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Painting models: how pointlessly persnickety are you?


JPjr

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So I’ve just spent about 15 minutes trying to paint the back thighs of an Ad Mech Skitarii Ranger, thighs that are almost impossible to get to or see thanks to its long flowing cloak and the base.

Literally you’d need to look at the model at a slightly off angle upside down and from about 2” away to even get a glimpse of those meaty stumps.

So, how much time, effort, energy and peace of mind do you waste on trying to make sure every part of a model is painted or are you eminently more sensible and just cover what can obviously be seen? 

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I've been getting less and less exacting on those, frankly, pointless little details.

I had an epiphany about three years ago where I was struggling to finish a unit in time for a match we had scheduled. I kept ****** up the tiniest little things and it just went back and forth. When my mates rang on the door I forced myself to put down the brush and not say anything about it and just put the stupid things on the table, even though I wasn't happy with them. Surprise surprise, no-one remarked on it at all and as I was sitting by the table at those magical 3 feet away from the miniatures I thought to myself "hey, they actually do look kinda nice".

On that day I learned how things actually worked.

And if there's any doubt, give it a black wash. Black hides all sins.

Edited by TMS
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I like to make sure that I am happy with things, but don't really care whether other people are.

I prefer to pick and undercoat colour which works for the model, so that if there are any inaccessible areas, they will at least be a colour that works, rather than just spray painted white, or the blank grey of the plastic.

Funny story, long ago, when I was first getting into the hobby, I only had a limited budget for paints (as most twelve year olds tend to find I'm sure). Every pot of paint you buy is less pocket money you can spend on models after all! So for a long while I didn't bother getting a pot of grey paint, as I figured I could carefully paint around areas which were supposed to be grey, and leave the plastic in its natural colour! It only somewhat worked, but it did the trick until I got a model of Gandalf and had to invest in a proper pot or two!

Basically its all down to the standard you choose, and no one should feel bad about doing what works for them, rather than whatever is fashionable, or accepted.

 

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Lol, I had to google that one: persnickity,  just to find out that I am indeed a hopelesly persnickety person when it comes to painting.

Fully aware of the silliness of it, and the time wasted. I mean if only I did a perfect display quality paintjob, but that isn't the case either

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1 hour ago, JPjr said:

So I’ve just spent about 15 minutes trying to paint the back thighs of an Ad Mech Skitarii Ranger, thighs that are almost impossible to get to or see thanks to its long flowing cloak and the base.

Literally you’d need to look at the model at a slightly off angle upside down and from about 2” away to even get a glimpse of those meaty stumps.

So, how much time, effort, energy and peace of mind do you waste on trying to make sure every part of a model is painted or are you eminently more sensible and just cover what can obviously be seen? 

Way too much but since a year I’m aware of it. But every project I finish (currently it’s my hunters) after it’s all done... they sit on the edge of the painting desk why I keep redoing stuff without improving the models. So getting better at it but still. Not every model is a hero kind of thing. 

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About a year ago I caught myself painting the underneath/inside of a Epic scale Rhino which I was then about to glue to a base. I realised I had been painting like this for such a long time I wasn't even noticing that the bits were hidden. So I've been trying to stop myself doing it and will often dry fit pieces repeatedly whilst painting now to make sure I don't need to paint certain parts.

  I have caught myself out on my Ironclad though, as I started painted all the hidden dials and details before my realisation and have to finished it the same way or I'll notice, which is one of the reasons it still on my desk and not finished even though I brought it when it came out. There are so damn many dials and buttons on the thing! One day I'll power through the last of it!

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The thing I always think to myself is that those tiny little bits might bother me right now but I’ll have forgotten about them in a few weeks and never notice them again. Nor will anyone else. Unless you’re going I for competitions, no one looks at your models as closely as yourself. 

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I don't paint areas I can't see easily. Generally I zenithal prime and then glaze my models, picking out relatively few details with a fine brush. The pre-shaded areas tend to blend into the deepest shadow colour with this technique, so hopefully any unpainted areas aren't hugely noticeable... I don't really notice them at least.

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I think I speak for everyone here when I say that its VITAL that you paint the consoles, screens, seats, and pilots inside every 40k vehicle even if you then glue the hatches closed and no one can ever see them.  If you don't paint them, you will know you didn't paint them, and Golden Daemon judges can taste that fear!

I also make sure to paint the back alley fight scene between Keith David and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper from They Live! onto every video screen of the vehicles of my Imperial Guard army.  That's actually a lie!   But I do paint old-timey video games like Pacman and Pong onto those screens.

Edited by Kamose
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2 hours ago, Kamose said:

 I do paint old-timey video games like Pacman and Pong onto those screens.

That's awesome, at least your toy soldiers will have fun while sitting in their cockpits between games!

