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I've always bought my hobby supplies from games workshop however i'm feeling thier prices are getting a little on the steep side for the simple things like black spray and brushes.

Anyone know of a far cheaper, but just as good, supplier(s)/brands of black spray and GW like paint brushes?

Well you can get equally good paint brushes at a craftshop for much less. Just look for a shop that sells art supplies.

If you want black spray go to a DIY shop, they have lots of types much cheaper.

Pretty much any black spray on the market will be cheaper and as good as GW's over-priced, inconsistent gak.

The only real advantage to GW's spray is that it dries quickly. Other model sprays would probably have a similar drying time, although they also tend to be expensive.

I use White Knight flat black. I've used discount store generic brand sprays in the past, although went slightly more up-market in the end as the cheaper sprays tend to clog up before you finish the tin unless you use them all in one session.

Some painters swear by automotive primers, although some of these can be a little grainy.


Brushes... find a nearby craft store, or a decent stationery store, and you'll find a vast world of paintbrushy goodness.

Windsor and Newton is the way to go if you have the cash (GW's brushes are supposedly a rebadged lower quality version of the W&N range) ... but there are a host of reasonably priced, acceptable brushes out there.

i highly recommend the Privateer Press Black primer...
it has a great fan-shaped spray, that goes where you want it to...
the nozzles don't gunk up...
it dries fast, and doesn't rub off like GW primer...
plus, it cost $5 less...

cheers
jah

You can also buy Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) primer+paint. It comes in a can with a great nozzle for spraying multiple model at once and runs around 2 dollars

Krylon black primer is incredible. It's 5 bucks, available at just about every hardware store, and goes on silky smooth. They even have a new nozzle type that's adjustable and really easy to use.

I would avoid both Armory and GW. GW spray primer is something like 15 bucks, and Armory leaves black fuzz and gunk all over the place. I used to use Armory exclusively, but I've had it with their poor product and now I use Krylon.

Duplicolor black primer at your local Auto Zone is the best stuff. It is under $5 a can and it is the same as the Privateer stuff (they are manufacturing it for PP).

Lately I've fallen in love with the army painter sprays as personal preferance, my only criticism is they stink far worse than any others I have used. Go on nice and evenly with minimal fuss.

For brushes the nice windsor and newton at around £10 each (can't remember the range off the top of my head) are arguably the best if you're willign to pay the price and look after them right.
On a budget either their cotman range or hit ebay/wayland etc sire for the army painter brushes. For sable (or in some cases synthetic specialy for a certain type of job) they're very affordable and are amazingly long lived even with my rough handling of them.

Thanks for the help you guys that should be plenty to look into. Definitely be looking over at the windsor and newton range of brushes.
Was looking through the brushes at my local hobby store but just put off by the sheer variety and without direction there would have been no way i'd know what to buy.

As for black, sounds like most cheaper do the job. Duplicolor I have seen before at my local halfords so will have to get myself a can of that should cover my needs.

I went to home depot... $3

$3, $15... Meh. That was an easy one for me.