want to try new acrylic paints, advice?

[King Tiger]

Although I love MP paints I'm getting sick of the screw lids being very brittle and easy to break and not being completely sealed and easily clogged so I'm wanting some advice on a new paint range

GW is a no no, I am not paying those prices for an average paint range consisting of 50 shades of Brown where all 50 are actually the same.

Vallejo is another no no, I used them for six weeks when at a friends painting his stuff, the coverage is terrible, the quality poor and the time spent shaking tedious and the bottles are evil.

In fact all dropper bottles are a no no.

I am interested in tamiya, but I hear they can be a pain to use

[zizi666]

I am interested in tamiya, but I hear they can be a pain to use

Dunno if they have changed over the years, but when I started modelling some 30 years ago, tamiya acrylics smelled awfull. 

[FramFramson]

P3? Reaper?

Don't have experience with those myself, but those are other big lines that folks have used,

[muncehead]

I'm using Vallejo myself and not come across any issues .....yet.

I do hear a lot of praise for P3 paints too.

[King Tiger]

I had heard bad things about P3 metallics, what are they like?, also what are they like generally for price, quality and UK availability, as I don't see them sold anywhere locally or otherwise (probably because warmachine is rightfully dead)

Same for reaper, what are they like quality wise,,and where to get them?

What are the humbrol acrylics like?

[Estarriol]

Doesn't sound like you'll like any of them!
Give Coat d'Arms a go though. They're the paints GW used to use waaaaay back in the 90s (and I still have old pots on the go!)

[King Tiger]

Well nobody's tried to sell me on the other paints, no opinions or reviews or info, so its hard to like things nobody bothers telling you about

I assume the coat d arms shaders are washes or inks?, if they are washes what are they like compared to GW washes (the only paint from them I use)

[carlos marighela]

Tamiya acrylics can smell odd. Gunge Sangyo is a better option IMO if going the generic modelling paint route. Never had any problems with Vallejo, which I use almost exclusively these days. The Master painter bottles I have tried have all been rather thin. I did buy a pot of Humbrol acrylic DBG the other week. Can't say I was overly impressed.

[Hammers]

P3? Reaper?

Don't have experience with those myself, but those are other big lines that folks have used,

Reaper are great. Vallejo is good, they have an incredible variety. Fantastic metallics, high saturation ranges, airbrush paint which are stonking shades.

I mourn IWM/RalPartha, though.

[dijit]

Persnally i like Coat D'arms, but a few of their range doesn't have that great coverage. Though that said if your painting over black under coat, thats just something you'll have to live with. Coat D'arms yellows are amongst the best I've tried (though Humbrol yellow is my favourite)
Vallejo I've found a reasoably good. Generally though I'm not a fan of the dropper bottles, but they do seem to have an advantage that they don't seem to dry out as quickly as others though. The yellows I've tried are ok, but not great.
GW are fairly good actually, and price wish I don't think their that bad. Not as cheap as Coat D'arms, but not bad. Plus they have hald decent yellows.
Humbrol Acrylics actually have some very decent shades and good coverage - Their yellow is my favourite. The only problem I have is that some of the Humbrols paints I've bought have been half dried up, though whether thats the shop or generally Humbrol I don't know, so check them first if you buy any.
Alof of people say the P# paints are good too, but not really tried them yet. Though a friend quite likes them.

(You might have noticed yellows for me are the benchmark, I've been on a quest to find a good pigment strong yellow. So I tend to rate the rest of the range through the quality of their yellow)

[Glitzer]

I've changed to artist's acrylics... you know, the ones that come in litre bottles...

I only use Vallejo and Reaper model ones for special colours like olive drab, flesh tones, signal colours and the like...

The local gaming community starts hating me because of this (me achieving better results than them despite using those "cheap" paints)

[dijit]

I've changed to artist's acrylics... you know, the ones that come in litre bottles...

I only use Vallejo and Reaper model ones for special colours like olive drab, flesh tones, signal colours and the like...

The local gaming community starts hating me because of this (me achieving better results than them despite using those "cheap" paints)

How easy are they to water down, because aren't they normally quite thick compared to models acrylics?

[King Tiger]

Tamiya acrylics can smell odd.

If I can stand the smell of devlan mud I'm sure I can survive, what are they like to use?, what's the coverage like?, is there a specific way to work with them?, I'm interested in them the most because they have allot of gorgeous natural shades which I like.

Coat d arms sound tempting, and the starter set is a bargain to try out, and I only paint from an acrylic Brown army painter undercoat, never from black, so that should help with any iffy colours I assume.

[fastolfrus]

Never had any real problems with Tamiya acrylics, though not bought any recently - latge bottles last a good while -Humbrol are ok too.
Not had any real problems with Vallejo.
Maybe it depends on the undercoat you use?
We tend to use car primer (red oxide or grey) or occasionally Humbrol sprays (sand or green) and avoid black.
We also use "Anita's All Purpose" acrylic craft paint - tall plastic bottles from craft shops, 59ml (Vallejo are only 17ml) but usually about the same price as Vallejo.

[Mitch K]

OK, I use:

Vallejo acrylics. These cover well, flow well and dilute out nicely. However I find them a paint in the backside to mix sometimes. Maybe a glass bead or two in the pot would help. There's a wide range of colours and you can get away without using your own mixes most of the time if you so wish.

Artists' acrylics (Daler, Winsor and Newton, Liquitex) Fantastic pigment quality and flow well. Downside is that most are very thick by modellers standards because they are intended to be applied in thickish layers where there's no moulded detail to obscure! A more limited palette, but you expect to mix your own. Note many colours are transparent. This is by design. These make wonderful glazes and washes but these colours DO NOT cover well.

Craft paints. Cheap and cheerful, quality varies a lot even within ranges. Great for terrain etc where you need a lot. Plenty of different shades.

Match pot emulsion. Base coats on terrain. Nice and gutsy, cheap.

I used to use oils on miniatures - you cannot beat wet blended oils for graduated tones in my opinion. The downside is painfully slow drying, even if you use something like copal oil or mix with white enamel.

I used Tamiya acrylics on model armoured  vehicles. They spray very well and brush tolerably well, but some of the colours were a bit weird and the smell was horrible (this by the standards of Humbrol / Compucolour enamels and oil paint).

Short answer: one size doesn't fit all. Even within a range some colours work a lot better than others and you have to be prepared to live and learn.

This opinion is bought to you all for free, baksheesh and gratis, and please remember what you payed for it when you determine its value!