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I've always heard that the guys that paint historical mini's are always on the forefront of new techniques. Does anyone know where they hang out? I'd like to browse some of their forums and see if there's anything going on over there that I have not seen.

Thanks!

Really? Where have you heard that?

I don't know that they have any better/newer techniques than you'll find here in the painting and modelling forums.

That being said, there are some fantastic historicals painters. Most of them have their own blogs, so tracking them down can be challenging.

If you want forums, I'd start with:
The Miniatures Page (they have a historicals gallery which would lead to blogs)
The Lead Adventure Forum
The Guild Wargamers (Battlegroup specific, but Piers has some fantastic terrain and models, you'd never know they were 20mm)

Good luck!

Thanks for the help. I can't remember a specific instance in which I heard that, maybe I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, or made assumptions based off of the videos that I've watched.

Either way thanks for the help. That is a side of the hobby that I've never explored and will be glad to see some of the work either way.

Historical gaming painters definitely use different styles, but I don't see them breaking any more new ground than anybody else. If you want to see very different techniques then I recommend looking outside of gaming. See what the guys who are painting display models with no connection to gaming are doing.

http://www.amazingmodeler.com/
http://culttvman.com/main/main-catagories/cult-figures/
http://scahms.kitmaker.net/
http://www.planetfigure.com/

You might be confusing historical miniature painters for historical modelers, more generally. Armor, naval, and aviation modelers actually do have a lot of techniques and use a lot of products that are practically unheard of in the wargaming world. Partly, this is due to a larger community who have been at it for longer than wargame miniatures have had much traction (which also means a larger market giving rise to a broader range of companies catering to it). Some of it comes from working in different scales. Much of it comes from producing showpieces that needn't stand up to the rigors of frequent transport and handling.

That gap has been steadily closing, of late - think of how many people you saw using airbrushes and weathering with oils and pigments five years ago compared to today. Still, if any group could be considered at the forefront of modeling, it would probably be them, not us, if such a line need be drawn. A forum like International Scale Modeler (they have a pretty large Youtube channel, as well) will be worth a browse, at the very least.

As Oadie says - modelers yes...miniatures - not so much. A lot of those guys are still lamenting the loss of Polly Scale paints. The style preferred by most of them is much closer to Kevin Dallimore of Foundry Fame (sort of the historical equivalent of some one like McVey...). It isn't a bad thing - it just hasn't changed much since 1992.

Pretty much any of the "new" paint techniques for miniature painting in the last...well, forever...have been in use for a long time by finescale modelers. So many of the "new" products are old news for them (weathering powders?).

Amazing Figure Modeler magazine is well worth a look for figure painting. Finescale Modeler is great for armor and vehicle techniques. The Modelers' Annual from Westlake Publishing (being a bit more specific on that one as it isn't available at a lot of news stands...) will make most scratch built wargame related items look like a first grade craft project stuck together with popsicle sticks and tempura paint.

In terms of forums and what not to track them down at...various and fragmented. Kalmbach probably has one of the largest ones which is (depending on how well their website is working on any given day) encompasses their Military, Model Railroad and Model Car magazines. Others like Planet Figure, Military Modelling, Armorama, various IPMS boards (each branch and sub branch seems to have its own...and they are not linked...), Starship Modeler...

The magazines and books are very useful though. There really aren't any great secrets being kept in those communities and with a bit of searching you can find most the information available for free online...but I do like to have a hard copy of different things to flip back and look at without having to worry that a blog will be taken down or a forum will migrate to a new software package and loose years worth of useful posts (or be shut down entirely like Cultman TV did with their forums...stupid Facebook).