Painting Stormtroopers

[Grimmnar]

Got some 15mm Stormtroopers to paint.
Paint or prime an off white and then pin or needle black wash in the joints?
I figure doing a Stormtrooper in 15mm would be a different process than doing it in 28mm/Imperial Assault/Legion scale?

Anyone got experience or thoughts of painting them this small?

Grimm

[Tom Dulski]

 Shit I've always wondered about that exact same thing. I always thought it would be super hard to paint all those little black bits on the helmets.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

I did spray black, spray a light zenithal light grey (both colour forge) then paint white and black line (with a very fine brush) on my test figure for my 15mm stormies. Looks ok and now I have Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl white with glaze & wash medium; so the rest should be even better (and easier). Just got to sculpt a couple of shoulder pads and finish base coat on last squad before painting - been putting it off as my previous white paint was rubbish!

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[mikedemana]

I debated the exact same question for my 3-D printed 28mm stormtroopers a couple weeks ago. I ended up going with white and then picking out the black bits with a fine brush. Here's my musings about it and the way I eventually went about it:
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/2024/10/stormtroopers-walkers-acheson-building.html



Good luck!

Mike Demana

[FifteensAway]

I'd start with painting the black 'deep' bits, then the white - and then touch up the black and the bits you can't do until after the white, touch up the white, dry brush for highlights.  Maybe do some 'weathering' if you want them to look a bit battle dirty.

[nozza_uk]

I keep it simple.

Undercoat - Halfords White primer
Picked out some bits with Contrast Black Legion, followed by a wash with Nuln Oil.

[Tom Dulski]

 might be easiest to prime them white, use some army painter dark tone on them to pick out all the dark parts and once it dries dry brush some white over the armor.

[Arbedark]

I painted some a while back and started with two thin undercoats of white, then thin gloss varnish spray all over. Once fully dry do an oil paint pinwash that can be cleaned up once dry with qtip and white spirit. Leave 24hrs or blast with hair dryer then matt varnish.

[Daeothar]

I did mine with a white undercoat and then a blue grey wash all over.

Then I painted all the panels with VMC (Space) Wolf Grey and highlighted this up to straight white.

Obviously these are 28mm, but having painted 15mm as well, I can reliably state that this method will work on the smaller scale as well. For 10mm I'd probably adjust the process...

[AKULA]

depends how long you want to spend on them... I've had good results with a white base coat, a quick wash, then filling in the black detailing with a fine brush or a cocktail stick, but for a smaller number (if you want to take a bit longer over them), I've also used a light grey base coat, and then dry brushed to layer up the white...I haven't tried that approach with a black primer as it just feels like I'd need even more layers of white to get the job done.

[FifteensAway]

Since at some point this will be my problem with my 15 mm Star Wars figures and looking at the last couple of responses, I think I'd go with whatever is your preferred primer color, then paint as carefully as possible - but understanding there will be 'spillage' - the inner black portions.  Then paint the white portions, and then the black portions that can't be done effectively until after the white.  Shoulders pads and other varied colors after any highlighting (dry brushing in my case).  Where the white is covering any spillage where it isn't full coverage for any reason (should be pretty good coverage mostly) I'll just think of it as part of the 'weathering' of the figure though I think the dry brushing will minimize it.

Sort of the paint from the skin outward technique of layer painting. Not sure in 15 mm I'd attempt those thin lines on the legs, probably use a wash technique to get some of the detail with dry brushing layered above.