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Hello.

Few days ago I decided to join WH40K community and have some fun collecting and painting miniatures.
I bought a set of Bloodletters (because chaos seems fun to paint) as well as some basic tools, paints and brushes.

This is my first ever painted mini.





I didn't do anything with the base yet because i don't have any materials/ideas for it. Overall it took me around 4-5 hours of experimenting and having a great time. Im neither satisfied nor disgusted with this one and after painting it I know what to work on next.

So let me start with some observations:
1. People making those amazing painted minis should propably be neurosurgeons.
2. Cutting pieces out and cleaning mould lines is hard and time consuming.
3. Bonding pieces together with glue is harder than expected and is the best way to destroy all your previous work with cleaning pieces.
4. Everything is harder than expected.

And then some questions:
1. How to get rid of cracks between glued pieces? Is it possible to cut them out and glue them so that there are no cracks at all (in small models like Bloodletters)?
2. When drybrushing, I am using small flat brush. It is forking like crazy and makes it impossible to drybrush flat piece evenly (effect can be seen on the sword which looks like ) How to prevent it?
3. On all those tutorial videos, guys dip dirty (after painting) brushes in water for 3 seconds, shake it a little bit, dry it on paper towel and are good to go with next paint. I waste 2 minutes everytime i need to clean my brush of the paint, and it still isn't perfectly clean. Is it because of poor quality synthetic hair or am I doing something wrong?
4. Can i break off my minis from the base after glueing?

I would be thankful for some feedback and tips before I start with next Bloodletter.
Have a nice day all of you

A few thoughts to help you along in the worship of the dark gods!

1) Cleaning off mould lines is boring, tedious and takes forever. It's my (and many others) least favourite part of the hobby. But the rewards are worth it, esp if you're going to spend time painting them up.
In general try and assemble in sets/blocks of models all the same; that way you do naturally speed up without trying too as you get familiar with all the parts of the model.

I also find that you need to turn the part around, keep good light on it and sometimes be prepared to undercoat and go back and check again. Sometimes that one layer of spray paint can really show some errors that you missed before. You can easily touch them up and put on a little more spray or paint on some white base to smooth over any worked areas like that.

2) Plastic to plastic takes practice and these are my tips:
LESS is more. Plastic glue doesn't need much to start melting. Sometimes even the needle applicators are giving you too much. I find that putting a small blob on a connecting bit. Then lightly touch it with the other part you're going to connect to it. Not enough to press them together, but enough to get some of the glue on the other half. Then lightly dab whichever part has the largest amount of glue with your finger and wipe that away.

Now you've got two halves with glue working on melting the plastic and not too much hanging around. now when you press the parts together there's far less gunk and glue and they should seal faster. Note I find blowing on the join helps too - not for speeding up the join, but for just puffing away any bulges of glue.

2) When it comes to preparing the model make sure you use a bald to get the join areas as smooth as possible before you assemble. A little bit of glue and many gaps will fill in on their own ,but if you get a crack or gap then its not too hard.
First wait for the glue to cure fully - this can take over an hour or more. The glue might look firm but it will be tacky for quite a long while and you don't want to even try messing with tacky glue it will go everywhere and make a right mess of anything. Leave it and let it set hard - its much easier to work with and fill gaps etc...

For filling This might help
https://warminiatures.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/relthoza-vaxiss-ground-attack-leviathan-assembly-guide/

I wrote it a while back and its for resin rather than plastic, but the methods for filling bubbles and gaps should easily port over to plastics if you need them.


3) You can break a model off its base, but its not always easy. As noted above most plastic glues work by melting plastic so there's no glue layer to "break" as you might get with superglue. Instead you've got plastic so any break is as tough as the plastic the model is made of.
For getting it off a base you might try using a blade underneath the feet to cut it off; you might also try clippers and a blade and simply clip/cut most of the base off and then use cilppers and blade to cut the stubs left off the feet etc..
Note this last question of your's confuses me so I'd be interested to hear about why you need to break a model off its base

Thank you for the tips, it will help immensely. Looks like I was doing the glue part wrong, trying to stick two parts together ASAP after putting glue on them, also I was using a lot of pressure to make sure it starts holding together. It made it kinda stressfull = mistakes. Also the amount of glue I used was a little bit too much but I realised that after some parts around the cut started melting . I will propably have to get the greenstuff mentioned in the link you sent.

