Army Painter Warpaints - are they all this bad?

[Codsticker]

Scale 75 have just announced a new range called Scalecolor Artist. More details on their Facebook page, apparently.

Indeed: link.
I am intrigued...

[Bloggard]

I can't find any sign of Italeri acrylic paints being available in the UK, other than some small pots with aircraft kits. They're not that new, but don't appear to have a UK distributor. As for eBay....don't bother.

https://www.1001modelkits.co.uk/

have a number of the italeri paints in stock - I've placed an order for a small selection and it is supposedly shipping today.

[Andrew_McGuire]

I can't get beyond the announcement, as I am unknown to Facebook. I did belatedly notice that it is a Kickstarter campaign, which launches next week, so the paints themselves may be a long way off, or for that matter, never appear.

Thanks for the link to the 10001 Kits website, Bloggard - a new one to me. I'll be interested to hear your experience with the order, and the paints themselves.

No-one's mentioned Life Color, by the way. Now I have. I've used them, but not extensively enough to comment in detail on their properties, other than that they brush well and seem to give a smooth matt finish, but it's entirely possible I'm not using them properly.

[Dags]

Even on a well primered, washed surface, and after a coat of matte varnish, I find that the Scale75 rubs off really easily with normal handling. Like the paint doesn't grip into the primer at all, but just dries on the surface. Compared to P3 and Vallejo it's been way more vulnerable to daily handling.

This is just the opaque colours, not the metallics. The metallics I would recommend over anything else I have ever used, they are utterly brilliant.

Not, for one moment, doubting you but I've had no issues like this at all. I don't 'over varnish' and those that know me will attest to how innately clumsy I am so none of my gaming minis are particularly carefully handled.

Is this happening on metal or plastic? Or both? I try to avoid plastic like the plague so wondering if that was the problem....

The only thing, I think, I do differently to you is store upside down* and just use the pigment; so perhaps it is the carrier that is causing the issue?

*This does, in fairness, cause a bit of nozzle clogging but nothing that a handy bit of wire won't fix

[Dags]

Life Color

I got a few back in the day as they did some pretty obscure accurate WW2 colours before I realised that life was too short to be that precise and if it looked right, to me, that was grand 

Didn't hate them, didn't love them. Nothing 'wrong' with them.... but do prefer paint in droppers. Did find they dried out quite quickly (compared to other brands) in the pot once opened. Haven't bother to replace them.

[Andrew_McGuire]

They do tend to get overlooked, particularly by figure painters, for some reason. One may be that they're not as easy to find as Vallejo and Army Painter. I've even ordered some from Hong Kong, which seems bizarre, given that they're made in Italy. That was before I discovered this UK seller:

https://airbrushes.com/index.php?cPath=400_4_429_202?osCsid=f3d8qedp52u43mfqtodib2ie67

[Blackwolf]

I have used all the paints mentioned,and what I do find is a little Tamiya Flat Base works wonders,flat as a tack; I guess it is really just liquid talc...
As for Ammo Mig and AK a lot of their paints (even the non-airbrush) seem to work better through an airbrush...go figure.
And as a caveat I’m using oils a lot more these days,once you get use to them so easy to manipulate 

[opponenttheory]

I mostly use scale 75 these days but not long ago warpaints were my paint of choice and I still use them for certain tasks and will occasionally paint entire models using them for fun.

I agree with the comments about them not being fit for the advertised purpose ie quick army painting as they are too transparent for putting down a basecoat in one layer. However, that transparency makes them some of the best paints for wet blending and glazing.  No one paint range excels at all things as by their nature the acrylic medium and pigments will have qualities that favour being used in a particular way. So it really depends on your painting style which paint you prefer.

I would add they do need to be shaken a lot more than than you might think, like beyond the point they appear to be fully mixed. Adding an agitator into the bottle will help with this.

[aphillathehun]

I'm starting to use Scale75 paints and like them a lot.  But I use something else for the basecoat.  I use a lot of Foundry paints and like them but over time I've had two issues with them:
- the plastic containers breakdown (most of my lids now are a mix of plastic and 2 part epoxy)
- the shades in replacement batches don't match the originals

But I've gone to painting with more transparent shades and apart from a few standby triads with Foundry, I'll be using Scale75.

I also use the Blue paint set from Andrea which is awesome (their red set is good too), but I don't have good success with their other sets.

[Mindenbrush]

Aphillathehun - you can get new tops for Foundry type pots here
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=108833.msg1360141#msg1360141pi

I picked up some Scale75 Scalecolour A paints from my local gaming store and they are a really matt finish - odd colour names though
https://scale75.com/en/69-scalecolor-range

[syrinx0]

I bought a bunch of the replacement foundry/P3 caps back in 2017.  Not a perfect match but they do quite nicely.

[Revfan]

I hate to sidetrack this thread... but man, that is the coolest looking skeleton I've seen! 

[Captain Blood]

Derail away. It’s fabulous. Keith’s an artist. Lovely colours.

[Psychopomp]

I use a mix of Vallejo and Army Painter, and I've noticed that while both tend to separate, Army Painter separates a bit more harshly.  It's never caused me a major problem, because I've long had a habit of adding glass beads as agitators to all my dropper bottles - started that practice with Vallejo years before Army Painter existed.  A separated AP paint requires a bit more agitation, remembering to shake along more than one axis to stir the paint up really well.  Adding glass agitators to my dropper bottles was as big an experience changer for me as learning to thin my paints or make my own wash medium.

That said, the only reds I've ever found that don't coat over black as shown in the prior picture are GW foundation reds and Vallejo's Heavy Red Game Color.  The red/orange/yellow side of the spectrum has always had issues covering black, in my experience.  I often apply a layer of Vallejo Heavy Warm Grey for the  reds/oranges/yellows or a layer of Vallejo Heavy Cold Grey for the thinner blues/purples/greens.

The shiny effect you sometimes get with poorly mixed paints doesn't bother me too much as long as the coverage is there, as I use a matte sealer.

[dampfpanzerwagon]

I'm not sure if this You Tube tutorial has been referenced but I thought it was worth adding a link.



Tony