Polishing miniatures

Hello, today I’ll show you simple trick how to get better metal minis.

Probably you have sometime questions how many painters get smooth and flat surfaces on metal miniatures?
Usually or even always metal miniatures need polishing. When you open box or blister mini don’t shine like made of metal but some kind of light grey block.  White raid covered with primer is very bad during painting because brush will be harrassed by inequality of surface.

andrea

Steelwool from Andreadrill

Hobby drill with cable from Dremel

brass

Brass wheel brushes

files

Hobby files

There is some methods how to polish mini. Some theory and my experiences below.

  • Sandpaper – qiute nice for larger surfaces, wrapped around small sticks can reach almost all recess. Firstly you have to remove bigger inequalities with thicker paper like 500 grit and next polish to shine with 1000 and next 2000 grit.
  • Steelwool – Steel wool cuts imperfections very fast and you have to care not to polish too much. Steel wool is great for fine finish. Remember to wash mini after polishing to remove all steel dust from mini.
  • Hobby drill with cable – my favourite fastest way to polish minis, just place right brush on drill (it must to be soft brass brush, in other case you can damage miniature) and polish mini.
  • Hobby files – in some cases are irreplaceable but not very useful in polishing bigger surfaces.

Now some practice!

I took Warmachine Seether mini because almost every mini from this game need special treatment before you’re ready to paint.

polish1

Here is an example how parts look after unboxing. Not so shiny.

polish2

Here is a fastest medicine to cure all imperfections. Safety glasess are highly necessary because during polishing sometime brush is shoting with small brass hair. You won’t like to have them in your eyes.

Remember to always use soft brass brush, metal one can and probably will damage mini.

polish3

After short polishing you can see the difference, now parts are shiny, not white and rough.

polish4

Did you ever seen warmachine miniature looking like this one?  Now before assembly remove mold lines with hobby knife, sandpaper or whatever. Wash parts with old toothbrush in warm water and dishwashing liquid to remove all fat and dirty things from miniature. After priming you won’t have any sad surprises.

polish5

Shiny minis look better before and after painting. That’s all my experiences I can share with you about polishing. Hope you find it useful.

 

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  1. I would never have thought of this. I know pewter models oxidise but it would never have occurred to me to clean the oxidation off before painting,

    Thanks!

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