How to - Paint scopes (& guns)

I'd like to make a mini-how-to (might not be so mini when I'm done with is :s) on painting
scopes.

I have painted miniatures (games workshop mostly) for about 10-12 years now so I have a
fair grasp of the basics and a few advanced techniques.
I will be using miniature terms when it comes to doing things, but don't worry, everything
will be explained.
So lets get started:



Step 0: Prepare the item (s) being painted.
This might involve washing them in water and some mild soap to get rid of dirt, casting dust etc
(Step 0a: Put on some music - not to loud and nothing fast paced, trust me it will help you
concentrate).

Step 1:
Trimming!
Trimming is the removal of mold lines or excess flash from the molds. You will find it on any
figure or gun. Personally I use a tape knife, but scalpel or just a really sharp knife will
do (BE CAREFUL NOT TO CUT YOURSELF! I know you already know this, but even I cut myself from
time to time...).
Simply put the blade against the mold line and draw it with the direction of where the mold
line is running. You should achieve a good clean surface with a little practice (and learn
how to cheat around it when you can't )


Step 1a:
Find a comfortable position, I cannot stress how important this actually is!
some like to lean back in the chair and hold the items being painted by hand, some lean forward
some press their palms together to hold things more steady, some use the table to steady their
hands.
Whatever suits your taste, find a position where you don't strain yourself to much. If you have
to hold your breath to keep things still - then you are doing it wrong.
For this how to I sat in about 90 degrees (or a little less slouching over) with my palms
together to keep things steady.
Lighting is also important!
Have at least 1 proper light source, natural light is actually the best, but may be hard to
find

alright lets get to the painting part;

Step 2:
Basecoat
For metal surfaces use black (I'll get back to why later), for any other surface, paint the
desired color that is right in the middle of what you want it to be, or rather the exact
color. For this scope that I've chosen as an example, I'm using red (its a red-dot scope duh!).

I actually painted the gun black first then put on the red. Why? Because with a basecoat the
paint will stick better and blend better later, just putting it on a surface might make it
chip and break eventually. (I am lying here a little bit, I did not paint the pistolgrip of
the gun - Why? Because it will receive the most abuse from figures holding it, paint will chip
there eventually anyways so I figured I would just skip it. - I could have painted it
and after I was finished varnished the whole gun - but seeing as this is the modular m4 from
maurader I'm not going to varnish it the first time around).


Step 3:
For the metal on the rifle I drybrushed a suitable metal color.
Drybrushing is a technique where you employ a rather large (preferably)flat brush and draw off
the paint on some paper/tissue before you draw it across a surface - this leaves pigmentation
only at the edges of whatever it is you are painting - for models it leaves the black shadow
in crevices where it would naturally occur!


For the scope
Add a darker color of the original on the top of the scope (I'll throw in a picture at the
bottom of this how-to to show you the different levels) - for mine I chose a dark red.
Brown works as well (it has to be a warm brown mind you).

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Step 4:
This is where I would add a final drybrush/highlight to the gun - but I am happy with how it
turned out so I won't do that. (I could also add a wash, but I won't do that either).
If I had chosen to do another drybrush, then I would have to get a lighter metal colour, or
else it would have little effect.
For highlighting you take a fine detail brush (real pointy for detail work) and only paint the
edges where natural light would hit - you get a feel for this after a while, but it takes some
hard work, its easy to go overboard - just the outer edges would be painted like this.
Washing is a technique using watered out paints. They run into the cracks of whatever it is
you are painting and create a natural shadow - its the opposite of drybrushing, where you
create shadows by adding the light, here you add the shadows! - So you can infact do this in
reverse. Paint base colors and then wash over it and be happy with that.
for really detailed weapons/whatever I suggest using all methods. - Drybrush on a base color,
wash over it, drybrush again and highlight! (yes this takes a while)

For the scope, add a lighter version of the base colour at the bottom - I chose a bright
orange for mine - keep in mind that the base color should be visible in the middle!

Step 5:
Add a white dot on the scope where light would naturally fall.
I normally do this at the darkest area to get the best contrast - but it depends on the shape
really.
Also if your hand is steady and breathing is even, add a very thin white line at the opposite
edge on the bottom, this will further create the effect of "shine" or "glare".

Step 6:
Varnish!
put some varnish over it. On the scope use a shiny varnish - you can buy these so that you can
paint them on just like normal paint.
on the gun I would chose a mat varnish, but that's me, some like the real shiny look so try
out a few things and see what you prefer.


Finito!

All in all this took me about 30 minutes and that's with drying time, taking pictures and writing
this!

As you can see, Snake Eyes is pretty happy with it!


Hope this helps/inspires others!

And for any questions when it comes to painting small things, don't be afraid to ask, send me PM
or anything, I'll always answer it to the best of my ability.

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oh! forgot this, something I made/stole to help people out.

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Haradrel! Thank you for posting this thorough how-to on painting. It's a great start for folks like me who have never done it before.

I do however would like to pick your brain - three things:

1. What type of paint and brand(s) do you suggest.

2. Where do I get these paints? There is a Games Workshop 15 mins from my house, would they have the necessary paint?

3. Varnish - can you give more details on what varnish to use?

Thanks again for a most excellent, detailed paint-ap how-to. I am waiting for an order from Marauder which should arrive shortly to try this out.

Cheers! ~ Paul.

Hey Paul!

I'll get right on those questions for ya.

1. I'll suggest any type of water based paint, why water based? because to me its easier to work with, won't be as thick, and its not dangerous to swallow (I stick the brushes in my mouth to strengthen/fix the tip to a point.)

2. Any hobbyshop worth its salt will have them. Personally I use Games Workshop paints (and they have neat names for all of their paints, so I could actually tell you the spesific hue of a red in a painting article - for example I used Blood Red for the main color in this article). They are also water based and non-toxic. You can literally swallow the stuff down like water with no ill effects! (a feat one of my friends tried.... So it works.).
Vallejo paints are also quite good.
I'm only naming what I know, I'm sure there are plenty of good brands out there, but if you can find a games workshop, then I'd say go for that, tried and tested and very good.

3. On the Varnishes I would again recommend a hobby store. Games Workshop has its own brand of either Spray on varnishes (Blank and matt) or paint on varnish (blank). I highly recommend these.
I haven't had much success with other brands, but again some trail and error will probably lead to a discovery of some great brands eventually!

Hope that helps mate, and good luck with the Maurader guns!

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Amazing, something I really need to try. i love sniper shots and this would add a great little detail to those kind of shots.

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