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Description
This is a tutorial i have been meaning to do for a long time now. a lot of the time i think figures (especially military model figures) are something that a lot of people are intimidated by or don't want to bother with. they can seem like a lot of work or hard to make them look natural. hopefully in this basic tutorial i can show you a very basic, no thrills way to make even a crappy stock figure look ok.

Small disclaimer: I am not a master, and these are just the basics that you should know if you would like build/paint figures for scale models or dioramas. what works for me, may not for you and a lot of the time experimenting and patience is the key.these suggestions should work for most scales but the figure i will be using is a pretty basic 1/35. lacking detail and sporting a derp face, I honestly didn't put much work into him. the photos and tutorial write up took longer than the work i put into him, obviously if you put more work in and spend more time you will get better results.

                                                                                                INFO DUMP WARNING:
anyways as i said this is going to be very basics, bare bones, tutorial on scale figure building and painting. ill try to explain each step and throw out a few tips i have for it. learning these skills can go a long way and give to the ability to make better and better scale figurines.again this is all suggestions, don't take this as the only way or even the right way. in the end you've got to do whats going to work best for you and your project.
From left to right,top to bottom:

1: supply's and figure
here is ALL the materials,supply's,paint ect that will be used on this single figure. i know it seems like a lot but most are things that can be bought over time and should be in the tool box of every scale model and miniature artist.

Paint:                                                                                                           Tools:
MM(model masters) dark tan         water based brown art acrylic              Hobby knife(fresh and sharp blade)
MM flat black                              krylon gray primer                                                            Hobby shears(side cutters ect)
MM leather                                 testors flat top coat                                                         candle/sewing needle
MM euro gray                                    enamel/water thinner                                                     sand paper/ sand paper sponge
Tamiya flat flesh                                                                                                                 q-tips and paper towel sheet
                                                                                                                                         block of foam(to hold figure while painting)

Glues and Putty                           Brushes:
Tamiya extra thin                             2 round X2 (one for flesh other for washes)
Lock tight super glue                       3/0 round
squadron green putty

2: get you figure of choice and remove it from the plastic gate/tree/spruce whatever. use the side cutters to get as close to the figure as possible. this is a stock 1/35 figure from a tamyia T62a and has a pretty typical goofy face. my recommendation would be buy a set of nicer figures and do head swaps when you encounter a face only a mother could love. having a set or two of figures will allow you to do a lot more and sometimes a basic arm/head swap can do wonders.

3: using your hobby knife remove any nubs and remove the molding seam(there will be a line or seam down most plastic figurines) i use the side of my blade to scrap off that line a bit, then i sand the parts down with a fine grit sanding sponge.

4: using to two different glues can really help with arm and limb placement. i use a TINY amount of super glue to place arms, and check how they look(can be gently removed if placement is off) when placement of the limbs looks good, i use the plastic cement to fix them permanently.

5: some times there will be gaps between the limbs and body.sometimes if the gap is really small just a bit of sanding will fix it. if the gap is bigger place a dab of putty into the area and smooth it out a bit( i use a knife blade) once dry sand down using fit grit sandpaper and sand paper sponge.

6: just about ready for paint, i like to heat up a pin and melt it into a place on the figurine that will not be seen. the pin will allow you to work on the figure without having to hold the figure. remember to be very careful with the hot needle as not to hurt your self or the figurine. when you are all done with the figure all you have to do is twist the pin and it will come right out(there are loads of alternative to the heated pin, super gluing to a cork or plastic bit is one)
after the figure is "pinned" i like to give them a coat of primer. i know a lot of people skip priming but i like to do it because it will highlight any mistakes and crate a smooth foundation and give paint something to grip onto.

7: once the primer has dried, flesh is next up. flesh color typically will need a couple(if not 3) very thin coats. do not try to get the flesh all in one coat, you do not want to loose detail. with the flesh coat don't worry about getting it over lines or on other parts. the main priority is to just get the flesh tone down.

8: next up for painting will be the smaller details. on this figure i painted his helmet/hat euro gray and gloves leather. this would be the time to do holsters,belts,metals etc. anything thing tiny and "raised" should be painted here. its easy to go over a bit on the tiny details and fix them latter when working on the bigger parts(jacket etc)

9: next up dark tan for his jacket and pants and black for his shoes. i like to work from top to bottom. naturally the more colors, detail you can paint on the better but as you can see there really was not much to this figure.

10: after all the base paint as been painted, a nice wash can really make a figure look a lot better. of course there is fancier techniques that can be done, but starting out just mix up some art acrylic paint(in this case brown) and water. use that thinned mixture to paint over the parts(working from head down, in small segments) then wipe away the paint with a q-tip. the paint will stay in the recess and create dept. sometimes you will have to do the washes a few times to get the detail you want, but if your patience it will make the figure look pretty good. its also worth saying i never paint the eyes, always just using washes to bring out that detail.

11: pretty much done, just don't forget to top coat, to protect your work. while this guy looks kinda doofy, and weird up close, he will look alright from a distance sitting in a tank, example:

in closing a little bit of work and some simple steps can make even a old stock figurine look good. it never hurts to have extra heads and arms on hand and any extra work/love will pay off. just remember to be patience and not get discouraged as anybody that makes scale figures knows failure. hopefully some of this helped and has given you some ideas on how to make/paint scale figures for you projects.

As always questions,comments and suggestions welcome.

