Review: Andrea Black Paint Kit

[Hammers]

Well, I 've gone ahead an purchased m'self a paint kit, which I thought I'd review. 'Hang on, Hammers, did you not just commit yourself to a basing post?'

Well, there is a tie in. I purchased a White Paint Kit to which I will eventually be using on my Pathans. More of that later.

I got these because bothe white and black can be tricky to get right. I am fairly happy with how my whites turn out but I still find it difficultt to get black looking just so.

Any hoo, here's the kit as sold by Battlefield Berlin:




The box has quite ambitious artwork ...



...and a very pedagogical step-by-step chart. The problem with printed material is that they hardly ever can  reproduce colours in photographs adequately. It depends so much on lighting etc. I would have prefered a more schematic step-by-step description where colours and

I am pretty sure Andrea has repackaged Vallejo paints  under  their own brands.



The paints, I can attest, are of top notch quality. Superior pigmentation and excellent coverage.



This here is Arn de Dacia, a herald of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, c:a 1060. He's the subject of our review since his habit incorporates a large black cloak with many folds.

The weird thing about the kit is that it provides six drop bottles but you are only supposed use one of them straight out of the bottle. The others are supposed to be mixed with each other. That's a minus. I was hoping for more of a paint-by-numbers approach, you know, 'paint 1st shadow with bottle 3 etc.'

So, following the instruction card:

'Apply two coats of Base [bottle 1, marked with a grey square]' Ok, simple enough and just the way I like it: straight out of the bottle. My only comment is that one coat would have been enough. As stated above, the pigmentation is very good, probably the highest quality I've ever used and it cover is superb. Did I mention that I based the miniature with a black sprayon undercoat?



'Using a mixture of Base[bottle 1] and 1st Hilite [botttle 2], apply the first hilites'. This throws me off just a smidgen since I generally start with shadows but what the hell, one should try new ways now and then. I am however a bit annoyed about having to mix paints in a kit like this.



Sallying forth: 'Apply the 2nd hilite using a mixture of 1st hilite [bottle 2] and 2nd hilite [bottle 3]. Now, see, here's my real beef: if the 1st hilite is a mixture of bottles 1 and 2 and second hilite is a mixture of bottles 2 and three, why the hell just not bottling those mixes in the first place and save me the trouble? Annoying, and certainly removes this kit from the silver bullet category.



Anyway, I wanted to see this through so...

'Use a mixture of Base [bottle 1] and 1st shadow[bottle 4] to apply the first shadows.' I personally find this quite ass backwards. In my book you don't do hilites first, and definitely not ALL hilites first and then the shadows. I picked up my usual technique from an American called Shepard Paine, which some of you may be familiar with (both the man and the technique): base first, then 1st shadow, then 1st hilite, then 2nd shadow and last 1st hilite. to me this make sense since it makes you see the contrasts develop and helps you see where the next augmentations should go. And again why do they not have the bottle labelled 1st shadow actually contain that mixture?



To continue: 'The second shadows are a mixture of 1st shadow [bottle 4] and 2nd shadow [bottle 5]'. I don't like this. Trying to manouver a the bruch into a fold on 28mm without ruining the previously applied hilites is difficult.



[Sorry about the deteriorating picture quality. I did not check the results properly. Or I was possibly very, very drunk.]

And finally: 'The final shadow is applied using a mixture of 2nd shadow [bottle 5] and 3rd shadow [bottle 6].' This is one more shadow than I normally use. I tend too stick to two hilites and as many shadows. But, as said, I don't hold with applying deep shadows like this, especially not with black. Bottle 6 holds something which can be described as Lamp Black in common nuance teminology (thus staying away from GW's 'Chaos Black' and such nonsense). I know balck never looks black in real light but it feels weird that 'pure' black is not being used in even the deepest folds if you follow this method. Also, it is not easy applying the deep shadow last like this, especially not with black.



