Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[scott holder]

Just got back from Tcon and was suprised that the DFW bubbas weren't aware of
one of the easiest ways to produce great looking figures, dipping. Many of you
are already familiar with this technique and it's certainly not new. It's been
around since at least the early 80s and probably earlier than that. So if you
know all about this, delete now. OTOH, I do provide specific product
information you might want:):)

Actually, seeing other people's work in 25mm is always gratifying for me. Chris
has amazing shield patterns that looked like they were painted. I mean they
were incredibly awesome but not "perfect" the way decals are. Patrick had the
coolest Asian command elephant (it's for the Huckelberry and Clark Yuan list)
with a scratch built howdah. And Don had a medieval camp with one of those
tents I can never seem to find. He had done a gold trim line around the top
with little black dots. It was really nice looking and something I never would
have thought to do. I *love* looking at other painters because you always pick
up ideas and techniques even though some of us don't paint all that much
anymore. Heaven forfend that Imperial Warrior not get published soonest:):)

Dipping goes by many other names and at it's most basic level, you literally
stick a figure into a can of polyurathane stain, pull it out, "flick" the figure
several times to get rid of the excess and wah lah, one figure that's already
shaded. All you need to do is paint pretty colors onto the figure or any other
detail you might want to add. The stain does all the shading and the effects
are quite striking.

One thing that I do differently is not "dip". Instead, I brush on the stain,
then dab off the excess. It reduces bubbles and gives you more control over the
amount of stain that accumulates in places. Plus, it's cleaner! One hint, when
you're done with the brush, instead of cleaning it with turpentine and such,
wrap it up in cling wrap and put it in your freezer. It'll keep in there for at
least 6 months and if you "dip" regularly, the brush will wear out before it'll
dry up.

The stain you're using is specifically:

Minwax Polyshades.

This is a stain and polyurathane all in one. The color I use is:

Tudor 360.

The 360 is the number of the color and signifies a satin finish rather than a
gloss finish (gloss finish number is 460). Unless you like really glossy
figures, go with the Satin finish.

Other colors to consider are:

Royal Walnut 350
Old Maple 330
Antique Walnut 340

On the Minwax web site, Tudor is actually the darkest of the lot. Old Maple is
a bit redder than I think will work. I know from experimenting years ago that
Royal Walnut ended up looking "darker" on the figures than Tudor but some people
preferred that. I've stuck with Tudor all these years.

Now, if you like the finish after dipping, you're done. That polyurathane
coating is better than any dullcoats you could slop onto the figure. However,
if you want to further dull up the finish since Satin turns out being a slightly
semi-gloss finish, you'll need to take the following two steps:

1) Buy some Kamar Varnish. This is a spray made my Krylon and it's product
number is 1312. This is an "artists fixative" which means it provides a surface
to which all things will stick. This is important since the dullcoat you're
gonna apply in Step 2 won't adhere well to polyurathane. Instead it'll shrink
on the surface and you'll see visible (if you're close enough) "wrinkle lines"
of dull coat. Spray on 2 coats of Kamar Varnish. Then:

2) Use any dull coat. I use Krylon's Matte Finish (product number 1311) and put
2 coats of that onto the figure.

Wah lah, you're done.

To summarize, purchase the following:

Minwax Polyshades Tudor 360
Krylon Kamar Varnish 1312
Krylon Matte Finish 1311

At the very least, this method is still the best way to shade white. Note that
if you want to shade black, you can't. Dry brushing a highlight color is still
the only way to go. However, the polyurathane stain does a great job of
blending the highlight into the rest of the figure.

All of the above can be purchased in "The Slayer of Small Town America", aka
Wal-Mart. If the evil calculating bastards at Wallyworld don't carry Tudor
color (mine doesn't but carries all the rest), you can find Tudor at ANY paint
store or home improvement store (like Lowes or Home Deport) all of whom sell
Minwax products.

Keep in mind that dipping gives your figure a particular painting style that
looks just like other figure dippers. Of course every WAB army I see painted
looks pretty much like all the rest. Oops, that might be construed as a
criticism, it's not since I see some gorgeous WAB armies. It's just that there
is a GW "style" of painting that seems to have carried over into WAB Ancients so
that all the armies look alike, pretty, but alike. Dipping has the same effect
albeit in a totally different style.

Also, if you have a ton of old crappier painted figures, dip them. They'll look
100% better overnight.

The above applies only to 25mm. I have no idea how well this works in 15mm. I
also know that dipping loves figures with lotsa crags and deep cuts in em. The
"ugly duckling" of 25mm, Irregular, are perhaps some of the best dipping figures
and you get some wonderful effects with them. My 25mm Burgundian Ordonnance
army is dipped and is a good looking army, all by Irregular. The Partha Spanish
I've been painting have also dipped well and I know from others that Essex are
also good. The Tin Soldier Aztecs I bought from Jake (for command figures for
the camp and some LI slingers) also dipped nicely. Figures that don't dip all
that well are Minifigs.

Go crazy.

Scott

[Eric Turner]

I agree with Scott about Dipping. Some more hints and tips. First,
try it on just one or two figures. IF you feel the figure is darkened
too much try thr following. Mix the strain with Mineral Spirts to
thin it out. I use a 50/50 mix but I like it thin. This allows me to
add more coats to get the best shading. About color, I like a more
brown color than black.

