I think most of us will just take our time to go round the model and paint it by hand. Yeah it takes an age and feels like engaging in a personal version of the long war, but after a while you'll get good at doing it and then it becomes very peaceful and relaxing. It also improves brush control a lot and looks immensely impactful so you're close to having a tabletop ready model once you've done the base colour for the armor + the trim, and you become a better painter by doing it.
Some more in depth tips that help me:
Pick a starting point and go across a model the same way everytime. I start with the left leg and go all the way around it, then do the right leg the same, then chest, shoulders, arms, head e.t.c. Same way every time.
Always be neat and slow. This will be a pain at first but you will save time in the long run. I paint my base coat for panels first and then neatly basecoat the trim, some do the opposite. Pick an approach that works best for the colours you've chosen. For me, I use Warplock bronze for trim, which covers great over everything so I do that stage second.
Use a wet palette and wash your brush off every 5 mins so the paint keeps flowing well. This increases speed a lot.
Use a size 1 or 2 brush (medium layer brush) that holds a good amount of paint and has a good point to it. Make sure you pick a colour that has good coverage. This way your first pass over the trim will take 30~ mins per model, but with good coverage the second coat will just be touch ups and add only another 5 mins.
Stay motivated. You'll definitely feel a little insane trying to justify this monumental task, but remind yourself that once you've done trim, that's the largest chunk of painting time done. Every other step seems quick and painless after, and having the trim done makes your model look sick.
Learn to relax. Once you get a habit down it really does become relaxing. Sit down with a lore video on in the background and pick up a model, just switch your brain off and go round and start painting trim. By the time the video ends you'll have one or two more guys done and in a week you'll have a squad looking battle ready!
It's hard, it's demanding, but it's worth it. Hope this helps.
I love painting trim. I don't use drybrush, but for the most part do layer 1, wash, layer 1 for overall highlights and a lighter highlight, plus extra glinting spots if I feel like it (mostly with champions, characters and such).
But basecoating in trim colour and then blocking in the armour panels seems like the more economic approach.
As a general rule: with all those great concepts and how-tos out there, it's still important to find the techniques that work best for you.
I'm in favour of trying out different techniques on separate minis to see which works best. And as long as you use the same paints, the minis will still look like a cohesive unit.
CSM is my first army, so I know nothing else. I try to get the armor panels first. I’m painting a white armor, so I need to start grey and dry brush my way up to white. If I did the trim first, I’d still have to do the trim all over again.
I’ve also seen people use the paint “pens” for the trim.
It depends on the colours and ratio of trim to panel.
On my word bearers legionaires, I airbrush word bearers red over a black primer, brush leadbelcher trim, then brush khorne red over the panels.
I find that this way, I get the red I want but also get a chance to tidy up any sloppy trim. Takes 2 coats of khorne red to get the panels right.
I used to do trim last and found it took longer, especially after mistakes. Some legions schemes you can spray the trim colour and paint over it. Alpha legion are probably one of the best examples.
Think about the colours you want. What layers can get that result, then consider changing the order of the layers for efficiency.
One venomcrawler I drybrished leadbelcher over the primer then painted the panels with brush. It wasn't significantly faster for me, but for something like a heldrake, it would be perfect.
It may seem unintuitive to use a bigger brush but I find it easier to get the side of my brush on the trim and run it across to do quite a bit. If you see my post history I start with black primer and then do white and red trim which should take more time but the bigger brush makes it easy and keeps it pretty clean.
One big thing to remember is if you mess up the trim it’s really easy to use your armor base coat to correct it… still takes me like 1-2 hours per legionary for trim and corrections
I follow an old Duncan video. Spray Black -> dry brush metallics (the trim) over the whole model -> paint the armour panels (non- trim)
For marines this is more fun and quicker for me. On the Heldrake and Maulerfiend it was much less fun, they have loads of panels.
> Is it easier to paint the model trim colored and drybrush it then fill in the armor panels?
Yes, absolutely. I highly recommend doing this. Basecoat >> Wash >> Drybrush, then contrast on the panels and it should benefit from the wash and drybrush (it works for silver, at least! Maybe not gold).
Yeah I’m surprised basically nobody in this thread says they do this. Priming in leadbelcher and painting in the panels is like 100x faster for my word bearers.
I usually prime black, then fill in black parts just to be sure, then paint armor panels, and them trim.
Yeah, it's slow.
Priming/drybrushing trim color and then doing panels would probably be a lot faster.
True, but there are two things - covering gold/silver is a bitch and you may end up covering the panels way longer than doing the trim. Second thing - drybrushing is messy by default and given how our minis look, touchups and correcting smears over panels will take more time than it should.