Clearly you need to paint the pilots and controls, since they need to be done properly if they are going to do the piloting! I have a theory that the Ancient Egyptians were right about everyone needing Shabti dolls to serve them in the afterlife. Most modern people are going to be woefully ill prepared, but we wargamers will be quite well off! I wouldn't want to get to the hereafter and discover that I didn't have anyone available to fly the shiny grav tank in my garage because I'd skimped on painting the pilots!

I just hope that the life sized spiritual incarnations of my models will look like the things they represent, and not like badly painted models...

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1 hour ago, EccentricCircle said:

That's awesome, at least your toy soldiers will have fun while sitting in their cockpits between games!

Its my explanation for why they miss so often!  Its those damn video games!

 

1 hour ago, EccentricCircle said:

Clearly you need to paint the pilots and controls, since they need to be done properly if they are going to do the piloting! I have a theory that the Ancient Egyptians were right about everyone needing Shabti dolls to serve them in the afterlife.

I love that idea!  However, I'm not sure how I feel about having a Jabberslythe and half a dozen Carnifexes serving me in the afterlife...

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1 minute ago, Kamose said:

Its my explanation for why they miss so often!  Its those damn video games!

 

I love that idea!  However, I'm not sure how I feel about having a Jabberslythe and half a dozen Carnifexes serving me in the afterlife...

I'm going to set all of my horrible monsters to patrol the edges of my domain and eat intruders. The orcs and beastmen etc will occupy the same no mans land, and then I'll have standing armies of Elves and Dwarves etc to keep my citadel safe in the event they cause trouble.  I'll keep the undead and Necrons as a last reserve naturally. I figure that even somewhat horrible factions like Witch Elves and Chaos Dwarves would be of use, since they will have to do my bidding, even if their natural proclivities are not quite what I'd like. I'll also have plenty of Wizards for engaging conversation, and to play RPGs and Wargames with.

I could do with more minis of regular people though, to do the actual cooking and cleaning and such.

As you can tell i've thought this through in quite a bit of detail!

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4 hours ago, jkav86 said:

Way back when I started I was told in the store. "You can spend the rest of your life painting the backs of shields" and I figured it was pretty good advise, especially for someone only starting like I was

I've decided to read this as someone explaining how they ended up dedicating their life to becoming the world's number 1 'back of shield' painter.

 

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I don't really considering myself persnickity, but I'm definitely the kind of person to paint details people can't usually see. Why? Mainly because I don't think about it and just keep painting, but it's also a good place to practice new ideas since no one can see if you fudged things up.

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Ugh. I’m the worst. Thanks for triggering self-loathing!

:)

I normally wear glasses, but need to take them off to paint. I end up holding the model about 4” from my eyes, so I see EVERY little flaw. And I just cannot have that. How the hell can Trooper Jim shoot properly if one eye is bigger than the other, and slightly crossed!?!?

So, yeah.  Definitely persnickety here. That said, I love painting, have for over thirty years. It’s a “zen” thing for me, blocking out the world and trying to exert a level of complete control over a single model, that I rarely have in real life. It’s strangely calming. 

And I am improving, learning to “let go” and move on to the next model... but I still have a long ways to go. 

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15 hours ago, JPjr said:

So I’ve just spent about 15 minutes trying to paint the back thighs of an Ad Mech Skitarii Ranger, thighs that are almost impossible to get to or see thanks to its long flowing cloak and the base.

Literally you’d need to look at the model at a slightly off angle upside down and from about 2” away to even get a glimpse of those meaty stumps.

So, how much time, effort, energy and peace of mind do you waste on trying to make sure every part of a model is painted or are you eminently more sensible and just cover what can obviously be seen? 

I’m trying to get better about NOT doing this but I can’t help myself and paint every detail on every facet of the model. I’m getting a LITTLE bit better about it but it’s a tough one for me. 

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15 hours ago, JPjr said:

So I’ve just spent about 15 minutes trying to paint the back thighs of an Ad Mech Skitarii Ranger, thighs that are almost impossible to get to or see thanks to its long flowing cloak and the base.

Literally you’d need to look at the model at a slightly off angle upside down and from about 2” away to even get a glimpse of those meaty stumps.

So, how much time, effort, energy and peace of mind do you waste on trying to make sure every part of a model is painted or are you eminently more sensible and just cover what can obviously be seen? 

Use a weak superglue to put it on the base to paint. Then when you need to get to the underside, you can pull it off relatively easy.

Or start with a black primer to get everything and consider it shadowy and unseen (Writer's Note: I've heard many a contest painter mention that some judges will look for missed or shortcut details like that and use it as a reason to remove you from the running. When there are literally another 10 equally good looking models though, you gotta choose some reason, right?)

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