How much paint and primer do I need?

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**minigun762**

Roughly speaking, how much painting can you expect to complete with one tub of GW paint or how many models can you coat with one can of primer?

I know this depends on number of coats you paint so I'm just looking for a really rough estimate

**ScootyPuffJunior**

minigun762 wrote:
Roughly speaking, how much painting can you expect to complete with one tub of GW paint or how many models can you coat with one can of primer?

I know this depends on number of coats you paint so I'm just looking for a really rough estimate

That is really an impossible question to answer.

It depends on the model(s) and how many coats of paint and what color you are using.

How many and what size models are you talking about?

**Kaiserbudheim**

^^ This. You'll go through Red so much faster if its a force of Blood Angels…but then, if it's just hilights or hair on say some Dark Eldar, that same bottle of Red could last you the entire batch of your army and then some. Primer also depends on what you're coating and how much. Is it plastic? Resin models? Or did you happen to score some old skool metals (which take more primer to coat and give a proper paint "tooth"). Plastic you can get away with thinner layers of primer (in my exp) say over metals….

**Tydil**

Like the other person said, there isn't a good estimate. I bought several GW paints when I started painting last summer and none of them are half empty. I've painted 30 models. But since then I've use reaper paints as well.

Are you trying to figure out if you should buy doubles of some paints? My advice would be not to do that. They will last long enough for you not to need several unless you don't blob the paint on (thin your paints!) or paint 100 minis a day.

**minigun762**

I'm putting together a shopping list and was trying to gauge how much to buy.

Specifically I'm aiming for black Templars so I'd need black,white and silver and likely grey.
For white for example, would one pot be enough for thirty marines?

**AllSeeingSkink**

The only paints I've ever run out of have been sprays and washes. Pots of regular paint I don't think I've ever run out of one before it dried out.

**majendie**

I go through the blue glaze like it's going out of fashion, but that's because I use it in my airbrush and it chews through it. Other than that, yeah I don't think I've ever actually run out of a pot, but they do dry up eventually.

**minigun762**

So a pot per color would likely be fine for a 1k army?

**AllSeeingSkink**

1k Space Marines? Totally. I wouldn't buy more than 1 can of spray and 1 pot of each colour you need.

**Jack_Death**

I would add that if you paint from a palette (wet or dry) then your paints will last quite a while before the pot becomes unusable.

I honestly can't recall ever running a pot/bottle/tin dry in 30+ years of painting minis, with the exception of primers and varnishes. They dry up first.

**Kaiserbudheim**

Btw, as much as I do like GW's paint line, see if you can get Vallejo Color's black instead. GW's Abbadon Black is...atrocious, putting it mildly (in my exp). Plus, seeing how you're doing BT, you'll need a nice consistent black that will last quite a while. The VC's bottle design allows you to control how much paint will get on your palette, and it won't dry out after 3 months like the Ab K does!!!

**minigun762**

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
1k Space Marines? Totally. I wouldn't buy more than 1 can of spray and 1 pot of each colour you need.

Awesome!

As far as brand,I'm leaning towards army painter warpaints simply because they are 50% larger than Citadel and reviews seem to be positive.

**Jimsolo**

I painted an army of 73 Salamanders when I first started out. The most predominant color (Snot Green?) I went through 2 pots of.

I highly recommend generic Wal-Mart paint. The Eldar army in my gallery (no detail pics, sorry) got painted with 2 pots of GW Bleached Bone (although one was half-dry when I got it) and two pots of Chaos Black. After the second pot of black, I switched to a tube of Pro-art black paint, and finished the whole army. I've still got that tube in my paint chest.

As far as primer goes, I use Rustoleum and can't recommend it highly enough. I live in an area where the humidity is almost always high enough to ruin spray paint jobs, and there's is the only brand I've found that doesn't cloud, pill, dust, flake, or spiderweb.

**Snrub**

1+ to the Vallejo Game Colour range.

The VGC black is awesome. And their Cold Grey is a perfect match for the old GW codex grey.

**AllSeeingSkink**

Paint brand is always a tough question, as different ranges have different strengths and weaknesses. I actually really like GW's base range. I don't really like their layers and don't own many of their layers, but occasionally they've had colours I couldn't find elsewhere.

I have a bunch of paint brands on my shelf and struggle to recommend any over any other. Though I haven't tried the army painter warpaints (I have some of their washes that are really good, but not the regular paints).

**zammerak**

As someone who uses all gw paints, I still have the first pot of chaos black (yes CHAOS BLACK be jelly

) it's running low but I think I got it in 2010? I have painted 4k points on orks and I just got my first duplicate paint last week (wazdakka red and lead belcher) do one of each color max.

**AllSeeingSkink**

Yeah, the "such and such is the same price but gives you more paint" is always meaningless to me because I almost never finish a pot of paint anyway, I always just try and get the brand that is the cheapest per pot rather than the cheapest per mill.