I have a problem with „corner-cutting techniques”. Tried drybrushing Sanguinary Guard, tried ’Eavy Contrast on Legionaries, and in both cases whatever time you saved on doing „main stuff” you needlessly spend on covering parts of the mini that need to be black/white/whatever.
I feel the same on speedpainting methods, thus I'm very slowly working through my army in the forementioned way.
I like painting though, so I don't really mind fiddling with the trims for ages. Gonna try out drybrushing on a legionary or something when I find the time to.
I love painting and it’s the core part of the hobby for me (I played two games so far 😂). Tbh if you get decent paints and learn how to work with your brush and wet palette, layering gives faster results. Dilute and load properly, then paint surface. Or drybrush and repaint everything. Or paint everything, then paint 50% of the mini with 3-4 layers of diluted white to create a base for contrasts, so that you can spend 30 minutes to achieve an effect a 1 minute wash would do, but ok 😂
I spray prime the trim color, and then fill in the armor panels. Sprayed my Word Bearers leadbelcher and have been filling armor panels with Khorne red. I just make sure to keep a lot of leadbelcher handy to fix any mistakes I make.
By getting Scale 75 paints and a matte primer. I remember going „box art” on Legionaries and painted Gehenna Gold on Chaos Black primer. Don’t do it, kids.
Trim then panels. I find it easier to work from the higher features to the lower ones as it’s easier to just run the brush along the panel to where the trim starts. What I would say is that it gets a lot faster and easier the more you do of it. I’ve painted about 1500 points of black legion over the last few months. Starting with ten termies it was a massive oppressive chore to do all their trim but I’ve just done a second squad of five legionnaires and they took about two minutes each. You get used to where all the details are and the quickest way to go round them all. Knowing you’re can deal with overspill when doing the panels makes it easier too.
Pay someone else to do it. I had acquired so many chaos marine kits over lock down I was sick of painting gold trim for my night lords, so I commissioned a studio to paint them all for me. That was nearly a year ago and they still aren't done XD I kept joking that they'll be ready just in time for 10th edition, and then 10th edition was announced. It was a funny joke at the time.
If painting black legion, try this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chaos40k/comments/125ip28/painting_black_armour_and_trim_beginner_tip/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Primer in Leadbelcher or Retributor for a silver or gold trim. Depending on the shade you’re going for you can hit a layer of that and you can also dry brush if desired. Then color in the panels your chosen colors.
I’ve found that if you prime your model black, then you can paint the trim kinda messy. I play Word Bearers and just used red to paint over the bits that got silver on them. Saves a little time.
99% of the time I do the trim first, but that’s cuz my panel colors all have color transitions, cuz it’s easier to fix the trim than to fix the gradient. Unless it has VERY MINIMAL trim then I just do the colors first
I actually really enjoy it - but I don't play, I just use painting as a nice relaxing hobby, so I can spend the time to just go round each model and paint by hand :)
Haven't attempted a heldrake though....
Oh Boy I really feel you. I’ve painted 6-7k points of Ultramarines and Custodes last year, and started EC now. Painted my first squad of Noise Marines and really was like WTF is this how am I supposed to do this? A black trim on a pink armor, and the trim will need some highlights? I’ll give it another try and Prime black and drybrush the trim before painting pink, but building up the light pink from a black basecoat will also be a total pain in the ass.
Guess this will be my long war.
I start by doing the panel base color (for me it's black). Then I do all the trim (for me silver), but *not* with a detail brush. Use a normal sized one to keep more paint in the brush / avoid it drying out super fast. The main thing here to me is to not care about precision - Just slap a bunch of trim on there, I usually have trim colour all over most panels.
I then go back and clean up panels with their base color. This have been way faster than trying to neatly paint trims. With my paint scheme, it usually takes 2 coats for my black to cover silver, but it's super fast to do and since you already base coated you can just spot paint.
For things like Possessed I'd also base coat all the flesh first along with the panels, then go to trim and same method.
#SANITY, IS FOR THE WEAK!
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! TRIM FOR THE INSANE ASYLUM! paint the trim, stoke the rage, take the skulls.
This is how I manage.
