Total Battle Miniatures painting guide

As Total Battle Miniatures don't do a painting service anymore, they have put together a painting guide, enjoy!

 

Painting Masonry Buildings

 

 

 

Give the buildings a wash in warm soapy water and dry thoroughly. Then undercoat the Buildings with a white undercoat (I use a white primer spray). Allow to dry thoroughly.

 

Mix a warm mid grey colour that’s thinned to single cream consistency (I use household emulsion matchpots and acrylics and mix in good size proportions and then thin in a sealable pot/jar for usage over a period of time). Paint the building all over in a very slap dash fashion. You want it to be uneven as this will give depth to the model and create natural unevenness in the finished model. Allow to dry. Taking a terracotta paint (I use a Burnt Sienna) thinned to single cream paint on terracotta tile roofs chimney pots and red brickwork. Don’t worry if you leave mortar seems unpainted or painted. Paint a thinned to milk black on tile roofs. Allow to dry. Mixing the terracotta colour with white and a dirty yellow to personal taste. Liberally dry brush the terracotta tiles and chimney pots, not the brickwork. Lighten still a little further and lightly dry brush. For slates paint them a dark grey then when dry dry brush a mid brown and then lighten with white and lightly dry brush again. Mixing a very mid warm grey/yellow brown thinned to the consistency of milk wash over stonework and rendered masonry you want to look unpainted so think stained rather than paint lines. If this doesn’t go into all seams of stonework then all the better. Mortar seems of a certain age have light and dark areas, allow to dry. Then using a deep cream colour (I use Buff Titanium) dry brush over all stone and masonry areas including tiles. Do this in a random fashion heavier and lighter in different parts to give a more random natural look. Then do the same, but lighter with white. If brickwork is flat then using a slightly thinned white paint over brickwork and lightly rub off with either a finger or old brush in areas you can’t get your finger in so the white settles mainly in the seems. If the dried colour of the brick is a little too for your taste then lightly dry brush with a slightly thinned terracotta only touching the brickwork and not the seems. If brickwork is rough then do the same except with a thinner white and follow same process thereafter. Now thin a dark brown down to milk consistency and wash into areas where weathering would happen smearing this in with a finger if necessary. This would happen with damp rising from the ground and falling from roof eaves especially where there aren’t gutters or where you think gutters would struggle in heavy rain. This could also be used in patches on brick and stone work to show that weathering on seems and the brick/stone. It can also be used over the whole of a grey slate tile roof to take out any sharp contrast in the grey to buff/white highlight.

 

Paint lead or copper roofs in either a mid grey or verdigris green (I use Vallejo green sky). Highlighting with the cream at the same time as the windows below.

 

The next stage shows a split in procedure depending on scale. Small scale building (6 to 10mm) paint all the window openings black then paint the window frames and doors the desired colour. This can be a multitude of colours. In the past shades of green were the most evident colour with white being reserved for more grander buildings or to impress, but blues, drab reds and yellows were all used. Larger scales are done in reverse order  with the window frames and doors painted the desired colour and then paint in the glass areas in black. You can if you wish to show weathered doors to give a very light wash of the dark brown before lightly dry brushing the cream colour over the windows and doors doing this heavier at the base of a door to show rising dirt. Paint door furniture in a colour way that suits you.

 

Go out for a walk and really look at how the elements and nature work to put diverse colour in everything. If you want to paint ground cover in my style please read the scenic tiles section.

 

Painting Wooden Buildings

 

Give the buildings a wash in warm soapy water and dry thoroughly. Then undercoat the Buildings with a grey undercoat (I use a grey primer spray). Allow to dry thoroughly.

