Essential Tools and Supplies for Miniature Painting

When I first started painting miniatures, I bought a table at the damaged section at TJ Maxx for a whopping 15 bucks. Put it in my bedroom, wedged it in a corner out of the way. And while my painting space has grown over the years, most of the stuff around me is just sprinkles. It's not really why we eat the cupcake.

I decided to stop keeping track of how many items I buy and try for this hobby. Many things, like this little saw I have, are convenient to have but not entirely necessary. And some things are a complete waste of money. But along the way I've realized there are a core group of things that every miniature painter actually needs. That's what this guide is about. Not the nice-to-haves. Not the "I saw a cool gadget on Instagram" stuff. The things that actually matter.

Because here's the truth that took me too long to learn: the thing that makes you a better painter is inside you. It is not outside of you in all the tools and gear. So sometimes keeping things simple, being minimalist, and only using the things that really make a difference is exactly what we need.

Your Painting Surface

First thing you need is a place to paint. You need a nice flat, sturdy surface that isn't wobbling. Make sure you can support your elbows. And over time, you really want to make sure you're not hunching over to paint. That will kill your back and your posture, and eventually you won't want to come back to the painting desk.

Protect your surface. I think a flexible cutting mat (the kind used for sewing) is really important. You can get a small one to throw out when you're assembling and cutting, or a big permanent one if you have a dedicated desk. Either way, your table or desk stays undamaged.

NINJON's pick: A large flexible cutting mat that lives permanently on the desk.

Budget alternative: A small cutting mat from any craft store. A couple of bucks and your mom's dining room table survives.

Lighting

You cannot paint what you cannot see. Lighting might be the most underrated part of a painting setup. There are really two main options, especially when you're starting and don't want to spend big.

Option 1: Clip-on desk lamp. These are cheap on Amazon or at IKEA. Clip it right on the edge of your desk. The bulb matters more than the lamp itself. You want neutral light leaning cool, somewhere between 5000 and 5500 Kelvin. This keeps your colors looking accurate while you paint.

Option 2: OttLite (or similar). These have excellent bulbs with a good CRI (color rendering index), meaning the colors you see under the light are very close to how they'd look in natural daylight. The bulbs aren't super bright, but you're painting close underneath them, so it's usually fine. Plus they fold up and fit in a backpack if you want to take them somewhere.

NINJON's pick: An OttLite for color accuracy and portability.

Budget alternative: A clip-on desk lamp with a 5000K LED bulb. Total cost: maybe $15.

Brushes

I'm going to keep this focused because brushes are one of those rabbit holes where you can spend forever agonizing over which brand and which size and whether kolinsky sable from one country is better than kolinsky sable from another country. It doesn't need to be that complicated.

You need three categories of brushes:

1. Cheap synthetic brushes (a bulk pack). Get a nice cheap pack of big synthetics from a local craft store or online. Beat them up. Throw them away. Chop the tip off and use them as a drybrush. Apply super glue to a base with them. Slap down big base coats. These are your workhorses and they cost almost nothing.

2. A size 1 or size 2 sable hair brush. This one brush handles about 80 to 90% of all your miniature painting. Get the nicest quality you can afford. This is the one place where spending a bit more makes a real, measurable difference in your painting. Learning to use a quality sable brush is building a skill. The brush holds more paint, keeps a sharper tip, and gives you control that synthetics just can't match.

3. A size 0 sable hair brush. For the little details. Eyeballs, tiny scratches, small textures. Not everyone uses tiny brushes, but I kind of love them. This would be my third-place "gotta have it in my kit" brush.

NINJON's pick: Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl brushes. Great sable brushes at a reasonable price.

Budget alternative: Search Amazon for sable brush sets. The growth of the miniature painting hobby has pushed more of these onto the market and dropped the prices. You can find surprisingly decent sable brushes for much less than you'd expect.

Brush Care

Your nice brushes need cleaning. There are all sorts of brush soaps out there. The little pucks are great for travel because you can just throw them in a case. My personal favorite for at-home use is the Sonja brush soap and conditioner, although the top cracked open while I was traveling and spilled a quarter of the bottle inside my travel case. So maybe not a travel one. But for your at-home kit, it's great.

