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Hey all

I like models with crisp details, hard edges where appropriate and good recesses.

Problem is I find a lot of the models I currently have, don't fit that description. Especially if it's a model I've stripped, i.e. it was moulded in the 90s.

GW's metal models of the time are often a prime example of this, I'm sure their 'eavy metal team of the time always received the best casts possible...

How do you deal with such soft details and lack of definition to make a model look good, even if it's not a particularly good casting?

Thanks in advance.

Do the best I can with painting the details on, usually using very light, sometimes pure white highlights. It really depends on the model.

I think it really depends on what details - if it's the whole model like some of the old 2nd ed metals it's really just up to good painting and highlighting to sort of add in the sharp edges that should be there.

If it's just some parts it could something that might be covered or greenstuffed. For example if there's bad detailing where a leg joins a hip I might add a loincloth, or pouches and other gear to cover it.

I might just lay down some greenstuff and have sculpt in some detail myself. I've had to do this with some non-GW minis where shallow detailing made the fingers on a hand look like just a blob.

Some soft details are best left as-is and simply exaggerated with painting. I've occasionally given a fine white drybrush to a model that I had primed black to help. Not really pre-shading, as for carefully airbrushed models - more of a road map of where to paint what, as weak shapes can get easily lost when they're a single color. Other times, you just have to try to clearly visualize what should be, not what is actually there.

When I want to physically sharpen things up, I usually go subtractive before I go additive, in terms of re-sculpting. Sometimes, just a few swipes with a fine file (I prefer single-cut steel files to diamond abrasives) or sanding sticks on a rounded edge will sharpen it up nicely, without significantly changing the overall profile. Likewise with inside corners that have a bit of a rounded fill, instead of a crisp inside corner. For finer work, I've even been known to break out a graver/burin (same thing, name depends on where you're from). If it's sharp and polished, hand pressure alone makes quick work of white metal, let alone plastic. Soft materials tend to benefit from a slightly wider heel and shallower face, when shaping your cutting geometry. For plastics, even a pin/needle or the back side of a pointed blade can work as a makeshift scribing tool.

Scribing, engraving, or even cutting a small notch with a blade gives enough separation to give a sense of fingers on a hand that used to look like a mitten, instead. Painting individual fingers on a hand-like blob can work just as well, from a distance, but sometimes the effort in painting is greater than physical modifications. Other times, the reverse is true. It really depends on the part/model, as well as where your skill and tool sets lean. For line troops, I might choose to cut in fingers quickly and crudely, then basecoat and slap on a wash. On a character model, I might choose to try and highlight where knuckles should be, but aren't. On a display piece, I might try and add missing detail with putty or even cut away and completely re-sculpt sections of the hand. Horses for courses, more than one way to skin a cat, YMMV, and all that...