James Wappel Miniature Painting: A Well Oiled Machine

This was a the first set of French Bolt Action figures to be painted almost entirely in oil paints.

The more resent projects have a much higher percentage of these oil painted units, since I have been able to develop new techniques almost every time I use them!

These all look virtually identical to the figures painted with traditional acrylics, but the major advantage is speed, as I can do far more figures at a time.

With the extended drying time of the oils, I can work around entire units, and the paint on both the palette and the figures will stay wet and workable for days... usually about 2-3 in winter with the heater drying out the air.

While the original Winter American forces that I painted with oils saw only about 40% of the figures painted with oils and completed with acrylics, these were closer to 80%.

As I mentioned before, I learn a little more each time, and I have even discovered that I can do glazes of oils on top of wet oil paint. This is very similar to what I would normally do with my acrylic washes, which means that I can take these paints even deeper into the process.

Originally I had seen the oil paints as the medium I would use on vehicles, but that quickly expanded to the regular infantry as well. Since the colors on the infantry are usually quite similar to the vehicles, I can hammer away at everything all at once.

I don't have to worry about paint drying up or not being workable on a figure even when I have 20 infantry and a few vehicles all the painting table!