 Overread wrote:
A few thoughts to help you along in the worship of the dark gods!

Note this last question of your's confuses me so I'd be interested to hear about why you need to break a model off its base

I think it is not the best idea to put little stones or grass around feet of the mini, it would propably cover some details or just look bad.

I thought about preparing the base like this:
- put universal glue on entire thing,
- spread some little rubbles and rocks on it,
- paint it (if needed),
- glue the mini directly on the rubbles, not with plastic glue but with universal glue (transparent when set).

That should look more like the mini was standing on the rubbles, not on the base while being covered by rubbles.

However, I haven't checked any tutorials on it yet (as I did a lot before panting or even buying specific paints) so i might be wrong about entire thing. I will look for something about basics of basemaking on YT.

You don't want to leave the plastic glue sitting too long because it will make its initial curing fairly quick - where it goes tacky and holds the parts together well. And holding them together firmly is good, though if you're getting lots of glue pushing out then yes cut down a bit on the amount of glue you are using.

These things take a little pratice but you'll get there before you know it



Your thoughts on bases are certainly not bad, many do use bases as you describe; but you can also decorate the base with rocks around the feet if you want too.

If you're going to pose the model on the rock itself remember you'll want superglue not plastic glue since the rock material won't melt to form a bond (unless you used plastic rock effects of course).

Basing I've done less of and am more simplistic - model on the base and go. You might find that's easier for things like troops and then for heroes start to get a bit more creative. One risk is that you can get super creative with the whole army which then makes it take much much much longer to complete.

Hello

Welcome to the hobby!
Very good first effort with that blood letter.

With basing I recommend basing the mini first and then priming the whole thing. The reason is that the primer will help with sealing the base as well as mean you wont have to go back and prime it again with a brush and risk spoiling the paint job. Also, By the looks of it you have done plenty of research. But I recommend this channel. The dude has some great tutorial and advice videos for new players(you can take or leave his presentation skills and voice):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-JMEtTYD8w&list=PLr_Hjio0StchTFk_2UvDC1NehyNp0qFMs&index=10&t=0s

You can find all sorts of stuff useful as baking materials so there isint realy a right or wrong approach. Egg shells supposed to make good lava bases for example, personaly never tried it. There is a multitude of tutorials on how to do basing and you can take it as far as you want or not at all. I would start simple with some sand.


You can pick up cheap sand on ebay/ sometimes fish aquarium stores or garden centres. You can also use superglue and baking powder to create Texture. Some people use dirt form the outside and stones etc they find int he garden/ street..

I pretty much use PVA glue & Sand or Super glue & baking powder / combination of these plus some bits of cork and rubbish I find around the house/garden...

However the min thing I wanted to say is that if you are painting and modelling, it will take a lot of time so just take your time and don't try to rush anyting. The skills will improve and come to you with practice.

For drybrushing you can pick up a pack of the little round make up brushes. I bought a pack of 4 for £4. It saves your regular brushes, and you can also use them for stippling.

Welcome to the hobby. The main thing to do is just comsume as much info on the painting and modeling as you can. There's tons of it online, and just have fun creating.

When it comes to cleaning your brush, it really depends how much paint is on it. If you just have some paint on the tip, a quick swish will get rid of it. If your brush is loaded up to the ferrule, it takes more work to get it clean. Also, if some paint has dried or nearly dried on the bristles, that will take longer to dissolve as well. My general procedure with my brush is to mix the paint and any thinner (water, medium, whatever) with the brush, clean brush immediately, wipe it on paper towel, get some paint on the brush, paint, clean brush ASAP, repeat. Unless you're basecoating a large area there shouldn't be a ton of paint on the brush at any one time.

