wako doc G that layout is incredible for such a small space, and me not having even reached track laying on my own yet!
just out of curiosity, every hobby publication ive seen on figure paining involves pink and white skin tones for caucasian and agalo people, but ive always wanted to ask what colour would you use to paint a "black" person?
From the perspective of the artist you got to use your eyes, and don't ever use paint unmixed from the tube to paint anything but a freshly painted building or piece of railroad equipment.
I work with a paper plate palette . I use those craft acrylics in the little plastic bottles. When I paint figures I'll have a spot of the so called 'Flesh tone" a spot of white, a spot of tan, a spot of brown and a tiny spot of black.
Again use your eyes , and mix paint two people are unlikely to be the same color, people range from pink (with a bizarre bluish cast, (that we are best of ignoring in miniature figures) to very dark, which you would get by adding a tiny bit of black to some brown.
Mixing the paint is also very useful in making clothing look more realistic. For instance if you are painting some blue overalls, adding a tinny bit of white, can fade the knees, and browns or black can make them dirty.
I tend to paint at least four or five figures at a time, other wise you spend more time cleaning your brush than anything else. If you don't mix your paint, the similarities in the colors will be distracting, but if your mixing the paint One figure gets brown hair, with a little white to add highlights. Then you wipe the brush with a damp paper towel, and add some black to the brown to do some shoes, and possibly some skin for the "Black" folks, who, for the most part, aren't any more black the I'm "White"; although some few get closer.
To paint figures you need really good tiny brushes from the art supply store, and you need to take care of them. I have a couple small containers of soapy water ( I use Ivory liquid). in between colors I rinse out the brush. when I'm done painting I rinse the brush in the sink under hot water, rub straight ivory liquid into the fibres, and rince it again. I rub a little ivory liquid into the fibers then, and wipe it with a paper towel before storing the brush. if perchance some pigment is left in the brush, the detergent keeps the bristles from sticking together, and your good brushes stay good.
I'll bet if you looked around, there are forums for the guys who paint figures for wargaming, D&D ect. Some of these guys are very good, and we could learn lots of tricks for them, One of those guys showed me how to paint eyeballs and pupils on figures just a little bigger than Ho.
Figures have a big impact on a scene , and that impact increases with the bigger scales.
Bill Nelson