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Made in gb
Thunderhawk Pilot Dropping From Orbit





Scotland

Hey folks. I've been trying to get my marine army up to scratch, and am finding it's taking me forever to get anywhere. I am a slow painter, which doesn't help.

I have pretty much an entire company of marines to get done. I started painting them one at a time, which took forever. Then I did a squad of batch painting, and it took me a long time to complete. Now I'm attempting to batch paint in waves of about 30 marines, which seems to be going reasonably quickly. (It helps that the new plastic marines have a lot less detail than the old metal dudes). What does everyone else do?

I also paint them with no arms or shoulder pads on - so that I can get in about the chest area with my brush. This seems to really slow things down, but I can't stand the thought of having poorly painted chest plates on them. Do others fully assemble first? I guess I could with the assault squads, as they have no bolters hiding their chests.

Anyway, feeling a wee bit unmotivated with the volume of work still ahead. Guess I just need a kick up the arse to get moving again!

Pic attached of the first couple of waves...


   
Made in no
Dakka Veteran




With my current Army of "Battle fatigued" Tau i glue them all up ( with shoulder pads/weapons etc. ) and i painted first the major color ( red ) on all of the sprayed ones and then added the detail ( gold ) after i finished up the red, then i did the drybrushing with silver so it looks like scratches and such, and then washed it with nutin oil. ( However the red was kinda lazy on the firewarriors as i didnt paint their chest red, and just left it to be drybrushed into silver, saved me a lot of annoyances )

I think its better to paint then assembled in batches, after 24 firewarriors, 6 drones and a Broadside i was finally done painting all of my infantry ( my previous batch was Farsight + 12 firewarriors ) and its a morale boost to see your most numberous units being painted.

So in Steps:
- Spray
- Major Color
- 2nd Color
- ( 3rd until all of the colors are on etc. )
- Drybrush
- Wash

It saves you time changing colors and washing your brushes between every color if you just stick to one color until you are done, and its perferable that you have them assembled, as you can skip painting things people wont see ( if you are a gamer like me and dont think too much into detailed painting ) and it save you paint aswell for things that will be invisible.

So of my Tau army:
Painted:

36 Firewarriors
8 Drones
1 Crisis suit
1 Farsight
1 Hammerhead
1 Broadside

Left to paint

10 Pathfinders
like 30-40 drones
2 Broadsides
6 crisis suits and their weaponry
1 Devilfish
1 Ethereal
1 Shadowsun

....drones is going to be a hell...

 
   
Made in gb
Rogue Grot Kannon Gunna





Pick a black colour scheme and build up from the base coat (flippant suggestion I can see you are going blue!).

My local friendly GW store has a display of white undercoated space marines which have had a rough layer of their new washes applied. The one which stood out was the yellow wash, which, after applied really turned the miniature into a - look complete - imperial fist; the wash turned an deep orange colour in the recesses; there's probably not a quick solution like this to suit your deeper colour scheme.

For the bulk of the units I would always put the full miniature togehter before painting; the only exception being characters of showcase figures. If you don't put them all together then you are either going to be leaving plastic areas unpainted so the plastic cement glue works or will be reliant on superglue to finish off the models.

The new (opposite of washes - glazes?) which highlight the raised areas are very good at making the base colours look richer. The blood red glaze over wazdakka red over a khorne basecoat (washed with a very thinned black) looks the biz. I've just let the glazes go everywhere as it doesn;t show up over the washed black recesses (much). I'm sure you could find a blue pallet to do something similar with.

Imperial eagles on the chest of the marines don't need to be bright yellow. Quick light grey drybrush and a bit of white highlighting works well.

 
   
Made in us
Preacher of the Emperor





Hanford, CA, AKA The Eye of Terror

painting 120 old DE warriors was hell, but batch painting is the way to go. I had my models assembled and primed, I just started with one color, and painted all of them with that color, then moved on to the next color. In the end it does not look the best, but you can at your leisure return and touch up and fix up your army. The important part is that all your models have some degree of paint on them so when you field them you can feel a little proud seeing the unification of color.

Also, always individually paint your awesome models, like sergeants or chaplains. They deserve a cut above the rest, and your opponents are far more likely to scrutinize special characters.

Now to apply my own advice to about 100 guardsman and 30 Firewarriors ><

Also, a quick drybrush of gold over the chest eagles will work wonders, its shiny, and most will not notice any imperfections because of the shinyness

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/03 12:55:23


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Made in au
Norn Queen






Depends on the army and the model. For my Tyranids, I might batch paint 2-3 Gaunts at a time, but that's the limit. There's so much layering of red and feathering highlights that any more than 2-3 Gaunts at once discourages me. Anything else, even Gargoyles, are individually done.

