What's your "production line" like?

[Fremitus Borealis]

I thought about asking this as a poll, but then I realized there would need to be like fifty options, so I'll just ask as a normal post, since I'm curious

Since I still consider myself a n00b to the hobby, I sometimes wonder how differently other people go about it.

So my question is: what is your hobbying process like? Do you go "all-in" on one unit at a time (Kitbashing/gluing/priming/painting/basing)? Do you just focus on individual figures, not moving on till one is perfect? Or is it more "a bit of this, a bit of that..."?

I find that it takes me forever to get a unit done, because I'm always bouncing back and forth between different things. Normally once I have a unit primed, I will work on painting about four figures at a time until it's done, but I'm also assembling/modifying other units, priming others, making shield transfers on the computer...

A while back I did try and buckle down and only work on painting one particular unit for a little while, but I ended up doing it more "assembly line" style (all the boots.... all the helmets... all the straps... etc.), which really wasn't as rewarding because I felt like they all looked pretty bad until right at the end 

I feel like I also go through phases where I don't really feel like painting as much (usually right after I've gotten the first undercoat post-priming on a unit, and they look pretty bad ), and will work on putting other units together for a while. To be fair, it's pretty cold where I live, so I figured I wouldn't be able to prime after a certain point, so I did spend a while putting a bunch of units together to prime so I have something to paint during the winter

Going forward I think I am going to try to keep the painting limited to one unit at a time, even if I'm "working on" others on the side. Right now I'm working on a phalangite unit that I've had kicking around for a while made up of older metal figures. After priming, I did the first layer for boots, helmets, skin, and spears, and experimented with different washes on each of them to get the shadows going. But now that that's all done, I'm going to try and get them painted up in groups of four. I'm hoping this sort of splits the difference, where I get the "boring" stuff done first on all of them, then I can focus in on small groups.

Anyway, what's your process like? Any method to the madness?

[SJWi]

Good evening.  I now normally have two "projects" on the go at any one time.  For instance over the Summer I was painting an A&A Palmyran army and a 15mm Cold War Soviet force. I alternated painting units of each so I didn't get bored .  For 28mm ancients I normally paint in batches of about 8 figures. As my eyesight isn't what is was plus the light at this time of year can be pretty crap I do tasks such as clean and prime figures, prepare bases as and when I can.  This means things get ready for the production line well in advance of my painting schedule.

I am currently finishing some 1/200 Vietnam and the aforementioned 15mm Cold War before starting on my 15mm Buildings and an A&A 3rd century Roman army.  These were cleaned, assembled, based and primed about 1 month ago.

This is the first year I have been so disciplined and I am pleased with the output.

   

[Luigi]

When I first started (almost fifteen years ago )

I'd just go all in on units.

This meant lots of churning out miniatures that to my then 16 years old looked acceptable. I'd even be able to paint 20+ miniatures a day.
Looking at them now I feel the compelling urge to toss them in super clean and strip them bare.

and I will, eventually.


EDIT:
forgot to add, I never had multiple miniature projects as  I always collected only dwarfs miniatures. Back in the day I'd focus perhaps on a specific unit or warmachine I wanted to use in the next game.

i never once fielded a unpainted unit and planning games was a great incentive to getting things done.
At most I'd be working on some terrain while not painting miniatures.

Now I just literally pull random dwarfs from my unpainted or unfinished boxes, set them aside and work on them when the inspiration strikes,

Nowadays though due to lack of time I call myself lucky if I can paint perhaps a unit or two per year, in bursts that last perhaps a few months with a production of 1 to 5 miniatures per week.

I'm much happier with the results and I've reached what I feel comfortable with having as my lowest acceptable standard.

[Captain Harlock]

Im a disaster. i always start more than one projects at once. I always say that this time it will be different but i cant help it and the worse part is that im sticking to details. I blame scale modelling for this  . Always think to myself that this time it will be just a kit out of the box. Two days later im trying to make by plastic, putty and wires every little lever in a finger nail sized cockpit  .

[syrinx0]

I change it up based on the current project and my interests.  I'm currently painting an assembly line for a unit of 54 Mahdist but my previous work a small group of 5 western figures and before that a single fantasy figure.   The units tend to be more uniform in appearance and are intended to look good at arms length.  The individual figures I put a bit more effort into and are generally painted for the fun of painting as opposed to gaming. 

I generally keep the table clear of anything I am not working on but multiple projects lurk on the shelves in boxes should I need a change of pace.

[Unlucky General]

For me it's always a whole unit at a time - one paint application at a time. This can be tedious but not generally - I find it therapeutic and that's with large units of up to near 50 figures at times (28mm). I am always listening to something at the same time to use the other half of the brain - audio books or podcasts but music can also work.

I try not to divert from one build at a time as I can get bored with one of them and then find I keep ignoring it. I also try very hard when life if super busy to do at least one application a day - this is important in work days becasue no matter how slow production might get, I know it's creeping toward the end product.

