Tools of the Trade
Paints
Most miniature painters use acrylic based paints. Acrylics can be thinned and cleaned up with water. This makes acrylic paints easy to use and user friendly for the beginner. There are two types of brands I use; Citadel, made by Games Workshop, and generic paints that I buy at my local craft store; Craft Smart and Crafter's Acrylic brands. Each of these brands has their pros and cons.
Citadel- Pros:The coverage of these paints is excellent. I never have to do more than one coat of paint.
Cons: Anything made by Games Workshop is expensive! Expect to pay a minimum of $7-8 per jar. Also, I do not care for the lid design and often find it easy to slop paint on the jar when opening and closing them.
Generic paints- Pros: You can pick up these paints for as low as $1 per jar! I like the way the container is designed. It is easy to squeeze the desired amount of paint on your painting pallet.
Cons: The coverage on some of these paints is not very good and requires several coats of paint (particularly for the colors purple and yellow).
Most of the paints I use are generic paints and they work fine for me. You can even pick these paints up at your local Walmart for about $1 a piece.
Inks
Inks are essential for doing shading on miniatures. Use good ink washing techniques can mean the difference between a good paint job and a spectacular one! The two brands of inks I use are Citadel and Army Painter Quickshade inks.
Citadel inks- Pros: Inks have good coverage.
Cons: I don't like the lid design on these. Citadel inks are expensive just like their paint's are!
Army Painter Quickshade inks- Pros: Great coverage, love the bottle design (squeeze to dispense) as it allows you to dispense the exact amount you need. The price for these inks is much cheaper than Citadel. I bought a whole basic ink set for about $25 (shipping included) off of eBay!
Cons: I have not found any con's for this product yet! I love em'!
Detailing Brushes
I purchased these detailing brushes at my local craft store (Michael's). The above set of brushes cost me less than $10. Detail brush sizes are oo, ooo, oooo. The more o's the finer the tip of the brush! My brushes came with plastic tip covers, which are essential to protecting the bristels.
Hobby Knives
These are some of the hobby knives I use to remove the "flash lines" on miniatures before painting. Flash lines are formed where the two halves of the mold connect during the casting process. Hobby knives are also invaluable to have to do sculpting and making wargames terrain. Always remember to cut away from yourself and be sure to replace dull blades. The best hobby knife I have found is the Exacto brand which I picked up at Walmart for under $4.
Glues
The two primary glues that I use are Tacky Glue and Super Glue. Tacky glue is great for gluing flock to the base of the miniature and is useful glue for making terrain. Super glue is used to assemble miniatures and secure them to their base.
Paint Brushes
Dry Brushing Brushes
For dry brushing technique, I like to use broad, stiff, brushes. I purchased these brushes as at Michael's
Miscellaneous Brushes
This lot of misc. size brushes cost me less than $8 at my local craft store. These brushes are good to use when painting wargame terrain and for under coating miniatures prior to painting them.
Hobby Files
Round and flat hobby files are essential tools to have to remove flash lines and other imperfections. Files are also good to have if you want to convert a miniature.
Modeling Clay
Milliput is a two part air dry modeling clay that is useful for scultping when doing conversions, such as, packs, helmets, shields etc.
Paint Rack
This is a wonderful paint rack that I found at Michael's craft store. I paid around $18 dollars for it. The rack holds 48 bottles of paint. It is mounted on a swivel base to allow easy access.