 

Paint all the buildings a mid drab brown, this can be either an household emulsion matchpot from a diy store or an acrylic model paint such as Vallejo US Field Drab is similar but would prove pricey if painting lots of buildings). Allow to dry and then paint a black wash liberally over the entire building. Allow to dry again and then dry brush with the original brown quite heavily and then lighter with a cream (I use Buff Titanium) and then very lightly dry brush with a white. Paint the ground cover in line with how I paint the tiles in the Painting Scenic Tiles section. Taking a terracotta paint (I use a Burnt Sienna) thinned to single cream, paint the brick chimney stacks. Don’t worry if you leave mortar seems unpainted or painted. Then using a slightly thinned white paint over the chimney brickwork and lightly rub off with either a finger or old brush in areas you can’t get your finger in so the white settles mainly in the seems. If the dried colour of the brick is a little too for your taste then lightly dry brush with a slightly thinned terracotta only touching the brickwork and not the seems. Finally using a yellow drab green (I use Citadel Camo Green) dry brush patches of mould where this would build up on the roof and possibly on parts of the wall.

 

The next stage shows a split in procedure depending on scale. Small scale building (6 to 10mm) paint all the window openings black then paint the window frames and doors the desired colour. This can be a multitude of colours. In the past shades of green were the most evident colour with white being reserved for more grander buildings or to impress, but blues, drab reds and yellows were all used. Larger scales are done in reverse order  with the window frames and doors painted the desired colour and then paint in the glass areas in black. You can if you wish to show weathered doors to give a very light wash of the dark brown before lightly dry brushing the cream colour over the windows and doors doing this heavier at the base of a door to show rising dirt.

 

Painting Scenic Tiles and Roads

 

Give them a wash in warm soapy water and dry thoroughly. Flexible resin doesn’t want any sort of undercoat, if it’s hard resin tile or part of a building then undercoat in line with Wooden or Masonry Buildings.

 

Metalled or Cobbled areas (Grey Flexible Resin) 

 

Heavily dry brush a sandstone colour (I use B&Q Sandstone Textured Masonry Paint) all over. If you are painting the Wide Metalled 15mm - 28mm roads then paint the verge a mid brown before the sandstone. Then dry brush white lighter than the sandstone. If painting cobbles then if you want a variance in the seems paint white patches and immediately wipe your finger over so the paint just remains in the seems.

 

Dirt Track (Cream Flexible Resin and Hard Resin Ground Cover)

 

Paint the surface with a thin, but covering coat of the sandstone colour described above. Allow to dry. Paint patches of the mid brown into areas where there is little traffic or to emphasise ruts in the track. Then dry brush a white.

 

Walls etc should be painted in line with the other guides and bushes can be painted dark green and highlighted with a light green or be painted dark green and be flocked with a darker scatter than the grass in line with the paragraph below.

 

To achieve grassy areas water down pva to milk consistency and paint in desired areas. Sprinkle a grass static grass or flock or mix your own blend (That’s what I do for a more natural colour). Pat it down lightly with hand and shake excess off. Allow to dry.

 

Painting Rivers

 

Give them a wash in warm soapy water and dry thoroughly. Flexible resin doesn’t want any sort of undercoat.

 

Paint the textured edges with a darker than desired colour with a thin, but covering coat of paint (Don't try and paint the water area, it should be left the cast colour and paint will not adhere to the shiny surface). Allow to dry. Dry brush with a lighter colour and on the rocks lighten these up to stone colour.

 

Any acrylic paint is fine so Vallejo or GW are perfect as well as tube acrylics. You can also use household emulsion from match pots. Do not use Aerosols or paint that's designed for airbrush use even airbrush acrylics. These all contain a chemical that helps them flow through the nossel, but when dry has no flexibility to it. So it will crack off the resin. Acrylics have flexibility after drying so flex with the river.

 

To achieve grassy edge water down pva to milk consistency and paint in desired areas. Sprinkle a grass, static grass or flock or mix your own blend (That’s what I do for a more natural colour). Pat it down lightly with hand and shake excess off. Allow to dry. Take a damp lint free cloth and wipe any excess grass that's still clinging to the water area. This can be done whenever there gets to be a build up over time and it will return it to brand new.