Wow thats a really good first model ! I painted my first mini when i was about 8, I'm not in position of it any more but i dont think it was a very good job.
I started back into the hobby a couple of years ago and can't believe how much help and tutorials are available now, back then all you had was a copy of white dwarf.
Keep it up and don't get too worried about kit and technique, practice and have fun and use trial and error. And keep your first miniature you painted!

Thank you all for replies! I really appreciate all your tips and try to take advantage of them.

As a matter of fact, I'm already done with the second Bloodletter in my collection.
Thanks to all of you I managed to paint him about an hour faster (especially thanks to tips about how to wash brush, clear parts and glue parts together) than the last one and I think it actually came out a little bit better.
So after all, it took me around 3-4 hours this time.

Here are some photos:





Please, leave some feedback (I prefer criticism) about my work, so I know what to work on next (beside training obvious stuff like being better at drybrushing).

Thank you all again and have a nice day

Maybe work on some layering instead of drybrushing. It will improve your highlighting. You need some contrast on there too as at the moment they're very red/orange. Your complimentary colours would be green or blue. Maybe do hie tongue green or something. Alternatively you could give him a base heavily dominated by greens.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Maybe work on some layering instead of drybrushing. It will improve your highlighting. You need some contrast on there too as at the moment they're very red/orange. Your complimentary colours would be green or blue. Maybe do hie tongue green or something. Alternatively you could give him a base heavily dominated by greens.

Maybe purple tongue would also work.

Try to work on drybrushing the bump/spines? on his back. pink of white would look really cool

Avendorth wrote:
I think it is not the best idea to put little stones or grass around feet of the mini, it would propably cover some details or just look bad.

I thought about preparing the base like this:
- put universal glue on entire thing,
- spread some little rubbles and rocks on it,
- paint it (if needed),
- glue the mini directly on the rubbles, not with plastic glue but with universal glue (transparent when set).

That should look more like the mini was standing on the rubbles, not on the base while being covered by rubbles.

However, I haven't checked any tutorials on it yet (as I did a lot before panting or even buying specific paints) so i might be wrong about entire thing. I will look for something about basics of basemaking on YT.

So, here's how I do; I build the mini, I glue it to the base, I whack a layer of PVA on the base, then dunk the mini's bottom-half in a bowl containing a mix of sand and stones. Once I've removed excess sand and that's dry, I add another layer of PVA, but thinned with water (quite a lot) this time.

When I paint the base, I carry on the last drybrush on the mini's legs, to represent dust accumulation.

As to whether it looks bad, I don't think so. Clearly. I think it helps 'root' the mini in the scene.

Of course you can also prefer neutral black bases such as me.


Basing is not ultimately required.


However there are various options, even some very unlikely and can be turned into a whole other can of Worms. Namely modelling and kitbashing.

Also you picking Chaos is a good choice for modelling etc.


Basically there are 3 main parts of the hobby imo
- Painting
- Building /modelling
- Playing.

If you like to paint but hate building e-bay etc might be your best friend.
If you like building and hate the later, try a simpler scheme (cough me cough)
If you like playing there are whole Services out there to build and paint for you.

However most of us like all three things despite sucking hard at it

Basing is an essential part of the modelling process in my opinion. If you're not going to base then you may aswell not paint the model either. Or just get clear disk bases if you really must not base your models. There are many easy ways to make nice bases. Plus you can just let rip on bases. Dry brush the crap out of them, smother them in inks, Cover them in powders.. Its great. One of my favourite bits.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Basing is an essential part of the modelling process in my opinion. If you're not going to base then you may aswell not paint the model either. Or just get clear disk bases if you really must not base your models. There are many easy ways to make nice bases. Plus you can just let rip on bases. Dry brush the crap out of them, smother them in inks, Cover them in powders.. Its great. One of my favourite bits.

Too each his own.

Not online!!! has made a good point in to each his own -
You will get lots of advice, some of it conflicting. Look on them as tools to be used. some you will use allot, some rarely, some it is good to know of them even if you never use them.

Each person will describe their favorite tools, but try a few and find what suits you best. Over time what you use will probably shift, but all are useful in the right place

Kale wrote:
Not online!!! has made a good point in to each his own -
You will get lots of advice, some of it conflicting. Look on them as tools to be used. some you will use allot, some rarely, some it is good to know of them even if you never use them.

Each person will describe their favorite tools, but try a few and find what suits you best. Over time what you use will probably shift, but all are useful in the right place

Also don't be afraid to ask around.
Some of us have Blogs, which you often can see their forte.

See a kitbash you like? Ask for the parts of it. How it was built, exchange ideas ask for ideas, etc.
Paintstyle /effect? Ask for it. Watch for online tutorials etc.


Etc.
In a way it's a all you can eat Buffet, the real strategy is now to secure the knowledge of what you want.

Thank you all for answers!

Regarding contrasting and additional colors - I am limited by the amount of paints that I own right now, I have 2 reds, orange, yellow, silver, black, white and an earthshade wash so I couldn't really do anything like this.
Regarding basing - I'd love to base them nicely but I also don't have any materials for the bases neither the glue.

I think I will try to follow your tips and try to base them on some kind of green grass mixed with grey pebbles if I'm able to do that. That should fix the contrasting and monothematicity of colors.

Sadly I will have time to work on the next mini in at the earliest in a few days.

All i have to say is this - You are very very good at painting considering this is your first mini ever. Keep it up!

 Stormatious wrote:
All i have to say is this - You are very very good at painting considering this is your first mini ever. Keep it up!

Indeed, you might dislike building right now, but painting you do very good!

God my first orkz were terrible though
They would be a shamefur diapray.

 Argive wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Maybe work on some layering instead of drybrushing. It will improve your highlighting. You need some contrast on there too as at the moment they're very red/orange. Your complimentary colours would be green or blue. Maybe do hie tongue green or something. Alternatively you could give him a base heavily dominated by greens.

Maybe purple tongue would also work.

Purple is still so close to the warm side of the spectrum. It is after all a combination of red and blue. The direct compliment is green. Blue will also be a cool color and semi adjacent from the green. You already have some yellow in there so with blue you will be doing a split complimentary/triadic scheme. I second the green heavy base. Doesn't have to be bright green mind you. And since your reds are already so vibrant I would actually recommend a muted green to make the vibrancy pop even more. Look up "dead winter grass" for your static grass. Make sure at least half of any given base has that on it and I think you will be doing great.

Yeah purple isn't really complimentary. You want something closer to or on the opposite side of the colour wheel.

Indeed as a rule of thumb the most part any cool colours normally compliment reds as per "the colour wheel" @ Avendorth Good idea to have one printed by your paint area as a reference and do a bit of research into it.

Most shades of Blue,green and things in between could/should work.

Its not a strict science though. Different people have different tastes when it comes to art and you may find what works for you will not work for others and that's ok so experiment away.

I seen some green tongued ones and think they are too jarring. I actually like the purple GW uses on their blood letters... Just sayin...

Yeah the purple would look good against the red IMO like Argive says.

I think the difference between GWs and the OPs is the amount of yellow. With the OPs larger amount of yellow I still think a Blue tongue for a tetriary color scheme is a better move. But as you say, to each their own..

FWIW, I did my first bases with PVA glue from a dollar-store and some dirt I stole from a park.

Something simple is a medium brown base, allow to try.

Thin layer of slightly watered glue, then cover with sand. Turn sideways to dump off excess. Allow to dry.

Wash the sand with Agrax Earthshade, allow to dry. Apply sealer to model.

Dab some glue splotches around the base, sprinkle static grass / flock on the base, shake off excess. Looks good on grass tables, desert tables, “highland” tables. Doesn’t look super out of place in “long ruined” cities, where some vegetation has started growing back.

Looks “best” on wasteland boards.