Dipping

I've been reading plenty of things around the web lately about "dipping" miniatures in order to get a speedy paint-job, so I thought I'd post about that this week as this is the method I use to paint my Kryomek figures.

Dipping involves using a coloured stain all over the figure in order to give highlighting and shading without actually having to do any. There are plenty wood varnishes available fairly cheaply to do this, but I went with the Army painter range, because I've basically got better things to do with my time than compare different makes and colours of varnish. (Yes, I know I could save a few pennies and it's basically rebadged Ronseal, but it works for me and the tin looks nice)

First thing to do is block in the base colours. One thing to remember is to go for a shade lighter than you want for the finished figure as the dip will darken it considerably.

Next up, splash on the dip. Some people actually dip the whole mini in the can (hence the name) but I find using a bruch gives much more control, and much less waste. You'll need an old brush for this as the stain will kill brushes. It's also messy and a bit smelly. Leave it for a few minutes, then go back and soak up any excess where the stain is pooling.

At this stage, you may be tempted to cry, or at least curse me for having talked you into covering your cherished miniatures in sticky brown gloop, but fear not - give them 24 hours to set and hit them with a matt varnish.

Last thing to do is add details and a bit of flock and you're done. Obviously, you can take it further by adding in extra highlights, but I call them finished.

If you want to go super-speedy, you can start off with a coloured primer. I use bone on my bugs, again from Army Painter.

These guys aren't going to win any awards, but they look fine in table-vision and the method allows you to plow through a large number of figures fairly quickly.

Hope this has been of use.