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I'm sure there has been a previous topic on this, but I'm curious what folk's experience has been with the Army Painter Quickshade product. I've used the mini-wax dipping technique before and was impressed with the shading, but was not very happy with the coating that it left on it. The thick glossy coating left on the models were almost impossible to highlight or paint over (using Vallejo paints so they were pretty thinned out) - basically had to use foundation paints to stop them from beading up over the coating.
I've heard alot of positive things about the Quickshade - yes I know it's more expensive, but here's what I'm wondering:

1. After you dip them, how thin is the covering left on it? Is it able to be painted over or do you need to hit it with the Matte Varnish before trying to highlight?

2. Looking at using the Strong Shade color over the Rat Fur Brown, will it shade enough to where you probably don't need to dry brush highlights on top of fur or does it still need it?

3. Is it really necessary to use the Army Painter Matte Varnish sealer spray or can you use other brands? I've read that it doesn't react well to other company's products.

4. What colors does it do well on / not do well on? I'm looking at a Clan Pestilen themed army, but don't want one that is extremely muted and dark (as they came out with the Miniwax dip).

Any suggestions, techniques, thoughts would be appreciated.

I have painted more than a hundred miniatures from various armies using Army Painter Strong tone in the past two years, so maybe I can share some insight.

1. After you dip them, how thin is the covering left on it? Is it able to be painted over or do you need to hit it with the Matte Varnish before trying to highlight?

It doesn't take paint very well. But then again, I rarely paint anything after dipping, with the exception of details that are easily obscured by dip such as eyes of human-sized models. The dip is there not just to add shading, but to make any colour changes smoother. Add some highlights after dipping and suddenly the mini isn't as smooth anymore. I think it's a better idea to paint the highlights before dipping.

2. Looking at using the Strong Shade color over the Rat Fur Brown, will it shade enough to where you probably don't need to dry brush highlights on top of fur or does it still need it?

I am not familiar with the colour, but as a general rule, if I'm not sure the colour light enough, I make it a bit more lighter. Also known as "when in doubt, add Bleached bone" rule of dipping. Either way, the strength of dip depends on the surface of model. If the fur texture is properly defined, the dip will sit better and become stronger in crevices.

3. Is it really necessary to use the Army Painter Matte Varnish sealer spray or can you use other brands? I've read that it doesn't react well to other company's products.

Although I have heard a lot of good from Army Painter Matte Varnish sealer, other products work as well. Personally, I use brush-on Vallejo Matt Varnish and it works fine.

4. What colors does it do well on / not do well on? I'm looking at a Clan Pestilen themed army, but don't want one that is extremely muted and dark (as they came out with the Miniwax dip).

Dip works best with light browns and bone colours - and depending on the look you are after, several greens, yellows and reds. Colourwise Clan Pestilens sounds like a perfect candidate for dipping, similar to pretty much any Nurgle army. For my Nurgle Daemons, I chose a handful of Foundation paints to build my basic colours from. Khemri brown, Gretchin green, Tallarn flesh, Iyanden darksun and Dheneb stone are all quite earthy and colourless tones, hence perfectly suitable for dipping. While they are all somewhat light colours, I decided to mix each of them roughly 1:1 with Bleached bone, to make them even lighter (the lighter the colours are, the more you benefit from the shading). Obviously every model was undercoated white - and thanks to Foundation paints, they were very easy to paint on top of white.

Finally, my Golden rules of dipping:

1. Always use a brush to apply the dip
2. Always apply a coat of matt varnish afterwards
3. When in doubt, add Bleached bone

EDIT: Unless you have noticed, Army Painter website has a new Skaven Clan Pestilens gallery added recently. While I do not agree with all their colour choices, it is a good example of what I mentioned above: painting the models in much lighter colours than you would normally do.

Thanks for the info jullevi.

Appreciate the response - definately will help me out.
I was impressed with the Plague Priest on the second page of the gallery - if you get those results from just basecoating and dipping, I'm all about it. I didn't see any highlights done on the basecoats - do you think those were just regular foundation paint coats or was there a little something extra added to them? Any idea what color the wood basecoat was?
I like how the white was used on the Plague Priests robes - not really crazy on how it was used on the plague monk units. Using the dipping technique, any recommendations on how to get the color seen in the recent White Dwarf issue (kind of that greyish color). Apologize for all the questions, but kind of color blind here myself. . . .

My take on the army painter stuff - it's a huge scam. I got one small thing of it to try it out. It is just wood stain, it's nothing special. It has the same gloss, the same viscosity, only at ten-times the cost.

Here are a couple of pictures:

These guys were done with Army Painter medium shade.




These guys were done with a generic wood stain.




I actually think the ones at the bottom look better. But the army painter cost over twice as much as the wood stain, for less than half the product.


As to your other questions;

1. After you dip them, how thin is the covering left on it? Is it able to be painted over or do you need to hit it with the Matte Varnish before trying to highlight?

You should matte varnish first. It will be as thick as the method you use to remove the excess. I put my guys on the end of a powerdrill and span them @ 1350RPM for 30 seconds, and the result was excellent - not too much leftover.

2. Looking at using the Strong Shade color over the Rat Fur Brown, will it shade enough to where you probably don't need to dry brush highlights on top of fur or does it still need it?

That's a matter of taste. You won't know until you try it.

3. Is it really necessary to use the Army Painter Matte Varnish sealer spray or can you use other brands? I've read that it doesn't react well to other company's products.

Krylon is just fine.

4. What colors does it do well on / not do well on? I'm looking at a Clan Pestilen themed army, but don't want one that is extremely muted and dark (as they came out with the Miniwax dip).

I had no problem with organic colours like browns and greens. If the miniwax was too dark, either use a better technique to remove excess dip, or use a different shade of miniwax. Wood stain comes in many different shades, and if you go to a reputable hardware store, they'll have no problem letting you look.

In fact, the place I got my wood stain colour-matched it to the Army Painter stuff for me. I brought in the little can, and walked out with a quarter-gallon of the exact same colour.

In short, 'Army Painter' appears to be doing nothing but rebranding generic wood stain, and charging you for a different label. You can do better.