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So...I'm committing to painting my Ork horde. But priming them one-at-a-time would be physically painful and soul destroying. Is there a proven method to batch paint large groups of models with a spray can? I'm looking for on that provides good overal coverage with speed.

Um.. blue tack them to a tray of some sort and get a can of flat black (note that the flat is important, you don't want gloss or everything will be shiny). Ideally you'll want to make sure you are not spraying too close to them or you might start obscuring detail and you'll want to make sure you don't forget about under arms and things or you'll be going back over those areas with a brush but other than that there is not much too it.

the only issue with a tray is that you're only getting 2/3rds of the mini primed...
then you have to go back, lay them on their back, then lay them on their front for a third spray...
all the while waiting for each spray to dry so you don't mess up the primer when you lay them down...

the best method i've seen is the long stick with double sided tape...
if you're doing plastic minis, the tape holds 'em...
you should have four strips of minis running down the stick, and you can rotate the stick all around as you spray, getting to all parts of the mini easily...

cheers
jah

What kind of double sided tape should i use? that foam-based tape? I had been using tac to stick them onto a square dowel to prime, but its not strong enough to hold the orks. Models keep falling off willy-nilly.

Rubbermaid turntables are your friends...

http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-2936-RD-WHT-Single-Turntable/dp/B000ARTNUG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346897248&sr=8-1&keywords=rubbermaid+turntables

1. Lay out 20 or so figures face down on the turntable (I prime and base color coat figs before gluing them to bases), and spray with primer at a low angle. Turn the turntable 1/3 (120 degrees) and repeat. Again, turn the turntable 1/3 (120 degrees) and repeat. This should give you full coverage on the backs of the figures. Figs should now be primed. Repeat for sprayed base color if desired.

If you use less than completely dry turntables for the second step the backside paint may stick to the paint on the turntable at high points and pull off when you lift the figure.

It helps to have multiple turntables in pairs (2, 4, 6, etc.). I have 10 of them, all except for one are 10" diameter and the odd ball is 16" which is useful (and necessary) for large stuff like Titan parts.

Tim

Pics.
Top: Spray station
Bottom: 25 YEARS of overspray on the 16" turntable. Paint is roughly 3/4" thick on top of the turntable...

That last pic is hilarious.

I'd suggest the "priming stick," as well, since it allows you to hit the models from all the necessary angles in one go. Foam-based double-sided tape will likely grip better than the regular stuff, as it allows for greater contact. Kind of hard to smush a base down onto the adhesive when it gives no more than the underlying wood.

This is assuming, of course, that the bases are attached. Naked slottas would be a pain to attach, and bare feet would do better with pins jammed into holes in the dowel.

i typically spray my models by blutacking/tacky taping them to a sprue which is bare (all the bits cut out, often just using the sprue the models themselves came in). Just tack them down, usually by their base so you aren't obscuring any of the actual model, then since the sprue is just a frame you can spray upwards through it and get full coverage. I typically space the models 2 or 3 inches apart to avoid wasting paint while still giving a bit of clearance to touch up spots on individual models without destroying the surrounding models.

Also I recommend painting several thin coats, separated by a couple of minutes (depending on weather, if it's cold you might want to wait a bit longer) rather than painting one single thick coat of paint. Just build the colour up slowly over a few coats.

The optimal spraying distance varies with conditions and the spray paint itself. Typically 20-30cm, but if the weather is hot I'll typically go closer and do really really fast short bursts, if it's colder I tend to go a bit further back and leave the coats drying for longer between sprays. I typically spray outside, so if there's a bit of a breeze they'll also change the optimum spraying distance, as will humidity (always spray so the wind blows the paint toward the model rather than toward you!).

When I'm done spraying I'll just hang the sprue on a hook while they dry for a couple of hours before painting them.

EDIT: Also when blutacking down to a sprue, try and find bits of the sprue where the base/feet/slotta nodule can sit flat against the sprue to make it bond stronger. If you use sprues like I'm saying, you can use almost any sprue, but if you're like me you'll find favourites which have better spacing of flat spots to tack models down.

Doing them one by one is not that hard or time consumeing.

I would do them one at a time, pick them up and get a bit of paint on your fingers.

 Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Doing them one by one is not that hard or time consumeing.

I would do them one at a time, pick them up and get a bit of paint on your fingers.

