Need advice on getting into mini painting

Floor polish as a chemical...when...it's...made...of...acryl...base...just.like.Citadel.

I just killed myself, dug myself out of my grave, and laughed out loud at this absurdity

Hey, I didn't know that was what floor polish is...I've never used it in my life. I just assumed it was a heinous poison! So is it pretty much the same as, say, a bottle of Vallejo gloss varnish then?

All paints are chemicals, I get that...most acrylics are non-toxic. My point is don't put brake fluid on your miniatures.

Stripping is awful. When I stupidly primed my Lost Patrol figures on the most humid day of the summer, I had to strip them. I used the Simple Green method, and it worked pretty good...I just had to let them soak for DAYS and scrub them occasionally with a toothbrush. About 90% of the paint came off, the rest got painted over.

Here's an example of how your perception changes on mistakes/screwing up. My Sol Gorax (Dreadnaught) from Betrayal at Calth was previously what I would call totally fucked up. In the early days of my miniatures rejuvenation, I thought I'd spray it with Army Painter Dragon Red primer and then just Nuln Oil it to start with. But it looked like crap! So I kind of hid the mini away so I wouldn't have to see it unless I was playing the game, where the most important thing was that it was red to match the other Word Bearers. I took it out today and thought "huh, let me clean it up a bit" so with a little work it's looking OK. But I don't feel like I've destroyed a $50 miniature, it just needs some help to get to tabletop quality and now I have the skill to do it.

I just looked at Doc's DIscount Game Store, he is selling that Citadel Build and Paint set for $16.99 with free shipping and those Space Marines/Stormcast Eternals sets are $25, free shipping. I think that any of those sets would get you going- they even include brush primer. If you don't want to do those figures, that Build and Paint set is a _steal_- it has a good set of base color paints, some Agrellan Earth (texture paint), I believe two shades (Agrax and Nuln), a brush, side cutters, and glue. It would actually be worth getting one of those sets and then also the Build and Paint kit.

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I've used Future floor polish through an airbrush for a very smooth gloss coat on my plastic car models. It self levels well.

I don't strip minis. Simply a hassle I won't deal with anymore and will pass on a purchase or trade that would require me to do it.

I almost prefer stripping badly painted models to starting with new ones. New miniatures are full of potential that I am going to waste, whereas whatever I do to an old one is still going to be a huge improvement. Seriously, what did this poor ogre ever do to deserve this kind of paint job?

Ha ha! That is really bad!

I used to have this Warmachine player at my store, god bless him, that would prime his stuff black and then use a combination of craft paint and nail polish on them. And then he would pile them in a tackle box. The figures were all chipped to hell, and his idea of basecoating about 20 percent of the surface.

In Miami Dolphins colors.

I should ding up some old Blood Bowl minis I painted with Testors enamels. So bad.

Michael Barnes wrote: I just looked at Doc's DIscount Game Store, he is selling that Citadel Build and Paint set for $16.99 with free shipping and those Space Marines/Stormcast Eternals sets are $25, free shipping. I think that any of those sets would get you going- they even include brush primer. If you don't want to do those figures, that Build and Paint set is a _steal_- it has a good set of base color paints, some Agrellan Earth (texture paint), I believe two shades (Agrax and Nuln), a brush, side cutters, and glue. It would actually be worth getting one of those sets and then also the Build and Paint kit.

The set I got with the literally dried out and still-sealed paint pots came from Doc's. At this point I'd ask how long those have been in stock and whether they have any air conditioning in their warehouse before making an order.

Thanks to everyone for their responses, I was expecting a lot of differing opinions, but not necessarily in the *quantity* here. I haven't had time until now to sit down and really digest this. I've got a lot of good ideas from this and this gives me somewhere to jump off from.

Just to clarify my goals/expectations: I'm not looking to reach any level approaching a professional here. Honestly, if they end up looking about as good as some of the pre-painted minis I've gotten in board games (like Tokaido or SC:AM, though NOT Mage Knight) I'd be pretty happy. My perfectionism will be a challenge, but that's an area of growth for me to work on. As Vlad and RobertB have both said here, even a passable paint job will still look amazing on the table...though I will know the flaws...

