Project Selection: Keeping it Manageable

Here we have a good example of what to do when it comes to starting a palate cleanser project. Low model count, simple colour schemes with models that are tied together both by colour and sculpt. It was also dirt cheap, with the model challenger II coming in at £1.50 from ebay. You get what you pay for though. The Challenger is missing quite a few details and you can see that whilst I have painted in vision blocks in pale blue, there is actually no detail sculpted in, making this more suitable for use as terrain than a gaming piece. Whilst steel legion miniatures are quite expensive now, they were more reasonable when I picked them up, maybe £10 for what is shown in the photo.

If you’re just getting started, rather than breaking the bank on OOP pewter models, I’d recommend buying from one of the many 3D printers who offer reasonably priced 5-10 man squads in order to get a feel for how you like painting and basing.

Speaking of basing, you should NOT do what I’ve done here. Some of these models are on standard 28mm round bases whilst the others are on…2 pence pieces. This is certainly cost effective, but you’ll spend an awful lot of time trying to disguise the upper face of the coin as well as creating a secure bond to the metal. In future, what I would recommend is either bulk purchasing your bases ahead of time or making your own. A standard PET bottle has a cap that can be used to cut appropriately sized circles from clay that has been rolled to the appropriate height. This will let you add your own desired texture to the bases and you can customise the height and footprint to your specifications by using alternative cutting implements ( cookie cutters for 60mm rounds or a ruler/ spatula for squares/ rectangles. Just be aware that clay bases are quite a bit more fragile than plastic or even resin. Down below are some examples of textured clay bases.