The habit you want to build: after every painting session, work some brush soap into the bristles, reshape the tip, and let the brush dry with a little soap still in it. This conditions the bristles and keeps the tip sharp. A well-maintained sable brush lasts a surprisingly long time.

Assembly Tools

Before you can paint, you need to build. And for that, you need surprisingly few things.

Sprue clippers. For getting bits off the sprue or cutting excess resin from 3D prints. You can buy a big cheap one from a hardware store for a dollar or two. It won't be super precise, but I still keep mine around for hacking off big bits of resin. For nicer models on sprue (like Games Workshop kits), a higher-quality clipper makes a noticeable difference because it cuts closer to the piece without damaging it.

A hobby knife. For cleaning up those little nubs left after clipping. I actually like to keep them moderately dull for cleanup work. If I really need to cut through something, I switch to a sharp one. The Monument Hobbies ones have a nice protective sheath for the blade, but really any hobby knife will do.

Flexible sanding sticks. These are the unsung heroes of model prep. They have two different grits (one rougher, one smoother) and a little foam core that lets them flex over curved surfaces. Perfect for removing mold lines and smoothing imperfections. One package lasts well over a year unless you're painting ten thousand models annually.

That's it. Three things for prepping your models. I don't think you need anything else.

Glue

Plastic cement for plastic models. Please use this instead of super glue for plastic-on-plastic assembly. It creates a chemical reaction that melts the plastic bits together and fuses them. If you do it right, it'll actually erase the seam where two pieces meet. Get one with a brush applicator (Tamiya Extra Thin Cement is my go-to, though Mr. Hobby also makes a good one). Just brush it on, press the pieces together, and you're done.

Super glue for everything that isn't plastic-to-plastic. Metal models, resin to plastic, basing materials. For metal specifically, I really recommend the Gorilla brand super glue gel. That stuff is amazing for metal models. For general use, just about any medium-flow super glue works fine.

Paints

I highly recommend using actual miniature paints formulated for miniature painting. The pigment is ground finer, they're designed to work in thin layers, and they play nicely with wet palettes. That said, there are a lot of good brands out there, and the best one to start with is whatever your local store carries. Being able to walk in and buy a color or two at a time beats waiting for an online order every time you need a new shade.

Here's a quick lay of the land:

Games Workshop (Citadel). The most widely available miniature paints in the world. Solid quality across the range. Pots are annoying (they dry out if you don't close them properly) and the price per ml is the highest of any major brand. But if your local store has them, they work great.

Vallejo. Excellent quality, dropper bottles (much better than pots), huge color range. Model Color for traditional painting, Game Color for brighter fantasy tones. Very popular for good reason.

Pro Acryl (Monument Hobbies). My personal favorite. These paints have incredible coverage, beautiful colors, and dropper bottles. The pigment density is noticeably good. They thin beautifully on a wet palette. If you're ordering online anyway, this is where I'd start.

Army Painter. Good quality, very affordable, and they make starter sets that give you a broad range of colors at a reasonable price. A solid budget-friendly option that won't hold you back.

NINJON's pick: Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl. Beautiful pigment, great coverage, dropper bottles.

Budget alternative: Whatever brand your local store stocks. Seriously. Any miniature paint from a recognized brand will get you painting. You can always explore other ranges later.

The Wet Palette

Yes, you should have a wet palette. If you don't use a wet palette, get one right now. Or make your own. The sooner you start using one, the quicker you are going to improve as a painter. Our paint dries at an insane rate because we use so little, with a tiny brush, and it's acrylic. A standard dry palette will have your paint gumming up within minutes.

I've tried all the different brands, and they all work just fine. They're all basically doing the same thing. A sponge stays wet under parchment paper, and the moisture keeps your paint workable. If you want to save money, you can buy your own parchment paper (also called baking paper) from the grocery store and cut it to size yourself.

You can also make one for free with a plastic lid, a folded paper towel soaked in water, and a piece of parchment paper on top. I explain the whole process in my Getting Started guide.

NINJON's pick: The Game Envy Wet Palette. Works great, looks great.

Budget alternative: A plastic takeout lid, a paper towel, and parchment paper from the grocery store. Total cost: basically nothing.

