How to Paint a Die Cast Figurine

Prime the figure. Place it in a well-ventilated area and spray or brush it evenly with primer. Use many thin coats as opposed to a single thick coat, which can blur the detail on your figurine.

Lay in a base coat. Select a mid-range color for each area of the figure, and paint with a flat coat of this color. Make sure the paint is not so thick it obscures details. Again, more thin coats are better than fewer thick coats. Allow the base coat to dry.

Add shadows. Choose a darker variant of your base color, or mix the base color with black, dark brown, navy blue or another dark shade. This produces your shadow color. Thin the paint with water and "wash" the figure with it. The thinned paint should puddle in the crevices and be almost invisible on the high points of your figure. Allow the shadows to dry.

Dry brush the highlights. Choose a lighter shade of the base coat, or mix a lighter color with the base color to create a highlight color. Choose a worn bristle brush for the dry brushing. Don't wet this brush. Tap the bristle brush in the paint to get a light coating on the bristle tips. Wipe the excess off with a paper towel if you get too much. Lightly brush the highlights with this paintbrush. It will leave a thin coating of your light color on the high parts of the figure. Allow the figure to dry.

Seal your figure. Place the miniature in a well-ventilated area and spray or bursh it with a thin coat of acrylic varnish. Repeat thin layers until your figure has the look you want. Your die cast figure is ready for display.