How To Clean Miniatures With Files

G'day, Macca here, and today I'm here to talk to you about something near and dear to my heart, filing. No, not the paper work kind, I'm talking hand tools, files. Over the years, files have dropped out of popularity, which I find strange, as they can do some high-precision work. I attribute this to poor understanding of how they work, as many people think they leave rough finishes. Well, I'm here today to tell you you're wrong! Yes, this bland, boring, dry article will attempt to show the hobbyist how the file works (it's more complicated then you think) and hopefully you will get better results on your work with some of my advice.

There are lots of kinds, Bastard, Flat, Second Cut, Warding etc., but for all intents and purposes, the general hobbyist only needs needle files. Needle files can come in many shapes, such as round, half round, flat, square, three-square, but what you really need to understand is the way they work, and the two types of teeth.

Teeth:

To start with, the teeth on a file looks something like this up close. (view pic below).

The teeth will only cut one way, and if you try and use them in reverse, they risk curling over and blunting. Pretty straight forward eh?

The Type of Cut:

There are two types of cut, single and double. A single is like this pic below;

The double cut is the exact same again, however, the teeth criss-cross. The main difference for you to understand is that single cut takes off less material, but looks prettier, whilst double cut files tear away much faster.

The Cut Angle:

The file will have all the teeth arranged into rows, or a direction of cut. This is the angle of the teeth, and it is important to understand which direction you can cut in and why.

The two best directions to use are straight up with the file (left side image) and in the opposite direction to the teeth (right side image). If you go in any other direction, you will actually cut gouges OR not cut at all.

Single and Double Cut Files:

 In this image you can see that the teeth all are cut in the same direction, making this a 'single cut' file.

However, you can see here that this file has two sets of teeth. I have marked the cross over point in chalk where the teeth transition.

The results of directional filing:

As you can see here, a straight push on this chalk leaves a smooth flat finish. This is the simplest method to use, and the result speaks for itself.

However, if you move in the direction of the teeth, you end up scoring gouged lines across the surface of whatever you are filing. Believe me, resin WILL do this, as will plastic. I have seen many a miniature ruined by gouging.

This image is where I have filed AGAINST the direction of the teeth. Again, the finish is very smooth, and the damage from the gouging is removed. This is my preferred method of filing.

The below example is why we tend to avoid double cut files. The teeth leave a series of small marks that waver and zig zag across the surface. This is best only used for very rough work.

Although the files used here are fulls sized files (from when I did my apprenticeship, back in the dark ages), they are honestly just scaled up versions of what we use. This is a single cut needle next to a single cut straight file, and as you can see, they are almost identical.

So, next time you want to get a nice straight line on a tank, or you're filing the side of a marine torso so you can get the arm to sit flat against the joint, remember these tips,

~Macca

Flyer-Sized Urban Rubble Bases: Part 2, the paint.

In Part 1 (find it here), we looked at the construction. Here in part 2, we will cover a very simple paint job. To start, the bases are given a spray primer undercoat. The trick, shown in picture 2, is getting the spray so spatter ever so gently and to not have a single flat surface coat. This means that there is more area for paint to stick to, which will prevent paint peeling later on, as resin, even cleaned, is notorious for.

To basecoat, I used the airbrush, with a mix of Miniataire Charcoal Grey and Raven Black to create my dark grey. The GW equivalent which I tried to match, is Standard Mechanicum Grey. It's a fantastic colour, but I can get a lot more Miniataire ready to spray for the same cost.

 Blurrtastic.

Next, GW Leadbelcher was used on all the metal surfaces, and a mix of Sycorax Bronze and Auric Armour Gold was used for the shell casings.

Out come the weathering powders. I applied a fair bit of powder using a small brush. The green powder gives a moldy look which is just perfect for virus bombed Istvaan III, whilst the browns give a good mix of old and new rusts.

To seal it, I gently airbrushed a little acrylic thinners over the bases. This liquifies the pigment, which then sets in place. Do use low air if you do this, as it can blow it all away. If you don't have an airbrush, just gently touch the areas with some white spirits, and the spirits will flow into the pigments and seal them. Always remember to semi-gloss or gloss varnish the pigments after for a good seal.

After the pigments, I gently drybrushed (yes, that horrible painters curse word) the bases, just to add a little definition to the greys. This was a very subtle step.

Finally, I picked out the details such as the little skulls on the bases and the light fitting. I used this time to apply some rust effects (some Secret Weapon Rust Brown powder mixed with a little blazing orange) and applied with a sponge.

The results:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, please let me know if you did,

~Macca

A Galaxy In Flames Tutorial: Secret Weapon Bases- Urban Streets

Tutorial number 3..... URBAN STREETS!

Hey hobbyists, hope you're well! Today we are doing Urban Streets. The stock bases and most of the parts I am going to 'do them up with' are all Secret Weapon Miniatures parts. Their stuff is great, that's why I use it, however other people make similar products, for example Forge World does etch brass barbed wire and weathering pigments. Keep an open mind and find the materials which suit the job you're after.

I would also like to point out that, keeping in line with the previous basing tutorials, we are all about simplicity here. Even where I use a technique that's not well known to a basic painter, I will provide plenty of pictures an commentary on what I have done, as my aim is to help even the newest of people to get some great bases done.

Now onto the base. To start with, I have some secret weapon shell casings, and etch brass barbed wire. I also have some florists wire from my local hobby shop.

I cut and cleaned half a dozen shell casings, and glued them in a random pattern in one part of the base. From there, I grabbed the florists wire, and twisted it into a loop, before trimming it. I did this twice in order to get a pair of '9's.

I drilled two small holes into the base and glued the 9's into the base. These are the pickets for my barbed wire to go into. Next, I twisted the wire around a clear tube in order to get a rough coil, before gluing it into place.

Next, I applied a little grit around the base to help tie in some of the elements, namely the concrete bollard and the two pickets.

I undercoated with a regular black spray, before hand painting some Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey on. I love this colour (shade~ for 'that guy' who will tell me otherwise). From here I did a rough drybrush of Russ Grey to help define my textures, and added some wolf grey in order to do the bollard.

Next up were pigments and metallics. Simple GW Leadbelcher foundation was used on the pickets and wire, and GW Auric Armour Gold for the casings. For the pigments, I applied a little 'Rust Orange' and 'Dark Earth' from Secret Weapon, before using some GW Agrax Earthshade to spread the pigments, and adding water to dilute it. I then added more pigment as required in order to get just the right tones. I also sponged a mix of Blazing Orange paint and Rust Orange pigment onto the wire.

Once I was happy with the tones, I simply brushed over the base with more Russ Grey and painted the edge of the base in Chaos Black.

The Final Result:

This technique is very simple, with half a dozen colours and a couple or pigments I have created a nice simple base, which has an element of narrative to it. In my mind, someone was firing over this wire, it may even be the model I pose on it. Who knows?

~Macca