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Okay, so firstly I don't really know much about the kinds of paint other than I should use acrylics. By looking around, I found the following collection of paints:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?cid=1361722368997809728

That seems like a good place to start. Next I was thinking brushes and a black spray-on primer. I don't really know much about that, and I've checked Hobby Lobby's online store for a black spray-on primer and can't find one to my liking. What should I do? Keep in mind I'm on a budget. Oh, and brushes I'm just going to pick up at hobby lobby.

I clicked the thread because the title said "pants", might want to fix that.

Looks like a good deal, heck of a lot cheaper then the GW paints.

You can pick up a good can of Krylon for about 2-3 bucks at Wal Mart for your primer.

Valejo is a bit more pricy, but far less than GW paints, so you may want to check those out.

find your local craft store or hobby store that deals with regular models, be it micheals or joanns or a hobby shop they ought to carry some cheap acrylics or testors, heck if you can find a walmart with a arts/crafts/fabric dept youll bound to find something cheap.

oh buy your dry brushes in bulk

For painting on a budget you can't beat the 99cent walmart folkart craft paints and the 99 cent flat black spray piant to use as primer


However the names of the colors are not nearly as grim/dark as the GW ones

OP, I used Basic Acrylic for a while. They are thick, so you'd probably want to thin them down a bit. They also tend to be a bit shiny when they dry. That being said, if you clear coat them with a flat clear after you're happy with the way they look, they turn out fine.

I take back what I said about Valejo. Use testors. Its the same quality, just cheaper and buyable in large quantities.

The paint set you have linked is better suited for canvas. You will need to add a floating agent to smooth the paint out or you will get little built up ridges from your brush strokes (I have some Dark Angels painted with a similar type of paint).

I suggest that you use Delta Cermiacoat paint. It is 1.29 for a 2 oz bottle that you can literally get one drop of paint out of. The pigment is very concentrated on the opaque colors and it blends well, distills into a wash well, and is a very cheap route to learning how to paint. The downside is that the pigment size is larger than Vallejo, Reaper, or GW. While you won’t notice this at first, once you start layering\blending it will become more readily apparent. Most people I know that paint still have several bottles of this on their paint tables. And the color selection vs. price point cannot be beat.

Search for Rackham paints online.

Rackham is out of business so most of the paints are on firesale. I get mine from Ludik Bazar but that isn't efficient for a buyer outside the EU.

The Cadwallon and Confrontation starter paint sets are good, plus they have a range of 50 paints total including some unique flourescent paints.

Quality is fine, they are different not worse than GW. I bought them for this reason they go better on a white undercoat, and thus are a good opposite to GW foundation paints.

Some of the suggestions here are great, some are a bit more troublesome.

The first set of paints are a thick paste sort of medium rather than a thin liquid that is designed for painting small scale models.

The craft store/walmart bottles of paint are great for the price. I've heard issues in the past with the pigment not being as finely ground, or as heavy pigment load, but I've only ever bought those for scenery painting so not any real fine detail work from me.

The Rackham line suggestion is great, for the short term. however, if you eventually built up a large army and that paint runs out, seeing how it is discontinued, how are you going to obtain more of it?

All that said, start small with just the colors you NEED to start with, in my opinion, paints last a long time, it's not an area to skimp on. (I still have bottles of paint from the 80's that are going strong) Buy a major manufacturer's color, Vallejo, GW, Reaper, P3, etc and go with it. Keep your purchases small, and remember the number one tip of painting: Always Thin your paints!

Okay, I think I'm going to go with the Wal-Mart folk art acrylic paints. They have all the colors I want and I don't see that line being discontinued, and they're cheap and plentiful.

Now what kind of black spraypaint primer should I use? I heard krylon, but people at my FLGS told me that it was water-repellent and so a bad paint to use for a primer.

I've tried folk art and ceramcoat both in the past (there's no local gaming stores and I don't want to buy paint on-line) but I find Apple Barrel paints to be the best out of the craft acrylics i've used so so far, I buy mine at Michael's.

Never had an issue with krylon spray paint

The acrylic paints you link to are adequate for panting, but you are going to need to add some flow enhancer as they are going to be a thicker consistency than other paints. I have a friend that gets great results from artists acrylics on models, but he has a fair amount of experience with them. I would advise against them for you.

Ma55ter_fett wrote:For painting on a budget you can't beat the 99cent walmart folkart craft paints and the 99 cent flat black spray piant to use as primer

Folk Art is good but....

