You see them in the shops, the tiny packages with white metal figures which can barely be identified with the naked eye. There’s lots of information on detailing and painting them, but how easy is it for a beginner? (Especially one with older eyesight!) Follow our steps and see. (These same techniques can be used for painting dollhouse metal miniatures and other metal miniatures.) We began with three miniature figures from
Games Workshops, Return of the King series, Gollum, Sam and Frodo. These are finely detailed and well cast miniatures and should offer a lot of scope for experimenting.
To Choose Metal Miniatures to Paint
- Choose metals which are safe to handle Make sure your miniature is not cast from lead, but is cast from white metal, pewter or other safe to handle metals.
- Examine the casting Look for metal castings with crisp, clear detail lines.
- Look for clean mold lines. Examine castings for excess metal mold lines and flash or extra metal which will need to be cleaned off before you can finish the miniature.
- Check Scale Make sure the miniature is the correct scale and matches the range of other figures/display pieces you intend to use it with.
