new to figures

HI Will, and welcome to the world of figures. The above posts are full of truth and wisdom, with the most sound advice being, use what works for you. That being said, and in answer to your question, I feel the old Testor's paints (in the small square bottles) just won't produce the best result. If you'd like to use Testor products, may I suggest the Testor's Model Master line of acrylics or enamels, as these are far better than the old Testors line. I personally use Humbrol enamels over a base coat of Vallejo acrylics, and artists oil paint over top all of it for shadows and highlights. How's that for a combo!? I normally work with large scale (120mm) historic figures, but these paints would give you some very pleasing results in 1/35 scale too.

As far as fillers go, I'd like to put in a word for Magic-Sculp putty. A two part resin epoxy that is workable for up to 45 minuts after mixing the two components together. The nice thing about this is that it can be smoothed over with water and an old brush, allowing you to feather in the putty, and producing invisible fills for any size gap. you can also roll it out for straps, blankets, tarps, uniforms, or a whole new figure for that matter. When dry, it can be carved and sanded to any shape or texture desired. It has no grit to it at all, and produces smooth surface that will accept any kind of paint you'd care to use. I got two 1 pound containers for about $15, and it's lasted me at least 3 years. (I'm not close to being half way through my original supply). Oh, it works great for ground work too. Like others have said, get some figures and have at it! You'll soon find products and methods that produce the results YOU like, which is after all, the most important thing in any hobby. Have fun!

i new to modeling too. are testors paints any good?

I have to agree with the whatever works for you theory. I started painting figures somewaht seriously using Humbrols many years ago. Jimmy Carter was inthe White House, IIRC. As those became hard to find around here, I shifted to the first formula Tamiya and had good results with them. I graduated, haltingly to oils, and along the way dabbled with various enamels as well as Poly S and Polly Scale. Several years ago, Tamiya changed the formulatioof their paint and it really is not conducive to the brush painting needed for serious figure work. The current formulation dries very fast out of hte bottle, limiting mixing colors, a necessity in such a narrow range of colors. I had skin tones go unsuable in the time it took to do a 1/35 face and hands witha bsae color. It does not respond well to being thinned with water, beading up too rapidly. The most frustrating aspect is its tendency to develop a skin almost instantly. Unfortunately, the paint below that skin is stll wet and touching the edge with fresh paint from a brush dissolves the surface and lifts the wet paint below. This is ultimately the reason I won;t use this paint anymore. I have never had this problem with Andrea/Vallejo, PollyScale, Model Master Acryl, or Citadel acrylic paints or the old formulation Tamiya from 20+ years ago. .

Shep Paine's "How to build Dioramas..." is a bible to modellers, and is a must read and must have for all!

I've been real happy with the vallejo paints.
But Tarok brings up a valuable and very good point.....the best paint is whatever works for you. There is an axiom in figures, that if it works, use it. As you continue on with your experience with figures, you'll find shortcuts, ideas, techniques that will be uniquely yours. These come through practice and experience. Revel in your accomplishments and learn from your failures. You'll have plenty of both.

Kalmbach Publishing (out host here at fsm) publishes two very good books I'd reccomend to you. "How to paint Realistic Military Minatures" and "How to Build Dioramas". Both are packed with some very helpful info that will make your life easier and get you started in the right direction, making your figure time more enjoyable with results that will reflect it.

Hey there Perry,

Welcome to the wonderful world of figures.

I primarily do plastic figgies, although I have recently started some white metal ones.
I am one of the few resisting the lure of acrylics and oils, and I paint in Humbrol enamels. I do not believe there is such a thing as the best paint for figure painting, or painting armour, or ships, etc etc... I believe there is only the best paint for YOU... I think you will have to try a few different mediums to find the paint that yields results that you find acceptable.
For plastics, I find the Tamiya putty quite satisfactory... and it has a great shelf life...

The links Al gave you are all excellent, I am a member of a few of these forums... however I am somewhat biased toward Armorama...

Cheers
Tarok

Hello Perry, what ajlafleche gave you is great for you to start on your figure painting. However, unlike ajlafleche, I use Tamiya acrylic paints.

THANK YOU!!!
Just what I was looking for!


Perry

Welcomr to the dark side!
By all means, find a dealer for Andrea or Vallejo paints, acrylics in eye dropper bottles. WIde range of colors and engineered for figure painters. Slightly differnt range but the same paint under different lables.
SInce I do primarily resin and metal figures, the adhessive, epoxy or Zap-A-Gap doubles as filler.
Figure painting is a lifetime leariing curve, but it's really a great part of the hobby. It's the one that the general public can appreiciate, because everyone knows what a person looks like, but most people can't tell if you done a great job or garbage on your Sherman and may not even recognize it as a Sherman, ;et alone an M4A3E8!
Do a search here, for figure painting hints and cruise around to places like Armoram.com, Planet Figure, Missing Lynks, and the Acrylicosvallejo.com and check out the tutorial under "Model COlor" in the drop down menu for great tips and articles.
Some of my favorite links:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/47212
http://www.armorama.com/
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.php?act=SC&c=1
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=tntlinks&nav=messages&msg=1395.1&prettyurl=%2Ftntlinks%2Fmessages%2F%3Fmsg%3D1395%2E1
http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/Battles/IntrotoACW.html
http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/
http://www.sentinelminiatures.com/
http://www.milminwh.com/
http://www.andrea-miniatures.com/eng/index/index.htm
http://www.pegasomodels.com/