Andrewdrexler wrote:I suggest that you use Delta Cermiacoat paint. It is 1.29 for a 2 oz bottle that you can literally get one drop of paint out of. The pigment is very concentrated on the opaque colors and it blends well, distills into a wash well, and is a very cheap route to learning how to paint.

In my experience it's worth the 29 cent upcharge for Delta Ceramcoat. I've used almost every brand their is (apple barrel, folk art, anitas, delta, crafter's choice, americana, etc, etc) and Delta seems to be the smoothest flowing and best pigmented of the batch. Also it's very widely available (I get mine at hobby lobby). That said, if there's a color you like in a different brand, go for it. Most of my Metalics are Folk Art.

My experience is that unless you are a very good painter (I'm just pretty good) you will be fine with Craft paints for all your needs. I don't deny that there is a noticible improvement in application and ease of use in model-specific brands, but craft paints are more than adequate and give great results.

Other money saving tips for painting.
1) Hardware store cans for spray priming. Much cheaper, available in a range of colors (only use flat colors) and not nearly as tempermental as some mini-brand priming sprays. Just make sure you test it ahead of time, use it in the correct temperature range and use very light coats (don't overspray). I've used Krylon primers and sprays as my primer/basecoats as well as various cheap hardware store brands, all with great results.
2) Gesso (canvas primer) for brush on prming. Gesso is cheap (2-3 bucks for a nice large tube), available in various colors and shrinks as it dries so as not to obscure colors.

I really appreciate the responses, especially the more detailed ones. Thanks to you, I'll go with Delta Ceramcoat paint at my local Hobby Lobby.

Is there a specific type of spraypaint that would best be used as a primer? I know you said flat black at my local hardware store, but is there anything specific I should look for? I guess I'll try Krylon despite what my FLGS said.

Also, how do I thin these Delta Ceramcoat paints? Is the assumption of just using tap water OK since these are water based, or is there a specific product I need?

What do I need in order to make a wash? I know it's some paint, water, and alcohol, but what products and in what ratios?

If at all possible, please find the exact product name on hobby lobby. I really like specifics. I know that sounds needy, but if you just say something like "any alochol," I'm liable to just go to my local drugstore and pick up generic brand rubbing alcohol and use that.

(oops, meant to hit edit)

Lotus wrote:I really appreciate the responses, especially the more detailed ones. Thanks to you, I'll go with Delta Ceramcoat paint at my local Hobby Lobby.

Is there a specific type of spraypaint that would best be used as a primer? I know you said flat black at my local hardware store, but is there anything specific I should look for? I guess I'll try Krylon despite what my FLGS said.

Also, how do I thin these Delta Ceramcoat paints? Is the assumption of just using tap water OK since these are water based, or is there a specific product I need?

What do I need in order to make a wash? I know it's some paint, water, and alcohol, but what products and in what ratios?

If at all possible, please find the exact product name on hobby lobby. I really like specifics. I know that sounds needy, but if you just say something like "any alochol," I'm liable to just go to my local drugstore and pick up generic brand rubbing alcohol and use that.

(oops, meant to hit edit)

For washes I use this method, very happy with how it works http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/guestarticles/magicwash.htm

There's also this method, a bit more involved http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/261541.page

Ok. Would using something like a Textile Medium work? Or is that just a very expensive way of doing it?

MP (Miniature Paints) are an alright brand. Personally I only use them for base coats and on larger models, but they work fine on your average sized guardsman too. They sell at my local shop for a pound each and are about a third large than the GW ones (presumably you can get them online for something like £1.25 or the like though). =P

Lotus wrote:I really appreciate the responses, especially the more detailed ones. Thanks to you, I'll go with Delta Ceramcoat paint at my local Hobby Lobby.

Happy to be of help.

Is there a specific type of spraypaint that would best be used as a primer? I know you said flat black at my local hardware store, but is there anything specific I should look for? I guess I'll try Krylon despite what my FLGS said.

For black and white, I use whatever is cheapest. Usually it has some made-up store brand on it. Every major Hardware or big-box store will have cheap black or white spray for 1-2 bucks a can.

For colored spray priming I use Krylon and then touchup thin or missed spots with delta craft paint.
Krylon makes grey and redish-brown primer, and in thier Camo line they have a couple greens, a couple browns, dark grey and a black that is so flat it's amazing. The krylon camo colors use their Fusion formulations and are meant to adhere directly to plastic (even soft plastics), metal or just about anything else.

With any spray can, test it out on a piece of sprue first, and as I said before, use very, thin coats. If you accidentally go overboard with the spray, it's a good idea to have a pickle jar of mineral spirits -aka paint thinner (also avaialble cheaply at the hardware store)- to toss the fig in (before it dries) to clean it off.