Description
This is a tutorial i have been meaning to do for a long time now. a lot of the time i think figures (especially military model figures) are something that a lot of people are intimidated by or don't want to bother with. they can seem like a lot of work or hard to make them look natural. hopefully in this basic tutorial i can show you a very basic, no thrills way to make even a crappy stock figure look ok.

Small disclaimer: I am not a master, and these are just the basics that you should know if you would like build/paint figures for scale models or dioramas. what works for me, may not for you and a lot of the time experimenting and patience is the key.these suggestions should work for most scales but the figure i will be using is a pretty basic 1/35. lacking detail and sporting a derp face, I honestly didn't put much work into him. the photos and tutorial write up took longer than the work i put into him, obviously if you put more work in and spend more time you will get better results.

                                                                                                INFO DUMP WARNING:
anyways as i said this is going to be very basics, bare bones, tutorial on scale figure building and painting. ill try to explain each step and throw out a few tips i have for it. learning these skills can go a long way and give to the ability to make better and better scale figurines.again this is all suggestions, don't take this as the only way or even the right way. in the end you've got to do whats going to work best for you and your project.
From left to right,top to bottom:

1: supply's and figure
here is ALL the materials,supply's,paint ect that will be used on this single figure. i know it seems like a lot but most are things that can be bought over time and should be in the tool box of every scale model and miniature artist.

Paint:                                                                                                           Tools:
MM(model masters) dark tan         water based brown art acrylic              Hobby knife(fresh and sharp blade)
MM flat black                              krylon gray primer                                                            Hobby shears(side cutters ect)
MM leather                                 testors flat top coat                                                         candle/sewing needle
MM euro gray                                    enamel/water thinner                                                     sand paper/ sand paper sponge
Tamiya flat flesh                                                                                                                 q-tips and paper towel sheet
                                                                                                                                         block of foam(to hold figure while painting)

Glues and Putty                           Brushes:
Tamiya extra thin                             2 round X2 (one for flesh other for washes)
Lock tight super glue                       3/0 round
squadron green putty

2: get you figure of choice and remove it from the plastic gate/tree/spruce whatever. use the side cutters to get as close to the figure as possible. this is a stock 1/35 figure from a tamyia T62a and has a pretty typical goofy face. my recommendation would be buy a set of nicer figures and do head swaps when you encounter a face only a mother could love. having a set or two of figures will allow you to do a lot more and sometimes a basic arm/head swap can do wonders.

3: using your hobby knife remove any nubs and remove the molding seam(there will be a line or seam down most plastic figurines) i use the side of my blade to scrap off that line a bit, then i sand the parts down with a fine grit sanding sponge.

4: using to two different glues can really help with arm and limb placement. i use a TINY amount of super glue to place arms, and check how they look(can be gently removed if placement is off) when placement of the limbs looks good, i use the plastic cement to fix them permanently.

5: some times there will be gaps between the limbs and body.sometimes if the gap is really small just a bit of sanding will fix it. if the gap is bigger place a dab of putty into the area and smooth it out a bit( i use a knife blade) once dry sand down using fit grit sandpaper and sand paper sponge.

6: just about ready for paint, i like to heat up a pin and melt it into a place on the figurine that will not be seen. the pin will allow you to work on the figure without having to hold the figure. remember to be very careful with the hot needle as not to hurt your self or the figurine. when you are all done with the figure all you have to do is twist the pin and it will come right out(there are loads of alternative to the heated pin, super gluing to a cork or plastic bit is one)
after the figure is "pinned" i like to give them a coat of primer. i know a lot of people skip priming but i like to do it because it will highlight any mistakes and crate a smooth foundation and give paint something to grip onto.

7: once the primer has dried, flesh is next up. flesh color typically will need a couple(if not 3) very thin coats. do not try to get the flesh all in one coat, you do not want to loose detail. with the flesh coat don't worry about getting it over lines or on other parts. the main priority is to just get the flesh tone down.

8: next up for painting will be the smaller details. on this figure i painted his helmet/hat euro gray and gloves leather. this would be the time to do holsters,belts,metals etc. anything thing tiny and "raised" should be painted here. its easy to go over a bit on the tiny details and fix them latter when working on the bigger parts(jacket etc)

9: next up dark tan for his jacket and pants and black for his shoes. i like to work from top to bottom. naturally the more colors, detail you can paint on the better but as you can see there really was not much to this figure.

10: after all the base paint as been painted, a nice wash can really make a figure look a lot better. of course there is fancier techniques that can be done, but starting out just mix up some art acrylic paint(in this case brown) and water. use that thinned mixture to paint over the parts(working from head down, in small segments) then wipe away the paint with a q-tip. the paint will stay in the recess and create dept. sometimes you will have to do the washes a few times to get the detail you want, but if your patience it will make the figure look pretty good. its also worth saying i never paint the eyes, always just using washes to bring out that detail.

11: pretty much done, just don't forget to top coat, to protect your work. while this guy looks kinda doofy, and weird up close, he will look alright from a distance sitting in a tank, example:

in closing a little bit of work and some simple steps can make even a old stock figurine look good. it never hurts to have extra heads and arms on hand and any extra work/love will pay off. just remember to be patience and not get discouraged as anybody that makes scale figures knows failure. hopefully some of this helped and has given you some ideas on how to make/paint scale figures for you projects.

As always questions,comments and suggestions welcome.