Methodology expanded...
Shields removed. I spot glue these onto end of lengths of wire. Blue-tack the group to a board and spray with Halfords white car spray undercoat. Ideally the shield faces are horizontal facing up so no runs, etc.
On underside of figure base I use greenstuff or something to fix on a 5mm magnet. The figures are then put on 'their own' movement trays. Basically I have made 2mm thick bases from hardboard with the top side covered in sticky back metal stuff. The figure boxes I use will have 3 x 5 models slot nicely in on these bases and the magnets mean nothing moves around and all travel safely.
Then I do the base, 50/50 ish PVA glue and water, and give the base a swirl in some dry sharp sand.
Once the base is dry and the model itself is cleaned up too, it all gets undercoat sprayed as above halfords white undercoat spray.
Paints. I am using Reeves Acrylic Paint tubes. I bought a box of 18-20 colours for £11 and they last for years.
For yellow I used 'Medium yellow'
For green 'Light Green'.
For Flesh 'Flesh Tone'
For brown bits - boots, 'Burnt Umber'
For the base 'Paynes Grey'
Then for shafts on halberds I used GW Unbleached Bone
Armour is GW Boltgun Metal
The main thing is I use a lot of water to make all of the above washes. Exactly as Gaz says, the pigments in the paints soak into and 'stain' the white undercoat, as they are watery, they pool in the cracks and leave the tops just lightly stained. So by default this creates a shade, mid and light tone.
To be honest I don't think it matters what make paint you use, it's trial and error to find paints that 'take water' so you can get a decent wash that 'flows'. You need this when doing flat areas like my shields, the green didn't work very well and I had to put about three coats on, so will experiment with GW Goblin Green next lot.
The GW Boltgun Metal seems to work a treat. When you see the figures you can see some where I did the wash of this and the first ones where I didn't water down very much. You can decide what works for you.
The only real skill in this is what you learn from the age of 2 = colouring inside the lines! If you do get paint in the wrong place then not to worry, touch over with some GW Skull white and you can patch up with stronger mix of original pigment. BTW I am using a size 1 and 2 brush for this work, before I was using 000...
Once it's all dry you brush the quickshade on. I'm using a size 4-6 brush. Not plastering it on too liberally, just needs a light coating then it pools.
With these I just left them at that, but some areas like lower legs are quite brown and on next lot I would clean the brush and remove the dip from the areas that don't need covering. Just a case of learning as you go.
The bases, sharp sand sprayed white, are washed with very watery paynes grey, these get the quickshade treatment too.
Then I painted whole lot with Acrylic matt varnish.
I painted the edge of my made to measure moevement trays in the same way.
RED - I havn't done yet. But this again is choice of paint. It's really all down to the staining strength of the pigments used. In my reeves paints I have two reds one is a scarlet and the other a crimson and historically they worked well, I havn't tried them with the dip yet. But I will do. One Stirland unit is known for its red uniform (sorry can't remember the details without my book!)
I did used to do a bit of painting and you can get a 'medium' that you add to some paints to make them 'flow' so I reckon anything is possible.
As Stu says I am using the 'Strong Tone' = Dark Brown.
I would like to give the lighter tone a try for interest, but it's quite pricey just for curiosity!
More so is interest in the 'dark Tone' = Black pigment. I'd like to see this on the armour and compare to how the brown looks. But I am currently happy as is. (Seems to me you could easily paint two different tones onto different areas of the model. As long as it's near enough it should work fine.)
What I would say on this armour 'colour' is it's not really a metallic finish anymore. The metallic bits of silver in the pigment are still there but it's all dulled down. Of course it has a matt varnish over the top too. But I like it, I actually prefer it becuase I thing the full on metalics are too much.
Basically all credit goes to Andy and Stu, as I just followed their guidance and instructions. I still need to play.
Painting 10 figures at a time is about the extent of my patience. I am aiming to get into a system where I have 10 bases drying, 10 with undercoat drying, 10 being washed, 10 being shaded, 10 being varnished. That's 5 sets of figures going through the mill and means every painting night sees 10 figures finished (give or take)... If I get 20-30 painted a week over 3-4 nights I'll be well chuffed.
By the way, to get straight lines on the shields I pressed a scalpel blade on the shield where I wanted the lines drawn. This makes a score in the plastic/metal and is a natural place for the brush and paint to stop. It also creates a small channel for the shade to pool in to excentuate the line.