For my Vampire Counts, I've got a much easier method bordering on dipping. Prime, block in all base colours. To a stark highlight on them. Wash entire model with Army Painter Strongtone Ink. I'll do 5 models at a time this way.

For Infinity, I do all models individually without exception. There aren't many, so I spend a little extra time with them.

I'm also bordering on the worlds slowest painter. But I see no point rushing if I don't like the end result.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/03 13:08:23


 
   
Made in us
Gargantuan Gargant





Binghamton, NY

Batch painting is definitely faster, while level of assembly depends on the model. Personally, I insist on painting everything that can be seen, even if it isn't particularly likely to be, so marines of any flavor would have their bolters and backpacks left off, at the very least. Even models with rather open sculpts may be faster in pieces - I leave the head and loose arm off of AoBR boys, for example, to give me more freedom in choosing my angle of approach while painting, even though I could tackle the whole model after assembly. Since subsequent assembly is so simple, though, and the poses are rather limited, I can paint the parts fully and toss them together in mere seconds without any touching up needed. More complex or fiddly models (e.g. Infinity minis) would be too much trouble to assemble after paint, so I choose occasional awkward brush angles as the lesser of two evils.

Batch size is another point to consider. I know your flagging motivation is due to the number of models still unpainted, but you might be overwhelmed by suddenly attempting to tackle batches of 30 - it's a lot of work to do before you see any more finished models. If you tend to paint in shorter bursts, like I do, you may not even finish any given step in a single sitting - two minutes of basecoating suddenly becomes an hour of work, spread over that many models. While not everyone may have this issue, I find that I tend to get sloppier as I repeat the same step, ad nauseum, across too many models, so I tend to keep my batches smaller - usually no more than five models. You may be able to handle more, of course, but it doesn't take that many to start seeing a time savings. If you aren't perfectly confident that you'll blow through a huge lot without losing steam or sacrificing quality, you may want to start with a batch of ten, instead, then adjust based on that experience.

[edit:] Derp. Just read the OP again and saw that you're already making decent progress on a 30-man batch. In that case, you can mostly ignore the second paragraph (which I'll leave up as more general advice). You'll know damned well by the end of that lot whether it was too large!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/03 19:54:51


The Dreadnote wrote:But the Emperor already has a shrine, in the form of your local Games Workshop. You honour him by sacrificing your money to the plastic effigies of his warriors. In time, your devotion will be rewarded with the gift of having even more effigies to worship.
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Dundee, Scotland/Dharahn, Saudi Arabia

For my crimson fists, when I had a full company to paint for an apocalypse game, I stuck them onto a 1" square baton of wood with a hook in the end, 25 to a face.
I then undercoates the lot in one go and hung it up to dry.
Then I used an airbrush to paint the whole batch with the base coat.
Once that was done, I did the fists red, and the chest pieces in bleached bone, went over the guns in black, dry brushed them, then sprayed the whole lot in Devlan mud.
Took me an afternoon.

If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.
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Made in us
[DCM]
Tilter at Windmills






Manchester, NH

For space marines I work with batches of 10, usually. This is my basic technique for doing a squad fast (like all in one evening, a few hours' work):

1. Do all the cleaning of mold lines, etc., and organize the parts for each squad/group of 10. I try to do this all at once at the start of the project/army. I hate it like crazy.
2. Assemble the legs and torso, glued and on base.
3. Prime everything.
3a. I usually keep the heads separate so I can easily highlight the raised armor around the top of the torso without any issues; the heads can be primed the same base color, or primed a different color easily For my Blood Angels, I primed the rest of the model Army Painter Pure Red, but used Privateer P3 White on the helmets, so I could get a nice vivid yellow on them easily.
4. Paint the recessed stuff- usually brushing silver in the joints, elbows, etc. Also where the backpack connects and the neck of the heads. I usually do this kind of quick and dirty and clean up where it gets on adjacent areas during steps 5 or 6.
5. Paint each color of detail (bone or a contrasting metal for skulls, white or tan on purity seals, silver weapons (usually) contrasting brighter color for eyes, etc.). Do each color all at once, then move on to the next color while the last is drying.
6. Line edge highlight the armor plates.
7. Line edge highlight the other colored sections, like the silver or black weapons, etc.
8. While you're doing 6 and 7 you may spot areas of detail you missed the first time; overlooked purity seals and such. Go ahead and fix those as you find them.
9. Wash. I went with a straight neck to toe Devlan Mud wash on my BA (the yellow heads got Gryphonne Sepia instead), but you can be a bit more restrained, and/or use different colors on different areas, but head to toe is quick, adds depth to the whole model, blends the hard line edge highlights in a bit, and you can do more work afterward if you want. For example, my purity seals and areas of rope (Death Company model detail) BOTH got painted bone and washed Devlan; but the ropes got a second wash of Sepia to give them a more yellowed tone, while the purity seals got highlighted bone on the edges to brighten them up.
10. Optionally pick out details you want brighter, to stand out. For example, on my BA I then painted all the "wings", like on the fancy Death Company shoulderpads, straight white, to make them really bright and clean. Then I washed those with watered-down Asuryan Blue to add depth and make them "pop" a bit.

