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Hey Guys,

So when I got into this hobby I was pretty quick, I just wanted to leap in and didn't really check out alternatives...

And then one day on YouTube I see this channel called Girl painting, she paints really good minis... but they look a little "odd"... she doesn't use GW paints.

Turns out she uses Army Painter, which I had never heard of, and she gets stuff done really quickly...

I am looking on their website now, and seeing an awesome Doomwheel they claim they've done in 2 hours, and a Minotaur in 1 hour... all of it using sprays and quick shading products...

And yet, I hear that there's a lot of hate directed against them...


What are the Pros/Cons of Army Painter?

Why had I never heard of it before?

What do Dakkaites think of it?

Never used their stuff myself. The colored Primer sprays are intriguing, but my current color schemes were made to make use of black/white primer, so they're not needed with my current armies.

The dips I can't get behind because of cost. $30 for a small can of Army Painter dip, or $10 for a large can of MinWax Polyshade that does the same thing and comes in Far more colors/shades? Even with my employee discount and preference of shopping at the FLGS that's not even a choice I have to stop and consider.

Their paintbrush selection looks rather nice though, and I might look at those further when I need to get new ones.

Their dips are fine, but for Tyranids, the difference between that small can and the result I can get from Tudor Black Minwax is negligible, so the price difference is not justified in my case.

Their brushes are fine. I've used a few, but I have brushes from just about every supplier apart from Citadel/GW, and again, the subtle differences are lost on me.

Have not used their weathering stuff and paints yet, but I haven't seen harsh criticism , either. IS there some sort of consensus about them that I missed?

I think it's a fantastic fantastic thing...if you're doing a flat colored/dipped army.

It's also good for if you don't want to use an airbrush for large amounts of basecoating.

The only complaint I've got is the stuff sometimes 'gums up' at the end of the nozzle.

I have tried their stuff and the only thing I like from them is their Matte Finish Spray.

Their cans of spray paint and dips are expensive and can be duplicated for a 1/5th of the cost of their products. However, their matte spray is the best I have ever bought but that too is kind of expensive. I found that their dips streak pretty bad if not done just right. Using washes might take longer but I believe that it gives a better finish than Army Painter when it comes to speed painting an army.

for what its worth i subscribe to her youtube channel and as far as i know she only uses the army painter primer and paints with old citadel paints.
my cousin uses their dip on one of his armies and they come out quite good, probably 4/5 what he would get if he put in his full effort. (he can paint fine but hes too lazy)

I too was intrigued when I heard about the method and had a look into it myself. The speed certainly appeals to the gamer in me; I have reams of unpainted plastic and metal that attest to my procrastination as a painter. However, when I saw the video of the Army Painter chap wanging the model around his head attached to a pair of pliers, I kind of lost interest - it's not something I can really countenance doing. And besides, I cant be assed to clear out the garage to make the space!

i cant find this youtube vid you refer to. can you post a link?

Got a can of the dark dip from my boss, i like it.
sure, they may be expensivve, but i haven't seen any contemporary products here in sweden.

I diluted it with some paint thinner and proceeded to dip the majority of my cryx troops.
Got really good results.

Also jazzed up my ig army with it. turned out really well!

I really should try and take som pics down at the store someday.

//Hoffen

It is 100% true that you can get products suitable for dipping for fraction of price of Armybuilder Quickshade. The way I see it, you are paying extra for not having to wander into hardware store, stare at the massive collection of varnishes and try guessing which is the one that does not ruin your minis. However, if you have an easy access to a cheaper alternative product that you know is suitable for dipping, go for it.

I have been using Strong tone dip for almost two years now and I have been extremely happy with it. I use it mostly as an overall shading tool, similar to how many people use, say, Devlan Mud wash to finish the paintjob. The smooth shading provided by dip means that I can skip some corners during the painting without having to compromise the results. I have learned to use the dip to my advantage and nowadays my results are actually better than they would be without dipping.

Dipping is sometimes given a bad reputation by painters that skip too much corners. Poor choice of colours, lazy modelling, not bothering to remove excess dip properly or not completing the project with Matt varnish are common mistakes. I don't like the idea of using dipping simply for the sake of saving as much time as possible and ending up with minis that look poop. Put some thought into process and you can still save a considerable amount of time and effort without having to compromise the results. For me, dipping also gives a psychological help to finish the models. It is the most fun part of the whole painting process, something I always look forward to, but I know I can't or want to dip before I have painted all the areas.

Also, having dipped more than 200 miniatures, I can easily recommend applying the dip with brush instead of literally dunking the model into can. Not only it is less prone to catastrophes, but it also gives you better control of the dip and saves a considerable amount of time, effort and the actual product compared to dipping into can. It also feels less like cheating

Hoffen wrote:Got a can of the dark dip from my boss, i like it.
sure, they may be expensivve, but i haven't seen any contemporary products here in sweden.
//Hoffen

If you're looking for a contemporary product to the Minwax that Americans use, just head down to you hardware, home improvement, or wood working store and find out what they have for polyurethane with stain. You'll likely have a whole range of colors/shades to choose from, which is one of the advantages of using wood stain rather than army painter

filbert wrote:However, when I saw the video of the Army Painter chap wanging the model around his head attached to a pair of pliers, I kind of lost interest - it's not something I can really countenance doing. And besides, I cant be assed to clear out the garage to make the space!

I had the exact same dilema. "Dip" is a bit misleading and limiting, as you don't have to actually dip the figures. I and many others use dip applied with a brush. It can be done at a desk, and if you get a bit too much on it's easy to pull it off with a brush. Considering the amount of time required to setup space, shake the miniatures, and then cleanup, I thing that the brush meathod is just as fast as -if not faster than- the traditional dip and shake.

As to the OP,
I don't think there's anything wrong with Army painter except for the prices, and if you're buying new GW products, you probably don't have alot of problems with high prices. I prefer hardware store sprays and minwax, but by Army Painter makes good products too.

Regarding dipping in general, it's a great way to get armies to tabletop quality. The shortcoming is that it will never give you as nicely done models as layers of expertly applied highlights and multiple washes. For those of us that aren't as interested in the painting side of the hobby, or just don't have the skills, Base-Block-Dip-Spray(matte) meathod gives great tabletop-quality results quickly.