Paint volume for uniforms on figures

[hammurabi70]

I have not painted 10mm figures before.  When painting standard twentieth century figure uniforms, how many figures will a single 17ml pot of paint cover?

[Scorpio_Rocks]

Surely this is impossible to answer!

It depends on how thick you apply the paint, how many coats, how much you water-down before application, colour of undercoat, manufacturer of paint, how much of the figure is that colour, etc.

As a VERY rough estimate a 10mm figure has approximately 1/6th the surface area of a 28mm one - so about 6 times the number of 28mm figures you can normally paint

[Westmarcher]

What an astonishing question!    This is something that has never occurred to me. As Scorpio suggests, what is your experience in other scales?

[hammurabi70]

What an astonishing question!    This is something that has never occurred to me. As Scorpio suggests, what is your experience in other scales?

I am getting a feel for how frequently people have found it necessary to get another pot of paint.  At about 300 in 6mm I am guessing around 40 but what is the experience of people with WWII armies.

[paulr]

A while ago I painted almost 1,000 WWI 10mm figures using paints I had had for a while and I'm still using the same bottles for other projects

I've painted about 3,500 WWII 6mm infantry from 5 different nationalities and didn't use a full bottle on any of them

[Matt J]

The answer is around a 100

[mollinary]

From my experience, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. The only things I really ever seem to run out  of in timescales that I notice are basing materials. Individual paint containers are replaced so rarely, they do not really count in any financial calculations I make. That said, I cannot see any way in which the figure would be as low as forty, even if you dipped the figures in the pot and left them there for a day before taking them out!

[petercooman]

I bought a specific tone of blue for my acw union force. About 350-400 figures. Army has been finished for a couple of years, and i'm still using that same paint pot. Must admit it's nearing it's end.

For ww 2, i bought a pot of wehrmacht uniform paint and have done an entire 10mm army with it, then a 28mm bolt action army and then 20 german zombies in 28mm. Stil half a pot left.

Really depends on how much you use and how much you squirt out.

[jimduncanuk]

I have paints which are at least a decade old, some even older and I have some which I bought at the end of last year and are near done.

I paint figures every day, some 6mm, a lot of 10mm, a few 15mm and a lot of 28mm. Then there are buildings and other terrain.

I probably spend around £10-£30 at every show on paint and I do about 9-10 shows a year.

Then there is brushes ...

[mmcv]

Really depends on how much you use and how much you squirt out.

Yeah it would be interesting to know how much you're typically squeezing out, I tend to be quite frugal with squeezing out just what I need and use a wet pallet to keep any leftover paint fresh for a while longer. While I'm nowhere near as prolific as many on here, I've yet to run out of a pot, though I've a couple of browns that are starting to run low . But that's after 2.5 years and a lot of spears and horses!

[hammurabi70]

Many thanks to everyone, that was very helpful.  One pot per uniform should be more than adequate. 

[petercooman]

Yeah it would be interesting to know how much you're typically squeezing out, I tend to be quite frugal with squeezing out just what I need and use a wet pallet to keep any leftover paint fresh for a while longer. While I'm nowhere near as prolific as many on here, I've yet to run out of a pot, though I've a couple of browns that are starting to run low . But that's after 2.5 years and a lot of spears and horses!

I usually squeeze out a little bit at a time, about 3-5 models worth in 28mm, less in 10mm. Mind you i don't use a wet pallet, so squeezing out more just means its dry before i can use it.

[mmcv]

I usually squeeze out a little bit at a time, about 3-5 models worth in 28mm, less in 10mm. Mind you i don't use a wet pallet, so squeezing out more just means its dry before i can use it.

Yeah similar, though the wet is handy for when you go for a dab and end up with a splurge from squeezing a little too hard!

[mad lemmey]

Loud enough to annoy my wife to quiet enough to drown out Holby City on the TV...
Paint, sorry, thought it was music, right...
A quick squeeze from a Vallejo dropped onto an upturned coat d'arms pot. I also worked out with care you can loosen lids and return the majority of the spare paint to the bottle. I also use the nipple inverted as a pot if I only need a tiny amount.

[Shedman]

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