New to Painting Black Powder Miniatures

[George]

Hello,

Yesterday, I got my first box of Black Powder Miniatures: Cavalry of the Sun King. I’m impressed. They are gorgeous! I haven’t painted miniatures since I was in school and then they weren’t models. They were 15mm lead figures.

Anyways, I saw a video that didn’t recommend painting miniatures on the sprue. So, I clipped of the pieces I wanted, cleaned them up with a razor knife, assembled them. then primed them yesterday. I started to paint the cavalry and I’m thinking I made a lot of mistakes:

Mistake 1: It may not be good to paint the figures on the sprue but it isn’t so good painting them all assembled either. I’m thinking tomorrow that I may have to disassemble, paint the individual parts, and reassemble. Lesson: clip the parts I want first, prime them, then paint them, finally, glue the parts together with paint completed.

The only exception I’m thinking here is the heads and torsos. Those heads are tiny so it is probably best to paint them attached.

Mistake 2: Choosing paints: I got me a nice acrylic brown to use on my horses. However, it is very shiny. I rather it would be flat. Is there a way to dull a shiny paint job on a miniature.

Any advice you can give me going ahead would be appreciated.

[Koin-Koin]

Hi,

I’m not a very skilled painter but here is a few things I can share with you:

– Sprues: priming on sprue save time but you still need to adjust a few things once pieces are cut from the sprues. Being the best option or the worst (or something in between) really depends on the kind of models. Don’t forget that you also may have to spend time to protect part that you don’t want paint on it to ensure proper gluing.

– painting fully assemble or piece by piece: sometime the model itself told you what is the best option as bigger model are easier to deal with piece by piece but for standard soldier I prefer painting it fully assembled as I won’t have to struggle with the glue vs paint problem when assembling painted parts.

– shiny/flat paints: to me it’s not an issue as I varnish all my minis anyway so I’ll get an overall mat varnish spray once finished for protection and if some parts require a glossy finish then I’ll brush a gloss varnish on it. Also (it may not be a concern for Black Powder but it is for other era) when using decals you should put a gloss varnish before the decals then re-varnish once they’re set so the flat/shiny nature of a paint is definitely not an issue.

On a more general note here is the two things I try to follow (but still struggle with it):

– learn to thin your paint to the proper consistency

– “let it dry” (you can sing it with Frozen’s theme in your head).

I would also suggest to check the BP sub-forum for more specific advice.

 

Cheers

[invisible officer]

I did that set long ago, before Warlord took it over. In Imperial Kürisser style.  The number of options is impressive.  But the horses a bit stiff in poses. I tried to give them a bit more Action.

 

I use to assemble all miniatures before painting. I do single miniature basing so handling is easy.  I use plastic glue, the melting of surface gives a better hold than the super glue.

 

Painting for decades now  I use many different colors. For organic living materials (like horses and faces) I prefer Artist oil colors.  And for wooden gun stocks  too.    For cloth I use acryllic.   Metal….. Metalics. Enamel or Artist powder .

Shining colors can get a dull finish by using matt clear coat. Brushed or can spray.

Naturally the metal parts should not be sprayed dull. ;_9

 

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[George]

Thank you Koin-Koin and Invisible Officer 🙂

[Author]

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