Introduction to Tuesday’s Tutorials
Each Tuesday I intend to present a step into painting a miniature to at least ‘Hero‘ level. To demonstrate this I will be using a Games Workshop Elf miniature for the Warhammer Quest board game which I have been commissioned to paint.
Prior to digging into the undercoat and painting your miniature, it’s so important to ensure that the miniature has been prepared properly. First you must clean the miniature.
Cleaning the Miniature
Regardless if the miniature is metal, plastic or resin there will be cast lines and possible molds bleeds that you will need to trim away. Miniatures are created normally using two molds being sandwiched together and the filler poured in. That means there is normally a cast line around the miniature. Most are designed that the cast lines will appear around the side of the miniature rather than cutting through the front. You can generally follow the casting line all around the miniature.
So locate the cast line, and taking a sharp knife begin to trim the lines down. I normally will scrape the knife gently on the line if it does not protrude too much so that i don’t cut the miniature itself.
Tip: If it’s a plastic miniature and the cast line is not large, you can normally scrape it off with your finger nail and leaving a smooth surface behind.
Follow the line around the miniature and ensure that you scrape it all down with the knife. Make sure you hold the knife at a slight angle as you don’t want to create bumps or ridges were the knife scrapes.
After you have scrapped the cast lines down, you may want to use a fine round file to gently remove any residual scrapes or cast lines to ensure you have a smooth miniature surface.
Now look over the miniature and pay attention to any corners, edges of capes, armour or other edges for casting debris which look like either coils or small bumps that don’t appear to have anything to do with the miniature. This last step is generally concerns only metal miniatures. Again cut this pieces away and scrape/file flat.
You now have a clean miniature that is ready for the next steps; puttying the holes, attaching any accessories and undercoating.
