Federation Commander

There have been several posts in the forums recently from newcomers, asking basic questions about how to produce nice looking miniatures...

Those have been answered, so I'll not rehash them here.

I was thinking; however, that perhaps we could start a list of simple tips (and by that, I mean things anyone can use, not advanced techniques that are used by the "professional" caliber painters that do this for a living), that...

1) might increase the enjoyment of someone painting their first (or 101st for that matter) miniature.
2) might improve the quality of that 1st (or 101st) miniature to the point where they say, "Hey! That was fun and easy. I'm going to paint some more."
and 3) just might teach us "old-timers" a thing or two.

I'll start it off:

This tip was given to me by an experienced WWII / Micro Armor painter, Stewart McLauglin.

He always carried his paint bottles in an open topped tool tray and I noticed one day that there was paint on the lids of each bottle. Being the nosy... errr... inquisitive guy I am; I asked about it.

Stewart explained that every time he opened a new paint bottle, he dabbed a bit ofthe paint on the lid. This made it easier for him to find the color he was looking for when it was time for the next color.
Rather than randomly pick up bottles until he found the right color, he just looked at the top - and presto, there's French Army Blue on he first try.

Since then, I have done the same thing. I now have about 150 different bottles of paint, but I can find the exact color I need on the first try... every time.