It's not hard, but I think in the long run it's just easier to tack them down to something and you'll waste less paint. I typically like to start spraying with the can not pointing directly at the model to clear the nozzle and get a feel for spray pattern before whipping it across the model, so if I'm whipping it across 5 models at once it wastes less paint.

Also just wear a rubber glove, they cost a few bucks for a pack of 50 or 100 and it'll save you getting paint all over your hands. Not that it's a problem getting paint on your hands other than the fact everyone will think you're either a weirdo or some graffiti punk

timd wrote:

Pics.
Top: Spray station
Bottom: 25 YEARS of overspray on the 16" turntable. Paint is roughly 3/4" thick on top of the turntable...

Good god man! That spray station is the craziest thing I've seen for a while! It's like a movie prop from a horror film.

1"X1" stick (all 4 sides) or an old hockey stick (2 sides) use carpet tape / double sided foam tape. Works out to about 4 cents per miniature (3M tape 20yards at $33) but I am sure you can find something cheaper! Stick is better, I try to paint on turntables but same as you I do not like the undersides not being painted.

One thing to look out for with this method: If you have a couple feet of minatures and spray down the stick, the further the paint travels the more the paint dries before it hits the miniature. I have had "fuzzy marines" from the paint drying too much or one time a paint powder that made a dust then sealed in by a later spray making the "sandpaper marine". SimplyGreen became my friend that day.

My method for large number of models.. I have a 2x2" piece of wood, I then take duck tape and tape up a good portion of it in reversed, so the sticky side is up.. I then place models on there, fitting about 40 on the stick.. Then spray the models, turning the stick.. I have yet not to get a bare spot, this method was featured in white dwarf years ago.. Been using it since..

I've never felt the need for spraying so much all at once.

Once youve sprayed them, one single model (maybe a squad) will be moved to the painting station, all the others you just sprayed will sit gathering dust untill you actually get around to painting.
I'm assuming you just cleaned them before spraying, so why create extra steps of work?

I don't know about you guys but I can't paint an entire squad in single day. So you're technically going to need to wash the majority models you just sprayed to remove dust and various contaminants, finger prints from playing with them etc before you get to add colour anyway.
Its not time consuming to spray, you could spray the next squad as your coming to completion on the current painting project and cut out the inbetween time where they gather dirt and contaminants.

Spraying is already pretty darned efficient on paint provided you didnt spray it with lots of defects from bad procedure. So saying your saving paint spraying them all at once is kind of negated by this; if you normally waste half a can in overspray I suggest you learn to spray properly!

The airbrushers here should know what I mean; 10ml of paint goes ten times further when sprayed than when brushed. not to mention the speed of work and better finish anyone who says they can achieve the same with a paintbrush as you can with spray... is lying! (likely never used spray properly)

HairySticks wrote:
I've never felt the need for spraying so much all at once.

Once youve sprayed them, one single model (maybe a squad) will be moved to the painting station, all the others you just sprayed will sit gathering dust untill you actually get around to painting.
I'm assuming you just cleaned them before spraying, so why create extra steps of work?

It's perfectly reasonable to spray 10 models and then batch paint them. A turntable like that could still be useful for 10 dudes.

Yeah, I batch prime and paint by squad quite a bit.

The idea, as in many manufacturing or crafting processes, is to eliminate rework like moving between painting and priming area by completing work in batches. Crazy, I know.

 Brother SRM wrote:

It's perfectly reasonable to spray 10 models and then batch paint them. A turntable like that could still be useful for 10 dudes.

10 dudes would only be a squad, which is exactly what I'm saying. The OP refered to spraying a horde of orks... a horde means much more than 10 to me

I mean I usually do full squads at a time, never had a need for a turntable though... but I do have patience, when I start to prime a model, I don't expect to be painting it for atleast some hours, which allows for mutliple coats from different angles and a propper drying time. What I don't do is to prime 2,3,4 or more squads of models when I can only realistically be painting 1 for some time to come (I'm quite slow at painting my models). The time spent painting the first one means the next lot would be dusty and dirty again requiring cleaning, which I had already done to spray them before... extra work and not really saving you any time provided you are capable of a little time management spraying the next ones so that theyre dry just in time for your planned painting time and not too much more.
In this hobby I give everyone the benefit of the doubt; the rules of the game are complex and long winded enough to weed out anyone that is not capable of such a simplistic task.

