Delving into the English Civil War

I thought I’d write a short article on how I paint 1/72 plastic miniatures – you probably played with this scale as a kid, especially Airfix kits. If you’ve ever painted them, then the main drawback can be the paint chips off them really easily, especially the rubbery plastic ones. I have a technique or two – well, one, in fact – that will prevent that from happening.

For starters, the only additional item you’ll need from your usual painting kit is either a tin of Army Painter Dip or gloss varnish. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tin of dip or varnish, as either will work.

The first thing you’ll need to do is give them a quick wash, then on to undercoating them – once this has dried, you will need to apply a thin coat of varnish or dip, which ever one you’ve decided to use. Note – when using dip I would recommend using a brush on technique, as it is quite gloopy and if you get too much dip on this scale of miniature, you’ll end up losing a lot of the detail. You will also need to give the tin a good shake before using.

I have found it’s better to use the dip which has collected on the lid, rather than dipping the brush straight into the pot, as it is a lot less messy this way.

The next stage once the dip or varnish has dried is to base paint the miniatures, remember to use a thin coat of paint. as detail is easy to lose with a thick coat.

Once this has been completed then I would apply another thin coat of varnish/dip to the figures. This will seal the base-coat – and, for those of you who have applied dip, it will at the same time shade the models. It isn’t really necessary to paint several layers of shade on figures of this scale or smaller.

Now you have a base coated figure, and those who have used dip will also have a shaded figure. This is the reason I use dip on 1/72 scale plastic miniatures, as I get a shade and varnish in one go. It saves time, especially if you’ve got a large army to paint.

Next we will paint in the highlights – you don’t need to go overboard at this stage, in the same way you would with a 28mm figure. Once this is done, you can add a further coat of gloss or dip. I personally go straight to a coat of matt varnish.

And that, folks, is a quick and simple guide to painting 1/72 scale miniatures, and thanks to the multiple layers of dip or varnish you shouldn’t get any paint chips. In addition, the extra coats of dip/varnish give strength to those 1/72 figures which are made from a rubbery plastic, making them less bendy when touched.