This post will be divided into two parts because the topic is quite broad, and I don’t want to overwhelm you.
In this part, I will discuss both the essential and less necessary tools to start your adventure with miniature painting.
In the second part, I will introduce basic painting techniques that will help you easily dive into this world.
Cutting Out the Miniature
Before we start painting or even assembling the miniature, we first need to cut it out from the sprue and clean all the parts from moldlines. Doing this step properly will definitely make painting easier later on.
After all, it’s much easier to paint a well-prepared and assembled miniature.
Clippers
For cutting out parts, clippers like these work best. It doesn’t have to be this exact model, although this RedGrass model is simply amazing. You just need clippers with a sharp tip, which will make it much easier to reach the elements on the sprue.
I used regular clippers that came with my 3D printer kit for years, so you can manage with anything, but a good tool can really improve the comfort of your work.
Now, about how to cut—there’s minimal knowledge required, and I mean really minimal. Just make sure not to place the clippers directly against the part, but a little further away. Cutting too close to the part might stretch and damage the plastic during the cut, so place the clippers a bit further away, and remove the excess plastic with a knife, which I’ll explain later.
Knife
To remove excess plastic from the parts and to clean up moldlines, we’ll use a knife. It’s best to use one with a sharp, pointed blade.
Never use anything dull—paradoxically, you’re more likely to injure yourself with a dull knife than with a sharp one. To cut something with a dull knife, you need to apply much more force, which increases the risk of the blade slipping and causing an accident. A sharp knife gives you much more control and makes the work significantly easier.
Most people use knives that go by various names—Exacto knife, hobby knife, scalpel—these are knives with replaceable blades at the tip. However, I use something else that I discovered completely by accident.
I use an Olfa knife with a 30-degree blade. This knife works wonders for me. It’s very sharp, easy to retract to avoid injury, has a pointed tip, and when the blade gets dull, you just snap off a segment and keep going without interrupting your work.
Continuing with cutting:
You simply need to carefully trim away the excess plastic along the flat surface of the part. That’s it.
But the knife will also come in handy for another task—removing moldlines. These are the thin lines on parts, along the sprue plane, formed when a small amount of plastic leaks between the two halves of the mold. We need to remove these.
In this case, gently scrape along the moldline with the back of the blade until it’s removed.
Be careful while doing this, so you don’t hurt yourself or damage the model.
Assembling the Model
Now that you know how to properly cut and clean the parts, it’s time to move on and assemble your model.
It’s best to cut and assemble the parts according to the instructions in the kit right away. This will make the process much easier, and you won’t have to search for the right parts on the table if you cut everything out at once.
Let’s start with…
Glue
We have two main options here:
- Plastic glue
- Cyanoacrylate glue
Other types of glue are usually not used, and the glue you need will depend on the manufacturer of the models you’re assembling. If you’re into something like Warhammer, most models from Games Workshop are made of plastic, for which plastic glue is suitable. It slightly melts both parts that are being glued together and chemically bonds them. Just be careful not to spill too much onto nearby parts, as you could damage the details.
If you are working with resin or other materials that plastic glue won’t bond, you’ll need cyanoacrylate glue, the same kind used in superglue.
To find out if a particular model is suitable for plastic glue, it’s best to search online.
Before you start gluing, always dry-fit the parts to make sure they fit properly.
There’s no big trick here—just apply the glue to one side of the piece, press the parts together, and you’re done!
One additional use for plastic glue is in removing moldlines from hard-to-reach or delicate areas. Simply cover them with a small layer of glue, and the moldlines will blend into the rest of the model.
My favorite plastic glue is Tamiya Plastic Cement Extra Thin. As for cyanoacrylate glue, I don’t have a preference, as they all work similarly.
Primer
Once the miniature is assembled, we need to cover it with primer to increase the paint’s adhesion to the surface. Technically, this is already part of the painting process, but I treat it as preparation.
For beginners, spray primer is the best option. I’ve used primers from Games Workshop and Vallejo. I prefer the Vallejo primers, but the ones from GW are also good. You should apply it according to the manufacturer’s instructions—spray it from about 30 cm away from the miniature, ideally in conditions that are not too dry or too humid. Avoid applying too much, or cracks may appear on the primer, or you could lose some of the fine details on the miniature.
Brushes
Now we move on to strictly purchases, as I’ll explain how to use them in the next part.
For painting, you will, of course, need brushes. I recommend those from Vallejo as they offer very good quality relative to their price.
As for sizes, I always keep sizes 0, 1, and 5/0 on hand, along with one large synthetic brush. It would also be useful to have a large round brush with a flat tip for dry brushing, but those first three should be more than enough to get you started—you could even skip the size 0.
Summary
A few brushes, primer, a knife, clippers, glue, and of course, a few paints (which ones depend on what you want to paint). Avoid buying sets at the beginning—if you want to paint something like a uniform army for Warhammer, just buy the necessary paints individually.
In the next part, I will discuss basic painting techniques that will help you start your journey.
