@mjhwwbg: I like your minis. Very clean and an awesome job for one of your early minis. There are some players who are very strict on the silly lore of 40k. "Oh, your dark angels aren't green? Are they pre-Herecy? No, they can't be, they're wearing MKVII armor." I'd avoid players like that! I think the majority if players will appreciate the fact that you've painted your minis. The edge highlighting you've done is nice. A lot of folks edge highlight their marines and it ends up looking like Tron-Marines.
You want to play Blood Angels but painted them blue because that's your favorite color? I'd say cool with most folk. The only thing that really matters is that your models are "what you see is what you get". If you say your squad has a flame thrower, a model in that squad should have a flame thrower weapon.
As for painting, devlan mud wash is your friend. Get a pot and try putting it on everything. For metallic paints, I like to give them a wash of watered down ink.
For regiment painting, I'd prime black and work in an assembly line. Put green paint down and paint five models with that color green then move on to white and paint all five models with white, etc. I also like to paint darker up to lighter. So, for green, I'd start off with a very dark green and work my way up to the lighter green I actually wanted. Brighter colors don't coat as well and if you prime black, whites look chunky, streaky, and ugly if you don't put on a grey first.
Until you get familiar with the hobby aspect, I'd avoid metal and resin models. They have much more detail to them. They're also much harder to prep and assemble.
If you ever get a resin model, wear a mask when sanding it. You don't want to breath that stuff in.
Wash your unpainted models in some warm soapy water. There's release agent on them that sometimes doesn't play nice with paint. Once dry, spray on a light layer of primer. I use krylon. Don't use the primer for plastics. They stick well, but it eats the detail. The GW primer (at least at the time) was just black spray paint. A $10 can of black spray paint. Don't buy their primer.
You'll want to seal your painted models, as the paint will rub off with use. GW sealer used to fog up horribly. Don't buy their sealer. Use testor's gloss, then once it's dry, use testor's matte.
Don't spray in extreme heat or cold. Don't spray if the humidity's high. It'll cause your primer to go on rough or cause your clear coat sealer to fog up.
If your clear coat sealer fogs up, let it dry and then try resealing on a better day. I've heard olive oil rubs work too.
If you need to strip a model of its paint, drop it in some Simple Green for a day or two. Then, use an old toothbrush to rub the paint off. It won't harm your models.
I greatly prefer dropper bottles of paint over pots. You get more control over how much paint you use and they don't dry up. The nozzle may clog, but a paperclip will fix that fast.
Don't buy your hobby stuff from GW. Those pro-snips that are shaped like a orc's power claw that scream WAAAGH everytime you use them? You can get much better snips that don't look like a power claw for a third of the price at Hobby Lobby.
All those extra pieces you get with your models? Keep them. Put them somewhere safe. Then, flip them on ebay or trade them.
For eyes, get a Sakura pen with the smallest point you can get. Avoid putting the eyeball in the dead center of the eye.
I like to glue a penny to the bottom of my 40k figures. It helps them from tipping over on sloped terrain. Also, coming from the metal era, the weight feels more comfortable and it felt better knowing this three dollar model the size of my thumb had some heft to it.
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