figure painting in general

[smokinprice]

I have been painting some 25mm lead French Infantry figures from the Napoleonic Wars as a change of pace from my Sherman Diorama. I did an undercoat of matt black for the primer. I noticed though as I put the second coat of Sand on the trousers, it was starting to get a little thick and I was losing some detail. I was wondering how some of you out there deal with this. It did take two coats to cover the black. Just wondering. Before some one asks, I use both Model Master Enamels and Vallejo paints to paint with.

[rpardo]

Hi
I use GamesWorkshop Black Chaos for prime and then Vallejo acrylics, painting the basic colour and then one, two or three highlights. The only thing to take into account is that, with black undercoating, all the colours will seem darker, so maybe you must start with a basic color slightly less deep....

[Adam]

You could, althought it does seem odd, as I do the same and have never had an issue? Also I did a trial of colours over black and white and when I had finished the top coat there was no discernable difference in shade as long as the paint pigment is strong enough, i.e not some of the watery paints you get?

You could try using a darker base brown as your first coat after your black? Go for a chesnuty colour, then a mid/light brown, then your sand? Unless thats what you already did?

I find you have to shake the hell out of vallejo to make sure the pigment is mixed in well and they are not too watery and shiny, but I have you turned from not being a fan to liking them.

[rpardo]

Mybe the problem is in the last point raised by adam: the shaking of the paint jar to mix the pigment....

[Martin]

Hi , I use Vallejo paint too and you have to shake good to get it mixed.
I shake my little bottles upside down and shake like I play drums or like you shake samba-balls yes like this

[grund]

I use black chaos from games workshop too.

The main problem is the inequal quality of pigments. Some colour are more fluid, and others may by more dry. So as Martin said, I have to shake well.

Another problem is stocking your set of painting.

As I haven't paint for a long time; most of my paint have dried.

I wonder if there is a better way to stock?

[Peter]

Hey grund, I'm not painting for the moment, but when I did, I used to stock my paint as follows: before opening it, I brought a sticker on the bottom of the paintbox and wrote the number on it. then after usage I closed them well and put it upside down. This was my way to keep my paint longer in good shape (I must admit I only used Humbroll and Revell paint)

I hope you can do something with this tip.

Greatings Peter.

[rpardo]

A good trick. My paints do not dry but I use Vallejo and the pigment go to the botom of the jar. In occasions I must to add some drops of water to make the paint more liquid.