The trick to painting HUGE Warhammer armies (fast)

[@jackhammer40k_]

So in a completely original and unique way, I found myself coming back to warhammer in my thirties after a hiatus since my adolescence, and I have to say, I've been really surprised by some of the attitudes in the community surrounding things like the "pile of shame", motivation to paint, and the desire for us all to compare what we do to other hobbyists. I think it's really important we all take a step back from what we're doing to remind ourselves that this is a hobby. Something to do for fun. The world is not depending on us to complete the next miniature. You don't have to stay motivated. If you're not feeling it, don't paint. Do something else. It's so bizarre to me to hear so many people repeat these frankly toxic ideas about shame and pressure in what is supposed to be a space of retreat from reality. Just enjoy it. Anyway, thanks for the podcast, keep up the good work

[@Roenkatana]

I think that between most of us who grew up with warhammer being adults and a LOT of people discovering it over covid, the attitude has become a lot friendlier and compassionate towards the amount of time you'd typically need to invest in model kits and the lack of free time the post-capitalist hellscape that is the current world allows us.

[@LordAlbrecht]

We have to refer to piles of shame as such because referring to them as anything else feels like vapid materialistic bragging

[@MrZauberelefant]

Spot on. I don't have a pile of shame, I have a hobby fallback for a rainy day, a retirement fund of sorts, I own stuff I love. If you don't want it, get rid of it. I get that it can feel like an obligation to own unpainted minis, but that's a problem easily solved via eBay

[@urSkeks-h95]

I've been on James' side all the way from ep1. Massive ramen bowl as a water pot? Sure. Power tools to drill gun barrels? All is forgiven. But buying 5 pots of the same paint in one go is unhinged. Straight to jail. Love the show, keep it up

[@SiegeStudios]

Don't knock it until you try it! haha

[@catcadev]

Sorry POWER TOOLS?

[@laurencepenfold]

wowstick bits are fixed shank size so you can't just use any old drill bit where the shank is the same width as the cutting tip.. But you can easily buy the correct type, usually sold as PCB drill bits on places like Amazon. Shank size of 2.35mm will work, don't get 1/8inch.

[@georgeratkowitz8023]

53:50 bases separately is a no brainer speeding up. Quick tip regarding floating feet - PVA is water soluble, so if you want to engrave the model into an already done base you do it by gluing models with PVA, once it starts to melt the base you just use force and push it. Or drop water on parts where legs will be and wait for it to loosen up and glue the models then.

[@tonyounsworth7904]

Fascinating discussion on timing how long is spent on painting each stage, as this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I was surprised to hear that none of you had ever timed how long building and cleaning the models takes though - probably because it makes for frightening reading! I recently timed how long a large main character took to build and clean - it took 4 HOURS! Even mounting the various sub assemblies and priming it took 45 minutes. Finding time efficiencies at this stage is probably the holiest grail for commission painters like me, because the hourly rate for a job can soon become tiny if you don’t get a handle on it. It doesn’t help that the GW sprue numbering is often all over the place! Even reading the instruction manual can be a big time sink, but one thing that I do find helpful is reading ahead in the manual before starting. That way you can identify elements later in the build that can be constructed separately, earlier than the instructions tell you to, and skip ahead to those while glue is drying on the element you’ve just constructed. Following the instructions in order is often an inefficient way to proceed, in my experience. Great discussion guys, keep up the good work 🤘🥰

[@RosarioAFK]

The thing I noticed about building all my models and not painting them yet.. New kits have different leftover extra bits you can use to kitbash and spice up other troops you might not have been able to do if you already had painted them before opening the next box of models.

[@TheSpiderNev]

For this reason I assemble parts of models with plastic glue if I'm very sure I'll never need to modify and plastic glue on areas were I'm likely to kitbash in the future.

[@rhag1394]

Ben is a fantastic guest! His speed and ability to just paint to tight deadlines is astonishing. And he's such a great bloke as well. What he says about blood bowl is true. It is easily my favoirite GW game!

[@UntiltedName]

For army projects I put all of my efficiency and time saving effort into the building and base coating steps. That is batch build similar kits until it's all built. Then spray their most prominent base coats in one or two large sessions. From that point I do the detail work unit by unit without feeling rushed. Once an army evolves into a collection, it makes more sense to piecemeal the additions and substitutions. As by that point the core elements of the army are in a finished and playable state.

[@fenris78uk]

You probably don't need to do test models as you do a lot more painting in general. I use a test model usually to do a few things - figure out the order to do things in for batch painting, and to figure out recipes and techniques. Last one I did was really to try and figure out whether, for Chaos Space Marines, I should spray the trim and paint the armour or vice versa, before I committed to an approach that I might deeply regret halfway through the army.

[@kealyj]

Wow, turns out Brushrage was exactly what I needed in my life.

[@Hendarion]

Cheers!

