One thing I’m enjoying from time to time is painting miniatures. There’s something quite calming and soothing in it, and also quite fun. It’s also nice when you notice that you’re improving (though I’m still far off the skill of the pros 
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Here’s some of the ones I’ve done in the past. The skeleton is the most recent one (and I’m particularly pleased with how the cloth came out on that one, as I experimented a bit), and the innkeeper is the oldest (I think I painted it some 20 years ago 
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Expect more pictures of my miniature stuff in the future – I’ve got more to show, and more to come soon.
The skeleton and minotaur look great! Approximately how long does each model take you to paint?
Thanks
Do you also paint?
The time it takes varies a lot, and I’m not a fast painter in any way (I tend to take my time, as I enjoy the painting).
I don’t paint the whole thing in one go, but in several passes, and I usually have more than one figure I’m working on at any one time.
I start by applying a coat of black paint across the whole figure, and then let it dry. Then I paint in the big blocks of color (no fine details) in one go, and again let it dry. Next I use a darker shade of thinned down paint, which I apply in the recesses of the figure (the paint being thinned down means it will naturally gather there anyway, while leaving the higher bits alone).
After letting it dry again I use a lighter shade of each color and apply it with dry brushing, thus adding highlights where appropriate. For some models (like the skeleton), I repeat this process many times, using lighter and lighter shades of the color.
Last, I add the little details with a fine brush, to finish it off. It usually takes me weeks to finish a figure, as I only paint every now and then, and can’t do all that much in one sitting (as the paint needs to dry).
Many years ago I was really into Warhammer 40K and painted my share of Space Marines (Blood Angels and Ultramarines), as well as Eldar miniatures. I also built quite a few buildings and other structures from scratch. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they are now… probably lost in my parent’s basement. If I get a chance, I’ll look for them the next time I stop by their house.As I recall, Testers had some fantastic spray paints in very rich colors which made a great solid color base coat. I usually followed the base coat with an air brush for areas of color and simulated dirt, grime, and rust. Then I hand painted the detail work. One thing I really liked about the Warhammer 40K models was that you assembled them yourself from spruces of parts, so you could choose the arms, legs, torso, heads, and accessories, as well as pose the models. I customized a few of the models using miscellaneous small plastic parts from other models that I had collected over the years.
I haven’t painted any 40K figures, though I must agree that the component-based system is quite appealing…
I guess it’s just the sci-fi theme I don’t like so much…