Preparing A Miniature

Preparing for War or how to prepare your miniatures for painting So you’ve got all your new miniatures in front of you and you’re ready to rip them out of the packet and start putting them together. But you’re not sure what to do! Well read on and I’ll take you through it step by step.

Materials and Equipment These are the Materials and Equipment I use to prepare my miniatures for painting: • Hobby knife with #1 blade. • Hobby files (small rat-tail, flat, round and triangular files). • Dishwashing liquid or soap and warm water. • Spray primer, or airbrush and thinned paint.

Clean Up the Miniature Right, we have our miniatures out of the packet and the first thing to do is to clean up the miniature pieces one by one. First, use a hobby knife and/or hobby files, to clean up any mould marks and flash on the figure as much as possible. There are two things to look for when cleaning up a metal miniature:

One: Flashing Flashing is the large thin areas of metal that often form between the arm spaces or in-between the legs of a miniature. But often they can be long stringy bits that hang off the miniature (venting). It is very easy to remove this flashing either with a fine file or a sharp knife.

Two: Mould lines Mould lines are formed where the two sections of the mould join together and is essentially a seam line that is formed from the pressure of the metal being forced into the mould. Once again, like flashing, mould lines are very easy to remove with a sharp knife or a file.

Wash the Figure Now that we’ve cleaned up the mould marks, wash the miniature to remove any residual mould-release agent and skin oils from the previous stage. You can often get away with skipping this washing stage, but it’s easy, and you can never tell by inspection whether the figure needs to be washed, so it’s best to always wash it. I’ve found the best method is to use a simple mixture of warm soapy water.  Give the miniatures a scrub with a soft toothbrush (only used for this job), after you have cleaned the miniatures lay the pieces out to dry on a piece of paper towel. Once the pieces are dry you are ready for the next stage. Assemble the miniature The next step is to assemble the miniature. There are two types of glue that work well for resin and metal miniatures, a two-part epoxy glue and superglue. The two-part epoxy is quite thick once mixed and is ideal for the heavy-duty tasks such as tracks and wheels.

Smaller parts such as hatches and gun barrels can be glued using superglue. Because of the time two-part epoxy takes to try I prefer to use superglue, as it’s easy to work with and sets very fast. (Note: keep it away from your fingers) For the gluing of smaller pieces I recommend using tweezers to hold the smaller parts whilst the glue dries; this prevents you from getting “stuck” to the miniature.

Priming the figure ready for painting The final stage before painting your miniatures is to apply some sort of primer to them. Spray primer works well, and is also quick. Don’t apply the primer too thick. You don’t want to obscure any details. Using several thin coats of primer works better than 1 thick coat. I suggest using a black primer for flames of war miniatures as its easy to leave the black in the gaps when your painting to help show off the detail. Always take care to use spray paint in a well-ventilated area, as the fumes can be harmful.

You can also prime your miniature by hand using black paint. Again you have to be careful not to apply to much paint or you will fill in the fine detail of your miniature. Always add a small amount of water to the paint before you start painting the miniature, as it will help thin the paint. ~ Mark.