The Toolbox Part 2: Painting and Assembling Pewter Miniatures

In the second, and very late, Toolbox post I'll be going over the necessary tools for painting and assembling miniatures, most of which you can find at your Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS).  The first thing is of course paints and brushes.  Like the table in the last post, this one is pretty obvious, but the quality of brushes is very important.  Look for Red Sable for the brush material.  Your FLGS will have some quality brushes, but I've found that an art supply store will have a better variety and generally better prices.  Liners and round brushes are the most commonly useful, but a few larger brushes for base coating can also be handy.  Size 5/0 is generally the smallest you'll need, and the largest isn't necessarily much bigger.

Brushes and Hemostats!

Get a nice pair of hemostats as well.  You'll need them for holding your models while you paint them.  Grabbing them with your finger generally causes the paint to rub off, and re-basing can add ridges and lines that you don't want.  A table vise can also come in handy for larger pieces.  Remember though that hemostats have teeth in the jaws, so you don't want to risk denting your pewter by grabbing a piece that will be visible when you're done.

YARR!

For initial prep work, like removing mold flash and smoothing out seams, a hobby knife and a set of needle files will serve you well.  This first step is forgotten by many new painters and is crucial to giving your finished paint a clean and realistic look.  Plus, needle files are cheap at a hobby store.

$12

 The last thing you'll need is a pin vise and appropriately sized bits and wire to assemble the finished model.  Getting the right sizes to match with your technique will take some experimentation and trial and error but you'll get it eventually.  I use a #68 bit and 16 or 18 gauge modeling wire.  They don't fit together exactly, but I do like to have some wiggle room when assembling minis.

Pin Vise

I'll cover how to pin and why super glue without wire is bad in an upcoming post.

Happy building!