As for adding the arms, weapons, heads and backpacks, exactly when to add them varies. For assault marines it's easier to put the arms on earlier, because they don't get in the way as much. For Tacs, I'll usually finish painting the legs and torso completely before adding the other bits, and then finishing the arms, head, and bolter (or heavy/special) in place on the model. Backpacks are often easiest-done all together, off the model, then glued on as a finishing step. Same with shoulder pads.

Using that recipe I got a basic paint job on a (5th ed) BA 1750 GT army in about a week. These aren't the best pics, but they give you the idea:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/429369.page

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/05/04 00:12:14


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Made in au
Slaanesh Veteran Marine with Tentacles





Malben

I usually just paint one sprue at a time, although, I generally don't mind taking my time.

My process for my Necron troops usually is:
Finish the bases for the batch
Remove from sprue
Clear mold lines.
Assemble as much of the model as I can without hindering painting (so for my warriors and immortals I attach everything but the gun arm)
Undercoat
Paint
Fully assemble
Stick to base
Kiss for luck

This usually takes me two days at a fairly casual pace.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/04 00:31:43


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Made in us
Irked Blood Angel Scout with Combat Knife




Pick a colour and then dunk them in it.
   
Made in us
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy




Arkansas

So i just recently batch painted about 40 ultramarines for a buddy. It took me all weekend and several seasons of parks and recreation. Heres how i cranked them out. Step 1. Clean and assemble (keep weapons unattached) step 2. Prime black (spray paint) step 3. Coat models in thinned out kantor blue step 4. Wash with nulin oil step 5. Dry brush aldorf guard blue. Step 6. Paint shoulder trim and chest piece desired color. Step 7 highlight hard edges with a 50/50 mix of aldor guard blue and space wolves grey. Step 8. Eyes, joints , purity seal ,grenade, belt pouch etc. Step 9.paint and attach weapon. Step 10 spray varnish and have a drink.

Your life is the emperors currency. Spend it wisely.  
   
Made in us
Hellion Hitting and Running






I personally think a person should take the time to paint their minis. You will feel much better about them and your opponent will respect you more. If you find it hard to paint I suggest putting on a movie or tv show and just paint and casually watch and listen, it really helps pass the time better.
   
Made in nl
Confessor Of Sins






I paint by 10 usually for infantry, by model for characters.

With 10 you don't go entirely mad with painting details and the first is usually dry by the time you finish the 10th.

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Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka







I started off batch painting 10 Blood Ravens at a time, but started losing the will to live when it came to adding in the details. - I always ended up missing 1 bit on the back of 1 model, so would need to go back. Then I'd realise I'd miss another part again...

Then I moved onto 5 at a time. Same problem again. Now I'm trying 3, plus an alternative jump pack for a sergeant / other random bits and it's seeming to go ok.

The problem is, of course, that I'm going to have to go through this 3 times for the squad, instead of just once. Hopefully however, it'll also refine my (lack of) technique a bit more.
   
Made in au
Lady of the Lake






When I want to paint fast I go with troops then do them in batches of 2-3 each. It's fast enough and easy with the scheme I've chosen for my Daemons.

   
Made in gb
Raging Ravener




Maidstone, Kent

I make use of sprays and washes for my basic troops. Drybrush the highlights for a dirty look and a brown wash to pull it all together. My last batch of 30 took a week doing a single stage each night. 6 hours work at most

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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





I usually paint one color at a time, using one brush at a time on about 10 models at a time!

This works fast for me. I've painted 2k worth of marines, etc in a few days time in preparation for events. Def. not great standards for painting, but if you use washes and dry-brushing to good effect you can pump out some nice looking minis.

Also, up to this point i've almost always painting when assembled because I use a lot of green stuff conversions on my models. However, I recently started painting Orks and i've decided to paint more of the model pre-assembly due to some very hard to reach areas.

Bee beep boo baap 
   
Made in us
Trigger-Happy Baal Predator Pilot




SoCal

I spray primer then spray the primary color. Sometimes this is the same. Between Testor's and Army Painter, there is pretty much every color you need. Then weapons, wash, highlight, and basing somewhere in there. Paint details and have fun. It's been pretty effective at getting armies to the table

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Made in ca
Slippery Scout Biker




BC

I find batch painting a heck of a lot faster, but it tends to be a bit more boring that painting models individually in my opinion, because you focus less on specific details that make the models unique and end up making them look the same, which may or not be the point of batch painting, depending on your army.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/05/05 04:35:52


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