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Citadel is more common, and more readily available, so people tend to be biased towards it. Hence, it is not an option in this poll.
Explain why you prefer a certain brand or brands. What pros and cons have you found? etc

I still prefer Citadel, but I love P3 and Vallejo paints.

 Arth-Rytis wrote:
Citadel is more common, and more readily available, so people tend to be biased towards it.

That isn't necessarily true for a lot of people.

I use lots of paints for lots of reasons. On my somewhat large paint shelf, I have: Old Citadel, new Citadel, Vallejo Game Color, Vallejo Model Color, Vallejo Model Air, P3, Reaper Master Series, Tamiya, Alclad II, and a couple of other random brands. The ones that get the most use are the Vallejo paints (for miniatures) and Tamiya (for scale models). I build Star Wars models and Tamiya and Gunze are the paints that are most often used. Since I can source Tamiya locally, I use those.

Really though, I use a paint based on whether or not I like the color and what I am using it for. I don't get caught up in only using certain brands; it's too limiting.

I use Vallejo for most colors, P3 for their black wash and Citadel for their glazes and other washes.

Been using Citadel but slowly changing over to VGC series.
Will stick with the Reaper black spray primer though.

Decided on the mixed answer because my whites, reds and blacks are mostly Game Colour. The rest are Citadel, I find their metallics (leadbelcher and its corrisponding layers specifically) to be great and are just what I want.

I'm not sure why citadel would be excluded just because you feel it's more common.

I've said in other threads, I tend to find most non-alcohol based acrylic paints to behave much the same. I've used paints from I think each of the Vallejo ranges, all Citadel iterations for the past 20 years, Reaper, Army Painter, P3, Coat d' arms.

They all behave much the same. Other than a few differences like the "base" range from GW have above average coverage but sacrifice vibrance to get it.

Other than trying to get paints with good coverage (which varies from range to range anyway), I just buy from whatever brand gives me the colour I want. I haven't had any problems intermixing different brands... it's all much the same.

The only brands that I find are genuinely something special are firstly the alcohol based acrylics like Tamiya and Gunze. They are super smooth which I love, but they go on thin and dry fast, which can make them tricky when hairy brush painting. They're awesome for spraying through an airbrush, though. Secondly, the "Air" ranges obviously behave differently as well, they're obviously very thin, often too thin to hairy brush paint happily. Vallejo's air range are very glossy, which works well through an airbrush because airbrushed paints usually come out more matte, but when you try and hairy brush paint them they are a bit too glossy for my liking, not a big deal as I varnish most models anyway.

Liquitex: http://www.liquitex.com/US/ Good all around artist paint and mixes really nice for paintbrush.
"Liquitex was the first water-based acrylic paint created in 1955"
I bought in bulk dropper bottles and mix airbrush paint with this: cheaper and better quality than most paints.
You can also buy their paint in spray cans in the majority of colours.
I love how they list all their paint ingredients and identify safety issues like Cadmium (do not spray this paint!).
Best of all their containers seem to be airtight, I have paint from these guys for years and none dry out or need water to top-up.
I like these guys the most for consistency and flexibility.

Vallejo: http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/model-paints Really liking their airbrush paints, the dropper bottles are great for that.
Still deciding between the "Model Air" and "Game Air" brands.
These are great paints straight out of the bottle, if you do not want to mix anything they are the go-to.

I have many GW paints and am using them up as I go but find they do not age well and their paint pots are garbage.
I had decanted most of these into the previously mentioned eye-dropper bottles with a stainless steel bearing for agitation and they are behaving themselves.
Their washes are nice but many of the acrylic inks with a little flow-aid replicate their behavior easily.
I must admit, I find their primers expensive but appear to give me good consistent results compared to other brands I have tried.

Mostly GW since that was what I started with but I'm slowly gathering more and more Vallejo paints, all because they have plenty of colors that don't exist in the GW 's range.

I find almost no difference between the two besides the pots.

Mix of brands. Citadel's nice for an occasional pot, and so's Vallejo, but their particular design of dropper bottle is a pain in the arse. I've also got Coat D'Arms, Miniature Paints, Humbrol, Anita's craft paint, etc. So many brands and interesting shades in them, it seems daft to plant a flag and declare allegiance to one single range.

But yeah, I agree with others that excluding citadel from this poll is possibly even dafter, and invalidates it. It's like asking "What brand of phone do you own? (By the way you can't vote for iPhones)"

I primarily use Delta Ceramcoat craft paint. It's a paint line with a very wide variety of colors and is available at almost all craft and hobby stores except Michaels. It's probably more likely that someone has Ceramcoat nearby than any of the brands listed in the poll.

