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Ever since I started doing WH40K, i've used Citadel brand P&M supplies. Now, i'm looking for other brands that provide cheaper alternatives, but perform up to or beyond GW standards. Any paints, brushes, tools, or GS that you all think I should get, Please let me know!

Thanks,
JATW

Army painter "most wanded" brush set on Ebay is a decent bucnh of brushes. Everything else like pliers, cutters, hobby knifes that is not the cheepest chinese gak, from your local hardware store will outperfrom any citadel supply. For glue just pick Revell Contacta Profesional or some sort of super glue if you are assembling metal or risen.

Windsor Newton series 7 brushes

size 1 to 00 is pretty much all the brushes you could need for general model paint

they are pricey but about the same as GW stuff for some reason

with proper care and brush soaping it will last you for a VERY long time instead of buying multiple cheap brushes.

The best Flush cutter i found is Harbor freight ones. they are like 2 dollars and cut REALLY well.

Hobby knives... just get a bloody exacto knife

Paints.. they are sooo many flippin options. and GW paints are honestly not that bad.

Glue.. for plastic glue sci grip acrylic solvent in a small needle bottle. jesus this stuff is good. but takes a bit to use properly.
super glue is just blue cap gorilla super glue.

green stuff is just Kneadatite

but overall. its never going to be straight cheaper.

For pliers, files, clippers, etc.. go to a hardware store.
Army Painter does sell some nice fine clippers though.

Plastic Glue - Tamiya - you can buy in some hobby stores or just grab it on Ebay or Amazon
Super Glue - I like Loctite Professional

Palette - I would make a cheap wet palette myself. a small plastic tray, a paper towel, water. done!

Paints - depends on if you have an airbrush or not. If not, some other alternatives are Army painter, Vallejo, and Badger Minitaire (designed for an airbrush but works well for manual brush too). Otherwise i like to stick to GW.

Primer - Krylon Black or White Primer - I think they only make Dual Coat for Plastic but I maybe wrong.
Varnish - I use Vallejo and throw it in an airbrush.

Brushes - I like Broken Toad a lot. Very good brushes and you can beat the price.

Windsor and Newton Brushes. Once you've painted with these you'll never want to go back to anything else. And they last a lot longer than cheap synthetic hair brushes.

I use Gorilla Glue Gel. It works on metal and plastic minis.

I just picked up some Krylon primer at Wal-Mart. It went on as even as anything else.

Windsor-Newton or Army Painter brushes seem to be the general consensus, but Broken Toad also comes with a good price. As of right now, i'll probably go with the W-N. Vallejo seems to offer some quality paints for a good price, but i'll probably mix n' match based on my opinion. Now, I know this sound a bit dumb, but what Xacto knife should I use? I visited their page and they offer just a crap-ton of options. I assume you just mean the regular knife, but is there any difference?

I would get some masters brush soap to go with the WN7

The xacto blades the #11 fine point will give you 90% of what you need.

i do like the enjoy having the #16-18 blades as well. never know when you will needa chisels blade.

also would love to get me the key hole saw. would be nice compared to lugging out the jeweler saw.
but these are just extras you dont really need them.

if you wana go crazy you can get the Z series one. (its the blade that is coated in gold color) it lasts a bit longer.

If you're used to the Citadel color selection of base and shade paints, but don't want to use GW, your only real alternative is Vallejo. If color variety isn't so important, P3 is great, and Army Painter is always there.

Agrax and Nuhln can be replaced with AP's dark/strong washes, but there aren't good replacements for the other washes. There aren't replacements for glazes, though you could make your own. Vallejo has some of the technical paints (the older ones), and I don't believe anyone has dry compounds (though most people can live without these).

If you're used to Citadel Artificer brushes, or even the old Sable brushes (Detail, Base, etc.) you will probably want a Kolinsky Sable brush like Winsor Newton Series 7, Raphael 8404, Rosemary & Co., etc. As a low end alternative, Army Painter's Character and Regiment brushes are serviceable.

If you're used to the Citadel synthetic brushes, well, most hobby brushes probably won't disappoint too much. The angled GW brushes are not easy to find alternatives to, though (other than just using flats), and those can be useful. Royal and Langnickel I think has a small angled brush collection.

Xuron makes alternatives to Citadel cutters (though I like the Citadel ones better).

