'Dipping' the Hasslefree way!......lol

Since i discovered this technique last year, i have shown a number of people how to do this. It is a very effective way of showing details on figures. I started presenting our figures this way as i wanted customers to see what they were actually getting for their 'hard cash'.....even now i still only remove flash and 'venting sprues' before waxing, i even leave mould lines on. By using this method, and using macro photography, any imperfections can easily be seen.

I tried a number of methods initially but the main problems was that Kevs sculpting style is very detailed which means that the traditional methods of 'Future wax', 'miracle dip' or ink washes didnt work as they pooled very easily obliterating finer details.

I think there is nothing more frustrating or demotivating than buying a figure based on its painted promo shots and then finding out when you come to assemble it that you need half a ton of greenstuff and a knowledge of sculpting. As least with us 'what you see is what you get'. The occassional casting flaw shows up when we are due to re-mould some of the older figures but on the whole our casting lines are nice and clean with minimum slippage.


Tools and stuff

1: Shoe cream in your chosen colour. I use 'Dasco colour restoring show cream' in Navy as it has a good quality of pigment and adheres very well to the metal
2: An old plate to squeeze it onto
3: An old, very 'dead' brush with stiff but not hard bristles to work it well into the metal.
4: Old teatowel/wash cloth. Please check with wife/partner/mother first as it doesnt come off in the wash!!
5: Cotton buds.
6: Usual kit to assemble figure.....superglue, scalpel to remove flash, needle files, wire cutters etc.





Stage 1

Prepare your workspace and your chosen figure. I have chosen the multi-part dwarf 'HFD008 Nain' and have chosen the 'horned helmet & axe combo'. As i said above, i dont routinely remove mould lines but you will probably choose to. You will need to definitely remove all of the flash and venting points from the miniature though. I dont wash the figures before waxing but you may choose to.....if you do so, wash it in warm soapy water using an old tooth brush to get rid of any mould release agent that still might be there. Make sure it is fully dry otherwise the wax will go nasty and 'blobby' and it wont look too good which defeats the object of the exercise!!





Stage 2

Assemble the head onto the body using superglue and leave to fully dry. At this stage keep the axe separate as when attached it will go across the body which will make it harder to clean off excess wax and get a good effect.







Stage 3

Squeeze some wax onto the old plate and using your brush apply to the figure. Dont be afraid to completely coat it, you need to ensure it goes into the cracks and crevices fully or you will need to touch it up later.
Once fully covered, leave to one side whilst you do the axe. When the axe is fully coated leave it one side as well. At this stage the wax needs a few minutes to adhere to the metal.





Stage 4

Using the old cloth, pick up the figure and wipe away the excess wax. Try not to get into the crevices as you need a certain amount of wax to stay there. Once the excess has been removed, put the figure down and repeat the process with the axe.
Go back to the figure and using a cotton bud or similar, concentrate on removing the wax methodically from the figure. Dont worry at this stage about polishing it, just focus on wiping ACROSS the top of ridges rather then trying to remove wax from under them. If there is an area that the cotton bud wont get into but the wax needs removing then use a folded pipecleaner or tissue. This stage does take practise with the first few figures but after a while it becomes second nature. If you find that you remove some from an area that needs it to be there then just apply some more with the brush...easy peasy! I do this quite often to give more definition to certain areas like folds in cloth, hair etc.





Stage 5

Now we start to get fiddly. At this stage, the figure looks uniformly one tint with just the crevices accentuated, what we need to do now is work on the raised areas. Being a silversmith and used to cleaning metal i do happen to have to hand some tools that you may not have access to but a bit of improvisation wont hurt........after all it is ONLY a metal figure!.......lol
Below are the tools i use for the next stage.



I would say the most used of these tools would be the FELT POLISHING MOP (you can buy these from most DIY stores.......look in the section that sells accessories for 'Dremel' or similar multi-tools). I slice these into thinner sections with an angle........perfect for crevices; the piece of LEATHER is just a scrap and is one of those 'handy hints' i picked up when polishing silver after cleaning it. Use the inner surface first and then the outer surface. It removes a lot of the wax leaving the pigment behind ingrained into the metal and because it is fairly inflexible (compared to tissue and cloths) it only polishes the most-raised areas. It gives another dimension to the effects of the waxing process.
The cylindrical rubber abrasive and the glass fibre polishing stick are inexpensive jewellers tools used to remove minute areas of the pigment to show bare metal underneath. Excellent for amplifying belt buckles, tips of beards, horns on helmets etc.







Finished figure

Here he is, all dipped and ready to meet his audience. All that remains now is to base him. I use a standard slotta base. Usually 25mm for dwarfs but this time i used a 20mm round base as he has quite a small basing tag. A coat of Tamiya Colour 'Flat Black' to minimise reflection from the lighting is all that is then needed.






Well, that is it. I hope that that helps to answer your questions. the first few times it may take you a while to get the hang of it but after that it becomes quite routine and very quick. The longest time is waiting for the glue to dry and if any greenstuff is needed to fill gaps between the basing tag and the base.

Any problems then you know where i am

Thanks for reading,

Sally :)