Also, how do I thin these Delta Ceramcoat paints? Is the assumption of just using tap water OK since these are water based, or is there a specific product I need?

Thin them the same as model acrylic paints. I don't usually thin them, but when I do, I just use water. However I've heard folks say good things about "Acrylic medium" (basically Acrylic paint without pigment) and if you want it to go on smoother, but not thin it, many folks recommend "Flow enhancer". I'm not super knowlegable about either though so ask the folks at hobby lobby or an art store and they should be able to point you in the right direction

What do I need in order to make a wash? I know it's some paint, water, and alcohol, but what products and in what ratios?

-Basic wash, just paint and water.
-Slightly better wash, use water that you have added a tiny drop of dish soap (about one drop per 2 oz of water). The water mix is called "wet water" and the soap basically helps to break the surface tension of the water so it will flow into cracks better. I keep a bottle of magic wash at my paint station so I can mix up washes whenever I want.
-Paint water and alochol, I'm not sure about.
-"Magic Wash" Paint (or ink), water and Future Floor polish (basically liquid polyurethane). Here's one recipie. A search for "Magic Wash" will yeild many others. http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/guestarticles/magicwash.htm

Okay, I'm going to try the "slightly better wash" of dish soap into distilled water for diluting the acrylics. I don't want to use the "magic wash" because I'm a newbie and it says it leaves a shiny finish that protects the paint and I need to be able to strip off everything I do just in case.

I went ahead and purchased everything including a stop at my local wally world (see: Wal-Mart) and got everything I needed including what I needed to strip the paint from my attempts when I was 12. The spray paint I picked up was Krylon paint + primer (flat black). Was that a good choice or did I waste my money?

Lotus wrote:Okay, I'm going to try the "slightly better wash" of dish soap into distilled water for diluting the acrylics. I don't want to use the "magic wash" because I'm a newbie and it says it leaves a shiny finish that protects the paint and I need to be able to strip off everything I do just in case.

I went ahead and purchased everything including a stop at my local wally world (see: Wal-Mart) and got everything I needed including what I needed to strip the paint from my attempts when I was 12. The spray paint I picked up was Krylon paint + primer (flat black). Was that a good choice or did I waste my money?

Sounds like a good choice. Just spray it on really light. Some of the Paint+ or 2x products apply finish faster and thicker than usual so you've got to be extra carefull not to obscure any detail.

The Krylon flat black primer was a good choice. It's all I use as a primer anymore.

As with any spray can, be careful not to over-apply, but especially with the 2x combo can you bought. Like Eilif said, some of those are a bit thicker.

The Folk-art line of acrylics won't be going under any time soon, they've been around FOREVER. Thin 'em down a bit, and you're golden.

If you mess up, get a gallon of Simple Green (Walmart, Automotive Department, near the car washing supplies).
-safe on plastics, resins, and metals for extremely extended periods of time for soaking. Removes water-based paints, some enamels, and super-glue (some elbow grease required)

+1 on the simple green. Know however that it isn't great at getting Krylon and other hardware store spray paints off of plastic and harsher chemicals that will take it off of metal will damage plastic models. If you overspray on a plastic model, pop the fig in a jar of mineral spirits and scrub it off right away!

Gesso does come off easily in Simple Green.

Ive been using Reaper paints for years on my display minis and they are equal inf not better to Vallejo paints. Plus you get alot more in the dropper for less cash than the GW paint which you get less of per pot.

I'd also recommend Vallejo. The dropper bottles are very economical, so you waste less paint when you use a palette. Also, you get more paint per bottle and pay less than GW.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

What can be done with GW paint pots that are a couple of year old and still fairly full but have been sitting in a box unused for about 6 years?

I havent been through all the pots yet some are still a bit liquid but some look fairly dry.

What point does the situation become no good to paint with and is there any way to get usable paint out of this thick semi dried gunk?

The dry ones are pretty much gone. The ones that are still liquid, may still be usable, add some water and something heavy to work as an agitator and give it a good shake. (chunks of metal sprue or glass beads work great. nothing that would rust or bleed color into the mixture. I still have ancient gw bottles that are still going strong. They are at least 10+ years old if not 15 or 20, when did gw abandon the bottles that p3 uses now? I have a bunch of those still, plus the hex ones with the same top that came later.

Vallejo is the best value for the price. The dropper bottle cannot be beat. Their slender profile saves space on your workstation as well.