 

[Digits]

As I get older, with a little more disposable income to spend on the hobby, I find myself increasingly flitting between projects!

Saying that, nothing, focuses the mind and project focus like actually getting a game!

Case example for me, my recent dabble into 28mm WW2.  Finding a gaming group or partner for more regular games, does give me impetus to get a project finished.  Saying that, projects are never “really” finished!

Conversely, projects I’ve started off my own back end up taking back seats or a pause until someone else shows an interest or I watch a film or read a book about said subject and I get all excited again!

As for production painting.....when I paint say Naps with lots of similar posed and uniformed minis....do them a regiment at a time.....and I learned that you should always start with the command stand first.....otherwise it can be demoralising to finish the other 30 minions just to realise you still have the more time consuming minis to do!

[Mindenbrush]

I aim to paint around 50 to 60 25/28mm figures a month as I have a large lead mountain that always seems to have new shiny lead arriving.

I am doing quite a bit of commission work these day, 15 to 20 figures a month so use the production line method where possible.

The commission or a single unit of mine is the main focus but I add small batches of 3 to 6 figures from other periods to relieve the boredom of production line painting.

I also listen to the radio or have music on in the background.

Having a “fitness” watch also helps as I have to stand and move around every hour plus it keeps advising me I have fitness goals to achieve every day.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Having filled a basement with mainly 28mm, mostly unpainted lead, I have this year decided to switch gears and do 60mm ancients. Well, what I mean is fantastical ancients, a project documented in a thread ["Lohwand"] on the Fantasy Board.

The Romans, not being historical, I decided to try and give lacquered armour in bright colours like the Samurai or Ashigaru in "Ran" or "Kagemusha". The first one being orange(!)

However, after multiple attempts at painting orange armour on a single figure I have given up; the armour just looks too historical! This has taken over a month - I don't paint every day, or even every week.

Haven given that up as a "bad job" I pulled out Vallejo "gunmetal" and tried that. This turns out to have a blue steel colour, and having seen Elizabethan and similar blued steel armour I decided I quite like the look. Especially if I add that bright bronze the Romans used (apparently) as trim.

So, finally, I have a paint scheme that I like and have set up a production line of sorts. The figures are from Expeditionary Force (aka XForce) and have separate arms, heads, weapons, scabbards and shields. Minimal flash or moulding tabs are easily removed.

Figuring out the pose limitations of the arms took a little time, however. The arms have a bit of the shoulder armour (lorica Segmentata) (sp?) so you can't just put them the way you want; they are sculpted in certain poses and one has to pretty much follow that otherwise when you get to the painting part you fine the armour is not in the correct place.

So my production line has started. I've managed to glue five legionaires together along with most of my fingers. But that is as far as I've gotten. But I have not been idle, as boxes of XForce bought on the secondary market have started to arrive and I've been sorting all the bits into craft "bits" containers for future production.

I have some conversions in mind - this not being straight-up historical - and so have been spending time test fitting parts and planning alterations, as well as even performing surgery on some figures. The hard plastic is excellent for this! It is not the same plastic as the Victrix figures, but isn't exactly soft either. Or maybe that is because the 60mm figures have more bulk and keep the pose better than 1/72nd scale plastics. Thin items such as spears are a bit bendy. I guess I would call it semi-soft plastic. XForce does supply a hard plastic weapon sprue for some of its sets, but the older sets have the softer plastic.

Anyway, back on topic: that is my "production line". Chaos. Total Chaos. 

[Codsticker]

I approach my hobby in a kind of hybrid fashion. For the last 4 years or so my main focus has been my Royalist ECW army; when working on it I focus on units, painting a few figures at a time, until the unit is complete. Every couple of units I take on a short term project like a terrain feature for Pulp Alley or figures from different period or project; usually there is some overlap (ie. as an ECW unit nears completion I may paint a few figures from Blackstone Fortress). On top of that I may take a couple of months away from my long term project and do an intense short term project (usually there is a deadline) such as the terrain I made for an ACW game or the siege table for our convention game in 2019. So basically:
- a long term project in which I build and paint a unit at a time.
- regular short 1 or 2 week projects, such as a handful of figures for a different period or terrain piece, that provide a break from my long term project.
- an occasional 2 or 3 month project (only about 1 or 2 a year) that I focus my attention on, effectively sidelining my main project.