Bellow is the miniature with all other, non-black details painted:



To summarize it think:

1) the paints where excellent, I don't think I have any paints of a similar quality in the racks
2) the range of paints badly composed; they could have been premixed to the right nuances from the start
3) the step-by-step chart nice looking but I don't agree with the method

The miniature did not turn out looking completely shit but overall much to blue-grey to my taste. I think I could do better reverting to my old style, which is to start with a black deep shadow and to use few but rapidly scaling hilites, using the paints from the kit and by adding one or two lighter hilites.

I should add apart from trying to find a easy solution to paining difficult colours, the reason I sent for these Andrea kits was that  I think Andrea post some of the most extraordinary painted miniatures on their site. It is quite possibly so that this kit is intended for the 54mm market. There is after all a certain difference in painting 28mms to them larger miniatures.

[meninobesta]

thanks for sharing!

Do you just aply the paint flat out of the cans? (only mixing some shades as they instruct)
or do you thin the paint for shades and dry brush the highlights?

[Mancha]

I'm more impressed with the picture of your painting stand than with the pictures of the paint system.  Rubber corks on a bed of nails; pretty cool.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I'm more impressed with the picture of your painting stand than with the pictures of the paint system.  Rubber corks on a bed of nails; pretty cool.

That's just a Swedish "late night recreational device" that Hammers has converted to a more mundane use 

This is a very intriguing idea, though, as black and white are often very difficult to reproduce well in miniature.

I look forward to seeing the "white" results, which are the hardest for me to get right.

[Hammers]

Sorry about the review being cut short. I was going for a step by step. Something came up but I wanted to save what  I had put together so far. I  will continue this promptly.

On a side note:

The Hammer Industries Corkmeister 2000 System is an invention of my own. Works a treat in several ways. I hot glue based miniatures on plastic wine bottle corks or drill a hole for a brass rod in a mounted miniatures and stick that in the cork. It needs  to be the the new kind of plastic cork, mind. The old kind of bark cork, recycled or compressed, wear out to fast and hot glue doesn't stick so well to it.

I have several different pin trays which are simply plywood with upturned pins glued to them. The pins need to be gluedwith enought distance between each other. I used a long ruler like tray with room for about 10 miniatures in spray boot. I have square trays with three by for rows of pins which I use when I paint.  Those take about as many miniatures that I normally paint as a batch.

This system works very well for me. The cork gives me a good handle so I don't need to hold the mini directly. The pin tray keeps the miniatures from toppling over.

[Hammers]

Original post edited.

[Hammers]

Original post completed with the last steps.

[Helen]

Thanks Peder for your step by step technique using black.

Whilst it would be nice to have a nice range of good quality paints on the workbench I'm afraid I'll still work with Vallejo Game and model colour with a dapple of acrylic inks from the artist shop.

Like you said when you are using your own style and they recommend this process  it makes no sense when you are applying what you think is the right process (in your own mind) in applying the layers of colour, shadows and highlights as oppose to what seems a very arkward step by step process.

Just my thoughts an I could be right off target, but please tell em so!

Helen

[Curryman]

Nice review, Hammers. I was intrigued to hear of this kit, as I have a lot of trouble properly painting both white and black clothes. I was hoping (as I think you were) for much more of a "turn key" solution. Requiring so much mixing and such an odd technique seems to me to defeat the purpose of buying a kit. At least the mini turned out pretty well, though as you say a bit more grey-black than grey. Overall, good job!

[Plynkes]

So it is a paint set with umpteen blacks, and yet you still have to mix them? Sounds like a complete waste of time to me. If you have to mix them then why not just mix from the colours you already have and save your money? To begin with I thought the whole thing was a practical joke anyway. Then I thought, well, exceptionally lazy people (even lazier than me) might like to have every single shade on their figures spoon-fed to them (what's next, paint-by-numbers figures with the numbers printed on them?), but this set doesn't even do that.

Are they going to do this with every colour? Boxes of ten reds, and twenty blues, for people too bone idle to mix their paints, only to find they have to mix them anyway? This is absurd! 

