OK tomorrow will be my once in the year spend out and I need some help, could you recommend which primers and paints you prefer, and also figure makes which are easy to assemble and the best quality, detailing, anatomically correct etc

What Primer do you use?
I used Andrea today, but thought it was a bit plasticy, not like my usual GW white which I like. Help please

Paints, just experimenting with Andrea, and I like them a lot, I also use GW Foundry Vallejo, any tips?

Mediums, what do you guys use?

Which figure make, or model?

Krom,

How much are you willing to spend? What is your budget?

Primers are cheap compared to the amount you will invest in oil paints and more importantly brushes.

You will find that Andrea and Vllejo acrylics are outstanding. I use both of them and they mix well together.

In the case of oils, W&N are the best in my opinion.

Your questions are very broad in scope. I hope that this has helped. Everyone from PF will help you. I can personally attest to that. Feel free to send a PM.

Rocky

Hi Krom,

As Rocky said, your questions are rather broad, so its difficult to provide a precise answer.

You said you were interested in moving into larger scales. I would suggest you move up to 54mm first, before you try any of the larger scales like 90mm or 120mm.

There are many excellent figures available in this scale and depending on your budget and areas of interest, there will almost certainly be something for you.

If you're not confident about working in a larger scale, I suggest you buy some relatively cheap 1/35th scale plastic figures, such as Tamiya or Dragon, to practice your skills and build up your confidence before you splash out on expensive white metal kits from Andrea and Pegaso and the like.

The best advice I can give you is to buy figures that you like and excite you, in whatever scale they come in.

When it comes to paints, Rocky is right; Vallejo and Andrea are the goldstandard in acrylics and Mindsor & Newton oils and brushes are the best money can buy.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Rocky, and Tony, I'm going to stick to acrylics in the short term, as I've not had experience in oils, although I do use W&N series 7 brushes.

Primer is an important point, still not sure which to use?

As to the figures, I like a Romeo 90mm crusader, this one

http://www.cinecreatif.com/index.php?id=9&idproduit=4168

but cant justify spending £52.50 on my first large one. As I've only painted 28mm before, I'm still unsure whether I should just step up to 54mm or go for a 1/10 scale bust

I would say stick with your acrylics and stick with your GW primer, it is a very good primer and works on any scale!

As for figures. If you are into knights, get a Pegaso 54mm knight. They have several and they are among the best sculpted and cast whitemetal kits on the market today. Here is a page with pictures of some Pegaso knight kits.

http://www.pegasomodels.com/products_en.asp?idcat=5

Hope this helps!

Krom1415,i will highly recommend Floquil miniature primer.
It comes in light gray,white and black also is available.
Regards.
Daniel

I use automotive primer. Since you're in the UK try Hycote or Halfords. Grey's my favourite colour although some people prefer white. Black priming isn't seen much in larger-scale work.

I don't use any. The only mediums I would generally suggest are something to help blending/layering go more smoothly, either something for acrylic paints or W&N's Watercolour Blending Medium.

If you're going to paint anything really large - like busts and 120mm figs - then you may want to eventually get an airbrush to do some of the undercoating and basic shading instead of doing it all by hand with a brush.

There's lots of subjectivity to this. Have a look for previous threads on the same topic.

In terms of size, "54mm" figs (not many are actually 54mm in height these days) are a very popular scale with a huge range of available subjects and lots of good models available from all the major Continental makers. 70 and 75mm stuff is out there too and it's a good middle ground between truly large-scale stuff (which starts at around 90mm for most of us) and smaller scales that most of us cut our teeth on.

Einion

Thanks for the input thus far, I think I'm sorted on paint, and primer now, its what figure to paint.

I just love the detail on the 90mm upwards figures but cant justify the cost, especially as I probably will mess it up on my first try.

Those Pegaso 54mm look good, thanks for the input Anders Heintz

So you mess up. No big deal. We all mess up. If you don't like what you have, strip the paint and start over.

Your right there IIICorps, is resin difficult to strip, I've tried metal with various results but never resin.

I've decided on this figure, it looks good and is not too expensive, Thanks for all your help

http://www.cinecreatif.com/index.php?id=9&idproduit=4445

Difficult? No. Strips the same as metal, but you want to ensure what you are using for a stripper does not eat resin. Test first.

Cheers