[@braverzero3709]

So true with the Tau thing @47:00. I built my first 10. Got the second and third boxes and now cracking on my 3rd set of fire warriors, this will be 30 in a row, all with accessories, as diversely posed as possible. Getting very good at even identifying mismatched arms - made the mistake of cutting all the arms out without realizing some correspond to specific kits. And just spilled my white ink so that will end my hobby session for the night T.T

[@LoyalWatcherX]

Collecting and building/painting an Empire army for The Old World. It's a SLOW project. Almost all the models are 'rescued' from eBay, so stripped, disassembled, rebuilt, primed and painted. It definitely takes longer that focusing down doing a whole army, or even unit in one stretch. I've found the best way for me to get my units done is to do them one unit or character at a time. With kids around and no dedicated hobby space I have to put EVERYTHING away at the end of every session, however I'm really enjoying being able to switch between tasks and activities from day to day. Painting wise, it's main two uniform colours on the whole unit, and then finish them completely rank by rank: 5-6 at a time, and getting the standard done in the first batch. Steady dopamine hits of completed kitbashes, builds, and painted models throughout the process are key for me.

[@elstonation]

Half way through this and i'm convinced James and me are from the same generation as the painting armies mentality seems to match my own approach. If he doesn't read this tell him Elston says hi and keep up the good work😁

[@hamishdobbie7119]

Looks like the replacement drill bits will be a shanked drill bit that you use for jewellery/metal work. Cookson gold sell them if they are 2.35mm shank made by Busch!

[@F_N_Inquisitor]

James looks like a little kid Christmas morning seeing that rotating cork handle lolz

[@SiegeStudios]

It was like a glimpse of my childhood!

[@BoneheadPodcast]

Let's go!!

[@joshpuffpufftekken]

best episode so far! wow

[@rhag1394]

And there have been very good ones previously as well!

[@danielbird4634]

Another great episode. And I’ll definitely be adopting that “magnet in cork” idea. One question: does Siege ever do commissions for non-GW minis? (I’ve pretty much only seen 40k ones on this channel). If not, is that just because of lack of demand for other brands? Or is there some other reason?

[@quitamgogh]

WoW stick is mega. To be fair, I’m not painting 1000s of models a year, but for the every day hobbyist, it’s the best build hack.

[@danielellyot]

I've had 2, one the motor wouldn't stop turning, and the second the motor inside broke and now doesn't work at all. Awful cheaply made product with an expensive price tag.

[@theboldbear1973]

​@danielellyot I bought a similar product on Temu and it rotates so fast it melts the plastic!

[@rhag1394]

Hahah, James mentioned that the wow stick is no car torque wise. However I have used my wow stick on my car :)

[@Grendelnz]

wow stick was good. mine just died after 2 years and i did not break a single drillbit. ive gotten some knock offs of temu and i will see how they compare.

[@RunawayStereo]

I think to combine what James said about being honest with yourself and what George said about going back retrying a previous method leads to something that you should mention which is because everyone is genuinely different and this hobby is about constantly learning, sometimes if you try army painting and it’s miserable, you maybe need to just admit it’s not for you. Stop forcing it and ruining your hobby for yourself, be honest with realistic goals for you. It’s certainly not for me and it’s taken me 12 years and 4 varying army project attempts to just accept I can’t buy the pile of grey plastic I want and ever expect to get it done, and not hate it by the end. The motivation just fades and I’ve found I’m far more successful going box to box. That’s when I get that feeling James mentions about breaking the back of the project and keeping to overall motivation alive. Keep trying different methods and be honest and you’ll find your best route to completed minis! 😁

[@darkayen27]

You should check out the Cobalt Keep Painting Hilt Pro. I need something bigger than a cork or shot glass to hold onto, and this painting handle is great for me.

[@laurencepenfold]

Cobalt Keep international shipping prices are prohibitive, but their stuff looks great.

[@darkayen27]

​@@laurencepenfold that's unfortunate. I do like quite a few of their products, especially their bases.

[@Bunyip_Studios]

Don't the Gundam drill bits fit the Wow stick?

[@theboldbear1973]

What drill bits do you guys use?

[@karlmoore1837]

I cannot do mass painting, it just doesn't fit with me and brings me more negatives than positives. I can just about do a unit of 5 guys, I much prefer painting single models.

[@RunawayStereo]

Totally with you on this. 3 is a great squad size, 5 is my max haha.

[@nicksmith1415]

Stop buying Tupperware tubs from TK Max and order an A4 file case/storage box from Temu. The perfect wetpallet, way better than a tub and slides in the fridge a treat. Tah da Dah!!! Please let me know if helps anyone.

[@kylekeenan3485]

If your spending hundreds/thousands on an army that will take a year/years to paint and you will use to play games with for years/decades, making a test model or models is the least you can do. I feel the advice in this one came from the time efficiency needed to run a business over the time needed for a warhammer fan to enjoy their hobby. Even if you aren't going for eavy metal models and just wishing to contrast paint your way to the table top as you want to play the game more than spend time paitning, your still going to need test models to see what your end result will look like. Otherwise your going to be wasting a lot of time and money.

[@WhiskeyDingo-2018]

Where is Joe, is he safe?

[@spnoreika]

British Warhammer content and no-one has a wild Northern accent! What a time to be alive

[@Moggy1k]

Squeak = Lube/WD40

[@Rasmus.Elnegaard]

This was a great episode! But I am a little sad, that you had no better advice for speed building models. That's definately my least favourite part of the hobby 😅