Accurate Miniature Equivalents for Custom Painting your 1940 E&P

@LebaneseWarlord said in Need advice for custom dice DIY:

I’ve recently bought 96 dice because I wanted to make custom hit/miss dice for Global 40. I bought these dice from amazon and they’re plain blank and white dice.

I don’t have a lot of experience with DIY projects but I have access to a lot of good tools so I’m looking for advice regarding techniques on how to mark and repaint the dice I bought.

For the marking, I was thinking about using a rotary tool to carve a little dot.

The real challenge is the painting. I looked a lot on internet and I can’t seem to find a technique for painting on plastic that everyone agrees on, but here’s what I have so far.

Wash the dice to remove any grease that could be on the surface Use very fine sandpaper or some sort of abrasive to remove the protective finish that is on the dice right now and offer a better surface for the new paint to stick Wash the dice again the remove the dust from the paint removal Apply one or a few (I’m not sure about this one, I’ll read what is suggested on the can) of primer Apply a few thin layer of the color I want on the dice Paint a white dot in the carving I made earlier with a fine brush Apply one or a few (not sure about this one either, something will be suggested on the can) of clear finish to protect the paint

Any correction or suggestion would be very welcome!

Guys use RIT dye for color. Go to Siredblood’s custom dice you tube video. Shows how he used a jig to spot hole dice and then dye them

@barnee thanks, I was inspired after watching Midway to do them like that, and to differentiate them from fighters for my less observant friends. I liked it so much I did my Stukas and Japanese tacs the same way as well.

@cyanight:

I have no idea when the German set will ship. I think it was supposed to ship in late spring. Once the pre-orders are filled you can buy the set or groups of 5 pieces. I paint all my pieces so I could care less about color.

I checked the site out… German Set 3 is supposed to be out in “April”… so if that’s true, they got a 30 day window coming up.  Pre-Orders are “sold out”, which is worrisome to someone who didn’t get a pre-order in (c’est moi)… so no clue when the set will be available again or individual sculpts can be ordered, but I’d definitely like a lot out of that set. The Deutschland class pocket battleships would be sweet… hopefully they are sized as Cruisers and not as Battleships… and of course the ubiquitous Pz-IV is a must.  Surprised it’s taken all these years to get a Pz-IV.

You, sir, are an inspiration.

Given time, I think I’ll “sincerely flatter” your works.

Sounds great!

Thanks LHoffman,

Your appreciation is my inspiration… because I refuse to use a sheet of glass, my research has lead me to a material called styrene (google it) which is a type of plastic sheet that can be directly printed on. All indications point to this method being the last alternative to glass and although it cost around $240, it looks to be my best option. Even after flushing $300 so far in a crappy print, and installation complications, I’m happy with this new direction if it turns out the way I’ve been told it will. Basically it’s flexible plastic, so it should lie flat without air pockets getting trapped, and because it doesn’t get laminated, the colors should be slightly brighter. If it is sensitive to scratching than there is a clear film sheet by 3M I can look into, that’s where I’m at right now.

@jluna1273:

Toblerone77,

Question for you: how did you get the “CUSTOMIZER” tab on your profile?

Marc has your answer pretty much there. The link kind of shows why, what, when ,where and who made this happen.

There are people here a lot better than me on a lot of subjects involving customization and HRs/game ideas, and I was surprised I even received it.

“Customizer” covers a lot and I’m sure in time others will be awarded this badge. For myself I nominated a few who really showed they were doing a lot for the game. Most notably “Most Holy” and “alllworkandnoclay” they both paint and Most Holy is the host of Dicestruction podcast. This to my knowledge is the only podcast which features Axis & Allies exclusively. These guys were just a couple whom I nominated. I asked a few people to move allworkandnoclay’s thread to customizations to help all those who paint and customize their units as a tool.

The credit for much of this goes to YoungGrasshopper who suggested the badge for Der Kuenstler initially, whom I also nominated for his war room and his HR work.

Cool