you want is available in Vallejo (model or game), use that instead of citadel.
-Don't spend money on scenic bases - just make your own using corkboard ($12 a the local art store), or go grab tree bark.
-Dice up the sprue, then prime'n'paint. Makes the process that much faster and easier.
-Youtube painting videos for ideas. awesomepaintjob and buypainted are my watchwords when it comes to that.
-Invest in real brushes. You get what you pay for.
-Oil Wash. Learn to do this.
For much larger models (dragons and monsters and stuff) get that stuff primed and painted before you glue it. Magnatize light-weight but large things - like wings. This helps with transportation like no other.

Seriously, airbrushing is the way to go anymore. Some people love sticking to standard brushes, and that's cool. To each their own, but keep an open mind. Seriously, go check out buypainted on youtube. You learn so much from this guy.

Could not agree more.
To add, or expand upon:
Get an air compressor with a tank.
Buy a big glass jar, and some dot 3 brake fluid to use for stripping paint.
Buypainted, (now: wargamingzone.com) and awesomepaintjob on YouTube are incredible resources for tutorials.
Patience, just accept that you suck and will only get better with time put in / experience.
Magnetize everything like weapons, backpacks, etc, even if you don't think you will ever repaint or reconfigure the model.

 Cave_Dweller wrote:
That you don't HAVE to use a paintbrush for everything. Sometimes, a fine pointed ink pen is the better tool. Especially for dotting eyeballs, writing, checkers etc.

Any specific suggestions on pens? I've toyed with the idea but never knew what to actually pick up that would work properly for that.

 Evertras wrote:

 Cave_Dweller wrote:
That you don't HAVE to use a paintbrush for everything. Sometimes, a fine pointed ink pen is the better tool. Especially for dotting eyeballs, writing, checkers etc.

Any specific suggestions on pens? I've toyed with the idea but never knew what to actually pick up that would work properly for that.

Yeah the best ones are Micron pens, by Sakura. They're at hobby lobby, michaels etc, kind of a tan color plastic pen and come in various sizes all the way down to a tiny .5mm tip. Also in various colors.

In this world three things exist:

Job, Family, and Free Time.

Pick two.

My first ever purchase happened while I was down range in Iraq. I made the mistake of buying the (at the time) recently released Space Marine Company boxed "set" from the re-release of Apocalypse, plus 2 Land Raider Crusader kits, and a Terminator Chaplain. I also bought from an independent "retailer" (he ultimately was a scammer), the "every GW paint in a case set"

When I got home on midtour leave, I set right about coating my 2 HQ models/assault marines in Chaos Black paint with my brushes... Needless to say, ALLLLLLL of them had to be repainted when I later found out that "priming" the models in the realm of 40k stuff, meant using a spray paint usually in flat black or white, or some actual "primer" type paint, not just straight to bare plastic