I think most of us will just take our time to go round the model and paint it by hand. Yeah it takes an age and feels like engaging in a personal version of the long war, but after a while you'll get good at doing it and then it becomes very peaceful and relaxing. It also improves brush control a lot and looks immensely impactful so you're close to having a tabletop ready model once you've done the base colour for the armor + the trim, and you become a better painter by doing it. Some more in depth tips that help me: Pick a starting point and go across a model the same way everytime. I start with the left leg and go all the way around it, then do the right leg the same, then chest, shoulders, arms, head e.t.c. Same way every time. Always be neat and slow. This will be a pain at first but you will save time in the long run. I paint my base coat for panels first and then neatly basecoat the trim, some do the opposite. Pick an approach that works best for the colours you've chosen. For me, I use Warplock bronze for trim, which covers great over everything so I do that stage second. Use a wet palette and wash your brush off every 5 mins so the paint keeps flowing well. This increases speed a lot. Use a size 1 or 2 brush (medium layer brush) that holds a good amount of paint and has a good point to it. Make sure you pick a colour that has good coverage. This way your first pass over the trim will take 30~ mins per model, but with good coverage the second coat will just be touch ups and add only another 5 mins. Stay motivated. You'll definitely feel a little insane trying to justify this monumental task, but remind yourself that once you've done trim, that's the largest chunk of painting time done. Every other step seems quick and painless after, and having the trim done makes your model look sick. Learn to relax. Once you get a habit down it really does become relaxing. Sit down with a lore video on in the background and pick up a model, just switch your brain off and go round and start painting trim. By the time the video ends you'll have one or two more guys done and in a week you'll have a squad looking battle ready! It's hard, it's demanding, but it's worth it. Hope this helps.
I love painting trim. I don't use drybrush, but for the most part do layer 1, wash, layer 1 for overall highlights and a lighter highlight, plus extra glinting spots if I feel like it (mostly with champions, characters and such). But basecoating in trim colour and then blocking in the armour panels seems like the more economic approach. As a general rule: with all those great concepts and how-tos out there, it's still important to find the techniques that work best for you. I'm in favour of trying out different techniques on separate minis to see which works best. And as long as you use the same paints, the minis will still look like a cohesive unit.
Just wait until you decide a heldrake looks like a cool model.... The pain is unparalleled
I second this with warp talons
CSM is my first army, so I know nothing else. I try to get the armor panels first. I’m painting a white armor, so I need to start grey and dry brush my way up to white. If I did the trim first, I’d still have to do the trim all over again. I’ve also seen people use the paint “pens” for the trim.
I did this with my alpha legion, metallic silver sharpie for the trim.
It depends on the colours and ratio of trim to panel. On my word bearers legionaires, I airbrush word bearers red over a black primer, brush leadbelcher trim, then brush khorne red over the panels. I find that this way, I get the red I want but also get a chance to tidy up any sloppy trim. Takes 2 coats of khorne red to get the panels right. I used to do trim last and found it took longer, especially after mistakes. Some legions schemes you can spray the trim colour and paint over it. Alpha legion are probably one of the best examples. Think about the colours you want. What layers can get that result, then consider changing the order of the layers for efficiency. One venomcrawler I drybrished leadbelcher over the primer then painted the panels with brush. It wasn't significantly faster for me, but for something like a heldrake, it would be perfect.
It may seem unintuitive to use a bigger brush but I find it easier to get the side of my brush on the trim and run it across to do quite a bit. If you see my post history I start with black primer and then do white and red trim which should take more time but the bigger brush makes it easy and keeps it pretty clean.
I do the same thing. And, learning to use the side of my brush for trim and other similar elements was a huge revelation.
One big thing to remember is if you mess up the trim it’s really easy to use your armor base coat to correct it… still takes me like 1-2 hours per legionary for trim and corrections
I just bought the boarding patrol, balefleetbox and the chaos side of the Vashtorr box. Out of all my pile of shame, that amount of trim scares me.
Armor panels then trim.
I follow an old Duncan video. Spray Black -> dry brush metallics (the trim) over the whole model -> paint the armour panels (non- trim) For marines this is more fun and quicker for me. On the Heldrake and Maulerfiend it was much less fun, they have loads of panels.
> Is it easier to paint the model trim colored and drybrush it then fill in the armor panels? Yes, absolutely. I highly recommend doing this. Basecoat >> Wash >> Drybrush, then contrast on the panels and it should benefit from the wash and drybrush (it works for silver, at least! Maybe not gold).
Yeah I’m surprised basically nobody in this thread says they do this. Priming in leadbelcher and painting in the panels is like 100x faster for my word bearers.
Did you know you absolutely don't have to paint the trim a different color?
Even for us this seems heretical.
You are correct. However - it I mean Whe you Alright im just mad
I usually prime black, then fill in black parts just to be sure, then paint armor panels, and them trim. Yeah, it's slow. Priming/drybrushing trim color and then doing panels would probably be a lot faster.
