As many of you know, I am a big fan of the painting and modeling aspect of Flames of War. I sometimes pick units based on how cool they are to assemble an paint! I know that some of you are guilty of this as well. Anyway, 15mm was new to me and I found out some things the very hard way -- here are some tips to help new folks along.
Trim Flash: Always scrape the flash off of the miniatures. Nothing ruins a great paint job more than seeing pronounced flash still on a miniature. I guess that the flashing just ruins the illusion that these are really little tiny vehicles and men. Make sure you have at least one blade that is new and still has the tip in-tact. A good supply of sharp hobby knives is essential for this hobby, as is safety. Scrape away from your fingers -- or sausages, in Luke's case. Kids: Get your parents to help with this. I have cut up my thumbs innumerable times.
Contrast is King: For those of us used to 28mm, this is truly a lesson to learn for 15mm. Our good friend Tom de Mayo pointed this out to us quite a while ago and it was very helpful to me. Unlike 28mm, 15mm is so small that one tends not to notice intricate and delicate washes and blending. Instead, drawing a sharp contrast between areas and highlights tends to look best. This looks is sometimes cartoon-like up close, but makes for a good looking figure from gameplay distance. Now, I still use washes and highlights quite a bit, but I use it more for quickly creating a high-contrast look.
Basing: Nothing makes a model look better at 15mm than good basing, but poor basing can turn an excellent paint job into an ugly figure. I am going to pick on Luke here a bit and say that he is no painter. Luke is, however, and excellent modeler and can put together some really nice looking bases. Learn how to use ballast/spackle/glue to build up your bases and then paint and flock them. Different base looks can also help to tie platoons together so they can be easily recognized as the same unit. Take a look here for some ideas: Dirty Jon's Basing Tutorial
I hope this helps out a few n00bs! If you have some particular tips, how about heading over to the WWPD Forums to share?
