Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: tom q vaxy on January 01, 2019, 11:47:22 AM
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I know this is a highly debatable subject, and best is circumstantial.
for an investing a fairly good sum in the most all-'round line of acrylic paint, (spray & brush) which brand would you choose?
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I usually choose Vallejo Model Colour VMC or Vallejo Game Colour VGC.
I also ran a Poll on this subject before I wrote my book (Modelling and Painting WW2 Germans).
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=98976.0 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=98976.0)
Both come in dropper bottles and are available worldwide.
Colours are intermixable with other acrylics and with each other. Thin with water.
You should add a stainless steel ball bearing (or three small ones) to the bottle and shake it before use.
VMC has all the correct colours for e.g. WW2 uniforms and vehicles.
VGC is actually based on the original Citadel colours which are very nice & bright tones for fantasy and science fiction.
Regards Mick
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I also rely heavily on Vallejo, supplemented with Liquitex artist acrylics (mainly gesso for primer coat and various varnishes).
I suggest you also invest in a bottle of Vallejo acrylic thinner medium, so you can reconstitute paints from time to time. Some get thick while sitting and continuing to thin with only water may weaken the resin medium.
For painting terrain, I've been getting indoor flat latex paints made to match the Vallejo colors I use on bases. Much cheaper than the Vallejo paints and suitable for terrain (too thick for most miniatures).
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I mostly use army painter. Ive found them perfect for my needs. I supplement these with Vallejo but also own various paints from other ranges (GW, Privateer press, Scale 75 etc)
I have quite a few Coat D'Arms paints for painting my old school models. For reasons of nostalgia.
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thanks members. this information is very helpful.
regarding Liquitex tube paints, I have found them much like their matte medium in respect to curing to a rubbery consistence and filling detail.
Q: what are we thinning them with to avoid this? or is it simply a by-product of the medium?
continued thanx!
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You can broadly seperate acrylics into two categories: 'standard' (Vallejo, Mig, AK, GW, Foundry etc) & Lacquer-based (Tamiya, Gunze, Lifecolor, Mr Hobby & the new AK 'Real Color' range). They both have their pros & cons but you can find great ranges of colours in each.
As suggested by Mick_in_Switzerland, Vallejo do cover all the bases - VMC & VMG, as he said, are 'realistic' & more vivid 'fantasy' colours respectively - also both ranges have airbrush ready versions Vallejo Model Air (VMA) & Vallejo Game Air (VGA), though they haven't reproduced all the colours in the ranges as yet.
As to what's best, what are you going to paint? Personally I paint a lot of WWII stuff & I've found the Mig Ammo & AK Interactive paints to be a little better than Vallejo - but mainly for airbrush work, while I've tended to stick to VMC for brush-use (figures rather than vehicles). If you paint mostly sci-fi or fantasy then GW is a strong contender & more likely to be available locally (an important consideration).
The lacquer-based paints are also generally better for airbrushes & a little more fiddly to use (specific thinners & they do smell somewhat), but give a fantastically smooth finish (though it's a little more fragile than the 'standard' acrylics). There are also very extensive colour ranges available - Tamiya's alone is pretty big.
As I mentioned, availability can be important - is there a local hobby shop which carries the paints you want - if you're waiting for paint to arrive in the post to finish a project you're 'in the zone' on it can be annoying.
My only point of difference with Mick_in_Switzerland's excellent advice is on the matter of acrylic thinners, particularly when using through an airbrush. Whilst some paints are fine with water, I'd use their appropriate thinner if possible (pretty much all brands do their own thinner & not all brands thinners work with all other brands - which I found out when some AK paint reacted very badly to a Vallejo thinner, spalling, peeling & giving an overly shiny finish as well as gumming up the airbrush).
Hope thats of some help :)
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@Ballardian
I have absolutely nothing against using the correct Vallejo acrylic thinners. I just didn't think about it at the time.
Mick
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It's a debatable question, since not all hobbyists like/use the same products, and what is good for A might be a bad choice for B.
I use a mix of brands, though I'm relying more on reaper at the moment. They have a very good matte finish and a wide range of colours. GW have the best shades in the market in my opinion, but their paint tends to dry in the pots. Foundry are a mixed bag - some triads are very good, others a bit disappointing in coverage and dry up a bit satin for my taste. And for undercoat I generally use Maimeri Polycolor.
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for an investing a fairly good sum in the most all-'round line of acrylic paint, (spray & brush) which brand would you choose?
What sort of models are you painting? Fantasy? Historical?
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@ Mick_in_Switzerland, Absolutely no criticism intended, as a general rule I'd say if you're blowing the paint through an airbrush, use that company's thinner, while when using a normal paitbrush you can generally get away with using water (though not for lacquer-based acrylics).
I also agree with with pixelgeek, what you're painting can dictate which paint range you use.
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Unless you plan to mix from various brand I recommend that you det a set from Reaper, the Master Series Paints
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I do like the idea of sticking to one brand, but I understand one company doesn't necessarily make every type of coating. as far as thinning, somewhere along the line I got the impression airbrush medium, anything with "medium" in the name, will thin without separating the paint pigments.
then there's the mix 'n' match painters that know how to layer enamel over acrylic and laquer over the entire thing then bring out details with tube oils.
i'm certainly not there yet!
what sort of models? trains, cars, figures, resin, wood, styrene. i don't want my modeling limited by my paints and vice-versa, which is why i'm asking the questions. it's a journey!
