Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've encountered a major problem is that painting models WELL takes really long time per model.

I've sank probably 6+ hours into just 1 Talos and 1 Haemonculus and while they are 90% finished they aren't like golden daemon quality or anything.

The problem is filing sprues, magnetising everything (with hand-drill, greenstuff) priming them, basecoat, painting, wash, then drybrushing every single bit of the model, then base them then matt coat them is a LOT of effort.

Sure I could paint them like gak like 75% of the players but I don't want my army to look like gak.

How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

Paint it like gak, that's the trick. I don't think anyone paint 1500pts of good quality job in a few hours. I don't paint well and it still take me many many many hours just to do very basic troop.

Depends on the army and person, some people aren't as committed to Golden Daemon standard. I'm just a beginner, so while I want them to look good, I'm not as fussed as flawless.

I couldn't paint 1500 points in a few hours, but then again, I'm happy with a undercoat, basecoat, layer, wash and highlight. Maybe drybrush too.

In a few hours? That's impossible for me. My 1500ish points of Dark Eldar has been a work in progress for about a month and a few days now and I've only finished one venom and 9 reavers (not including the crew members). My Talos and Cronos are partially painted but fully assembled and one raider is mostly assembled. I speed it up by grouping things together; for instance, all of the reavers were assembled at once, then primed, then base coated, then detailed in assembly line fashion. I find it goes faster if I can keep my momentum and not switch gears mid step.

That's why people have 'table top quality' paint jobs. Giving a showcase worthy paint job to an entire army (especially anything with loads of low point models) takes years.

Sounds like you're a little frustrated with your progress. I suppose patience is the only advice I could give, and don't expect to have a 1,500 pt. army done within a few hours.

 DorianGray wrote:
I've encountered a major problem is that painting models WELL takes really long time per model.

I've sank probably 6+ hours into just 1 Talos and 1 Haemonculus and while they are 90% finished they aren't like golden daemon quality or anything.

The problem is filing sprues, magnetising everything (with hand-drill, greenstuff) priming them, basecoat, painting, wash, then drybrushing every single bit of the model, then base them then matt coat them is a LOT of effort.

Sure I could paint them like gak like 75% of the players but I don't want my army to look like gak.

How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

It's simple, really.

You get into 40k when you are 15 years old, collect a few armies, and have assembled, magnetized and finished painting everything by the time you are 25 years old.

THEN you start looking for gaming groups

That's why I always paint everything to a basic three color paint scheme utilizing the primary colors I am going to use, and then gradually paint details in one squad at a time. By this method I can say I have all my armies painted completely but at the same time, they never get finished.

How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

We dont most likely. Not if you want any sort of decent standard anyways. Took me over 2 years to do 150 Nids (to a basic tabletop standard).
Just keep plugging away at your own pace.
Perhaps, dont magnetize models you dont really have to, your basic rank and file trooper - drop their quality level down a notch, do assemblies in large batches in one sitting, basecoat with sprays if you can etc.
They will cut some corners but no one does 1500 points in a few hours.

Sounds about right.

While there are some things you can do to paint faster, painting takes a lot of skill and years of practice. There's no real easy button, other than airbrushing. If you can paint a "high quality" army in a month, you're doing pretty well for yourself. If you can't, it just means you're mortal.

Best advice? Keep practicing even if it takes ages. You will get better, and you will get faster. It really does come down to that.

If you really don't feel like sinking the hours in, then just spray paint them all and call it a day.

Painting everyone at once and never having them really finished is bad because you want that matt-coat spray over them once they are done and dusted so your models are protected!

Otherwise same paints on the edges get chipped off over and over over time ruining your work.

Always aim to finish then matt/gloss coat generously. Only then are they good to handle and play with.

It's a half ass solution, not a permanent one

I have guys that are 20 years old and the havent chipped much in that time.
Are you perhaps being too over zealous?

1500 points in a few hours?

not possible. unless you want gak.


It is possible to do like a 1500 point GK army or perhaps an imperial knight army in about 1 week. 3- 20-30 model armies.

Day 1: filing sanding and partial assembly.
Day 2: Priming and base coat, (using airbrush or multiple thin coats using big brush)
Day 3-5: Minor details, building in assembly lets you get into smaller parts you normally cant get to also add highlights.
Day 6: Final assembly. put that gak together.
Day 7: Mass pin washing using gloss coat to help, then at the very end matt or satin finish.

this is assuming 3-5 hours a night.

the trick is to get the right consistancy of paint that will let you base coat in fewer layers but still thin and consistant.

Yeah I've been painting my tzeentch army for over a year and have 1 raider, 15 cultists, 7 marines, 2 oblitorator, 2 terminators, 5 spawn, and a terminator sorcerer painted up to my standards (which is really high).

