This is the final results of painting this “giant snake” miniature from Etsy seller Wondrousminiatures. The model was printed on a 3D (Resin) printer, which gives a much higher level of detail than I can achieve on my FDM printer. Compare this snake model to the one I printed on my FDM printer previously. It’s about half the size (1/4 of the volume) with better detail.
Follow along for the steps I used when painting this snake. Continue reading
Remember back when the handle fell off my glowforge? Or when the glass lid detached from the hinge? After the laser tube went out, I got a (refurbished) replacement unit, which has been working fine for a year. However, now the glass lid on my new (to me) replacement unit started to detach from the left rear hinge.
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I got these raven sitting on skull minifigs from the Wildspire Miniatures Animals of Sol’an set, but singles are also included in the Hero’s and Animals set.
Here are the steps I took to paint the skull.
1. Prime black. I’m using Rust-Oleum 249846 2X Ultra Cover, but really, any flat black primer that sticks to plastic should work fine. Continue reading
I demonstrate how to paint four different color schemes for a crocodile or alligator mini-figure. I use a cream colored base coat on all 4 necks, a gray base-coat on the back of two figures, a dark green base-coat on the back of the other two figures. Then I drybrush one of each with either a black or a muted yellow for highlights. I also demonstrate red, black, and yellow eyes, and the mouth/teeth details, plus gluing flocking to the base.
The figures were printed from a free model on Thingiverse by Mr. Stirling:
Swamp Alligator: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4165302
Items you may want to follow along (Amazon Affiliate Links):
Here is the quick technique I’ve developed for painting mouths and teeth at the tabletop miniature level of detail. First, mouths are very pink. I like this “baby pink” color, but you can pick any shade of pink that looks good to you. Paint the entire inside of the mouth, possibly even getting a small line around the outside depending upon the type of monster or mouth you are painting. I sometimes do this BEFORE laying down the base color of the rest of the face or body, as mouth interiors are usually one of the deepest parts of the model.
Then, water down some bright red paint (I like this “cherry cobbler” color)
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I liked this dead tree model (Thingiverse # 4105303 ) so well that I printed two more and painted them different ways. It prints well even on my inexpensive FDM printer, and the layer lines add detail to the tree.
For my first attempt, I stuck with the “dead tree” motif from the model, using a black primer and gray for the base color.
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I printed this model from Thingiverse # 4839997 (scaled down) on my Monoprice Mini Delta 3D printer. It took a lot of time to remove all the support material due to the small scale (and I broke the head off in the process). Continue reading
This is the gargoyle miniature from the Castle Ravenloft board game, painted. It took me three tries to get an effect I was fully happy with, mostly because I tried to use a gray primer instead of a black primer. (More on that later on….) Continue reading
Normally you add details as one of the last steps when painting a model. For this spider from the Castle Ravenloft board game, I used Cerulean Blue (hue) acrylic ink from Liquitex to line most of the depressions on the back and the gaps between each leg segment right after the black automotive spray primer. Yes, it took a bit of time to pick out each segment and the depressions on the back, but I knew it would be worth it as soon as I saw the result. The high flow of the ink (vs standard acrylic paint) was key in filling the depressions without making the brush work too difficult.
I’ve started painting the minifigs / monsters that came with the Castle Ravenloft board game. I decided to start with the rat swarm first, because I figure if I can paint all those little rats and still retain my eyesight, the larger models should be a piece of cake.