Federation Commander

Alright miniature painters,

I'm interested in jumping into the miniature aspect of Federation Commander, and I'm wondering what are some good miniature paints?

I used to be a Warhammer player, but there paints were rediculously expensive, and I'm sure there are equally good alternatives.

I've also never painted a starship before, and am wondering, how do I keep it interesting, and keep it looking good? I don't want to paint a whole fleet and have it look too busy and gaudy...

Most painters tend to mix and match from different lines.

My own personal favourite is Derivan MiNiS, which are excellent value for money IMO. Big bottles, low price. These are Australian, so it may be hard for you to find them, however. Go to Matisse Derivan's website for a list of stockists, if you're interested. At least one large US mail-order games store carries them.

Some people get good results with craft paints, like Ceramcoat, but I've never tried them.

Vallejo are reputedly the best, many expert painters swear by them.

Reaper Pro and Reaper Master Series (the master especially) have good reputations, but I personally haven't tried them. I tried Reaper's basic line years ago, and I found it tended to dry "chalky", but they've probably improved the product since then.

terryoc wrote:
Vallejo are reputedly the best, many expert painters swear by them.

.

I would agree with that

I suggest getting your brushes at the most evil place:

Wal-mart.

They have hight quality brush sets for very low $$. They also sell acrylic craft paints in a variety of colors for under $2 for a 1oz or 1.5oz bottle. I bought an 88 cent bottle of white just to try it but haven't had time to use it. As for primer: I've had bad luck w/ the Citadel brand and would suggest Tamiya or Flowquil primers. I use White, but some people prefer gray/black. Most of my pait is old Polly-S/Floquil pait that is 5+ yrs old and I haven't had to buy new for a while; I'm just getting back into miniature painting.

Starfury wrote:They have hight quality brush sets for very low $$.

Low price brushes are not high quality. Basic fact of life. You get what you pay for and Walmart does not sell high quality brushes.

They might be nice brushes but brushes aren't something you should cheap out on. Find an art supply store and get some decent brushes, buy some brush soap and take care of them

A good brush will last a long time if cared for and its better to spend a bit of cash on goods ones than have to replace the ones you got from Walmart every three months

They also sell acrylic craft paints in a variety of colors for under $2 for a 1oz or 1.5oz bottle.

Craft paints are good for terrain but I'd not use them on anything that has any detail on it. They tend to be thicker and the paint fills in the detail on the miniatures. Pick it up if you want to make you own planets from styrofoam balls need it to coat large area where there is not detail

Vallejo paints are nice. I have quite a few of them and they have some very good military colours in their range.

terryoc wrote:Reaper Pro and Reaper Master Series (the master especially) have good reputations, but I personally haven't tried them. I tried Reaper's basic line years ago, and I found it tended to dry "chalky", but they've probably improved the product since then.

What what I hear the Master Series are better paints than their basic lines. Different formulation and better to paint with.

GW paints are good as well as are the new line of paints from Privateer Press.

sinister wrote:

terryoc wrote:
Vallejo are reputedly the best, many expert painters swear by them.

.

I would agree with that

I'm all Vallejo for both my Fantasy and Historical armies. They are definitely worth it.

jmt

How expensive are they? Where can I find them online, or retail stateside?

I replied in detail by PM, but in general you can find Vallejo from any model, railroad, or game store. If not, you can certainly have them ordered.Vallejo makes many products - and two lines that would be of interest here:

• Model Color is their line for historical models; it has lots of flesh tones, earth tones, and army specific colorations (i.e. Luftwaffe Blue, Prussian Blue, etc).
• Game Color is their line for fantay and SF models; it has all those wonderful bold colors and matches pretty closely with Games Workshop paint line.

Vallejo comes as individual eye-dropper bottles, in 40-bottle theme packs, and in 100-bottle starter packs (one for each: Model Color and Game Color).

If you're only looking to paint FedCom ships, I'd go to the Vallejo web site (http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/) and find their color sample page.

jmt

Primer: I use Dupli-color Sandable Primer almost exclusively now. No muss - no fuss. Cheap, efficient, and good coverage - never had a bad can. The nozzle sprays the paint in a flat horizontal cone instead of the normal spray of other primers. Comes in White, Black, Grey, and (for us Kzinti lovers) Red-Oxide.

Paints: Mostly Vallejo, some GW (mainly for their inks)

Sealer: Testors Dull-Cote...expensive and used up quickly - but it simply rox!!!

Assembly - Zap-a-gap and Zip-kicker (super glue and accelerant) for small piece assembly. Everything else gets 2 part, 5-minute metal epoxy

Brushes - Windsor & Newton from Dick Blick or Michaels

I tend to use Rustoleum Clean Metal Primer (white) for priming.
For core spraypaint colors I tend to use Krylon Fusion or Testors Spray Enamels.

Brushes tend to be Testors as well. Glue is usually Testors superglue which is about as good as Zap a Gap cept without the gapfilly bits but half the price. (My quick gap fill trick is Sculpy smoothed down with superglue coated on it. Not as good as a solid green stuff gap fill, but its cheap and works in a pinch!)

Core paints are usually 1995 vintage hex flip top Citadel paints with some Vallejo Game Color for whatever Citadel I have run out of. (GW's later paints SUUUUUCK. They don't last at all regardless of what kind of container they switch to. I still have some original 95 bottles.)

For paint pens I have Testors enamel paint pens and a set of Gundam Markers from Japan. The latter has a GREAT dark metals pen and a nice panel inking pen best used on light colors. Excellent subtle effect and wipes off excess well especially on plastics.

Of course a thick and pin tip dual black Sharpie is part of my arsenal as well.

While not an expert, I am willing to chime in with my 2 Quatloos worth here.

Brushes: My big weakness. I only use three brushes (a #3, a #1, and a !/4" flat - for blending and fading); so I tend to splurge on those. I get them from from the local Micheal's or Hobby Lobby.

Primer: I've tried several brands and typically use Armory brand White Primer for most minis. Klingons and Gorn get primed with Wal-Mart brand grey primer. Orions and Tholians are done with Wal-Mart brand Flat Black primer, and my Kzinti are primed with Krylon brand Red-Okide primer.

Paints: Surprisingly enough, after 20+ years of painting everything from 'Mechs, the 40K and AD&D figures, and even spaceships and trying everything from Humbrol to Ral-Partha to Armory to Polly S to Vallejo to Floquil to Cheap stuff... I have found that I get the best results from either CeramCoat brand or Folk Art brand acrylics. They come in 100s of colors, thin to the proper consistency with distilled water, clean-up easily (and since I have an annoying habit of using my lips to reform the point on my brush... they taste the best !)

For an example, check out my work
http://www.gocities.com/scoutdad13

Anyone ever experiment with oils on SF mini's?

Somebody mentioned Privateer Press' Formula P3 paint in this thread. I found a review of it here: http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=3754
which gives it big wraps. Interestingly, the pigment in the P3 range is a liquid. I've never heard of a paint with a liquid pigment before. If anyone tries this paint, please post here about it with your experiences.

Some Other Paint Options that I've found to be very good include:

• Reaper Master series and Pro Paints (fantastic colors, the master series has some very nice metalics)
• Rackham Paints (fantastic colors)
• Coat d'arms (the original GW color manufacturer)
• Foundry system (more historical colors)

All are good, some are difficult to find.

jmt