Painting A Lot of Models

[Deleted]

How do you paint many models quickly? I just bought a new Necron army, and now I have all of them to do plus all the IG I still have left. It just seems so overwhelming at times.

[newcomer]

paint a little at a time, 5 a day gets the ball rolling pretty well

[Sen.Kerry]

I agree with newcomer. Also, the important thing is to have something to break up the monotony. I like to paint a few dwarfs after a few IP. Also, I reward myself with a tank if I finish a grind fest.

[Deleted]

Necrons can be pretty simple to paint, depending on your colour scheme you could just drybrush an appropiate metalic colour, add some weathering using tin bitz or inks and paint the eyes. All done, however generally apart from getting into a steady painting routine their's no short-cut for guard unless you choose a really basic scheme. Hope this helps.

[Turtleboy(AWOL)]

I paint minis in batches of 30 where I can do an assembly line deal.

with your necrons, I recommend getting a ton of them prepped for paint (primered) then lay down the base cote (probably boltgun metal?) on ALL of them in one sitting. be sloppy and just get the paint all over the model - neatness is not a factor.

after you're done with the base cote, go over them with chainmail (or similar medium metallic tone) using a good sized drybrush and hit them with some drybrushing only where the light falls on them, highlighting them.

having music or a movie playing in the background is REALLY helpful. also, giving yourself up to being tasked with sitting for the whole night and working like it's a 9 to 5 job and you HAVE to be there is also helpful, because your mind will settle into the painting chair with you the music makes it a ton better.

when you've finished those two quick cotes, I recommend doing the basing.

after that, it's detail work and you've got fully finished models.

oh right, and fitting those green rods on too you'll DEFINATELY want to leave those off the model till it's painted.

[Deleted]

I find that with IG assemble everything, primer everything so its out of the way.

Then do all your basecoats on all the models, as turtleboy said this stage can be messy, and boring, so crank some beats and just pace yourself.

Then break the rest of the detail painting down to doing each squad at a time, start with command squads as they are only 5 man, and take half the time, so you will feel like your getting the ball rolling faster, then try for a 10 man squad at a time.

Hope i could help.

[The Refined Gentleman (M.I.A)]

With my new steel legion, i'm doing a squad and a chimera a day.

[Deleted]

Speaking of green rods, how do you deal with Immortals? I thought I might paint them and then pop the end off to reglue it when the rods are in place.

Also, my Necs are something like this:base, black undercoat, grey drybrush on base, metallic drybrush on Nec, red highlights on the 'plates', shoulders, face, feet, etc, spray coat, gloss coat on the red bits, green bit, repeat. I'll get a pic up soon.

[Deleted]

Ive seen somewhere necrons being painted with the end of the gun left off and painted separately, then when its finished, the end and the rod glued in place.

[chromepip]

painting necrons?

why hasn't anyone mentioned putting the models together, minus the glow rod, Base them in black (spray), and then just Airbrush the lot using mithril silver or Boltgun metal (or dare i say using a silver spray paint), then inking the whole shabang with Badab Black?

nice and fast. maybe imprecise, but it would be quick and dirty.

[Deleted]

I've got so few Necs to paint (compared to my Imp Guard) that I'm giving them my best paint job possible.

[chromepip]

you might even want to try dipping.

[SirAndrewD]

I painted a Necron Army for someone once. It was a commission and I had a short timetable (5 days) for a tabletop quality army. I assembled his army first, then primed so that everything was all done in a base black fast. After that, I simply got a broad brush and went with the whole dry brushing Boltgun Metal on his troops and destroyers. I had the entire army at least based in about a day. After that I went in and did light detail work. I did his warriors, destroyers and scarabs so fast that I ended up having a couple of extra days to do his elites and Lords to a pretty high standard. Clearly it wasn't the best looking army in the world, but it was done in under a week for about 50 models.

[SirAndrewD]

Jul 31, 2008 2:32:43 GMT -5 @tridman said:

Ive seen somewhere necrons being painted with the end of the gun left off and painted separately, then when its finished, the end and the rod glued in place.

That's how I did 'em. The result looked fine.

[Deleted]

Have you got a piccy of the necron army you did?

[SirAndrewD]

Aug 8, 2008 23:05:47 GMT -5 @tridman said:

Have you got a piccy of the necron army you did?

Sadly no, I simply churned them out and gave them away. They were tabletop, certainly not more than that. Still, with Necrons you don't exactly have to be Michaelangelo.

[Deleted]

Jul 31, 2008 2:32:43 GMT -5 @tridman said:

Ive seen somewhere necrons being painted with the end of the gun left off and painted separately, then when its finished, the end and the rod glued in place.

Myself, I glue 'em in place, paint and dullcote the whole thing, then I squeeze the rod in. The testors glue I use is so strong that I can actually bend back the tip to insert the rod.

[Deleted]

For actual time savings (as opposed to keeping yourself motivated and entertained) I do not reccomend small batches at all. Switching tasks is what slows you down the most.

Clip, clean and assemble the whole lot. Base and primer everything. Do all base colors on EVERY model in single steps. Yes, its arduous and boring but it saves hours.

We work in groups of three to four and paint whole armies in a weekend this way... to a nice standard I might add. It also helps you to keep a consistent standard to each model.