So, ya wanna learn how to paint well, eh? Its really not that difficult actually. In fact its so easy that you should have no trouble at all. Its so simple a rat could do it!! Even someone with no talent at all could do it!!! Ah hell. This isnt going quite right, so im gonna start over.

Anyway, here we go. Painting is one of the most rewarding aspects of the hobby. Most of you already know this, and realize how much life a well painted army puts into a battle. Some people find that painting is very difficult and tedious but only for one reason. If this is your opinion, then you need a new style. A person like this will do all the highlighting on a single model at a time, but this is really insane. Do basecoats on squads first and then do the shading. But the main thing is neatness. When you do your basecoats try to be as neat as possible and cover up mistakes with the correct colour paint. Then to do shading its a little different. Take the base colour (well use black for the example) and add a little white to lighten the colour to a very dark grey. Apply this and then mix a little more white in for a lighter colour. Continue applying and lightening until you get a satisfactory blending effect. Also, do not use Chaos black to darken colours. This makes them dirty looking. Instead use variations of the colour. For instance, yellow is deepened with orange, orange is deepened with red, and red is deepened with red ink(red wash). By using this method the colour is deepened but not dirtied as it would be by using chaos black. And a word about washes. Use them for everyhting you can think of. Is that crimson gore too bright on the white undercoat?? Apply some armour wash sparingly to the dry crimson gore to darken the effect. You can also create some spectacular effects on weapons like meltaguns with armour wash. Simply paint on wash after wash of armour wash to give the barrel a blackened and charred look. Bleached bone and snakebite leather washes can shade white, but they must be applied VERY, VERY thinly.

As some of you may remember, in White Dwarf #199 there was a conversoin of a veteran sergant with the master crafted bolt pistol. The GW team converted him into a Black Legion champion. I looked the model over and took on the task of making a similar champion. I used the same model, and most of the same techniques as well. However I added 4 pink, pulsating tentacles comping out of his back. To make the leg spikes I used horns cut off plastic Goff orks. I made a sword out of a marine power sword, and the tentacles were made of electrical wire. Not the kind with many small wires in the insulation, but the one solid wire. I drilled holes in the model's back and glued them in, and the end result was spectacular. I have also done minor conversions on my Legion of the Damned squad, and some of my other rank and file troops. But you can find modelling ideas almost anywhere. For isntance on the cover of the starter kit, or the Dark Milennium box, or in any of the magazines from GW like White Dwarf or the modelling guide.

You must be careful when modelling as you can easily hurt yourself. For instance I have drilled a hole in my finger with a drill press. And i have also cut myself countless times with my modelling knife. But all danger aside, lets model. The most basic part is head swaps and weapon swaps. These are easy. Simply remove the desired components and pin them on. Pinning is simple: simply drill a hole in the model and in the component that youre joining and then put a stregnthing pin in the hole and glue it in. Then glue the new component onto the pin. And there you go. I have done numerous conversions on my troops, and everyone is a modeller in some respects; you have to assemble the miniatures to paint them and game with them. Yes, this is concidered modelling. One of the cardnial principles in modelling ans converting your miniatures is to adhere to the background of the army you collect. For instance, if you collect space marines you need to stick to the chapter, and the same goes for inperial guard, eldar, and orks. Tyranids are seldom converted so I'll let you have your own crack at 'em. Chaos is the best race for outlandish conversions however; you can embellish your chaos marines with all sorts of oddments from your bits box (ill explain later).

Modelling gives you the chance to create your own one of a kind model to add to your collection. You can do wild things like cutting whole limbs off of models to attach to other models, or you can do head and weapon swaps to make your models more interesting. Even alterin something as subtle as the plastic arms you can make a completely individual piece. As i said before, chaos is the best thing to do these outlandish conversions on, because no matter what the model looks like, it still fights the same way.

On to bits boxes! When you do conversion work you will often find that you will have extra parts left over. Even though you have that trash can handy don't throw these pieces away. drop em into your handy bits box. But what is a bits box, you ask. As the name implies it is what you keep all your unused metal and plastic offcuts in. I keep all sorts of oddments in my bits box, from space marine arms to pieces of abbadon's body. A little note on mail order as well. Here in the US we now have the Annual and can order pieces straight from mail order instead of buying a whole model. You still may need a bits box though. Now a word on how to use the bits box. One word; imagination. You models can be spruced up, tooled up, and even completely changed by using pieces found in your bits box. Keep this in mind when working on a new model.

Now on to some basic techniques. Pinning was described earlier and bending is self explanatory. Cutting is another thing entirely. For fine cuts use a coping saw (Fret saw for you british blokes) and for straight cuts use a razor saw. A fret saw can cut in curves and can be used for general and undetailed shaping, while the razor saw is mostly used for cutting models in half. This may occur should you do a bike or land speeder conversion. You may also use the following tools:Solder gun (be careful-its hot), needle files and emery boards, tweezers, and plasticine or modelling putty as its more commonly referred to. Solder guns are used mainly for making banner poles and if you should do so, use extreme caution. Needle files are used to file off areas of detail from models as well as smooth surfaces to be bondeb with superglue. You will find that the file will almost certainly scar the surface of the metal, which is where an emery boards fine grain comes in handy. It almost "buffs" the surface down to a smooth finish which is a much stronger surface to bond. Pliers can be used to bend the tab between the feet of the model to make it stable in its slottabase as well. Finally, modelling putty can be used to fill gaps left by conversion work as well as being used to add fine sculpted detail.

Congratulations, youve probably made your first conversion by now, and if you havent, go out and experience the thrill of it all. Once you have comverted and painted your model, let it go and kick ass on the field of battle.

If you need any help or anything, drop me a line. My address is on the main page.