From: rmc@wang.com (rmc)
Subject: Re: A beginner's guide to building garage kits
Organization: Wang Laboratories, Inc.
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:48:38 GMT

I've never built an anime resin kit, but i have painted a few hundred
leads (mostly Mongols and Turks in 25mm, Poles and Hungarians in 15mm)
and one 90mm resin viking archer.  While Michael Pepe's article covered
a lot, and it was all good advice, here are some other opinions.

1)  I highly recommend Windsor Newton Series 7 watercolor brushes.
They cost a bit more than the $5 each mentioned in Michael's article,
but give you really nice lines and seem to last about 3 times as long
as other brands, or even other Windsor Newton brushes.

2)  Never underestimate the power of Xacto knives and rat tail files
to get into the strangest places and clean out the drek.  Much more
precise than an emery board.

3)  Don't forget to prime your surface before you paint with real
color.  This solves the difficulty in getting paint to stick.  I use
Krylon White primer, usually 3 or 4 very *very* light coats.  If this
doesn't obscure detail in a 15mm figure, it ought not do bad things on
something huge like a garage kit.

4)  When painting a multi-part miniature, i usually paint the horse
and rider separately, but put riders, chariots, elephants etc.
together first.  I am not sure why Michael prefered painting the parts
before assembly;  i would think that would make matching colors on
opposite sides of the seam really hard.  Also, seams are where you
need the most work to keep things smoothe.

5)  I really like Liquitex acrylic paints.  No way will they stick on
a resin kit directly, but that's what primer is for.  The major
advantage of acrylic is that it will mix very well and very precisely,
which means you can do a lot with multiple similar colors for shading.
This makes your limbs look rounder and folds in your clothing look
more real.  I'm not good enough to give a course in this part;  look
for a painting article in The Courier or Military Modeler for details.
And i am gettng some ideas directly from anine;  note sometime how
there are nearly always two or more skin colors on the face, with the
darker color(s) toward the back.  This gives it more depth, even on a
flat screen.  Imagine what it can do in the round!

6)  I have had good luck with plain white vinegar for cleaning the oil
off of lead figures.  This might be a problem with the chemical
composition of the resin i suppose, but i have found that vinegar
leaves no residue, which is really nice.

7)  Krylon flat clear finish doesn't attack any paint i have used.
It even goes over styrofoam OK, and most thinners melt foam.  That may
be OK if what you're spraying is supposed to be a hill, but melted Lum
is probably not your objective.

8)  If you have friends who share this hobby, i suspect that the resin
kits are large enough to make a good air brush an interesting
investment.  They do really nice shading and don't leave the obvious
lines between the light and dark parts on limbs etc.  

Gee, to think i have a whole Pergamene army waiting to be painted, and
i am spending too much time on anime to get to it.  Time was when
painting minuatures was my #1 time sink...

R Mark Chilenskas
Chilenskas@Office.wang.com
Organization: Sophomore, Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA