Dip

[tegyrius]

I've never been particularly good at detailing minis. Drybrushing, highlighting, washes - these are skills that elude me. Last year, I became aware of a technique called dipping, which uses brief immersion in wood stain/sealant to add both contrast and a glossy protective finish. I dug out a couple of old Devil Dog Miniatures figures (relatively poor casting jobs, with a good amount of flash and slop, so I wouldn't feel bad about expending them) and painted them up for experimentation.



The one on the right was in what I'd call an early GWoT color scheme - desert tan clothing, olive drab web gear. He got a bath in Minwax Polyshade Antique Walnut. The result isn't something I love enough to do it to character-specific figures or other critical things, but it gets the job done. I think it's good enough for assembly-line detailing of batches of figures for skirmish wargames or NPCs.

The chap on the left was supposed to blend with a couple of older Copplestone SAWT cops I've done - blue-gray clothing, and again with the OD web gear. However, I used Minwax Polyshade Black Satin on him, and the result was painful. Initially, he looked like a tar baby. I had to swizzle him in mineral spirits and swab off the excess stain just to get him visible, and even after that treatment he's far too dark for me to want to repeat the process with that color on another figure. Allegedly, Minwax has a "Tudor" in the same line that is better for black highlighting, but the local Home Despot doesn't carry it, so more research is required.

I'm not sold on the process in general. It's messy and smelly and generally imprecise. I think I'd probably set up to do it only when I had a batch of figures to dip/swap/dry all at once. Again, this argues for it as a rough finishing technique for semi-disposable groups of figures rather than high-value individuals.



The door they're preparing to kick belongs to another GameCraft product - this time the one-story small half-timber house. The roof and walls are more Rustoleum textured rattle-can paint, while the half-timbering is just a light coat of Minwax Special Walnut stain.

Also, I must applaud Testor's Dullcoat, which is a far, far better matte sealant than the crappy Armory stuff I've been using. The Minwax Polyshade "satin finish" stains were pretty high-gloss, but a quick shot of the Testor's completely eliminated the sheen.

Comments

[redbeard13.livejournal.com]

One of the main tricks to dipping is the removal of excess dip. The best method is attaching the miniature's base to a non-cordless power drill, and spinning it at high RPM for 15 seconds or so. You'll obviously want to do this inside a box, as the excess that gets flung off will go everywhere otherwise.

[tegyrius]

I tried shaking inside a box but couldn't generate enough force. What's your preferred method of attaching the base to the drill?

[redbeard13.livejournal.com]

Normally, if I know I'm going to dip something, I wait to attach it to a base until later, and drill a pin into the model's foot, and then put the pin directly into the drill.

If there's already a base, you'll need to construct something to secure it. A long bolt with a large washer at one end can provide a surface to attach rubber bands to.