[Pzkpfw_Steve]

I go all in on units.   usually brigades.

right now I'm doing napoleonics.  and i'm unemployed. last week looked like this

Sunday - assemble all most of teh figures i plan to paint this week. assembled 16 Perry Napoleonic Dragoons and 8 dismounted dragoons(16 perry Hussars were already assembled)
Monday - star painting first unit of 8 dragoons and 8 dismounted dragoons
Tuesday - finish painting first unit of 8 dragoons and 8 dismounted dragoons
Wednesday - Painted unit of 8 Hussars
Thursday - painted 2nd unit of dragoons
Friday - painted 2nd unit of Perry Hussars
Saturday - spend the morning basing everything painted above

I'm pretty methodical about it.  you can see my post in the Age of Big Battalions, posted yesterday(Sunday). I paint all of one colour at a time on the whole unit of 8 cavalry.  if I'm doing infantry, unless the uniform is all one colour, I'll usually do 8 figures at a time.  standard napoleonics take me about 4 hours for 28mm 8 cavalry or 16 infantry.  for things like hussars with all the detail work, that can increase to 5 or 6 hours.   a few weeks ago i did TAG 28mm Renaissance Ottoman Sipahis of the porte took 8-10 hours. i have been known to bounce around in projects. but when I paint, I follow the general pattern above.

[bluewillow]

I try to plan my year, which includes purchasing to fill out existing armies or a new army. I then “try“ to prioritize it, although I do paint random bits now and then.

I also make a weekly to do list and sometimes a daily to do list to keep me on task, as this is my living.....so i treat it seriously, well I try too.

I have quite a large production line, with three work tables (painting, prep and airbrush -plastic assembly and six drawers) that gives up to six different projects at any one time that is available to switch between if I get bored or sick of painting one.

I have several steps in the process

• Preparation of figures, including assembly often is done in bulk ie a boz at a time or even a full bag of vixtrix!
• undercoat the whole army normally (10-200 figures)
• I then glue them to bottle tops that fit into my painting handle 
• they then go into drawers to join the line
• I normally paint in batches of 10 figures at a time with up to 60 figures on the table at any time, sometimes a base coat is under coated with a airbrush for the whole army build ww2 for example  on a lazy susan
• each batch of ten is at different stages while on the painting desk, these may include , colour block out, detail pick out, wash, highlight, varnish, basing sand, base painted, flock, flowers then awaiting photos

I have just passed 500 28mm figures painted for the year so far and I think I will hit the 700 mark which will be a personal record.

Hope that makes sense, if you need photos let me know

Cheers
Matt

[AKULA]

In the past I’ve lacked focus, flitting from project to project, but I’ve got a single active project - Game of Thrones in 28mm - which means my productivity has gone through the roof.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=113100.0

I’m writing my own rules, so I chose the unit sizes that “look right” to me, but also fit in with my painting speed - cavalry are in units of 12 and infantry in units of 24 - individually based, but on movement trays.

All of that means that my production line is pretty large (for me at least) - typically there will be 2/3 units of 24 infantry, based and primed, plus a further 5 or 6 units in various stages of build. On top of that though, will be terrain items, ships, buildings etc in progress.

Behind all of that are boxes and boxes of sprues ready to be turned into yet more units.

I tend to paint a unit at a time, and finish it before moving into the next.

 

[dadlamassu]

It all depends on what the models are, where they fit in the armies,

If a character, a tank, a plane, part or all of a unit etc are usually done in small batches (prevents boredom).  Individual characters are usually in as small groups maybe 4 at a time, tanks, planes etc are done singly or in batches by size, unit or army, in bulk armies whole units of the rank and file are painted at a time in a production line basis while officers, NCOs, standard bearers etc are done either just before or more usually just afterwards so that the colour theme of their unit/tribe is maintained.  So a mix of Production line for Rank and File and small groups with very rarely an individual (often a replacement for a lost or broken figure).

When batch painting, say, a tribal unit of Ancient Britons I use seasonal themes of colour for their clothing.  First I set aside the colours I am going to use for leatherwork, weapons, horses etc then select a theme
- Spring colours - mainly light greens, earthy browns, ochre, pale yellows
- Summer colours - mainly right colours - greens, yellows, reds, blues
- Autumn colours - yellow, red, orange, light browns
- Winter colours - paler colours - light blues, greys, off white, pale green
- Characters have the most striking colours reserved for them.

For example a (winter) Roman Auxiliary Cavalry Ala:
Set aside - leather brown, spear/javelin staff, armour, horse colours (mainly dun)
Prefect - White, grey or black horse, bright blue cloth, silver armour, gold embelishments, white pteruges and cloak
Decurio - dark brown horse, blue cloth grey metal armour slightly silvered. leather darker blue or grey pteruges and cloak
Troopers - dun and few brown horses, dull blue cloth, grey metal mail armour, leather accoutrements and blue or grey cloak.   

[Dr. Zombie]

I paint in batches of 10-15 figures at a time. But I have several batches on the go at any one time.

I have a rule that i have to do at least 30 minutes of "hobby" every day. Everyone can find 30 minutes of their day just cut out 15 minutes of tv time and 15 minutes of internet. Sometimes it is only 30 minutes sometimes it turns into waay more. But i have several things on the go. It should not really be a chore. So if I feel like painting Moderen Insurgents one day and dark age slinges the next i do that. I find that this aproach really helps me keep my mojo.