There is no obvious replacement for GW's mold line remover (there are others, but they are different). There are essentially no great alternatives to the GW drybrushes, nor the nylon tool if you use it. But the nylon tool lasts forever anyhow.

If you want to use Swann-Morton blades, the GW knife really has no alternative other than a surgical scalpel; but most people are happy with or prefer a run-of-the-mill hobby knife (among other things, it won't cut you as badly if you slip...)

The GW diamond files have no obvious direct replacements (most diamond files are coarser), but you can always use regular files, sandpaper, scrapers, knives etc.

For superglue, go BSI. For plastic cement, there are many brands that all essentially do the same thing.

GW's palettes, cutting boards and little nick-nacks are nothing special.

For sand, use... sand... or go to a garden store; or if you want more consistency/less dust, go Woodland Scenics. For tufts, Army Painter makes a nice variety.

 Talys wrote:
There is no obvious replacement for GW's mold line remover (there are others, but they are different).

X-Acto #28 Concave Carving Blades make excellent mold line removers and they work in any hobby knife handle that takes standard #11 blades.

There are essentially no great alternatives to the GW drybrushes,

Yeah, the older GW drybrushes are great and I have two that get pretty regular use. That being said, trimming down a cheap stiff bristle paintbrush will get you more or less the same thing.

The GW diamond files have no obvious direct replacements (most diamond files are coarser), but you can always use regular files, sandpaper, scrapers, knives etc.

The GW files are okay, but they aren't special and there are certainly plenty of options at better price points that match or beat the GW files.

Personally, I find my files to be rarely used. I think that soft sanding sticks to do a much better job in most applications. Files are still a good tool to have on hand so it's definitely worth investing in a decent set.

The GW mold line remover is an ideal too for a lot of GW terrain sprues, where there are really long mold lines, like along the edge of this (and the inside edges of windows, etc.):



In these cases, a straight, long, hard piece of metal is a great tool.

I personally find the GW mold line remover of limited use for most parts of most small models.

Although I prefer the old GW large drybrush to the new one, I really like the new medium and small GW drybrushes (prefer them to the old ones).

I have always used the back of an exacto for mold removal.

@Desubot - back of xacto (or blade-side) is great. On the big pieces, it sometimes digs in though, if you get the angle wrong, whereas you can't go wrong with a mold line remover tool.

There is a different mold line remover tool from one of the companies that makes airplane/scale model kit tools that I have, that's a different angle, that is also very useful. The brand escapes my mind, but they also make angled rifle files that I find very handy.


Edit - this one (though I still can't recall the brand):

Anyone ever heard of Polly'S paint. might be 20+ years since they disappeared. Back in my D&D days they were the best. The colors they carried were??? great.
Personally the best base coat for my Orks was Basilisk green. Go figure,right.

Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes. Avoid the Army Painter ones. They're garbage, as I found out in the most expensive way.

Army Painter washes however, are excellent. Best on the market IMO. Citadel's ones (washes and glazes) are also very good.

Vallejo Game Colour, Vallejo Game Air and Vallejo Model Air paints. Especially the Game and Model Air Metallics. Add Citadel, P3, Coat D'Arms colours to taste.

Citadel's Technical paints are generally very good.

The Masters Brush Soap is a good thing to have.

Liquitex Acrylic medium from Art Supply stores.

Xacto Knives. Any brand, really. I got some soft handles ones and titanium blades via ebay and they're much nicer to use then the standard ones, but a bit pricey.

Xuron clippers - you want the flush cutter ones. Again, ebay - look for the bead-maker and necklace craft stores. I think the Army Painter ones are just rebadged Xuron (or perhaps those were the old Citadel?) Either way, Xuron.

Yeah, i'll work my way into W&N, as they're quite expensive. Vallejo was my first choice for an alternative as you can get them on Miniature Market for about $2.80 excluding special effect paints. Technical paint wise, Citadel has a wider variety, but clippers there seems to be some controversy. I'll probably get whichever one of the ones listed is cheapest.

Also, some people mentioned a wet palette. I've heard of these things, but I don't know exactly what they are and their appeal over a regular palette.