Painting Handle

You do not want to hold your model by the base while you paint. You need a little more range of motion, more stability, and you definitely don't want your sweaty fingers touching wet paint. So you need some kind of painting handle.

When I first started, I bought a bunch of dowels and cut them into three-inch sections. Had about 40 or 50 painting handles. It worked perfectly. There are all sorts of branded handles these days, and they all have different features and gimmicks. By and large, they're all just fine. It's not going to make or break you as a painter.

NINJON's pick: The Redgrass Games painting handle. Nice weight (not too heavy, not too light), the top spins side to side, and it works beautifully with museum putty. That museum putty is freaking amazing. You put a little on there, push on your model, and it holds firm through priming and painting but pops off clean without sticking to the base.

Budget alternative: A wine cork, an old pill bottle, or a block of spare wood with a blob of poster tack on top. Cost: essentially zero.

Priming

You need to prime your models before painting. This protects subsequent paint layers from chipping and gives the paint something to grip (bare plastic is slippery). There are three approaches:

Spray cans. Work best. Fast, even coverage. Shake the can for at least a couple of minutes, then spray in a sweeping motion. Don't start the spray aimed directly at the model or you'll hose it down and obscure details. The downside: you need to be outside or in a well-ventilated area, and if you live somewhere with bad weather six months of the year (like I do), that's not always practical.

Airbrush. Great for priming. I've got a video on an easy starter airbrush if you want to dip your toes in. But it's a bigger investment and adds complexity if you're brand new.

Brush-on primer. This is what I'd actually recommend for most beginners. Buy a bottle of airbrush primer and just apply it with one of your big cheap synthetic brushes. Thin it down with a little water on your palette. You'll need two coats. Don't put it on too thick. A couple of thin coats is always better. It won't be quite as protective as spray primer, but it works, it's cheap, and you can do it at your desk in your pajamas.

Magnification

This is optional. You absolutely do not need magnification to paint miniatures. But I'd be remiss not to mention it. I didn't use magnifiers for the longest time, but once I started, I realized how much easier it was to see all the tiny details on these models. They're only about 10 to 15 bucks on Amazon. If you can't see it, you can't paint it. These really do help.

Storage

This is a bigger deal than most people realize, especially if you don't have a permanent painting space and need to put things away between sessions.

For your tools: Any small toolbox or art bin works great. I throw my museum putty, primer, super glue, plastic cement, brush soap, sanding sticks, hobby knife, clippers, painting handle, and brushes all into one container. Everything I need in one box. Close it up, put it in the closet, under the bed, take it to the store.

For your paints: Scrapbooking tubs. I like them for two reasons. First, they're about four inches tall, so even the tallest paint bottles fit. Second, they're completely clear, so I can look inside and see what colors are in there without opening and rummaging. They stack on each other, and they're a lot more flexible than a paint rack because you can put them away wherever you need.

For your models: Stackable totes with flat bottoms (the brand I use is called Really Useful Boxes, and yes, they are a bit pricier, but the sides are sturdy and the bottoms don't bow). Glue flexible magnet sheets to the bottom of the totes, put magnets on the base of each model, and everything stays perfectly stable during transport.

The Minimum Kit

If you were on a desert island with one of everything I've mentioned here, you could paint until you died of starvation or dysentery from all the coconut water. But if budget is tight, here's what I'd prioritize:

1. Something flat to paint on (you probably already have this)
2. A desk lamp with a neutral/cool bulb
3. Sprue clippers, a hobby knife, and sanding sticks
4. Plastic cement and super glue
5. A size 1 or 2 sable brush and a pack of cheap synthetics
6. A wet palette (homemade is totally fine)
7. Miniature paints (start with 6 to 10 colors)
8. A painting handle (wine cork and poster tack)
9. Primer (brush-on airbrush primer is the most affordable start)
10. A cup of water and paper towel

That's it. Everything else is a luxury. A nice luxury, sure. But luxury. Don't let gear anxiety keep you from painting. The tools don't make the painter.

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Making this list was as much a reminder to myself about not getting overwhelmed and not always looking for the next secret gadget. Sometimes keeping it simple is exactly what we need. Now that your painting setup is pristine, you have no excuse. Get out there and slay the gray.

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