COMBINED POSTAGE OFFERED: Please use the basket and then request or await the combined invoice that will save you money. Postage price for multiple items includes the protective packaging and almost always works out cheaper. Please only pay the discounted postage invoice. If unhappy with the postage cost, please contact me, prior to paying, to discuss. Higher value orders will be sent signed delivery, this may also be dependant on the country and buyer ratings. PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE LEAVING ANY BAD FEEDBACK. Items are sent out the same or the next day. Unfortunately I have no control over rare postal delays, please be mindful of this if leaving low star ratings. Thank you.

It's always difficult to state how good someone's paintwork is, so I've taken the best pictures that I can. Pro Painted (meaning professionally painted) is a term that is overused on E-Bay. A professional painter is someone that makes a living doing it. So that doesn't mean that they have to do it well, as a painting service could churn out a huge amount of airbrush sprayed paintjobs, such as some army painters out there. I'm not saying that people working for that painting service or studio do not have talent for figure painting, just that they have to paint to what the market wants, or what the individual customer wants to pay for. That may well be mass pre-painted armies. Different people are happy with different standards, and a lot of it is in the eye of the person that perceives the artisans finished painted miniature. Some people are happy with a very basic paintjob be it paint brushed or airbrushed. I would use the term Pro painted for a level of skilled paintwork that I would not put the item in paint stripper, as the artists paintjob is just too good for that. At a certain level of quality it passes a pivotal balancing scale point, that it is unlikely someone else will take the time, effort and have the skill or patience to paint that model to a higher standard. An artist is someone that produces an item that is aesthetic, to them or others. Painted miniatures that are above the level that I'd strip back cover a wide field. A well known standard is Games Workshop's Golden Demon. There are three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold, but even that can come down to peoples perceptions of art, as some years Golden Daemon can be surpassed by the prior years, due to the level of that years entrants, and what is considered artistic at the time. Fashion changes what is considered art, and it may come down to what is popular at the time.

Many different painting techniques can be used for figure painting, from simple ones for shading such as drybrushing, highlighting, washes and any weathering. Also certain advanced painting techniques such as Non Metallic Metal (NMM) or the layering and feathering blending techniques, using a wet palette. Toning, outlining and edging can add substantial time to a project as can any little details on the miniature to add individual character. Various quality paints can be used, either enamels or the more popular acrylic mediums, as well as different formulations of inks and varnishes. When you buy a painted miniature, be it a studio painted commissioned piece, exactly how you specified it, or something that just happens to be what you want, you are paying for three things. The materials used (be it the miniature itself or just the paint, inks and basing materials), the painters skill and most costly, their time to complete the project. I think people see a pre painted miniature and think, "hmmnnn, that's a bit of money," but possibly they only see the cost to actually buy the miniature itself (which is another add on cost) rather than all the hours that went in to create it, from start to finish of the project. The invested time in getting that figure to that high standard is it's inherent value, but the real value for some is in the enjoyment of using it in gameplay, or having it admired on the shelf.

Personally I see a good part of the unseen cost going into the preparation of a gaming miniature. I can spend nearly an hour filing a 28mm figure and washing off any oils from my hands ready for spraying on the undercoat. For metal miniatures you have to remove flash, file off the mould lines and remove any runoffs that crop up in the moulding process. Plus, if it's multiple parts, there is the drilling and pinning all the separate pieces. To drill and pin multiple parts for assembly can take hours on larger miniatures. Then there's use of any filler needed for gaps or damage to moulds such as voids or breaks. For plastic it's easier to glue parts together but there's still removing it from the sprue, scraping any mould lines off, positioning and filling gaps. Any further sculpting or conversion work can add many hours to a project. There are artists out there speed painting miniatures to an acceptable standard on their commissioned work. I can't speed paint, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and it can take me 8 to 10 hours to paint a single 28mm miniature, plus if you really start putting nice detail on the base, then that adds to the time taken. As with anything in life, the longer you spend on something, the better it will turn out. All those hours for any project cost money, so you only have to look at what you would earn per hour, and start to add it all up. How much is your time worth.