**Kerrathyr**

Just my personal experience.. Results may vary

With one pot of (old) Dark Angels Green I painted:
41 dark angels tactical marines (plus four special and heavy weapons, with arms and backpacks where necessary)
2 dark angels chapter master (one generic, one balthasar)
1 old rhino
1 metal dreadnought
8 wood elves' archers (old minis, again)
And some green went in basing or in other minis.

In time I learned to properly thin (paint lasts longer, you use and waste less)... And at a point I spilled a bit, tipping the pot... I think I can do a couple models more...

For primer, I use Vallejo's urethanic primer and 2-3 drops are enough for priming a "standard" infantry model (less if guard or 'small xeno', more if marine or 'big xeno')

**minigun762**

I heard that GW primer was the one to beat.
Other options I've seen have been Krylon Fusion.
Can't say I've seen much about Rustoleum

**zammerak**

I use krylon grey spray primer from wal mart xP

**oadie**

minigun762 wrote:
I heard that GW primer was the one to beat.
Other options I've seen have been Krylon Fusion.
Can't say I've seen much about Rustoleum

Where did you hear that? GW "primer" works just fine (on plastics, at least - it's an aerosol enamel spray paint, not an actual primer appropriate for troublesome materials like metal), but is ludicrously overpriced. You can get it's equivalent for a fraction of the cost from Walmart, hardware stores, craft stores, etc. Krylon Fusion is much maligned for miniature use - it goes on thick, is generally glossy (we want matte finishes, which have tooth that subsequent paint can adhere to), and cannot be stripped if you ever want to repaint (or sell) the models. RustOleum is generally decent, but not as popular as Krylon, as big-name alternative brands go.

**jasper76**

minigun762 wrote:
I heard that GW primer was the one to beat.
Other options I've seen have been Krylon Fusion.
Can't say I've seen much about Rustoleum

I don't mess with the high $ stuff when it comes to primers.

Krylon is good primer...I never tried the Fusion product, but their regular primer works fine. Rustoleum works just fine too, but I find it to be a little chalkier after drying than the Krylon.

**minigun762**

I'm a bit apprehensive about the $1 cheapo primers. I mean I love to save a buck but I have some concerns about quality

**Desubot**

They are nice though.

Many people use it near infinity better than gw stuff.

**sing your life**

When I bought some paints for my DA about a year ago I imagined I could paint about 30 normal marine with the pot of Basecoat colour.

**oadie**

minigun762 wrote:
I'm a bit apprehensive about the $1 cheapo primers. I mean I love to save a buck but I have some concerns about quality

If you're talking about Walmart's ColorPlace sprays, which are the only ones I know of that go for that little, a dollar is a small price to pay for a trial run. If you do like it, you've saved yourself tens of dollars over the course of a playable army and hundreds if you ever paint up a large collection. If you don't, no big deal. It's a buck.

Yes, in many cases, you get what you pay for. There are also cases where brand names and niche marketing account for the bulk of a product's cost. There's also the issue of volume - while they're the same size, ColorPlace cans contain less paint than Krylon or RustOleum (if you're in the store, grab one of each and compare weight). It's a marketing ploy, but the cost per volume is still lower than the competition. I could understand your apprehension if this was some no-name product that randomly cropped up, but there are a lot of painters on Dakka who have used the stuff extensively and highly recommend it, myself included. I honestly believe you'd be doing yourself a favor testing it out.

**minigun762**

Very good point oadie and well made.

**zammerak**

This is what I use.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Phone post, sorry it's sideways.

**Ghaz**

This is what I use. About $5 a can and recommended by several professionals. It's the primer that a lot of the Warmachine show figures were primed with during Mike and Aly McVey's time with Privateer Press.

**ArbitorIan**

minigun762 wrote:
AllSeeingSkink wrote:
1k Space Marines? Totally. I wouldn't buy more than 1 can of spray and 1 pot of each colour you need.

Awesome!

As far as brand,I'm leaning towards army painter warpaints simply because they are 50% larger than Citadel and reviews seem to be positive.

Also, while in the subject, Army Painter also do very good primers, including black. Since you're doing Black Templars, and primer is black, you won't be painting whole models with any of your paints, so your little pots should last ages.

As other people have said, I'd just go for what's cheapest per pot. It's better to have more colours than great big pots with only a few colours.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

minigun762 wrote:
I'm putting together a shopping list and was trying to gauge how much to buy.

Specifically I'm aiming for black Templars so I'd need black,white and silver and likely grey.
For white for example, would one pot be enough for thirty marines?

If using GW colours and brush painting (rather than, say, airbrushes) then it would be good to have Black, White, the Pale Grey base paint (can't remember the name - this is the undercoat for your white bits), Mid Grey, Leadbelcher (the silver base paint for undercoating the metal areas) and a bright silver for weapon highlights/dry rushing. You'll probably also need a flesh tone and a colour to use for all the hair and moustaches and the like! I'd also recommend getting a gold for shiny details and medals, and a bright primary colour (red/green) to paint tabards, purity seals, etc and to make your army 'pop'