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Hi Folks,

My son (almost 10) has been toying around with some or my 40k minis and has shown some interest in painting.

What is a good line to start him off on that may not have too much tiny details so he can get used to it. Has anyone started a child on mini painting and how did you go about it?

I still have some old metal Grenadier and Ral Partha minis (late 80's early 90's stuff) laying around. Some are painted, others not, but all metal so could strip pretty easily. They are sort of small though.

Any recommendations of how to get him started?

Like you said, metals that can be easily stripped are probably best. Find a line of metals that you can get a cheap lot of that interests him and have him start on those. May want to hit up your local Hobby Lobby or Michaels and get a set of synthetic brushes to use for them also.

Another, non-GW option, would be the Reaper Bones line. Very cheap - you can get a good pile of figures for like $20 and just practice on them.

eman1_2 wrote:Another, non-GW option, would be the Reaper Bones line. Very cheap - you can get a good pile of figures for like $20 and just practice on them.

Thanks, I'll look into those.

I had a friend whose kid wanted to start painting them after he saw mine.
I had her buy him a box of GW Orcs. He had a blast assembling and painting them so, the following Christmas, she bought him a ton of other GW models (Tomb Kings Skeletons, Skaven, etc).
Price aside, I think GW's a great starting point. Especially Orcs. GW models tend to be a bit oversized, and the Orcs are oversized on top of THAT.

Space Marine Infantry can be a great start, too. Not too much fiddly detail and, if you're willing to buy older stuff, you can get NOS or assembled "mono pose" models from the OOP boxed sets pretty cheap.

Eric

rnrusa wrote: I still have some old metal Grenadier and Ral Partha minis (late 80's early 90's stuff) laying around. Some are painted, others not, but all metal so could strip pretty easily.

I'd go with these, especially if you have anything larger than human size. Way (WAY) back in the day, when I was close to his age, I did my first painting on some of the smaller/mid size dragons and giants as the larger 'Dragon Lords' were a bit daunting.

i gave my son (8) and my daughter (5) models from the 2nd ed. 40k starter set
One good thing also to start with is SM tanks for Epic, it's easy, boxy and a good start to learn base coat, inking, and/or dry brush. Also, at that scale, mistakes can be forgiven.

My daughter is just having fun currently and just wants to do like her brother. My son started to understand the basics of painting (colour theory and dilution), he's young but he's asking for it...i'm not going to skip the basics if he asks for.

One good model to try out is the basic ogre for Fantasy as you got skin, clothes and metal on the same model in large areas.

the main issue i've found is that the model needs to be finished in one hour as otherwise i found that he's losing patience and interest, but that might be him

J

He's 8. Seems about right.

Eric

jul wrote:the main issue i've found is that the model needs to be finished in one hour as otherwise i found that he's losing patience and interest, but that might be him

J

I still have that problem...

My daughter is 3 and son 4 and sometimes they "chill" with me in the hobby room and the one day they wanted to help paint, so I gave them each a tyranid (since I have thousands) and now I have a tie-dye swarm and hormaguant ha ha.
Story aside, I agree with everything above and was going to suggest orcs/orks but MM beat me to it. I had a friend paint them up as "testers" (wanted to try different styles of painting before painting his own), I think he bought a painter starter kit or something that came with goblins or orcs or something, I'm sure there are marine ones too.

Agreed with whats been said. Will add that if you want simple models that are dirt cheap you can't go wrong with these dwarfs and orcs http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/C ... ntasy.html originally put out by Grenadier in the early 90's. And then when they get the hang of it Reaper's Bones line is dirt cheap as well.

My daughter started painting last year, she was 7 and started with some reaper models from the chronoscope range, she's now painting her super dungeon explore set, great models that inpire her without have too much details on them.

I've been painting with my daughter since she was old enough to hold a brush (about 3). I started her painting Orks, and I'd let her paint them any way she wanted (hence why I have a bunch of pink Orks). I've been laughed at for them, until I explain

When she turned 5 I bought her the Reaper Mouselings set. She loved painting them. They are small, but they are hers. She is 8 now, and wants to repaint them.

We also have Super Dungeon Explore, which is a WIP right now.

She asks me to paint a lot, and I love it. She is learning different techniques, and about color theory. She is very artistic by nature. I'm happy that we have this Daddy Daughter time, and I am going to start introducing her to more of the gaming aspects of it. I'm hoping this hobby is something we can always share together, and that I can share it with my 2 year old once she gets a little older. It's been very rewarding.

Enjoy and have fun!

I love hearing all these stories about sharing gaming with DAUGHTERS.
My 2 youngest are girls, and my buddies have a very backwards idea about girls playing 40K and my support for it.

Eric

MagickalMemories wrote:I love hearing all these stories about sharing gaming with DAUGHTERS.
My 2 youngest are girls, and my buddies have a very backwards idea about girls playing 40K and my support for it.

Eric

They need to be converted at an earlier stage before make up, boys, and "Daddy I need money" can start, unless it's "Daddy I needz coinz fer some new Ork Boyz!" LOL