At last year’s PAX, I broke away from the convention for a little while to paint a miniature. It was probably the first time in over a decade. It took me about 3 hours, and I was generally pleased with the result.
The miniature was called a “bone miniature,” and from what I understand of it, it is a rugged plastic, similar to PVC. These miniatures can be painted without primer as the paint just sticks nicely to the material. Further, they are also much cheaper than pewter minis, and their lightness makes them less susceptible to dings and chips from being dropped on hard objects. Finally I was generally pleased with how much I could bend the piece without cracking the paint or significantly deforming the miniature itself. This allowed me to get to hard-to-reach places very easily.
I can’t believe I didn’t blog about this at the time, but last year Reaper miniatures ran a fantastic Kickstarter to kick start their new line of Bone Miniatures. I participated in the Kickstarter at the $100 level, and got over 240 miniatures from it. I’m excited about the opportunity to share the painting experience with my kids.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to join in on that event; fortunately, you will be able to join in on the next one:
Reaper II Kickstarter, Ending October 26th
The line they are running this year looks amazing; I will likely buy in again, plus purchase a few of the additional packs. If you like painting minis, get over to their Kickstarter page and check them out.
That looks like a lot of fun and something that I wish I could get into. I think the simple act sitting there painting something and then letting your imagination run wild with the action figure is something so fundamentally … fun, that one could never grow out of.