An alternative way to paint 6mm Figures

I'm placing this piece on the Baccus site, as it offers a completely different approach to painting 6mm figures than the one that I have put together. Rex Hurley paints some of the same WSS infantry starting with the more traditional white undercoat and taking a lot more care with detailing. For those of you who want to produce a really high-class finished result, then read on. Many thanks to Rex for taking the time to write this guide and take the photographs.

A Painting Guide by Rex Hurley

Introduction

I was asked to do this article by Peter of Baccus Miniatures after sending him some photos of my work of his 6mm Malburians (very nice figures indeed) hopefully you will find this an easy alternative to the black undercoat painting method. This technique also works on 15/18 and 25mm figures. With regards myself I have been gaming and painting for 25 years now and tried just about the all methods possible, progressing from block painting with no undercoat, to black undercoat blocking, to pure artist oils, oils blended to inks, to GW paints to my current favourites Vallejo Acrylics. More recently after years of white undercoat and using ink washes I have been doing layering off a black undercoat, but foe these I felt it wouldn’t work as the black dulls bright colours and the period and scale of the miniatures needed something vibrant so I returned to a technique of the past white undercoat with a dark brown ink wash, as (a) the ink hardly dulls the colours yet provides decent definition, (b) the ink runs into the moulding beautifully and (c) its quick I get two 36 man 6mm infantry battalions done in about an hour and half doing this.

A must is having a good work area and setup with accessories to work with. Here is a picture of mine with the prerequisite pot of tea ready at hand.

Step One

Clean the figures of any flash and undercoat. I recommend Games Workshop Skull White spray, expensive but worth it as it lasts a long time and the spray nozzle is finer than those on car primers so its better for the models and getting a nice cover on the figures. Allow to dry I generally leave mine overnight as its best to let it cure for a day.

Step Two

Mount the figure strips on a suitable painting stand, one strip per stand. I use used beer bottle caps yep that’s right you have a bottle of beer (and some of us drink plenty of that right!) and instead of throwing the cap keep it, after a couple or three sessions you should have start of a collection, mine numbers around 200 as I also paint professionally part time I’m a busy boy with lots of different projects on the go. I have also found these to be the best accessory around, easy to handle and manipulate.

Step Three

Select your colours and block paint in the main colours in the following order

Uniform coat – With a Flat head brush usually a 4 (yes that’s right a FLAT)
Flesh – With a smaller Flat head brush usually a 2
Cuffs – Again with the 2 Flat
Musket Wood – I use a 1 or 2 Round Brush yes you don’t need the small brushes sure I have them but not for this
Crossbelts

Allow to dry again for about half a day, yes I could do it in less than an hour but then rushing usually screws up your work

Step Four

Using a big Round four brush and it doesn’t matter if its stuffed mines had about six years use but it is a Windsor Newton so paying for quality works, give the whole figure/strip a good wash of Windsor Newton Brown Artist Ink. I use this ink as it’s the most consistent for quality, colour, consistency and price that I have come across over the years. Allow to dry overnight.

Step Five

Using a light wet/dry brush technique add a highlight to the uniform colour preferably one to two shades lighter than the main uniform coat.

Step Six

Using games Workshop Chaos Black, Boltgun Metal and Skull White block in items in the following order:

Hat
Boots
Collar
Musket/Swords
Neckerchiefs
Hat Lace Trim

Step Seven

Base with bird cage sand and Static Grass unit finished

End Notes

Have fun painting is easy, practice improves your skill, and key rule is don’t rush it if your in a hurry or painting when your tired you will make a mess.

That’s about it have a good one

cheers Rex