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Hi everyone, I'm very new to the hobby. I'm sorry if this has been asked elsewhere. I recently completed the assembly of a tactical squad, and decided to paint them as Imperial fists (yellow, maybe not a great starter color). The store had no GW yellows, so I'm trying modelmasters. I'm getting crumbs and overly shiny layers, and have no clue how to paint the chests without snapping some arms off. I also bought some kantor blue in case all else fails and I go for Scarlet fists instead. Any tips? I can attach photos if desired. Anyway thank you all!

Firstly welcome to the hobby ^^

Secondly, it's best to paint using sub assemblies. I usually assemble the legs, torso, backpack and (non-primaris) head. As you've noticed, attaching the arms to the torso obscures the aquila/winged skull.
Depending on what glue you've used removing the arms is either really easy (superglue) or near impossible (plastic cement).

As for the problem with the paints it can come down to a few reasons.
Firstly were the minatures primed? Now this can mean either using a dedicated primer or (and this is what I do) a coating of Chaos Black Spray on the minis before starting to paint the colours themselves.
Secondly, were the paints thinned? I advise watching the Warhammer TV painting tutorials on Youtube. They're clear and concise and give a good example of thinning paints and applying coats.
Thirdly, handling a model too much whilst painting can cause the natural oils on your hands to rub off onto the miniature; this can affect paint adhesion and cause flaking and chipping. Try holding onto the base only and try to avoid gripping anything else.

I hope this has been helpful.

I agree with Foxfyre about sub-assemblies. It is the best way to paint your models, it makes it super easy to get into the little cracks, and you don't risk breaking parts off by accident. Fox is also right about priming your models. For Imperial Fists, I understand that white primer is the best route to take. I myself have a Crimson Fists army, and black primer really helps when painting the dark blue on.

Also to echo, watch the Youtube tutorials. Duncan is love, Duncan is life.

Yellow is an absolute swine to paint. I'm working on some old (Space Crusade) Bad Moon Orks at the moment and for their shoulder pads I've done a base coat of a sandy ochre brown and then built up a good half a dozen coats of yellow to get a half decent colour.

I used to use white for my priming (or just as my base) but then a fellow hobbyist pointed out that black doesn't show quite as vividly as white if you miss a bit; plus you can always call it shadow

Vasnet, I should also mention that when painting on a colour you shouldn't try and do it in one coat. One thick coat of paint can obscure details whereas 2-3 thin coats won't.

I also did a quick google search for model masters and noted they do both enamels and acrylics. Enamels are a whole different beast when painting a miniature, from thinning to cleaning. If you have an enamel yellow for example that may also explain the 'shinyness' you've experienced.

If you need any further help or examples I can always try and upload some pictures.

Thank you all very much for such swift responses! GW Paint, which I tried on one model, seems to be much more user friendly. Maybe as a noob I should ditch the three yellow ones I've started and switch over to blue. It's odd because on YT (such as Apathetic Fish's work), the models appear to be fully assembled before painting. Oh well, learning curve I suppose.

It sounds like you used the model master enamal paints. which are honestly hell to use (if im remembering my childhood correctly)

Personally i like to prime white in sub assemblies and air brush like 3 diffrent yellows to get my fists done. but thats probably not that accessible to new painters.

but it is entirely possible to hair brush them. prime white in sub assemblies, Find a good acrylic water based yellow from GW or Vallejo (probably game or model color)

alternativly prime white and go over the whole thing in yellow ink which was an old school way of doing it.

Vasnet24 wrote:
Thank you all very much for such swift responses! GW Paint, which I tried on one model, seems to be much more user friendly. Maybe as a noob I should ditch the three yellow ones I've started and switch over to blue. It's odd because on YT (such as Apathetic Fish's work), the models appear to be fully assembled before painting. Oh well, learning curve I suppose.

Here's the thing, once you prime your models white, it will be more difficult to get a smooth even coat of Kantor Blue. Half my models were primed white due to starting out with a different scheme, and you can tell the difference at a glace, even after multiple thin coats.

Vasnet24 wrote:
Thank you all very much for such swift responses! GW Paint, which I tried on one model, seems to be much more user friendly. Maybe as a noob I should ditch the three yellow ones I've started and switch over to blue. It's odd because on YT (such as Apathetic Fish's work), the models appear to be fully assembled before painting. Oh well, learning curve I suppose.

Some people do full assemblies for tutorials as it shows a completed figure (even the GW Warhammer TV channel is guilty of this). Unfortunately unless you're very adept at painting with the small tolerences (or even choosing to forgo painting the severely obscured areas) this is just an unreasonable approach.

As for your priming, white works wonders for bright, vibrant colours such as the blue for Ultramarines, Space Wolf greys and Imperial Fist yellows but for darker colours such as Kantor Blue it will just be a pain as any missed areas will show up.

I must say it's probably a good idea to look through this forum for WIP (work in progress) posts as they will often show some very good examples of sub-assemblies.

Our INSTAR Range is perfect for beginners or those who have been away from the hobby for a while as they can be used straight from the bottle and still give results that are almost on par with painted models that have had many thin coats.

And all this is achievable without primer.

Power Elephant who used them said this was one of the paints biggest strengths and testers in South Korea and the US said the yellows in our range covered better than any other brand.

Check us out, we're cheaper than Citadel as well so you can get more paint for your money too

I'd like to ditto the point of holding onto the base. Or even better yet find something to put the mini on and hold onto that.

For example you can use blu tack to attach the mini onto something or even buy citadel's new clamping tool. I'm lucky enough to have old citadel paint pots with a flat top - they're perfect!

The point is - never hold the mini when painting it. As you mentioned, you can break off parts of the mini or even worse ruin the paint if it hasn't dried completely. Or sometimes your hands might have accidentally touched some paint and then you start smudging fresh paint onto the mini. A nightmare!