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Hi everyone,

I've recently returned to 40K after about 12 years away and i'm starting from scratch. I've decided on a tau army with general colour scheme for a fire warrior of something like hormagaunt purple, with a secondary armour colour of bleached bone and then a black cloth undermeath.

Now here's where i need some help. I have absolutely no paints and have heard a lot about people using GW paints, privateer press etc. and am not particularly sure which is best. Does anyone have an opinion on which company do the best paints and maybe a little bit why, i.e. they're cheaper or better quality.

Thanks for your help guys and good gaming

Well here you will get quite a variety of opinions hah. I'd recommend trying a few critical colors from each.

I've always liked GW paints but the new pots are a major failure imo... Vallejo has nice paints and very convenient dropper bottles. My favorite paints are the P3 though, they thin incredibly well and have such excellent colors.

GW is good until you get to the reds and yellows and whites. PP is excelent cept for their metalics.

mlw500 wrote:Does anyone have an opinion on which company do the best paints and maybe a little bit why, i.e. they're cheaper or better quality.

LOL. Everyone has an opinion.


I don't think there is a best paint. A lot of people use GW because it's kinda the default paint you start with as a new GW hobbyist unless you have previous modeling or painting experience. There's nothing really wrong with the GW paints. They're good. Lots of people like their washes and the foundation paints which are both relatively new. The gripe against GW paint is the price. Vallejo makes good paints that come in eye dropper bottles which some people prefer. Vallejo has a range developed to complete directly with GW called Game Color. You get about 50% more paint for the same price with Vallejo. P3 are a newer paint range and many people seem to like them. You get more paint for the money with them too. Reaper is another brand. Reaper sells some of their paints in triads which are designed to give you a color coordinated base color, shade, and highlight in one package.

Personally, I use Vallejo, GW and P3. I transfer my GW paints to eye dropper bottles because I have found I prefer it that way. I also use some testors model master.

Vallejo is my new favorite, because the eye dropper bottles work SO WELL compared to the GW pots when using an airbrush.

Vallejo all the way. Great quality paints, you get more bang for your buck than with GW, the dropper bottles are very practical and they sell useful additives like thinners and glaze mediums.

The Game Color range is similar to the GW one in colors and names, the Model Color range offers much more variety than any other brand out there. The Model Air is specific for airbrushing but can be applied by normal brush. The Liquid Gold alcohol based metallics are the best metals you will ever use - period.

Plus, they have Primers, Varnishes, Cleaning products, etc. - all the painting products you will ever need, from one company.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

i prefer reaper to vallejo, because they are not only much easier to find but quite a bit cheaper.

I agree with IK-Painter about the Vallejo make, not only do you have all the utility items but you have a vast range of colours to choose from more than GW.

one other make of paint i use is Tamiya, but to be honest those are more designed for use with airbrushes rather that manual brushes. however i suspect that many of you might not be able to get them.

so I would say definitly Vallejo is a make to consider using.

Hope that helps...

I use a mix of Coat D'Arms (the original GW paints), Vallejo and P3. I still have my GW Foundations, though I've got Vallejo Opaques coming to try out and (probably) replace the Foundations. Also ordered the Vallejo Model Air metallics to try out. I also have a few artists' acrylics from a couple of makers for scenery and other larger items.

Inks - Old, old GW, Windsor & Newton drawing inks. I recently bought a bunch of Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic water-resistant inks.

Washes - I have a few GW, and the Vallejo set (not tried them out yet). Also going to be making my own inks using Les Bursley's wash recipe and the DW FW inks listed above.

I used to use GW paints, but now, I'm a 100% Vallejo man. I just love their dropper bottles, and the paint takes forever to dry up on my pallet.

There is no single company that does everything the best.

For me:
GW: Foundations, Washes, Silver Metallics
Vallejo Game Color: All standard colors, gold metallics
Vallejo Model Color: a larger line of colors than VGC, same excellent quality, no experience on the metals though
Vallejo Model Air: best airbrush paints, and best metallics even when brushed by hand due to finer pigment
Reaper Pro series: certain colors that are just awesome like Dragon Gold and their pearlescent colors.
Reaper Master series: Comparable to VMC
P3: I have limited experience here, very specialized colors to fit their own schemes in games. Great coverage, terrible pots.

For every paint I buy, I transfer them into dropper bottles to preserve shelf life and make mixing easier.

I use Vallejo for everything except for metals, where I then use boltgun metal from GW. I tried the Vallejo version and it was meh.

but other then that Vallejo has been a favorite, I stopped using GW paints before they even got to this new failure of a bottle.

I agree that if it came down to only one company, it would be Vallejo and their wonderful 3 lines.

Thanks everyone, seems like there's a pretty strong consensus on vallejo paints so i'll start there.

Cheers

GW. I personally think that Vallejo's dropper top is a major hindrance.

I love Vallejo's for their color range, but transporting the dropper bottles on a tray to another room is a pain. This may seem like a small thing, but it happens alot to me. I paint all over the place.

I hate their reds though. Very grainy.

Hate the new GW bottles. The paint oozes out the back and down the side...

The GW washes are excellent.

Coolyo294 wrote:GW. I personally think that Vallejo's dropper top is a major hindrance.

It entirely depends on the application. The dropper top is a pain for brush painting when your not mixing colors in a palette, but its a HUGE boon if your airbrushing.

GW paints are quite good for brush painting, though.

I really like the army painter color sprays. Lots of colors (including a recently released purple) and they go on thin and smooth.
A real boon if you have 150 skaven to base.

Link to U.S. site

http://usshop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=2

yea, short of airbrushing, Army Painter sprays are the best way to prime.

I'll also throw in Tamiya paints. I use a lot of Tamiya and Vallejo. Both are good paints imho.

I use mostly GW paints, but have also picked up some P3 recently. They have some really nice qualities, like great coverage and slower drying times for blending and less waste on your pallet, but one of the pots I got has a strange issue that makes it unusable. For some reason, when I add water to greatcoat gray, a bright blue pigment floats to the top. Very strange.

Also, I've found army painter primers to be hit or miss. I have a can of white that is really gritty, even if i shake it forever and make sure it's a low-humidity day.

I've actually got a little paint-brand breakdown on my blog if you are interested: http://atticwars40k.blogspot.com/

Looks like I have a similar experience to everyone else.

Vallejo has good colors, a lot of fun options, and probably the best bottle, but they are hard to find, and I wish their golds were a bit more yellow. The main problem is for most people you have to order them online, and typically if I need a paint I don't want to wait 3-5 days.

GW paints are comparatively expensive, and their bottles are crap. BUT, they have great colors, and their color naming scheme is widely used, which is convenient when studying new techniques.

Their foundation paints and washes are an absolute godsend though.