In late 2005 Navin Weeraratne of PaintedFigs.com asked if I would write a review of his painting service and I agreed. I sent him an assortment of figures - historical and fantastic - in a variety of scales - and let him turn his painters loose. Here are the results - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Overall Verdict

While Navin was great about communicating with me and asking questions, I felt the end product left a lot to be desired. First, despite appearances, the miniatures were not well packed. Each was in a styrofoam-peanut packed bag, and all the bags were packed inside a box. I had a lot of bending, some minor damage and one seriously broken figure. Navin apologized and offered to refund the value of the broken figure, but as he did the painting for free I felt there was really no need.

Secondly, the quality of the painting varied enormously. There was one good piece, a few mediocre ones, and one that was, I hate to say it, dreadful. Based on this experience I cannot say I would use them again. I assume that, as they knew this review would appear, they put forth their best effort. But look at their work and judge for yourself. (One caveat - it appears their work is almost entirely Games Workshop and similar figures - at least based on their web site gallery).

One further note: we had some e-mail problems which resulted in my Spam filter knocking out a few of their inquiries. As a result they guessed on a few color choices - a hard spot to be in, having no direction from your client.

The Good

I was very pleased with the GearKrieg tank. I asked for this to be painted like the box art so I could deploy it (as a joke) in a Flames of War game. Here are the pictures:

I have two criticisms of this piece. First, there are quite a few mold lines that were not filed off. The main turret side view above shows one. You can also see one on the hull mid-section. Second, I thought the use of silver on the ball turrets could have been improved (but as I did not provide very specific direction this would not by itself have been an issue in considering repeat business). Finally, I would not have glued the turrets in place myself, but as I had given no direction, I have no cause for complaint here.

Also, you may notice the reflection off the two front gun barrels - upon receipt these barrels were both bent, causing the paint to flake off. Easy enough to touch up, I admit.

The Bad

All right, calling these bad is unfair, but just stay with me here. I would call these mediocre.

First up is a conversion - a 28mm Mr. Ghastly from Ghastly Co. They added the beer barrel to his back and a mug in his right hand. But the mug did not survive shipping, as you can see. Again, another minor glitch that is easy to fix. As for the quality of the paint job, I would say it is all right. It appears to be basic block painting with a wash, but little or no shading/highlighting.

Here is a mounted Aragorn figure in 28mm. This was mounted on a dark blue, circular base. Unfortunately during shipping the figure snapped off at the ankles. The painting here is better - the face is quite nice. There is some nice dry brushing on the blue cloth. The metallic edging is very basic, and there are easily seen unpainted areas underneath some parts of the figure. I don’t think the sword treatment is effective.

These next few figures are 15 mm Napoleonic British Hussars by Fantassin. There were 10 figures all together. I sent little or no real reference and did not expect any real accuracy. But I wanted to see how they would do with 15 mm figures. These were glued to small black “slotta” bases but many popped off during shipment. They were clearly mounted this way for convenience during painting. I would have removed the bases prior to shipment however. Also, the bases on the figures are themselves unpainted. I would like to have seen them at least painted green.

The painting here is serviceable - with a few caveats I’d happily field these on a gaming table. First, they will need to study horses a bit more if they expect to really attract business. Horses do not have white eyes or hooves. Eyes are predominantly black or dark brown. Hooves may be gray, tan, brown, etc. but not white. The painting is fairly basic , with a wash. The horses could have used a little more depth and shading. All that said, these are middle of the pack - better than a lot I’ve seen and gamed with, not as good as others. Again, a picture is worth...well, you get the idea.

These will get touched up - mostly on the horses, but they will certainly see action some day.

Here is another piece of 28mm work - in this case an 18th century figure from Foundry (I’m not certain what he really is). He is painted up as a Continental regular. Again, basic painting plus a wash. I’m no fan of eyes on figures smaller than 40 mm, so were i using them again, I’d make that clear. Also, this figure was finished glossy. It may be an oversight, and it may simply have not been sprayed with a clear flat coat.

The Ugly

I also sent one 15mm Tiger tank. This is what I got back. The main gun barrel broke off during transit and has been pinned back in place. Like the GearKrieg vehicle the turret was glued in place. I’ve honestly struggled with what to say about this one. All I can say is, this is pretty shoddy work. In the middle photo you can clearly see the tank was not primed (look at the top of the tread) prior to assembly. There is absolutely no shading, or detailing of any kind. No metal on the treads (even a GW shop should be able to detail a vehicle), no treating the tools or exhaust. Or is it just me?

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