It will take a long time, my advice is try to do more frequent small time commitment paint runs. Have a dedicated spot where you can have paint on brush and model in hand within 60 seconds of sitting down, and lastly make sure you change it up.

I've been painting some terrain lately because I'm getting tired of hyper detailed work on my oblitorators and terminators.

Air brush will help speed things up immensely, and I'm considering getting one myself since my army is growing faster than I can paint them.

It's impossible to paint a 1500 point army in a few hours. But what can I say, I like painting. Doesn't need to be showcase quality, but having something be nice enough that you can be proud putting it down on the table is a fantastic feeling. I wouldn't trade that feeling for a terribly painted army five times the size.

but having something be nice enough that you can be proud putting it down on the table is a fantastic feeling

Spot on. Whatever ones standard, even if its not great, theres that feeling that they are yours, they are your style and youve put your own time and effort in.

 DorianGray wrote:

How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

You don't. Thats the trick.

A 1500 point army would probably take me a weekend, if I devoted time to it.

The key to getting faster is to learn how to efficiently paint. Make an assembly line. Take a squad of mostly identical dudes, paint all of one thing on them, then move onto the next thing.

Example: Painting 10 Space Marines. Break them down into the various areas on the model.

1) Areas of metal. Like their bolters.

2) Their main armor color.

3) Individual details, like Purity seals, eye lenses, and other stuff.


First paint all of one thing on all 10. Then move onto the next. You'll be much more efficient.

Hire a commission worker... If you can't get it done yourself...

I can paint very fast, but a few hours... that's an understatement. Having the right tools for faster painting (good compressor and airbrush do spring to mind) would be essenstial. Or a good spraypaint for basecolours.

Tamiya makes some nice spraypaints if an airbrush is out of your budget. Armypainter has coloured primers too, but I've heard some shocking stories about how variable the quality can be.

It always takes time... we were painting our ork army for 18 months before we fielded it.

I've found there is the odd short cut that works well; for my later orks, I spent more time on the armour plates and skin, but simply drybrushed the weapons over black. Much better results for slightly less time overall.

Oh right. Actually Daemon armies can be done in about a week as well if you use the white primer glaze technique that does not look all bad.

Filling out on small unit size big points cost models helps too.

I paint Necrons.

Pretty much the only army I've ever managed to get fully painted, and the vast bulk of them took me about four hours to paint - metal oldcrons, that is - with silver bodies, black shoulder-depressions and guns, green gun barrels, flourescent green eyes and the gold-and-lapis chest icons.

I play Orks, so I have a bunch to paint. I think I do 'ok' work. You can see most of my stuff if you click on my gallery page here. I usually take about 1hr or so (maybe slightly longer) per infantry sized model. I paint my guys in batches though. I have 10 or so models all ready to go and then say do the skin on everyone, then the pants, then the shirts, etc...when i open a color of paint I do it on everyone in that batch. by the time I am through the batch the paint on the first one is dry and I move to the next color/coat. I batches that averages out to about 1hr per guy. Still feels like a long time but I could do a 10 model unit or so a week if I really spend my free time doing it. Some weeks i am more motivated than others. I now have enough stuff to play decent sized games with the most common models. Now I find myself making a list for the weekly game night with a unit or 2 I have not ever used and that forces me to paint that unit and get closer to finishing everything.

How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

1) Play Necrons.
2) Use silver spray paint.

 PandaHero wrote:
Paint it like gak, that's the trick. I don't think anyone paint 1500pts of good quality job in a few hours. I don't paint well and it still take me many many many hours just to do very basic troop.

Exalted for brutal honesty!

Try dipping. Can do a whole unit in two days. Looks good when done proper, gives the miniatures good resilience against wear. Pictures of mine in the signature. And the avatar mind you.

Step 1. Play Farsight Enclaves and Ad Mech.
Step 2. Spray models red.
Step 3. Paint non-red parts black.
Step 4. Paint black parts the color they are supposed to be.
Step 5. ???
Step 6. Profit.

For my standards, I use Citadel Shades as the primary paint quite a lot.

I primer white. No base paint, no layers, no dry brushing. Just a big slather of a Shade right onto the white primer. I think it comes out just fine looking.

And if you want to just use black paint to highlight weapons and other details, it can come off as a not too bad looking model with not too much effort.

It still would take me more than 3 hours to do 1500 pts though...

 DorianGray wrote:


How do you guys paint entire 1500 pt armies in a few hours? What tricks do you have?

You don't.

My 1850 HH army took me a year to complete. Lots of weekends, after work, holiday time. Yellow is a pain in the but to paint, though. Also, it takes me a good 2 hours to paint a single tactical marine.

Good painting will always take a lot of time.
So far I have spent 2 years painting my armies, and I am no where near finished with all of them.