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On my road to return, I've been baulking at the prospect of paying for GW paints, been considering the Vallejo Game paints since an article here says they cover (almost) the entire range of GW paints and they appear to be cheaper from some online searches.

Does anyone have any review for these paints? suggestions of other ranges that might be equally good (and have a healthy range)?

The GW stuff is far too expensive.

I can recommend the Vallejo ranges, with a few exceptions (the Game Color shade "Dark Green" is absolutely horrible, it clots and suffers from poor coverage). The Model Color range is also quite nice, except it can't take handling well, so varnish is a must.

Not only are Vallejos cheaper by the bottle, but their bottles are also bigger (17 vs 12 ml), so you'll save money.

The only product I buy from GW are models and books.

Paintbrushes at Michaels....better quality Cheaper prices
Flat Varnish at Michaels..."Testors" Flat matt varnish
Clippers, Exacto, files and the like ALSO at Michaels. (see a pattern yet)
Primer at Wal-Mart...Krylon flat black spray ($4, and the nozzle never clogs)
Dips at Home depot
Zap-a-Gap for glue
Vallejo is phasing my GW paints out

I laughed when GW came out with their "painting Station"...spend money for that or...

....go to wall mart and pick up a large plastic cutting board and use it to model/cut on and have it double as a paint palete.

Moral of the story? Dont buy GW modelling supplies. Sure they're 'decent' quality, but you pay a premium price.

Deadshane1 wrote:
Vallejo is phasing my GW paints out

Are they scrapping the Game Color range then? is it worth me using them, i don't want to paint half my orks with a colour I'll suddenly be playing sherlock holmes to locate after its discontinued.

im slowly replacing all my GW paints with vallejo, simply better in all aspects not least of all in cost. i can pick up game colour for £1.20 a bottle while GW paints are £2+ even after OLGS discounts.

whats a good american site to get the vallejo paints? Ive done a few half assed searches and didnt really come up with anything good anyways. i too havnt been very fond of GW products outside of the books and minis. never made sence to me either. GREAT minis but everything else is deffinetly of lower quality

Vallejo paints are excellent. Their matte, satin, and gloss varnishes are incredibly useful. Game Colour is meant to be a GW type line of bright & exciting colors, while Model Colour is meant to be more realistic.

I prefer Reaper Master Series. Their quality is just as good as Vallejo, but their triad (shadow, midtone, highlight) color arrangement is what seals the deal. It's incredibly convenient for painting.

I don't care for the VGC silvers, GW still makes the best silvers in my opinion. VGC Imperial Blue makes a great base color over black for Crimson Fists, but the Dark Green dries too translucent and looks more like black green when painted over a black base coat. It goes on bright enough, but dries dark and translucent.

VGC white primer is the best, though. No odd smell, coats beautifully over black, and makes a great base for any light color.

I still use Coat d'Arms for some colors. They are the company who did the original GW paints (tall round and hexagonal bottles). They still have all the old colors (under different names), and sell the paints in an 18ml bottle for $2.50. It is both more paint, and less expensive than Vallejo (17ml), and GW (12ml).

The only downside is that their US seller, Brookhurst Hobbies, is no longer selling them. So, I'm hoping someone in the states decides to pick up the distribution. I just bought a ton to hold me over (I still have some of the old hexagonal and round bottles 1o years later, and they still haven't dried out - unlike some of my Vallejos and GWs bought in the last two years).

Tamiya are good for AFV type colours.

I am thinking of trying Liquitex medium body.

I have some Liquitex heavy body -- these are very thick and need a lot of thinning with media to make them useful. It is too much effort for everyday wargame painting.

Cruentus wrote:The only downside is that their US seller, Brookhurst Hobbies, is no longer selling them. So, I'm hoping someone in the states decides to pick up the distribution.

Didn't I reply to this once already? Why yes I did!

I will second Reaper Master Series. Love the triad sets and the paint is more or less pre thinned and the coverage is pretty good. The war store sells it.

wynnstudio

well, thanks for the replies folks, think i'll stick with the vallejo since i won't need to employ much brain in working out what to paint in which colour. I am in the UK btw despite the little flag in my posts, can anyone recommend a good supplier for the paints and also a primer, decent brushes etc?

Thinking i'll be going for a full range set of paints (nothing annoys me more than not having the colour you suddenly decide the small bandage on one ork's left leg should be... (so I am happy to spend a healthy amount of cash, just object to overpricing as I see it).

so, good value dealer in UK anyone?

Hello,
I use a few companies paints as well as GW.I tend to find
Vallejo a bit iffy.They don't to my mind live up to the
hype that some reviewers spouted when they first appeared.
The first type of paint I use are from Gamecraft in
Liverpool(www.ralpartha.co.uk Ithink) I tend to use them
for base coats as most of them give good opaque coverage.
Also they have some unusual colours,and are very good
for washes.The other paint I use is Tamiya.These are a
bit tricky at first,and also very very fast drying.
They are also very matt .I don't think I've ever had
one colour dry with a shine.I will concede though that
their metallics are not much use.

Ghaz wrote:

Cruentus wrote:The only downside is that their US seller, Brookhurst Hobbies, is no longer selling them. So, I'm hoping someone in the states decides to pick up the distribution.

Didn't I reply to this once already? Why yes I did!

Thanks Ghaz. You see, that assumes I actually went back and read any of the replies to that thread . Wow, $3.25...hmmm....

I'd also like to second Ral Partha paints. I started painting with them, close to 20 years ago, still have some bottles that I use even after all that time. I also used Polly S paints (I think they discontinued their hobby/game line, although they do have a railroad modeling line of paints).

Deadshane pretty much summed things up. Michaels' is a great spot for anyone painting minis. My brushes come from there (though I do keep a couple of GW small drybrushes around since I've a soft spot for them) as do most of my tools, etc. I also tend to use their craft paints to base large areas and wooden sections for terrain.

As to paints, I'm in the midst of transitioning to the Reaper Master Series. I've had consistently good results with these paints and I'm doing more palate work to boot. Toss in a lower price for more paint and I'm pretty much sold. Now, I still use the GW Foundation paints because they're convenient and I use the GW washes because I simply like them. I may get around to trying the Vallejo paints at some point, but for the time being, I'm quite happy with the Reaper ones.