Also, I really am focused primarily on the shit minis in board games, not proper miniatures like GW. I may end up with some GW models if I decide to pick up Silver Tower, but I'm not really into the GW business model (and I already have a copy of Space Hulk 3ed painted by our own Mr. White courtesy of eBay). But yeah, I get that the models are generally "muddy" at best. As I stated in my original post, I'm working my way up to Cthulhu Wars. I get that they are likely easier and more fun to paint than what I'll likely start with, but I'm not going to risk messing them up. But games like FoD, Rebellion, FS, BSG, etc. are the ones I'll likely be tackling once I get some practice elsewhere. Adrenaline actually has pretty decent (and big) minis, that might be up first (and I think I saw a painting guide for it somewhere). It is funny that, while I knew GW minis were far superior to board game minis, I never equated that with "easier to paint." If there's anything that might drive me to look into more GW stuff, it would be that.

On quality/price of equipment, I don't want to blow money on "the best" if I'm not actually going to be able to take advantage of it. By the same token, I don't want to go cheap and get frustrated with my equipment holding me back. If I decide I hate it later, maybe one of you guys will get a care package...

I'll probably go middle of the road and look at Army Painter/Citadel brushes and Citadel/Vallejo paints. Seriously considering one of the Citadel starter packs with some extra stuff to fill in the color/brush gaps (my wife loves to bargain hunt, so I leave some of that up to her). Black brush-on primer for sure, especially since I'm looking at cheap plastic minis...I've seen plenty of threads over on TOS about sticky minis or bubbling. I've got some Simple-Green somewhere in the house, so I'll start with that and see if I need something more potent in the future. Shouldn't need to worry about cutters or knives for the moment. I'll go find a better bulb for the desk lamp. I don't know what I'll do for basing. It's not something I find exciting so I'll probably skip it to start and then maybe go back and do it later.

One more question: what do people use for gap filler? Some of my CW models have some significant gaps I'd want to fill before painting.

Thanks again for everyone's replies.

TBH, I usually don't bother with gaps. If it's cheap minis, not worth the hassle. If it's expensive (GW) minis, then there will be minimal gaps. You can search ebay for modelling putty etc. They're not much cheaper than the expensive variant.

For brush: www.thewarstore.com/product71159.html
Less than $15. Get additional of the regiment brushes.

For primer: www.thewarstore.com/product67987.html
Brushable (all my current minis are using this, brushed on), and when you bump into an airbrush, you can use it too!

For stripping minis: Dettol. Full strength dettol. I've stripped cheap & expensive plastic with this one. After soaking them in dettol in one day, go ahead with the brush, but DO NOT wash them with water. If you need to rinse them, dunk them back in your Dettol bucket. Once you get almost all of the paint gone, then you clean them up with water. Dettol+paint+water create an uncleanable gunk. And use rubber gloves!

I use army painter bottled paint because they are cheap, I like the bottle and also the color. And their matt varnish (anti-shine) is damn good. I even have a list of around 25 colors you need to paint anything, as long as you don't look for realism.

But some of GW's base paint and technicals are indispensable. So I use GW base paint for the main color of my space marines, and also the basing textures.

Do not put sand on your board game minis.

In fact, do not put grass, tufts, etc. Just paint them in black or grey or something.

EDIT:
There, 25 bottles including a wash and a matt varnish. I opt for a lot of browns since you'll be painting cloak, belts, boots, bows, etc...

My contribution to the conversation would be to not be disheartened if half way through painting your miniature it looks a bit ropey as for even the best miniature painters, at some point during the process their model is going to look like arse. Push on and finish it off!

FWIW, the best thing to use for stripping isn't a chemical.

Call local machine shops and ask if they have a bead blaster you can use or rent time on. It's simple, precise, and FAST

So this may be a dead topic now, but I thought I'd post some results from the 'craft paint' side of mini painting. Bear in mind the Scorpion is painted with thinned Liquitex acrylics.
These were painted 8-10 years ago and I do not practice proper care and storing of my minis.

Jake, Those look good. How's your painting improved? Did you move on to a miniature paint set after starting with craft paint? I'd like to see a recent examples.

Here a few questions that I have after reading through the thread. Great advice here.

First, there's some positive and negative comments here about the Army Painter paints. What's actually wrong with them? I've seen some positive reviews on the Net and their Mega Paint Set II (with brushes and Spray Matte Varnish) looks like a great bargain starter set at or around $88. They now also have a Mega Paint Set III.

Second, I want to make a flesh wash like, for example, the Citadel Reikland Fleshshade. I'm pretty sure that I can mix it up from a Pledge Magic Wash. I've done it for a black wash, a brown wash, and other colors, but, I'm not sure of the colors for a flesh wash. Is it red, brown, and orange? A dash of purple? I don't know. Any thoughts?