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.

Do you do it 1 by 1 by picking them up by the base only?. Do you pick a whole squad up with one hand not caring where you touch them?. Do you have your models on some thing that allows you to move them all at once with out touching them directly? or how do you do it?. And do you varnish?


I'm curious...

One by one by base and they are varnished

How do you clean your varnished models if they ever got dirty? ( I assume its safe to put under tap with soapy water and a tooth brush )

I would just use canned air. I wouldn't feel comfortable washing a model based with grass etc. The varnish should hold but I wouldn't personally bother or risk it. Do you store your models in cases/boxes when not in use?

And I don't think I have a problem with picking up my varnished models.
Bigger models with lots of flimsy pointy parts and characters with a lot of paint time put in, I probably handle with greater care then ordinary troopers.

I play about 1-2 games a month so they all don't get handled all that often. Unless that is often lol

Personally? I don't use my fancier models when I play. Even if you're being as careful as you possibly can, eventually something will happen (that's just probability). Better to use models I'm "less attached to", if you get my meaning. In that case, I just move em in whichever way is most optimal.

I just grab them by the model and move them.

I play 10-15 games a month lately, mostly in a tournament setting. Except for some experimental paint I tried on a model that claimed it didn't need to be varnished (spoiler alert... it does need to be varnished and now my Knight's gold trim is all messed up), I varnish everything and haven't had problems with paint rubbing off.

Model by model. (now if I'm playing WHFB, or some sort of historical that has literal Ranks & Files, then units have dedicated movement trays)

Yes, they're varnished.

As they're sealed/varnished I've never had any problems picking my models up by the body. It's why I sealed them in the 1st place.... Some - with spindly parts etc - do get handled with more care than most. But that's to prevent breakage.

I don't generally have to worry about dirty models as nearly everything resides in storage cases/foam trays. Some are in a display cabinet.
There are some large pieces on display around the house though - a FW Warhound, Weathertop, my all metal collectors series Thunderhawk, etc. Cleaning these is the same as for any other knick-knack. Wipe down during regular cleaning with a soft non-scratch cloth. If necessary some canned air. Maybe a slightly damp cloth to some areas on occasion.

I do use a soft paint brush to take the dust off

I pick everything up by the worst possible part and break it or if it's a sharp part i stab myself with it

I have never varnished anything

Lmao Turtles. Funny.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Is satin varnish the best if you dont want it shiny or too dark?


Thanks!

Always varnish. Move by model, not by base. Sometimes I'll grab a clump of them at a time, esp when embarking or disembarking.

Yeah, i was wondering because if i did every thing 1 by 1, i would imagine that annoys some people because it takes so long lol. So was wondering what was the most common way.

I havent varnished anything yet, too likely to swap parts or add details later. My schemes are easy to touch up so rough handling is fine by me. That said I'll only touch an opponents when asked to and with care, though I've never thought about grabbing from the base. There's usually a bunch of model in the way.

I don't play with grubby hands. I wash my hands before playing. Usually I take a bio break before the game starts so good hygiene dictates a good hand wash. I don't have sweaty palms like a lot of gamers seem to (usually folks with weight issues have the fat greasy mitts) so it's really not an issue.

Yes, if you want your paint job to last, two good coats of varnish. The only time you don't varnish a model, is if you are painting for a painting competition or purely display. Varnish has a tendency to change the properties of paint to an extent and can be detrimental to a competition level paint job.

I use clearcoat spray paint, a couple layers at least. Totally protects the model.

I'll dust them off with my air compressor if they are dusty, and if really bad I use my water pick (water jet for teeth cleaning).

I use matte varnish on most minis. Ones that have lots of edges (and might suffer more from handling) I will hit with a gloss varnish first, followed by a matte varnish to level it out. More frequently, blades/banners/spikes might get a dab of gloss varnish with a brush, then the whole mini sprayed with matte.

I move my minis one at a time, with rare exceptions. (F'rex, before 8e, when I was turbo-boosting my bikes I'd just scoop the whole unit up and set them down where they were going, since I was moving them FAR less than their max movement.)