HairySticks wrote:

 Brother SRM wrote:

The time spent painting the first one means the next lot would be dusty and dirty again requiring cleaning, which I had already done to spray them before...

Must be hard to put them in tupper wear to keep them free from dust while working on one squad lol.. I have done this for years for my orks.. I keep a large number of boys primed ready to paint, and since their build the same way. Once one squad of 30 is done, I pick 30 more to do.. But I have to remember, only nids are second to the amount of models us ork players have..

I stand my minis on the front edge of a box/shelf (I used to have a spraying shelf in my garage before I moved) in my garage and line them all up at the front so that I can hit them with spray 3 times (once from an upper angle, one straight on and lastly from a lower angle). I then carefully turn each model about 1/4 of the way around and then repeat. Each spray is quick and light but I find I can get 99% coverage in a very short time and I don't have to leave them to dry before flipping them over, etc. Normally don't do more than 10 at a time unless it's Skaven...

 ruff wrote:
But I have to remember, only nids are second to the amount of models us ork players have..

You obviously haven't seen my foot horde IG

 Skippy wrote:

timd wrote:

Pics.
Top: Spray station
Bottom: 25 YEARS of overspray on the 16" turntable. Paint is roughly 3/4" thick on top of the turntable...

Good god man! That spray station is the craziest thing I've seen for a while! It's like a movie prop from a horror film.

Why thank you! :-)

I was the primer dude (and owner) of Armorcast, so I cleaned up and primed at least 4-5 of everything Armorcast ever produced (40K stuff, BattleTech stuff and over 400 single and multi-part terrain pieces), so we are talking thousands of pieces. Then there is my personal stuff starting with 1/72 scale armor and infantry in 1981 and then moving to GW stuff in 1988 with large armies for DA, Orks, Harlequins, Squats, Eldar, Guard, Khorne, Slaanesh, (still working on Nurgle), Tyranids, Necromunda, Eldar Titans, Imperial Titans and Fantasy High Elves, Wood Elves and Orcs. Then there is the non-40K stuff: WarZone, BattleTech 6mm, BattleTech 28mm, Dark Age, Vor and who knows what else, so we are talking thousands of figures at the very least primed over the years. This obviously explains the deep layers of paint on the turntables and reminds me that it has been 30 years of priming/painting, not 25...


OP was talking about painting a horde of Orks which could easily be over 100 figures. Turntables make things go MUCH quicker without having to fiddle with tape or Bluetac

Painting station ('Nids in progress and Nurgle drop pod on the right)


Figure/army storage boxes. Each box can hold up to 360 figures (36 drawers x 10 figs). Quite a few boxes are elsewhere as the Orcs, fantasy Elves, Orks and Slaanesh are all headed for eBay


A few recently painted (PIP) scenery pieces for Necromunda.

HairySticks wrote:
I've never felt the need for spraying so much all at once.

Once youve sprayed them, one single model (maybe a squad) will be moved to the painting station, all the others you just sprayed will sit gathering dust untill you actually get around to painting.
I'm assuming you just cleaned them before spraying, so why create extra steps of work?

Well I find it takes me a minute or two to spray a model, shake the can, walk downstairs, open the door, spray, hang it up, and then I have to wait an hour or two for it to dry, so spraying all at once means I don't have to spend as much time on all that.

Also, just put the models in a box after you sprayed it but before you get around to actually painting it, no biggy, won't collect dust then. If they do get dust, 10 seconds with a soft toothbrush will get it off.

I give you the following equation, where
B = blue tac (or other sticky tac)
L = Lazy Suzan
M = models
S = spray of basecoat.
F is the transfer of force

[(M+B)+L]*F+S=W

where W is win (alternatively, desired result)

stickytac your models onto the lazy susan, spin it at a reasonable speed, and apply your spray. Remember that you'll only really need to spin in one direction. On the first spin, spray from the outside of the lazy suzan, in, so that the front and one side of the model gets covered. Spin again, and then spray from inside out, to get the backs and other side of the model.

If you have metal models...... this will not work. You will need an even weight distribution, and everything needs to be stable.

Also, bear the density in mind. you can only put so many models close together, so try to keep, say, 1.5-2 inches between each model, else they obstruct eachother from getting hit with the spray.

dammit. beaten to the punch..... useless comment is useless!!!!