It's not quite as refined as miniature-specific " Hobby" paints, but the pigmentation and smoothness are very close, and it's certainly better than most other brands of craft paint. Also, at $1.40 for 2oz, it's 1/10th the price of most hobby paints which give you a half oz for around 4 bucks!

Technically I mix brands, as I'll pick up a bottle of hobby paint here and there at a bargain and I have hobby paints going back 20 years. However, I've found that my level and method of painting (solidly tabletop quallty) really doesn't need any of the advantages provided by hobby paints and I certainly prefer to spend less and get more.

Lastly, I would note that I do usually put them in dropper bottles for ease of use, less waste and transportability.

Why no Army Painter? I generally use their basic colours, then use Vallejo for more interesting shades (though I do seem to be transitioning more and more to Vallejo).

Army Painter Dark (and Strong) Tone though. Those are immense.

Where is Citadel?

I use mostly craft store paints like the Delta Creamcoat mentioned above (but not limited to that brand) but do have a few bottles of Vallejo. The techniques I use may be slightly different due to the paints I use, but I'm pretty darned happy with the results I get for the effort and $$ I put into it.

For most colors of fine shade difference (various darkgreyblues and greens for example, camo-ish shades), Vallejo provides.

Reaper for my general purpose paints (Reds, blues, etc). Citadel too for these.

P3 for special purpose paints (Menoth White Highlight is edging magic and a great blender, Coal Black makes for many wonderful effects when made into a wash).

Citadel, which is not an option for some reason.

 Killionaire wrote:
P3 for special purpose paints (Menoth White Highlight is edging magic and a great blender, Coal Black makes for many wonderful effects when made into a wash).

Is there something special about Menoth White Highlight?

it looks like i am the only one who has voted for P3...
they are my paints of choice...
i like the flip-top pots, smooth liquid pigment, great coverage, slightly satin finish, and variety of unique tones in the colors...

while i get that most people are happy to mix and match brands, i enjoy the challenge of recreating different studio schemes, such as the the 'Eavy Metal team's models painted with Citadel, and the Infinity models painted with Vallejo, just using my P3's...
i don't feel it is limiting, or daft, at all...
i never feel like i am missing a color i need, and am enjoying mixing up the particular tones i am trying to recreate...

totally just one guy's opinion, but it's how i work...
no other paint brand works in the way i want it to in comparison to my P3's...

cheers
jah

I'm mainly Vallejo at this point, but I have paints from all the major brands and sometimes find myself wishing I was all Reaper because I find I like the matt finish of their paints more than even the matt finish of Vallejo's Model Colour line.

 Eilif wrote:
I primarily use Delta Ceramcoat craft paint. It's a paint line with a very wide variety of colors and is available at almost all craft and hobby stores except Michaels. It's probably more likely that someone has Ceramcoat nearby than any of the brands listed in the poll.

This and Apple Barrel.

Really, the only difference between these and Citadel, etc. paints is the amount of thinning you need to do (IME).

 jah-joshua wrote:
i enjoy the challenge of recreating different studio schemes, such as the the 'Eavy Metal team's models painted with Citadel, and the Infinity models painted with Vallejo, just using my P3's...

This is the precise reason I do buy so many paints from different companies, I don't want to have to mix paint I know I can mix almost any colour I want from a handful of basic colours... I just don't want to

Though I will admit the better I get at painting the less I can find colours to suit my needs and the more I mix them.

I use a lot of Citadel, namely because I enjoy their washes and technicals. VMA is a close contender as I use these for air and hand brushing. I have a small pile of VGC, Reaper and P3 stuff but not much. What I've been getting keen on lately is the Minitaire line of airbrush paints from Badger. I really enjoy the paint consistency and color selection in this line.

I use Model Master paints mostly, with the occasional Testors paints when I need a small amount of something.


Model Master paints are cheap, work well, have a ridiculous variety of colors, and have simple names. Also their gold paint is amazing.

Only con, I have on occasion gotten a metallic paint that is too thin, but this is rare.


So that's what I use.

Do you use Model Master acrylics? I've been meaning to try Model Master acrylics but it seems they aren't easy to get out here. The guy at the local shop swears by model master enamels. I have often used enamels in the past but I have such a huge collection of acrylics I'd rather just stick with them.

Are the Model Master acrylics alcohol based?

Personally I use the Model Master Oil paints, not the Acrylic.

I'll also admit that I'm not sure what their base is. If it helps any I have manually thinned some of the paints to my liking using standard paint-thinner.

I swear by drip bottles so I mostly use Vallejo model colour.

I've heard that their game colour range isn't as good as their model colour range, so whenever I need cartoonish colours (like GW's range) I buy a couple of paints from Coat d'Arms.

Honestly, this gets asked...a lot.

Usually the most common answer is...the most common answer...a mix.

How many what kind of paint poll threads do we need?