I have always been envious of finely painted figures, and I have wanted to learn how to paint figures for a long time. The high price of figures saved me from embarrassing myself for a long time, but now that I can print figures on my 3D printer, I guess I don't have an excuse not to try painting a figure. I like historic figures, especially from the colonial period. I found the files to print 2 different conquistador figures, both at a remarkably low price.

The first figure I plan to build and paint seems like a fairly straightforward figure. He is in a stance that looks like he is guarding something, and he is holding a really long lance. The figure was originally in 1/35 scale, but I enlarged it to 1/16 scale to make it a little easier to paint. If I do this figure a 2nd time, I will probably print it at 1/12 scale.

I also wanted to make a base for the figure, so I printed 4 different parts that I brought together as a base. Hopefully it will look like a conquistador guarding an Aztec building. I have done most of painting on the base, so hopefully I will be warmed up for the figure soon.

This will probably be a long-term project, mainly because it takes a while to watch the YouTube videos that I need to figure out how to paint the actual figure.

Cheers.

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). I am either way out of my ballpark here, or getting ready to learn a new skill. Or both. :o)

The base looks excellent, my friend @gblair!

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). Definitely a new experience for me.

Thanks, Brian (@brithebuilder). I should be ready to get conquistador #1 ready to paint. I have started printing #2, which is quite a bit different.

Great that you also print another Conquistador, my friend @gblair! I am sure you will have a good result with the cape.

With the base complete, I started cleaning and prepping Conquistador #1. I was able to clean up most of the remnants of the supports using a hobby knife and fine sandpaper, but there were a couple of places that needed extra work. On one arm, the supports left divots in the resin that will need to be filled and smoothed. Not a big problem, just annoying. The second was the top of the armor breastplate that passed over each shoulder. It is very thin and actually sits just above his shoulder. There was a small pin-shaped remnant of the support on top of each shoulder. The first one came off easily with a hobby knife, but the second one cracked the armor and a chip fell out. I think I can fix it with superglue, but I won't be able to try it till tomorrow.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

You are progressing nicely on this, George @gblair
The use of CA as mentioned by Spiros @fiveten, sounds promising.