Federation Commander

<Taking the first step>
Hi, I'm Monster, and I'm a terrible mini painter.

Wow that felt good.

I mean it though, I'm terrible. And I'm ok with that. Well, mostly ok with that. I lack the patience and knowledge to produce anything like the quality of the miniatures you guys have shared here. I guess I'm too anxious to get them out of the box and into gameplay, subject to the abuses of my gaming friends, who manage to break one ship every other session or so. I'm the only one with the game or any ships so I have to share or else they don't get used. As an example of the quality I'm talking about, each of my ships has a nice gloop of green two-part putty on the bottom holding fast to the mounting stand. That gives me a nice big flat area to glue to, but it looks not so unlike I harpooned a pea with my stand before I glued the ship on.

Yet you guys are awesome. As are the people at my FLGS with all their fantasy miniatures. I'm hoping to start some FC games there, and so my question to you guys is this - What would your reaction be if some guy you don't know showed up at your game store to play some game you don't play and he had a bunch of miniatures painted like you can imagine mine look? I get this spidey sense when I'm there that these folks would look steeply down their noses at me and my non-canonically painted, green-goop equipped vessels, and my black felt hex map and laugh me out of the store.

And more practically - I need some of that foam that the squadron boxes use to pad the minis for shipment. I want to line my storage and transportation solution with it. Where do you find that stuff? Or something like it?

Monster wrote: And more practically - I need some of that foam that the squadron boxes use to pad the minis for shipment. I want to line my storage and transportation solution with it. Where do you find that stuff? Or something like it?

Any hobby/craft store. Hobby Lobby, or a Jo-Annes etc fabric, or a Michael's will have that foam.

Yes there are some minis snobs out there, it depends on the shop and the area. FWIW..I view just having minis a huge leap over counters.

If it really concers you and you don't have the ability to paint, you can always 'out-source' the painting (if you ahve the funds). Just do a google sheach on "minature painting services" and you will find a number of different services out there.

Welcome aboard, Monster. My name is Tony and I'm a miniatures addict... but I don't consider myself a snob.

I like to ooh and ahh over some of the miniatures that others paint, but I never disparage anyone who makes the attempt to paint their own, either. I've played against players with partially assembled minis, partially painted miniatures, miniatures that looked as if they had been dipped in a bottle of paint and left to dry, etc. I've seen minis painted with house paint, model paint, poster paints, even nail polish. , but neither the material used nor the quality of the paintjob is as important as having fun.

While I'm nowhere near the caliber of painter that frequents our FLGS, I am willing to share the knowledge that I do have with anyone who asks (and some that don't ).

As far as non-canonical paint schemes go, how do any of us really know what colors will be used (or even popular) in the 24th century? If you want to paint your, ummm.... Hydrans, for example... neon pink, that would be your choice.

Welcome to the club Monster!

I started as a "wish I could do that" guy, when I would see the works of art that guys like Tony and Mike Raper and John Schneder would post pictures of. I was pretty decent at painting plastic model kits years ago, but I didn't think I would be able to do anything decent at the small scale of the minis.

...and at first, I couldn't.

My first minis looked like complete crud. But, they were good enough for playing the game with.

As I kept slowly acquiring new minis, and kept acquiring new information that was posted here, on the legacy bbs, and elsewhere, I got better and better. As it turns out, most of my crap paint jobs were due to lack of information. Once I learned better techniques from the clever people, I did much nicer work (and it was a lot faster and easier too).

I even took a crack at sculpting a master (for the FedEx Fast Courier).

The encouragement of the people on this board is plentiful, as is the advice.

Heck, I've heard Steve Cole say at Origins that he just hits minis with a coat of spray-paint in the racial base color and leaves it at that. I'm never sure if he's joking though....

" 'Perfect' is the enemy of 'good enough' "

I've played with folks that had every level of work and workmanship on their minis (much like Tony's description above).

A beautiful mini is a thing to behold and to take pride in. But it's not the paint job that wins games or makes for a fun time.

90% or more of my minis (many and varied types) never see a drop of paint.

The point is to have fun playing the game, the minis are a nice visual and nicely painted ones even more so but are by no means required. The same goes for the map.

I don't judge either. I also consider the work that I do to be that of a beginner. I'll echo earlier statements saying it's about having fun and putting your guys on the table.

I used to play some WWII minis games, and my infantry to this day is still just basecoated black or brown on the stands.

And fyi, I've also used the blob o' green stuff on the bottom of some minis to make the stand fit. If you form the stand in while it's drying you make a new mold for the stand, and don't need to glue it at all. I've used it to good effect on my Fed old light cruisers, frigates, and even a New Command Cruiser.

Yeah, don't worry. We're not GW nuts. (Runs away!!!!)

I've been painting since the mid-80's starting with fantasy stuff using the small Testors paints. I used to be "pretty good" having won 2 awards for dragons I did. I've got a shelf of 40k Marines that are very nice, some dragons, and a fair number of Starfleet miniatures. I do need to take some pictures and put them up.

I've only recently gotten back into painting after a 6 yr break; having kids, night school, and work does that. My ships are good but nothing too spectacular...but a few steps above a base coat of spray paint.

For storage: look at www.litkoaero.com, they sell magnetic sheets and flexible metal bases. You put one on the ships, and line a tray with the other. Your miniatures stick in the tray and don't move. I'm working up an order from them; going to give this a try since I want to drag my miniatures to an upcoming game (Kublacon, SF Bay area) convention.

Of course, if you paint up a Federation FFV, (not in FC ATM), and call it the USS Manfred Von Richthofen (NCC-365), you are almost required to paint it red.

(Fun Fact: WWI Historians are still debating weither the Red Baron actually flew a Red Fokker DR1 due to lack of color photos and artistic license of the time).

Sweeper wrote:Of course, if you paint up a Federation FFV, (not in FC ATM), and call it the USS Manfred Von Richthofen (NCC-365), you are almost required to paint it red.

Agreed. Just like you can't just leave that big, flat, featureless top surface of a Romulan DN one color, so you better paint some tiger stripes on it, like I did. Right? Am I right?

Thanks for the feedback guys, great stuff. You've compelled me to share a picture, carefully chosen for its artful composition (read: doesn't show my federation ships)

Careful with those tiger-stripes there Monster or you'll get Tony all fired up. He's a big Lyran-minis guy.

You paint jobs looks fine (and I'm squinting to see the nice job on those Klingons in the background).

I think those stripes look cool. Non-canon, of course, but that wasn't what you wanted to do and they're your minis. A nice idea, nicely implemented.

Monster,hi!

For me,doing the best I can on my minis is part of the hobby,but the game is NOT a painting contest.

As long as both of us know what each mini represents,then lets play and have fun!

EDIT: By the way,your Romulan tiger kicks butt!

Monster, contrary to what everyone seems to think... I happen to like your tiger stripes. They follow a very realistic looking pattern.