Shields removed. I spot glue these onto end of lengths of wire. Blue-tack the group to a board and spray with Halfords white car spray undercoat. Ideally the shield faces are horizontal facing up so no runs, etc.
On underside of figure base I use greenstuff or something to fix on a 5mm magnet. The figures are then put on 'their own' movement trays. Basically I have made 2mm thick bases from hardboard with the top side covered in sticky back metal stuff. The figure boxes I use will have 3 x 5 models slot nicely in on these bases and the magnets mean nothing moves around and all travel safely.
Then I do the base, 50/50 ish PVA glue and water, and give the base a swirl in some dry sharp sand.
Once the base is dry and the model itself is cleaned up too, it all gets undercoat sprayed as above halfords white undercoat spray.
Paints. I am using Reeves Acrylic Paint tubes. I bought a box of 18-20 colours for £11 and they last for years.
For yellow I used 'Medium yellow'
For green 'Light Green'.
For Flesh 'Flesh Tone'
For brown bits - boots, 'Burnt Umber'
For the base 'Paynes Grey'
Then for shafts on halberds I used GW Unbleached Bone
Armour is GW Boltgun Metal
The main thing is I use a lot of water to make all of the above washes. Exactly as Gaz says, the pigments in the paints soak into and 'stain' the white undercoat, as they are watery, they pool in the cracks and leave the tops just lightly stained. So by default this creates a shade, mid and light tone.
To be honest I don't think it matters what make paint you use, it's trial and error to find paints that 'take water' so you can get a decent wash that 'flows'. You need this when doing flat areas like my shields, the green didn't work very well and I had to put about three coats on, so will experiment with GW Goblin Green next lot.
The GW Boltgun Metal seems to work a treat. When you see the figures you can see some where I did the wash of this and the first ones where I didn't water down very much. You can decide what works for you.
The only real skill in this is what you learn from the age of 2 = colouring inside the lines! If you do get paint in the wrong place then not to worry, touch over with some GW Skull white and you can patch up with stronger mix of original pigment. BTW I am using a size 1 and 2 brush for this work, before I was using 000...
Once it's all dry you brush the quickshade on. I'm using a size 4-6 brush. Not plastering it on too liberally, just needs a light coating then it pools.
With these I just left them at that, but some areas like lower legs are quite brown and on next lot I would clean the brush and remove the dip from the areas that don't need covering. Just a case of learning as you go.
The bases, sharp sand sprayed white, are washed with very watery paynes grey, these get the quickshade treatment too.
Then I painted whole lot with Acrylic matt varnish.
I painted the edge of my made to measure moevement trays in the same way.
RED - I havn't done yet. But this again is choice of paint. It's really all down to the staining strength of the pigments used. In my reeves paints I have two reds one is a scarlet and the other a crimson and historically they worked well, I havn't tried them with the dip yet. But I will do. One Stirland unit is known for its red uniform (sorry can't remember the details without my book!)
I did used to do a bit of painting and you can get a 'medium' that you add to some paints to make them 'flow' so I reckon anything is possible.
As Stu says I am using the 'Strong Tone' = Dark Brown.
I would like to give the lighter tone a try for interest, but it's quite pricey just for curiosity!
More so is interest in the 'dark Tone' = Black pigment. I'd like to see this on the armour and compare to how the brown looks. But I am currently happy as is. (Seems to me you could easily paint two different tones onto different areas of the model. As long as it's near enough it should work fine.)
What I would say on this armour 'colour' is it's not really a metallic finish anymore. The metallic bits of silver in the pigment are still there but it's all dulled down. Of course it has a matt varnish over the top too. But I like it, I actually prefer it becuase I thing the full on metalics are too much.
Basically all credit goes to Andy and Stu, as I just followed their guidance and instructions. I still need to play.
Painting 10 figures at a time is about the extent of my patience. I am aiming to get into a system where I have 10 bases drying, 10 with undercoat drying, 10 being washed, 10 being shaded, 10 being varnished. That's 5 sets of figures going through the mill and means every painting night sees 10 figures finished (give or take)... If I get 20-30 painted a week over 3-4 nights I'll be well chuffed.
By the way, to get straight lines on the shields I pressed a scalpel blade on the shield where I wanted the lines drawn. This makes a score in the plastic/metal and is a natural place for the brush and paint to stop. It also creates a small channel for the shade to pool in to excentuate the line.
History is written by the victors - Sir Winston Churchill