Painting unsculpted spaces within miniatures

[punga]

I'm sure everyone's seen these...sometimes miniatures have spaces that aren't sculpted. For example:



One can see there's a big block of flat plastic that's not sculpted. It's not directly below the mini, but rather at roughly 45 degrees from the bottom, so it's visible. I've always been at a loss on how to handle these sections, and I would enjoy reading suggestions from you all.

Regards,

Punga

[Silent Invader]

If I can't carve, drill or grind them out I tend to paint them a couple of shades darker than the correct adjacent areas (invariably this turns out to be the base block colour) then add a dark wash.

[Svennn]

If I can't carve, drill or grind them out I tend to paint them a couple of shades darker than the correct adjacent areas (invariably this turns out to be the base block colour) then add a dark wash.

pretty much what I do but when I invariably miss one I tend to go with the most suitable colour still wet on the palette.  Depends on the figure too, some work as extensions of what they are adjacent to and others as dark shadow.

[Major_Gilbear]

Same here - I trim and carve them away if I can. After that, they get painted in a darker colour (sometimes a quick dark fade), or even black if it's underneath the model (like under a cloak or tabard).

Thus, if the areas remain on the model, at least they are diminished both physically and visually.

[punga]

It occurs to me that these are the perfect miniatures to practice carving and modifying minis. After all, these are very cheap. I can screw up without losing too much money. Thanks all!

[has.been]

Many years ago at the War-Games Holiday Centre, Peter Guilder (Who knew quite a lot about miniatures) said, "As long as the top of the head and the basing are done well you can get away with a lot".  As a result I nearly always undercoat in a dark brown, anything I miss, or is 'Un-sculpted' (Is that a troop type in Game of Thrones ?) becomes shadows & it is not as harsh as black.

[sundayhero]

I use black lining and "trompe l'oeil" painting. I call it "painting details where is no details".


I constantly use these technics for soft plastic 20mm figures, and miniature football 32mm figures. Here's some examples :




On this figure, I coated the weapon with stuff to make it bulkier and sturdier. The weapon itself lost almost all details in the process. It's why I bring painted details on it, using strong contrasts, and black lining. Simple as that. It can look a bit rough on pic, but on the tabletop (and even in the display case) it "works" pretty well.


On these figures, I painted muscles, faces, chinstrapes, etc...on figures with smooth surface and almost no detail.

It's a very fun technic !