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The AT-43 homepage here: http://www.at-43.com/index.php?lg=EN#fig_comparatif shows side by side comparison of the upcoming AT-43 minis as they come out of the box as compared to the Rackham team's own work on them. These are pre-painted to a much higher standard than the starter box.

The AT-43 range looks *very* promising.
I guess my 40k Cityfight IG will get some reinforcements soon (Firetoads with 40 guns = Sentinels, Tacarms with heavy stubbers or flamers as ??).


A note on the AT-43 page mentioned above:

"The AT-43® range is entirely composed of pre-assembled and pre-painted miniatures...
...Nevertheless some players appreciate painting...
...shows that a pre-painted miniature keeps all its details even after a basecoat, allowing the most talented painters to realize their own original painting."

Guess that means that there will be *no* unpainted AT-43 for sale.
Too bad, kinda strange to pay extra for something you don't need/want (the paint job) and then having to strip the mini :-(
Like the paint job on the Firetoad though.

BTW,
the quote "a pre-painted miniature keeps all its details even after a basecoat," is downright silly.

It is not.... since the painting is that good that even after repriming the mini looks like a never before primed mini.... hence no detail is lost. Go prime the BF EVO minis and you will see the paint job under the priming.

There will definitely be no unpainted mini in the normal range, only limited promo will be metal and unpainted.

Besides.... most gamers are quite happy with the paint-job..... but because some expert painters were worried that they could not reprime the mini the quoted part was written to diminish their worries.

Holy crap that is crazy paint.

the painter in question is finnish. Just so you know

Yeah, yeah. We get it. The Finnish paint the coolest playable armies.




Poking fun. I really enjoy checking out your work migsula.

To clarify:
I like the look of the AT-43 line. A lot.

Bugbrotha Navarro: Glad to hear that you like the minis.
Also, that was a pretty nice Firetoad (although I personally think it should have had the original camo pattern, which is brilliant).

From what I've seen I think the pre-paint job is acceptable (rather good)
- but if/when I bought AT-minis I would both make them more 40k-ish by replacing weaponry and reapaint (or atleast touch up the paint job).

Duncan Idaho:
It is good that one *can* reprime them...
... but saying such things as "no detail is lost" is simply untrue.

The mini will have:
a priming, a base coat, several layers of the original paint, weathering/inks, a sealing layer...
...and that is just what is hiding under the new priming layer!
A good original paint job will make the difference less noticeable - but the original crispness of small detail will be lost. Period.
On a Firetoad and/or Tacarms this might not be a big problem - but on infantry it will
(obviously a good enough painter can still produce brilliant minis - but it will take a lot more effort, recreating lost detail).

Conclusion, AT-43 seems to be a nice new line - and will hopefully give Imperal Guard players a lot of interesting choices.
Can you live with the original paint job (or just touching it up). Fine.
If not, either accept lost detail when repriming - or risk unwanted effects when stripping the paint.

Personally I believe that prepainted minis (of good quality) is very good for the hobby - as an alternative to painting yourself.
I *still* hope there will be some way that you can order unpainted AT-43 stuff (manufacturers online store??).

/MJ

a priming, a base coat, several layers of the original paint, weathering/inks, a sealing layer...
...and that is just what is hiding under the new priming layer!

I've repainted my Therians. There is no such build up. I've scraped some areas down beyond the paint (edit: not because it had to be scrapped through to get to the mini, but that I was cutting down certain areas which accordingly meant slicing through the paint and exposing the plastic) because I wanted to slightly resculpt the model. The paint layer is so thin it cannot be measured by anything other than scientific tools - it is far thinner than a human hair.

This is not a slap on paintjob by some actual person. It is an assembly-line paintjob by a machine by all looks of it, and it is also quite clearly baked-on. There is either no primer layer or no detectable primer layer, assumbaly this paint adheres well to the underlying plastic by default or adheres due to the baking. You won't find several layers of original paint, inks, and a sealing layer. You'll find one layer of production painting by robotics, and a wash (possibly by a person) which is also baked on after the fact.

If the primer you use is so thick as to obscure detail when you apply it - I might suggest purchasing a different brand of primer or finding a different atmosphere in which to apply it so it doesn't bloom.

Caern is more than right.... the whole paint job is done by machine..... since we already have primed the minis.... there is no such effect as you describe as long as you use GW-Primer or others of similar quality.