Eric Turner



--- In WarriorRules@yahoogroups.com, "Holder, Scott"
<Scott.Holder@f...> wrote:
> Just got back from Tcon and was suprised that the DFW bubbas
weren't aware of one of the easiest ways to produce great looking
figures, dipping. Many of you are already familiar with this
technique and it's certainly not new. It's been around since at
least the early 80s and probably earlier than that. So if you know
all about this, delete now. OTOH, I do provide specific product
information you might want:)
>
> Actually, seeing other people's work in 25mm is always gratifying
for me. Chris has amazing shield patterns that looked like they were
painted. I mean they were incredibly awesome but not "perfect" the
way decals are. Patrick had the coolest Asian command elephant (it's
for the Huckelberry and Clark Yuan list) with a scratch built
howdah. And Don had a medieval camp with one of those tents I can
never seem to find. He had done a gold trim line around the top with
little black dots. It was really nice looking and something I never
would have thought to do. I *love* looking at other painters because
you always pick up ideas and techniques even though some of us don't
paint all that much anymore. Heaven forfend that Imperial Warrior
not get published soonest:)
>
> Dipping goes by many other names and at it's most basic level, you
literally stick a figure into a can of polyurathane stain, pull it
out, "flick" the figure several times to get rid of the excess and
wah lah, one figure that's already shaded. All you need to do is
paint pretty colors onto the figure or any other detail you might
want to add. The stain does all the shading and the effects are
quite striking.
>
> One thing that I do differently is not "dip". Instead, I brush on
the stain, then dab off the excess. It reduces bubbles and gives you
more control over the amount of stain that accumulates in places.
Plus, it's cleaner! One hint, when you're done with the brush,
instead of cleaning it with turpentine and such, wrap it up in cling
wrap and put it in your freezer. It'll keep in there for at least 6
months and if you "dip" regularly, the brush will wear out before
it'll dry up.
>
> The stain you're using is specifically:
>
> Minwax Polyshades.
>
> This is a stain and polyurathane all in one. The color I use is:
>
> Tudor 360.
>
> The 360 is the number of the color and signifies a satin finish
rather than a gloss finish (gloss finish number is 460). Unless you
like really glossy figures, go with the Satin finish.
>
> Other colors to consider are:
>
> Royal Walnut 350
> Old Maple 330
> Antique Walnut 340
>
> On the Minwax web site, Tudor is actually the darkest of the lot.
Old Maple is a bit redder than I think will work. I know from
experimenting years ago that Royal Walnut ended up looking "darker"
on the figures than Tudor but some people preferred that. I've stuck
with Tudor all these years.
>
> Now, if you like the finish after dipping, you're done. That
polyurathane coating is better than any dullcoats you could slop onto
the figure. However, if you want to further dull up the finish since
Satin turns out being a slightly semi-gloss finish, you'll need to
take the following two steps:
>
> 1) Buy some Kamar Varnish. This is a spray made my Krylon and it's
product number is 1312. This is an "artists fixative" which means it
provides a surface to which all things will stick. This is important
since the dullcoat you're gonna apply in Step 2 won't adhere well to
polyurathane. Instead it'll shrink on the surface and you'll see
visible (if you're close enough) "wrinkle lines" of dull coat. Spray
on 2 coats of Kamar Varnish. Then:
>
> 2) Use any dull coat. I use Krylon's Matte Finish (product number
1311) and put 2 coats of that onto the figure.
>
> Wah lah, you're done.
>
> To summarize, purchase the following:
>
> Minwax Polyshades Tudor 360
> Krylon Kamar Varnish 1312
> Krylon Matte Finish 1311
>
> At the very least, this method is still the best way to shade
white. Note that if you want to shade black, you can't. Dry
brushing a highlight color is still the only way to go. However, the
polyurathane stain does a great job of blending the highlight into
the rest of the figure.
>
> All of the above can be purchased in "The Slayer of Small Town
America", aka Wal-Mart. If the evil calculating bastards at
Wallyworld don't carry Tudor color (mine doesn't but carries all the
rest), you can find Tudor at ANY paint store or home improvement
store (like Lowes or Home Deport) all of whom sell Minwax products.
>
> Keep in mind that dipping gives your figure a particular painting
style that looks just like other figure dippers. Of course every WAB
army I see painted looks pretty much like all the rest. Oops, that
might be construed as a criticism, it's not since I see some gorgeous
WAB armies. It's just that there is a GW "style" of painting that
seems to have carried over into WAB Ancients so that all the armies
look alike, pretty, but alike. Dipping has the same effect albeit in
a totally different style.
>
> Also, if you have a ton of old crappier painted figures, dip them.
They'll look 100% better overnight.
>
> The above applies only to 25mm. I have no idea how well this works
in 15mm. I also know that dipping loves figures with lotsa crags and
deep cuts in em. The "ugly duckling" of 25mm, Irregular, are perhaps
some of the best dipping figures and you get some wonderful effects
with them. My 25mm Burgundian Ordonnance army is dipped and is a
good looking army, all by Irregular. The Partha Spanish I've been
painting have also dipped well and I know from others that Essex are
also good. The Tin Soldier Aztecs I bought from Jake (for command
figures for the camp and some LI slingers) also dipped nicely.
Figures that don't dip all that well are Minifigs.
>
> Go crazy.
>
> Scott