Painting Star trek Miniatures

[Rabidchild]

Did you wash the models in warm soapy water before painting? Most resins have an oil on them that helps pop the models out of the molds when they are cast. That could be why your paints aren't working the way you are used to, and water would only make it worse. Can anyone confirm if Mongoose uses a release agent?

 

[billclo]

Hi. I don't know if Mongoose is using a release agent or not. I thought I had seen somewhere that we didn't need to wash them, but I'm willing to give it a try with the rest of my minis.

I did find that I had a cross-contamination issue though. I've been using Pledge floor liquide wax as a part of my washes, and I was using the same eyedropper for both water and Pledge.

When I got a new eyedropper for water only, it seems to have helped.

I am still seeing some issues with the paint not wearing very well on top of the base coat - some areas keep getting worn while I'm holding the model in this position or that. For sure I'm going to have to do a final basecoat in some areas to tidy up before I put on the spray varnish.

 

[Keeper Nilbog]

Haven't needed to wash any of mine so far, and the paint i use (vallejo Game/Model colour) coats very well. Better than mst other resin models i have dealt with before.

 

[ErikB]

Incidentally, the original Klingon D7 studio model was painted in a rather fetching two tone grey and green scheme:-

http://atomiccity.yuku.com/topic/528#.TzMBOMUZfM0

I think this is from the original film stock:-

That site recommends these paints as to match the colours:-

Green
Tamiya XF-21 - 1 part
Tamiya XF-23 - 2 parts

Gray
Tamiya XF-66

I painted some of the (frankly terrible) old metal klingons in that scheme:-

I like it. I think it has a strangely retro feel.

 

[Red-24]

I've been taking photos of my minis as I assemble and paint them. You can check them out here: Starline 2500 minis, but as of this post, I'm not too far along.

I started with the Romulans, but the amount of time it took to clean up the models prevented me from getting far. I swear it took me two hours to clean up the Condor. The smaller models were quicker, but also had more problems. Then when I started assembling the Feds (I just couldn't wait) I found the biggest issues. The Kirov class had such a big air bubble near the shuttlebay doors that when I filled it, it just all bubbled up.

Anyway, I sent Mongoose some photos and they have some replacements on the way.

I've been undercoating with Testor's Model Master Acryl Flat Black. I picked up a number of Model Master paints for this project. Normally I use Vallejo for my metal minis. I love those paints, but I thought they may be a bit thick and both obscure details and leave brush strokes.

What I'm finding with the Model Master paints is that they are a nice consistency for these ships, but do take several coats to paint. So I think the issue will be how quick do you need paint them vs. how good do you want to paint them?

For me, I decided when I started buying into this game that I wanted the figures to be as awesome as possible, so I'm taking my time. That may change as I get impatient.

I'm following Jim Lewis' paint scheme as a guide for feds. So I've base coated my Burke Class with Model Master 4763 Flat Gull Grey.

I have been using a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of Model Master 4761 Dark Ghost Grey and Vallejo Game Colour 46 Ghost Grey for the base coat of the Romulans. I picked up three different colours for the Klingons (all Model Master) 4727 Green Drab, 4783 Grun RLM 73 and 4792 Dunkelgrun RLM 82.

Anyway, I'll keep adding to the photo gallery as I go, so you can check back. Once I have some fully painted figs, I'll take some all around shots and post them.