How To: Painting Figurines The Right Way

It is time for another How To! In part 1 through 4 I showed you how to paint our vehicles. Now I will show you how the same thing works with our figurines. As an example set I am using some NVA figurines in N scale (1:160) from East Germany, but the same method works for all our figurines, whether that is animals, civilian figures or military figurines.

This guide will show you how the figurines are delivered on their baseplate and how to use that plate to paint even the smallest figurines as well as possible. Of course this applies to every scale we produce, 1:160, 1:120, 1:87 and 1:220, since they are all produced in the same way.

How the figurines arrive

You receive the figurines on a stand! It is a flat plate with small pillars connected to the figurines. These pillars are used during production, but they are also very useful for protection during shipping, and most of all during painting! The version you may have seen photos of is made in a transparent material, but we usually produce in black, since that material is easier to cut and paint.

Preparing the plate

Using a small cutter you can start by cutting away the pillars around the arms and gear. Basically all pillars can go, except the ones connected to the bottom of the figurine's feet. This creates a plate with figurines standing on a practical painting handle, which means you can hold the base of the figurine while you have free access to all sides of the tiny model. Finally no more ruining your tiny work by placing your fat fingers in the wrong spot.

It is even easier if you cut the entire base plate up into pieces, by cutting along the lines that are already in the base. The base plate should then snap into neat little blocks, or "feet", for the figurines to stand on while you carefully paint them.

Primer

As a primer I personally always use grey. Vallejo 70601 works perfectly, but if you do not have an airbrush or simply do not feel like cleaning it afterwards, you can also use Vallejo 28011, a very practical spray can that sprays an airbrush like thin coat of primer onto the models.

Mixing paints

After this it is not that difficult. All you need is your favorite paints (enamel or water based both work fine, also for the primer), tiny brushes, tooth picks and a lot of patience. Personally I always look for reference images of the figurine I want to paint and then hand mix the colors.

For civilian figures you could use colors like blue, grey, white, black, red, yellow and flesh tone to mix jeans, shirts, coats and skin color perfectly. For military figures, look more into your browns, greens, blacks, greys and whites. Animals are of course also mainly browns, blacks, greys and whites. Vehicles often have hard RAL colors, but for clothing it is a lot harder, since it is often not new and fades very quickly. Therefore mixing by eye is simply the best option.

Painting

Use your brush for the layers of the figurine and a very small brush for the details. Personally I like to use a tooth pick for very small details like wrenches, hammers, the inside of a barbecue or pieces like that.

But whatever you do, make sure to enjoy it, because that is the best part! Spending the evening painting your best looking figurines, which really feel like yours because your hard work made them look exactly like you wanted them to, is a joy only for those willing to hobby in the best way! Have fun and do not forget to send me your pictures!!

With kind regards,

Kevin Boogaard 
Founder of Panzer-ShopNL