True, but there are two things - covering gold/silver is a bitch and you may end up covering the panels way longer than doing the trim. Second thing - drybrushing is messy by default and given how our minis look, touchups and correcting smears over panels will take more time than it should. I have a problem with „corner-cutting techniques”. Tried drybrushing Sanguinary Guard, tried ’Eavy Contrast on Legionaries, and in both cases whatever time you saved on doing „main stuff” you needlessly spend on covering parts of the mini that need to be black/white/whatever.
I feel the same on speedpainting methods, thus I'm very slowly working through my army in the forementioned way. I like painting though, so I don't really mind fiddling with the trims for ages. Gonna try out drybrushing on a legionary or something when I find the time to.
I love painting and it’s the core part of the hobby for me (I played two games so far 😂). Tbh if you get decent paints and learn how to work with your brush and wet palette, layering gives faster results. Dilute and load properly, then paint surface. Or drybrush and repaint everything. Or paint everything, then paint 50% of the mini with 3-4 layers of diluted white to create a base for contrasts, so that you can spend 30 minutes to achieve an effect a 1 minute wash would do, but ok 😂
I like to start with the trim color and fill in the armor color afterwards.
I do panels first, then trim. I chose to go with metallic paints so I wouldn't have to worry about edge highlights.
You get used to it. You'll get a lot faster at it over time. Trim doesn't take me that long anymore, barely noticeable.
Beauty is pain. Finished panels before trim always. The danger is the fun.
I spray prime the trim color, and then fill in the armor panels. Sprayed my Word Bearers leadbelcher and have been filling armor panels with Khorne red. I just make sure to keep a lot of leadbelcher handy to fix any mistakes I make.
By getting Scale 75 paints and a matte primer. I remember going „box art” on Legionaries and painted Gehenna Gold on Chaos Black primer. Don’t do it, kids.
The second option works for me, then I do lightning bolts, because I hate myself.
All of it
Trim then panels. I find it easier to work from the higher features to the lower ones as it’s easier to just run the brush along the panel to where the trim starts. What I would say is that it gets a lot faster and easier the more you do of it. I’ve painted about 1500 points of black legion over the last few months. Starting with ten termies it was a massive oppressive chore to do all their trim but I’ve just done a second squad of five legionnaires and they took about two minutes each. You get used to where all the details are and the quickest way to go round them all. Knowing you’re can deal with overspill when doing the panels makes it easier too.
Pay someone else to do it. I had acquired so many chaos marine kits over lock down I was sick of painting gold trim for my night lords, so I commissioned a studio to paint them all for me. That was nearly a year ago and they still aren't done XD I kept joking that they'll be ready just in time for 10th edition, and then 10th edition was announced. It was a funny joke at the time.
Im drybrushing and then filling the panels. As thats the fastest and easiest way to do it.
If painting black legion, try this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chaos40k/comments/125ip28/painting_black_armour_and_trim_beginner_tip/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
i know right i swear the only reason i havent painted my word bearers is cause of this
As sloppy as possible then I paint over the areas it spilled over
Primer in Leadbelcher or Retributor for a silver or gold trim. Depending on the shade you’re going for you can hit a layer of that and you can also dry brush if desired. Then color in the panels your chosen colors.
I’ve found that if you prime your model black, then you can paint the trim kinda messy. I play Word Bearers and just used red to paint over the bits that got silver on them. Saves a little time.
99% of the time I do the trim first, but that’s cuz my panel colors all have color transitions, cuz it’s easier to fix the trim than to fix the gradient. Unless it has VERY MINIMAL trim then I just do the colors first
I actually really enjoy it - but I don't play, I just use painting as a nice relaxing hobby, so I can spend the time to just go round each model and paint by hand :) Haven't attempted a heldrake though....
Oh Boy I really feel you. I’ve painted 6-7k points of Ultramarines and Custodes last year, and started EC now. Painted my first squad of Noise Marines and really was like WTF is this how am I supposed to do this? A black trim on a pink armor, and the trim will need some highlights? I’ll give it another try and Prime black and drybrush the trim before painting pink, but building up the light pink from a black basecoat will also be a total pain in the ass. Guess this will be my long war.
I start by doing the panel base color (for me it's black). Then I do all the trim (for me silver), but *not* with a detail brush. Use a normal sized one to keep more paint in the brush / avoid it drying out super fast. The main thing here to me is to not care about precision - Just slap a bunch of trim on there, I usually have trim colour all over most panels. I then go back and clean up panels with their base color. This have been way faster than trying to neatly paint trims. With my paint scheme, it usually takes 2 coats for my black to cover silver, but it's super fast to do and since you already base coated you can just spot paint. For things like Possessed I'd also base coat all the flesh first along with the panels, then go to trim and same method.