dirty miniatures

[Brainsnaffler]

Hi everyone

I'm sure there's more than me out there that thinks this, but I hate bright colours on my miniatures. I like the armies I create to be more realistic and have mud etc. on them.

I am currently doing Carthaginians and I want to tone down all those bloody Celtic shields and clothes by making them a bit more dusty

My problem is that the miniatures are 6mm from Baccus. Does anyone know of a way of "dirtying them" without making a bad job of it?

[vercingetorix]

you could either use a black or brown wash.

or you could use a dip -- which is what I do

[Stuh42l]

I use tons of Inking in my models, and I found that when I inked my Flames of War 15mm Germans it came out spectacularly for the vehicles, and only so so for the men. I used a very heavy ink however (mix my own). My suggestion is to try it with a dark brown ink, and use a moderate to heavy type of ink. Remember when inking the final result will only look about 1/2 to a 1/3 as dark as it does before it dries. I think if I had used a dark brown, the results would have been better.

A good alternative might be to use actual pigments and apply them with a wash. This might leave that randomized 'dust' pattern as opposed to the 'stained' pattern that an ink will use.

Also what I have taken to doing for 30mm is Dry Brushing dirt and mud on the mini's. I haven't tried this on 15mm yet though.

[MarkSieber]

I've recently begun using 'the dip', which tones them down a bit. One can also choose duller versions of colors to start with--'rust' red, ochre etc.

[CrazyHarborc]

Well, I have had some of my wargaming minies for over 35 years. There is plenty of dust on them.

Is there some place that has a lot of dust? A place that would be safe to leave your minies in/at for a couple of hours?

I am lazy/cheap....I use thinned flat black enamil based paint. I only use enamil based flat/matt finish paint.

A plastic bag can be partly filled with dry dusty dirt...very fine grained dirt. Place a few minies at a time in the bag. Slowly and gently move around/mix the contents. OR mix dust/fine dirt with water then paint it on the minies. Get the mix correct and when they dry they will have a light coating that is see through.

[marco]

you can dirt them with

x 19 , "smoke" from tamya, just add a bit of water

i used it
you can see the result in the gallery (french site)

marco

[Strategos69]

There has been a post about making shadows with just a product. I recommended there to use Bitumen of Judea. I post some pics so that you can see the results. The miniatures look darker and older. I think that's the effect you are looking for. Those are 15mm miniatures.

[Brainsnaffler]

Really nice Strategos! I especially like the Afrika Corps

Ok, I will give this a go

[Probert]

I do a medium black ink wash on all my little figs 15mm and under. Like you I cannot stand it when my guys are too bright.

[WhiteKnight]

Yup, I'm with the dirty brigade. I dont use bright coloured paints at all as few really bright colours seem to have been available to ancient cultures, at least not for mass production. A brown wash over what are already subdued colours of a limited range gives a suitably dirty look. A lot of players who paint twentieth century figures/vehicles can give good hints on how to age/weather/dirty up figures.

Martin

[Brainsnaffler]

A lot of players who paint twentieth century figures/vehicles can give good hints on how to age/weather/dirty up figures

I agree. My first love is WWII, and I use techniques on my 20mm that work well. My problem was that in 6mm, a small blob of wash that settles in the wrong place will cover the entire figure and that's what I didn't want.

I did try a very watered down wash with GW's Graveyard Earth and it came out a treat. In most places it can barely be seen, but on the greens, blues reds and whites, it really shows up well.

Too bad I can't stand painting Celt's! Only 4 more bases to go - that's 16 strips of 3 men and then it's onto the Spanish Scuttari

[Redpossum]

A lot of players who paint twentieth century figures/vehicles can give good hints on how to age/weather/dirty up figures

I agree. My first love is WWII, and I use techniques on my 20mm that work well. My problem was that in 6mm, a small blob of wash that settles in the wrong place will cover the entire figure and that's what I didn't want.

I did try a very watered down wash with GW's Graveyard Earth and it came out a treat. In most places it can barely be seen, but on the greens, blues reds and whites, it really shows up well.

Too bad I can't stand painting Celt's! Only 4 more bases to go - that's 16 strips of 3 men and then it's onto the Spanish Scuttari

Did you guys see that thread titled something about Armypainter Quickshade? There's some useful info in there about a couple varieties of cheap hardware-store type alternatives...

[vercingetorix]

I use minwax polyshades -- and thats on 10's. It seems to work well