I always thought those triad things were a bit silly (though am coming round to the idea, as I am actually very lazy), but this is really pushing it.

(Hey guys! Here's a trade secret: If you take paint from one pot and "mix" (techincal term sorry about that) it with paint from another pot, it makes a new colour! The paint manufacturers do not want you to find out about this arcane knowledge.)

[Hammers]

So it is a paint set with umpteen blacks, and yet you still have to mix them? Sounds like a complete waste of time to me. If you have to mix them then why not just mix from the colours you already have and save your money? To begin with I thought the whole thing was a practical joke anyway. Then I thought, well, exceptionally lazy people (even lazier than me) might like to have every single shade on their figures spoon-fed to them (what's next, paint-by-numbers figures with the numbers printed on them?), but this set doesn't even do that.

Are they going to do this with every colour? Boxes of ten reds, and twenty blues, for people too bone idle to mix their paints, only to find they have to mix them anyway? This is absurd! 

I always thought those triad things were a bit silly (though am coming round to the idea, as I am actually very lazy), but this is really pushing it.

(Hey guys! Here's a trade secret: If you take paint from one pot and "mix" (techincal term sorry about that) it with paint from another pot, it makes a new colour! The paint manufacturers do not want you to find out about this arcane knowledge.)

You are absolutely right about most of what you are saying. I do have different preferenses in one aspect: I like not having to mix my own shades. The reason is that I want consistensy. Take my NWF Indian Army as an example. I never paint more than ten miniatures in a batch. I have about 40 infantry in the pille and 20 cavalry and a bunch of pilots, officers and heavy weapon support. Since I am easilly distracted it can be a while between the Indian army batches. I want them all to look uniform so I keep a paint log on what, exactly, I used for base colour hilites and shades. Sticking to premixed paints really simplyfies this process and this is why I am now and then willing to try kits like Andreas, especially since black is one of the tricky ones.

[Plynkes]

Yes, I was being a little facetious. My gut reaction to these things is one of derision (surely mixing paints is a fundamental part of the hobby - they'll be wanting someone to paint their figures for them next). However, precisely for the reasons you state of wanting uniformed troops that you paint in different batches  to look the same I have over time been slowly coming around to your way of thinking. Though it is a Holy Grail I have never quite found. Nobody ever seems to make the exact colours I want (not even the basic colour, let alone highlights and shades), so I have to mix.

My solution was also to start a painting log, to track how I mix the the types I paint lots of (British troops, Ottoman troops, Ngoni, etc. with entries on the uniform colours, equipment and so forth). But even this is less than ideal, as I have found I still end up with variations. Still it is better than nothing. I have now found two Coat d'Arms colours that I always use for British serge uniforms and German field grey respectively, which is a huge help considering I used to mix them from about four different pots each time. But I still use washes and mix colours for the shades and highlights.


The main problem I see with this kit, is that despite providing you with several tubs, you still end up having to mix your paint. That just seems crazy, and no solution at all.

[Hammers]

The main problem I see with this kit, is that despite providing you with several tubs, you still end up having to mix your paint. That just seems crazy, and no solution at all.

Well roared, brother and exactly my beef with it to.

I hope to show that the investment wasn't a waste. I have taken a few pictures of another Hospitaller painted with the same paint set but with my own method. I hope to post them soon. (I seem to have reached my limit on in the members gallery so I need to post them on my own chaotic site.)

[Hammers]

Here's a comparison between the miniature I painted the Andrea way (left) and one I painted me own ol' way (right).



The fellow with the couched lance, St. Drome de Tourette, is painted with the same Andrea paints save one. I started with third shadow (bottle 6) and hilited in successive stages with only three paints, 1st shadow and 2nd light (bottles 5 and 3) and added a final hilite of GW Space Wolves grey on the very outmost ridges. Wanting the habit to look more black I really just applied all the paints as hilites on the ridges. You may be of the opinion that a GW SWG is to light a colour to finish with but I have come to like that effect. I don't pretend to have mastered to apply it with enough subtlety yet.