I'd hardly call GW Primer quality! Go with Krylon, Testors, Armory or some other brand that isn't as problem plagued as GW's hobby sprays.

Is there any truth to the rumors that unpainted versions will (eventually) be released?

Does the paint strip well using simple green?

What sort of plastic are we looking at here?

Folks..... read and then write.....

NO! there will be no unpainted minis besides some limited promo

And YES! GW has some really nice products... and the primer is one of them. It is not temperature sensitive like most others.... it does not flock.... it does not dissolve plastic..... etc. etc. Onyl problem.... it is a little bit more expensive then others. The ones named by you might be cheaper..... but getting them in europe is more expensive than making up for the difference.

What do you mean by green? You really don´t need to strip the minis since painting is baked on.

Nyar - No truth to that rumour at this point. It is not part of the current release schedule

Grot 6 - I think everyone has the completely wrong idea that this is some kind of hand-painted stuff using your typical modeller's paints. It isn't. It's wisp thin, and baked on factory assembly-line painting by machines. You can't simply strip the stuff, it's literally fused onto the mini.

As far as plastic goes, it's flexible but not rubbery. It'll bend a little and be okay, but extreme bending will result in damage. It's more flexible than GW plastic but much less flexible than say, a D&D mini, which is rather rubbery.

Posted By Duncan_Idaho on 01/13/2007 2:02 PM
And YES! GW has some really nice products... and the primer is one of them. It is not temperature sensitive like most others.... it does not flock.... it does not dissolve plastic..... etc. etc. Onyl problem.... it is a little bit more expensive then others. The ones named by you might be cheaper..... but getting them in europe is more expensive than making up for the difference.

I'd beg to differ on this one having had a batch of plastic miniatures including several major conversions ruined thanks to bad GW primer destroying them by melting/warping them despite spraying in perfect temperature & humidity conditions, very thoroughly shaking the can and spraying at the proper distance. This isn't to say GW doesn't have any nice products, but their Hobby Supplies most definitely aren't amongst them.


For those that have touched up and or repainted the figs, is it even necessary to re-prime? That is, using standard hobby acrylics (in my case a mix of Vallejo Model, Game and Air Color, and Citadel inks), is there any prep needed beyond a quick bath with some warm soapy water? I'm going to assume the "bath" is needed to get any residue off but that's it.   

Posted By Caern on 01/13/2007 2:03 PM
Nyar - No truth to that rumour at this point. It is not part of the current release schedule

Ah, thanks, I somehow missed that. No major deal, the current stuff is pretty kicking rad as is.

Nyar - regarding retouching or repriming, the effectiveness of it is going to be largely based on what paint you use. You can retouch these miniatures right out of the box with no cleaning/priming/anything with VGC, Rackham colour, or any other paints that have a strong binder, and not need to varnish them to hold the paint on. I wouldn't put VMC or GW on these though unless you also varnish them since VMC has that tendendcy to rub off with use. I touched my UNA troopers and Firetoad with VGC and Rackham paints (no varnish) and they've gone unchanged after many hours of use so far.

The Therians I repainted entirely because I wanted to go with a different colour scheme altogether. I just busted out the cheap white GW spraypaint as opposed to a real primer because, well, it's all I've got at the moment, and turned them all snow-white. Painting went pretty much as it would for any miniature that was primed with the same spraypaint, nothing different either positive or negative.

Strange that GW primer did this to your minis.... over here in europe it´s the first time I would hear of it.... maybe they have a different supplier in some places. From the hobby products the have some are trash.... and some are hard to find better ones for the same price at you DIY. The saw is among the good ones, the hand-drill (minus the exchangable drill-bits, they are crap, but easy to replace with better ones down to 0.2 mm), the primer, and the cyano-glue (which is a relabled loctite).
The paints are good for beginners and do the job most of the time.... unfortunately some of the brighter colors have not enough pigments as needed, but overall are quite good.

Vallejo Model colors have the problem with the some times crude crunching of the pigments and Game colors have the problem that the medium too easily seperates from the rest. Up until now I would think of the Rackham colors as the best if you got some experience. Their acrylic-latex base structure makes it easie to paint without priming.

The quality of GW primer looks like it's rolled on a d10. Some cans are perfect, others are good for absolutely nothing.

Then you should buy in Germany .... our cans are always of good quality....