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At the end of the day, the paint that you like that gets onto your *finished* miniatures is the "best"!! :o
My overall favorite is the paint that is already on the figures! Of course, my favorite beer is "free" beer, too. ;)
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I think you'll only be able to read through the listings of what other people like to use, and go from there. I suggest to actually try several, and see what you like best.
The best comparisson I can think of, is that it's a bit like certain types of music you never used to listen to: in the beginning, it all basically sounds the same, but the more you're exposed to it, the more nuances you will start to pick up on, and eventually (if you actually like the genre), you'll start developing your preferences.
It's the same with paint brands: at first, all the different brands are very much alike; they're all paint in (roughly) the same colors. But then, after painting with them for more and more time, you discover that a certain brand dilutes/flows/mixes/dries just a bit more to your liking than the others, and you find yourself picking that particular paint all the time, and that's probably 'your' brand then.
But mind; it's rare for you to find yourself prefering all the products of one particular manufacturer over the others. Certain products from one range could be just the way you like them, but for other types, you like another brand better!
So here come my experiences so far: I started out with the old Citadel paints (now Coat d'Arms), and went along with several changes in GW's paint ranges, until (around the time of their hard plastic with black flip-top hex-bottle) Vallejo became available locally. And I found myself changing over to Vallejo almost exclusively, using up my old GW paints over the years (still not completely there yet).
My reason for the change was the wider range of colors, and mostly the more convenient dropper bottles, that have a smaller footprint as well. Vallejo paints were reputed to have a higher pigment density too (at the time at least), and I remember the paints flowing and covering quite a bit better. I can only assume though, that current ranges from other manufacturers have caught up, and are all on par, quality-wise.
Also, I discovered the Army Painter range of washes several years back, which I personally like very much. Coincidentally, those also come in the same type of bottles.
And then there's pigment powders to consider as well. But painting with them (as opposed to weathering) involves a steeper learning curve, so you'd be better served testing the waters with (acrylic) paints first.
For basing and terrain, I ended up going to a local DIY store and had a liter pot of their cheapest wall paint mixed to match GW's old Graveyard Earth, as that's what I was using for bases at the time. I've been using that same bucket for many years now, and I've hardly even made a dent into its contents. Cost me the princely sum of €8,50...
Only very recently (like a couple of weeks ago), I (re)discovered the joys of oil based paints and white spirit for pin-washing, and those have returned to my arsenal now as well. I used to paint model planes with oil based paints (tiny Revell and Humbrol tins) for almost a decade before I finally made the transition to water based acrylics (a GW Paint Set) and stopped using them overnight.
It's just small tubes of cheap oil based paints, and grocery store white spirit, but it works admirably. I can heartily advise experimenting with those a bit, as it'll hardly break the bank, and it's yet another tool to use.
And then there are several other brands that have not even been mentioned yet, but are equally good. For instance Privateer's P3 range of paints, which is sort of hard to get in Europe, but I hear good things about.
In the end though, it'll all come down to personal preference, just like with every one of us offering advise. So go out there, get a bunch of paints from different makes, and experiment. Trust me; after painting with different paints for a year or so, you'll have a very good feel for what you like or not... :)
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Personally I use mostly Vallejo for all my historical needs and Warcolours for the more fantasy oriented stuff: I find Warcolours' line to be fantastic, their gel medium gives them fairly unique characteristics and they work great for blending and layers. Not your piece of cake if you want a fully opaque covering in one go (though they have a line designed for that) but once you aster the learning curve they are fantastically smooth
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It really depends on what your goals as a painter are and what you find easy to work with. What a competition painter requires from their paints is not the same as a sci-fi wargamer's needs. I like to work on a wet palette, mix a lot of colors, and do a lot of thinning and glazing. Personally I use Golden artist acrylics extensively, with select colors from other ranges like Vallejo and Secret Weapon. I have some GW and P3 as well, and I generally like them, but I tend to not buy them because they come in those nonsensical little pots.
If I had a friend who was just getting into the hobby and asked what paints to get, I'd tell them to get Vallejo Model Color without hesitation. They're opaque, matte, can be used for glazes, don't spill all over your desk if you knock them over, and have the biggest selection of colors available.
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Has anyone made use of Green Stuff World paints? I browsed their paint catalog the other day but did not really get a feel for the product other than that they offer quite a lot of technical paints. That's all well and fine, but one really wants to know if their base paint asre of good quality.
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Has anyone made use of Green Stuff World paints? I browsed their paint catalog the other day but did not really get a feel for the product other than that they offer quite a lot of technical paints. That's all well and fine, but one really wants to know if their base paint asre of good quality.
Looks like for standard acrylic colors they stock Scale75 paints, which are by all accounts I've read very good. They use a gel medium and are a bit thicker like a syrup than other brands of paints.
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They use a gel medium and are a bit thicker like a syrup than other brands of paints.
I read. I am not sure I'd like that.