I theory I varnish, but I'm really bad for stopping painting a model when it's like 90% done and going on to the next thing! So in practice very few of my models are varnished.

I mainly use plastic models and have found varnish is often not necessary with them - the paint sticks will enough to the undercoat and doesn't chip or flake so I usually don't bother. If I do it's just with a very light coat of spray varnish.

I'll usually move models one at a time, picking them up by the model itself. When moving larger units I'll sometimes move the front and back models of a unit and just fill in the gaps with the rest of them. It's not always appropriate, but once you gain some experience you'll get used to situations where you can take those sort of shortcuts to speed up the game.

I matte varnish everything, because I like how it looks.
I move my models by the base most of the time, but not all the time (depends what's most practical).

I varnish all my models and I grab them by the body. When you have to move dozens of Guardsmen, you don't have the time to pick them up in the most ideal way.

As for movement, I normally accurately measure the distance of the 'lead' model, then guess the rest of the squad based on that. Note this is for casual pick up games, in a tournament setting I'd likely be rigorous.

Like most people I see, I usually pick them up by the torso, or the legs depending on height/top heaviness of the model.

In WHFB I used to forget to take my Paladin BSB out of the movement try, slide the tray and put the BSB back. (The Paladin Battle Standard Bearer was incredibly top heavy. Plastic horse on the bottom, giant banner almost as big as the rest of the model inches above the horse and counterbalanced to one side. Then I got magnetic bases and rubberized steel movement trays.

Flying bases like the ones on Landspeeders are/were more problematic. Those loved to snap off where it was inserted into the model. Usually curl your fingers under the model and lift straight up, then place by the circular base rolling the base of your fist back to front to control speed. The new flying stands for Intercessors and Suppressors, I pick up by the middle of the stand/pole. The giant flying bases for actual flyers are the same, but closer to the bottom because the middle is too high to use the base of your fist to control the placement.

As for varnish... its up to you. I imagine most people just use a matte varnish like Munitorum Varnish the GW rattle can. Others use an airbrush and some dropper bottle varnish. The "best" way is to use a gloss varnish - because it dries "harder" and then follow that up with a matte varnish for the lighting effect you want.

I've never had to clean a model. I suppose you could right away run the model part but not the base under some cold/cool/warm water to wash whatever sticky thing landed on it before it dries and becomes sticky. I'd avoid hot water, soap, or abrasives like a scrub brush.

Gloss varnish on marines for aestethics. Just plain paint on my orks. When moving models I usually just move the forward one with careful measurements, then more or less shuffle the remaining unit in one swoop. If terrain pieces are involved I move them one model at a time.

I think you may be edging into the territory of over-thinking some of this stuff...

I over think every thing.

For plastic models, I grab them by whatever is sticking up.
Metals are more delicately lifted, but again, by the pointy bits.

I don't varnish. If they chip, I fix them as roughly as is required.

Crispy78 wrote:
I think you may be edging into the territory of over-thinking some of this stuff...

Agreed. I'd literally never even thought about cleaning my models, ever, until this thread came up and that's after over 20 years of gaming. I think I may have dusted a Land Raider once because it sat on the shelf for a while.

It would be nice if TOYS were not priced like fine-cast models, so we could treat our toys like toys. But such is not the case and I am merely lamenting bs.

I varnish everythign in a matte varnish. i was usign testors matte spray but now use vallejo mecha matte through an airbrush, it works great.

on moving, always model by model (note with experience one can pull off a huge green tide ork list and still make for a sub 2 hours game. when your oppnent finishes movement you should have a really good idea already of how you will move so its mostly a matter of reacting to that (and changes in objectives as drawn if applicable. roll advances and start moving models which should take only a second or so per model

I move them one by one - it’s why I’m so eagerly awaiting the upcoming Apocalypse bases for my ‘nids and Guard.

I try to varnish my miniatures, but sometimes forget. Only models I’ve had issues with are my old metals getting some wear or chips. No such issues with the plastics.