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Dakka,

Like most of us, I have a sizeable army which is sizably unpainted
Which totally sucks cause a lot of my opponents don't take me seriously since my army isn't painted.
Not to mention I lose points in some tournamets.
So hopefully I can help remedy this by purchasing some army painter goods and trying to speed paint through.

First off, I am running a blue Eldar army (not Alaitoc). It's main color is GW Enchanted blue paint. I was wondering if the Army Painter 'Navy Blue' Primer is close to this color or if it is close to a different GW blue shade such as regal blue or ultramarines blue.

Secondly, the Army Painter Quick Shade seems quite intriguing, namely the Strong Shade. I was just wondering if this is comparable to any wood stains that are used for dipping tyranids and other like models. And if so, what wood stain shade? I am looking to buy a generic stain rather than spending the $30 for the official quick shade.



Thanks a lot, hope someone out there can help me.



MY

I had a lot of luck with the quick shade product from Army Painter. Supposedly it is pigmented differently than regular wood stain. I've never used regular wood stain so can't give you a complete comparison. The best part about the quick shade besides the quick factor is that it provides a really hard durable seal for your painted models. I use their anti shine spray after the figures dry for their 48 hours or so. Unlike some other sealing methods I don't have to revisit the model for several coats.

Minwax, chestnut is pretty darn close to the Army Painter stuff. I would pick up some of that with some Mineral Spirits and start with a 1:1 mix. Then slowly add more mineral spirits till you get the shade you like the best.

@MadMaverick

Does it leave a brown tone on white painted areas? Does it dry the same as the quick shade stuff?

Also have you had any luck dipping things like Eldar or equivalents?

I have had quite a bit of success dipping IG. Generally it does leave a brown tone as well. There are many different shades of Minwax Polyshade, so you have alot of options. I use the Ebony to replace Badab Black Wash, and Chestnut to replace Devlan Mud wash. A pint of the Minwax is actually cheaper than a pot of the GW Washes.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/320090.page

^Check out that post for a nice play by play of dipping. His guys look pretty good!

The quick shade at least the darkest of the tones uses black pigments, most of the minwax products use tones of brown.

There is a black Minwax though.

MellowYellow wrote:@MadMaverick

Does it leave a brown tone on white painted areas? Does it dry the same as the quick shade stuff?

Also have you had any luck dipping things like Eldar or equivalents?

It's important to remember that Army Painter actually has multiple "Quick Shades". They have a Soft, Dark, and Strong Shades.
Soft works best on greys, whites, yellows, things of that nature. I'm not sure if it leaves a brown tone or not though.
Strong will leave a heavy brown pigmentation though, since it is after all...a strong shade.
Dark is what you want for a blue army though. It leaves a heavy black shade, while maintaining the original color.

Now that you mention it, the stain on the carpet at the FLGS where someone dropped a can of Quickshade is indeed brown.

I would definitely recommend getting some Minwax over the Army Painter products. Their spray primers are good, although Krylon makes the same for much much cheaper. Also Minwax is a heck of a lot cheaper. I was disappointed when I spent $25 on a pint of Quick Shade only to use a $5 of Minwax and got the same result.

@MadMaverick What color miniwax do you recommend for whites and blues?


@Kanluwen What does the dark shade do to areas of white?

I have no clue, to be honest.

I'd guess that it likely leaves a black tinge to it.

I would try miniwax. In addition, using a flat blue spray paint is just as good. Why pay 2 or 3 times what that stuff is worth?

Because their stuff is a true primer.

Krylon makes colored primers too, you just have to hunt a bit.

@Mellow
I would probably use a chestnut with a 1:2 mix with some mineral spirits to water it down a bit. That mixture should still give you a nice wash look but not "brown" the colors too much. Minwax will generally give white a bit of an off white look. If you are trying to perserve the white, I would minwax it and then go over the high parts with the white you originally used, basically acting as a highlighter.

I'm using the Army Painter lightshade on my Tyranids, which are all browns and pinks. It gives a subtle shade down to a very dark brown shade if you let it pool thickly. I like it. I did consider using Minwax but I bought the Quickshade because I didn't feel confident in making a choice without some experience.

The whole dipping technique was invented by historical gamers using Minwax and similar floor polishes. I know Quickshade is priced higher. I don't know if it really has any special properties compared to floor varnish.

I've used under 1/4 of a can varnishing over 2,000 points of Tyranids, so I'm not worried about the price differential.

I use the paint on, blob off technique, which is more economical with the varnish than the dip and spin technique.

By painting thinly on the flat surfaces, the colour is enriched more than darkened. You lose contrast because of the shiny finish, however a spray of matt varnish overall brings it back and makes the colours and shaded parts "pop".

The key to painting with stained varnish is to put it on the figure, blob it off, wait a few minutes for it to pool, then blob it off again from the places where it is pooling. Otherwise you tend to get dark drips of it collecting at places like a figure's elbow.

It is an awesome technique if you want to get figures up to good tabletop standard quickly. Last weekend I built, painted and shaded 40 Termagants in two days, using sprays and Quickshade. I wasn't working full time on it, either.

You won't win any awards with dips, but you can get really good looking armies on the table damned quickly.

In the New Year I'm going to try the Quickshade on my 15mm Old Kingdom Egyptian army. I reckon it should do very nicely.

Quickshade+ models = finished!

Kilkrazy wrote:I'm using the Army Painter lightshade on my Tyranids, which are all browns and pinks. It gives a subtle shade down to a very dark brown shade if you let it pool thickly. I like it. I did consider using Minwax but I bought the Quickshade because I didn't feel confident in making a choice without some experience.

The whole dipping technique was invented by historical gamers using Minwax and similar floor polishes. I know Quickshade is priced higher. I don't know if it really has any special properties compared to floor varnish.

I've used under 1/4 of a can varnishing over 2,000 points of Tyranids, so I'm not worried about the price differential.

I use the paint on, blob off technique, which is more economical with the varnish than the dip and spin technique.

By painting thinly on the flat surfaces, the colour is enriched more than darkened. You lose contrast because of the shiny finish, however a spray of matt varnish overall brings it back and makes the colours and shaded parts "pop".

The key to painting with stained varnish is to put it on the figure, blob it off, wait a few minutes for it to pool, then blob it off again from the places where it is pooling. Otherwise you tend to get dark drips of it collecting at places like a figure's elbow.

It is an awesome technique if you want to get figures up to good tabletop standard quickly. Last weekend I built, painted and shaded 40 Termagants in two days, using sprays and Quickshade. I wasn't working full time on it, either.

You won't win any awards with dips, but you can get really good looking armies on the table damned quickly.

In the New Year I'm going to try the Quickshade on my 15mm Old Kingdom Egyptian army. I reckon it should do very nicely.

Hey Kil, the nids your talking about -- are they the yellow ones in your pictures? If not do you have a picture of one? I have a tyranid army and im really not the best painter, i seam to fail terribly when it comes to painting nids and Im looking for a nice way to paint them for table top gaming, so when they are all on the table together they look uniformed and respectable. This dipping aspect seams like a decent way to go for it, so i really wan tto see some other nid's that have been dipped. From there i will go on to find a nice dip tutorial and start compiling a list of materials i need

Just tried Quickshade dipping my first Necron Warrior. It seems to be pooling and globbing oddly, though it isn't quite done yet.
Do I need to be dabbing them down more with a paper towel? Is it just going to end up looking like that?

Has anyone had any luck with basecoat-brushing Quickshade onto a model instead of dipping it?

Dipping with quick shade, you really need to give it a few good, really hard shakes to stop it pooling. A tight grip on the base with a pair of pliers helps.