Painting Plastic Minis

Started by BanzaiCat, July 11, 2016, 07:18:50 PM

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Nefaro

Some of my Vallejo washes have too large/heavy pigments for my liking.  At least the various brown/warm ones that typically get used the most.  Even after I thin them out, the pigments just look too large or glop together too much for my taste.  Their regular paints are good, I've been quite happy with them; just looking for new washes.

I decided to try a set of Citadel shades since GW's pigments are supposedly a bit lighter.  If so, I figured maybe their shades/washes are a bit better suited to the task.  Your experiences with them compared to others?

I was first debating picking up a couple of the Army Painter acrylic "tone" shades (in the dropper bottles) but was a bit concerned about those being more like the Vallejo ones after seeing some video comparisons between various brands.  Would really like to have some that don't require a lot thinning, for the usual crevice darkening, but especially ones where the pigment is fine enough to keep the color even.

Which manufacturer's pre-made washes do you guys prefer?

Ubercat

Quote from: Nefaro on May 05, 2017, 09:45:46 AM
Some of my Vallejo washes have too large/heavy pigments for my liking.  At least the various brown/warm ones that typically get used the most.  Even after I thin them out, the pigments just look too large or glop together too much for my taste.  Their regular paints are good, I've been quite happy with them; just looking for new washes.

I decided to try a set of Citadel shades since GW's pigments are supposedly a bit lighter.  If so, I figured maybe their shades/washes are a bit better suited to the task.  Your experiences with them compared to others?

I was first debating picking up a couple of the Army Painter acrylic "tone" shades (in the dropper bottles) but was a bit concerned about those being more like the Vallejo ones after seeing some video comparisons between various brands.  Would really like to have some that don't require a lot thinning, for the usual crevice darkening, but especially ones where the pigment is fine enough to keep the color even.

Which manufacturer's pre-made washes do you guys prefer?

How are you thinning them, with water? You may have better results experimenting with medium.
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Silent Disapproval Robot

Citadel's washes are great.  I like Tamiya's brush for edges and lines but I find the shade is too shiny when it dries. 

Citadel paints are OK for darker colours but I find their metallics are quite poor in that they don't mix well and either come out very runny or too thick.  Their lighter colours are too thin and you have to do a lot of coats with them.

Nefaro

Quote from: Ubercat on May 08, 2017, 09:25:50 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on May 05, 2017, 09:45:46 AM
Some of my Vallejo washes have too large/heavy pigments for my liking.  At least the various brown/warm ones that typically get used the most.  Even after I thin them out, the pigments just look too large or glop together too much for my taste.  Their regular paints are good, I've been quite happy with them; just looking for new washes.

I decided to try a set of Citadel shades since GW's pigments are supposedly a bit lighter.  If so, I figured maybe their shades/washes are a bit better suited to the task.  Your experiences with them compared to others?

I was first debating picking up a couple of the Army Painter acrylic "tone" shades (in the dropper bottles) but was a bit concerned about those being more like the Vallejo ones after seeing some video comparisons between various brands.  Would really like to have some that don't require a lot thinning, for the usual crevice darkening, but especially ones where the pigment is fine enough to keep the color even.

Which manufacturer's pre-made washes do you guys prefer?

How are you thinning them, with water? You may have better results experimenting with medium.


Yes.  Thus far I've only used water.

Although I have some medium, I didn't want to constantly mix/use it every time I washed something.  Part of the reason I picked up bottles of washes was being able to use them more quickly, without too much fidgeting.  Plus not having to replace medium/thinner as often would be a plus.

Mostly a matter of convenience.





Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on May 08, 2017, 09:41:42 PM
Citadel's washes are great.  I like Tamiya's brush for edges and lines but I find the shade is too shiny when it dries. 

Citadel paints are OK for darker colours but I find their metallics are quite poor in that they don't mix well and either come out very runny or too thick.  Their lighter colours are too thin and you have to do a lot of coats with them.


I'd seen some mention of the Citadel paints being thinner in general, and some good things about their washes because of that, so figured I'd try them out. 

At the same time, their normal paints seemed to get a bit of a down vote for the same properties.  Especially the metal.  I'm not concerned with the other paints, however, as I've been quite happy with my Vallejo ones.  It was just the washes I wanted to shop around on.



You use Tamiya paints for lining?  Hrmm..  I only have one pot of Tamiya paint; a dark gray I generally just use for painting bases.  It seemed to have a strange sheen or viscosity to it, compared to others, but has been fine for secondary duty like that.  I saw mention of Tamiya having some nice "clear" types of ink/paint, notably the Clear Red.

SirAndrewD

Ugh, I've been remiss in keeping up with this thread.  I'm currently working on painting commissions again.  I'm going to try to dig deep and help with anyone that wants here.

I'm currently doing paid work discovering the horrors/joys of doing board game minis for local gamers on contract.  The base and material sometimes informs the results. Not everything is made in high quality and good mold resin sadly.

"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

bbmike

Quote from: SirAndrewD on May 28, 2017, 01:09:14 AM
Ugh, I've been remiss in keeping up with this thread.  I'm currently working on painting commissions again.  I'm going to try to dig deep and help with anyone that wants here.

I'm currently doing paid work discovering the horrors/joys of doing board game minis for local gamers on contract.  The base and material sometimes informs the results. Not everything is made in high quality and good mold resin sadly.

Pictures!
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SirAndrewD

Quote from: bbmike on May 28, 2017, 07:36:04 AM


Pictures!

Working on it!  I'm currently on a commission for Pandemic's Cthulhu game and the Labyrinth board game.  Results are actually better than I'd anticipated.

The client doesn't want pictures before, he'd prefer to be surprised by the finished results, so I've not taken anything yet. 

But, things are going to be busy.  Since I'm a teacher, I'm on a very extended and very unpaid vacation for a few months, and with the release of Warhammer 8th, I'm getting a full queue to pass the time.  If I can keep myself away from Steel Division '44 and Cold Waters when it drops, I'll post some results here.
"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

GDS_Starfury

Quote from: Nefaro on May 05, 2017, 09:45:46 AM
Some of my Vallejo washes have too large/heavy pigments for my liking.  At least the various brown/warm ones that typically get used the most.  Even after I thin them out, the pigments just look too large or glop together too much for my taste.  Their regular paints are good, I've been quite happy with them; just looking for new washes.


look for paint used specifically for air brush use as these have the finest ground pigment.
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Nefaro

Quote from: GDS_Starfury on June 05, 2017, 05:31:10 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on May 05, 2017, 09:45:46 AM
Some of my Vallejo washes have too large/heavy pigments for my liking.  At least the various brown/warm ones that typically get used the most.  Even after I thin them out, the pigments just look too large or glop together too much for my taste.  Their regular paints are good, I've been quite happy with them; just looking for new washes.


look for paint used specifically for air brush use as these have the finest ground pigment.


Good point.  Thanks!   O0

Bison

Vallejo makes the air product line specifically for air brushes.  They have both game and model colors.

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/game-air/family/31

BanzaiCat

I still need to get started with this.

I bought a bunch of paints last year from Michael's when they were on sale...arguments on line went from "GASP NO YOU CAN'T USE THAT YOU INFIDEL!!!1!" to "Meh, yeah, it'll work just as well as the expensive paints," so I dunno. I guess I'll learn from experience.

Now that I have a dedicated (ish) space for gaming in my place i can probably put up some painting. First will be Shadows of Brimstone.