Thanks,
JATW

Tools:
Anything really, clippers are clippers, exacto knife is an exacto knife

Brushes:
Winson & Newton: Expensive brushes, but holy crap, if you take care of them, they are the best brush, and only brush you will ever need, aside from dry brush. They go for about 15 to 20 bucks a brush for a 1 or 2, i would suggest a 1


Paints:
Vellajo Game/model paint: This paint is very VERY good, i have discovered that GW paint is very Meh, when you get deeper into painting and start to experiment with blending. GW paints have liquid latex in them which is why when they dry you can actually peel it up. Vellajo is true acrylic paint, and you can do some very awesome shadeing, glazing, blending ect ect. Once you have reached the point of needing to do shading, you will want to switch from GW paints to a better range, IE vellajo, or reaper paints.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Yeah, i'll work my way into W&N, as they're quite expensive. Vallejo was my first choice for an alternative as you can get them on Miniature Market for about $2.80 excluding special effect paints. Technical paint wise, Citadel has a wider variety, but clippers there seems to be some controversy. I'll probably get whichever one of the ones listed is cheapest.

Also, some people mentioned a wet palette. I've heard of these things, but I don't know exactly what they are and their appeal over a regular palette.

Thanks,
JATW

What a wet pallet is, is a dish, with a thin sponge in it that you soak up water with, (What a concept right?!) then you have a piece of parchment paper over that. The parchment paper will absorbe the water supplied by the sponge, and keep the pallet wet. This allows you to put paints down on the pallet, and then mix them, and they wont dry out. Another bennifit to it, is once you put a color down, stop for the day, close up the pallet, then come back the next day, you just add a few drops of water and you can bring the paint back to life. They are very VERY good to have if you live in very dry areas.

Vallejo has a wide array of Technical Paints:

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/special-effects-set---8-game-effects-with-painting-guide-by-angel-giraldez./family/18/154

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/weathering-effects/family/34

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Yeah, i'll work my way into W&N, as they're quite expensive. Vallejo was my first choice for an alternative as you can get them on Miniature Market for about $2.80 excluding special effect paints. Technical paint wise, Citadel has a wider variety, but clippers there seems to be some controversy. I'll probably get whichever one of the ones listed is cheapest.

Also, some people mentioned a wet palette. I've heard of these things, but I don't know exactly what they are and their appeal over a regular palette.

Thanks,
JATW

If you're willing to maintain your brushes -- clean them to the point where they look like new after every use -- the W&N or other Kolinsky sable brushes will save you a bundle over time, AND provide you with a good tool. But, they're a total waste of money if you're not, because a gunked up brush is pretty useless no matter what it's made of.

Do yourself a favor and skip the cheap clippers. Buy GW or Xuron: they will allow you to confidently snip very close to the plastic, meaning much less cleanup work. And they last forever. It's no big deal if you're doing 1 box of space marines, but if you're building an army or taking everything off the sprue -- it's much quicker, and you don't have to worry much about scarring the model (and having to fix that with putty and sanding). If you care about that kind of thing, anyhow

 Talys wrote:

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Yeah, i'll work my way into W&N, as they're quite expensive. Vallejo was my first choice for an alternative as you can get them on Miniature Market for about $2.80 excluding special effect paints. Technical paint wise, Citadel has a wider variety, but clippers there seems to be some controversy. I'll probably get whichever one of the ones listed is cheapest.

Also, some people mentioned a wet palette. I've heard of these things, but I don't know exactly what they are and their appeal over a regular palette.

Thanks,
JATW

If you're willing to maintain your brushes -- clean them to the point where they look like new after every use -- the W&N or other Kolinsky sable brushes will save you a bundle over time, AND provide you with a good tool. But, they're a total waste of money if you're not, because a gunked up brush is pretty useless no matter what it's made of.

Do yourself a favor and skip the cheap clippers. Buy GW or Xuron: they will allow you to confidently snip very close to the plastic, meaning much less cleanup work. And they last forever. It's no big deal if you're doing 1 box of space marines, but if you're building an army or taking everything off the sprue -- it's much quicker, and you don't have to worry much about scarring the model (and having to fix that with putty and sanding). If you care about that kind of thing, anyhow

That would be my issue. I don't really know how to clean my brushes. I know it sounds quite dumb, but I just wash them in water after every use, so that'll be something I learn. Also, does anyone have any suggestions for airbrushing my miniatures, like any specific airbrush or paint line? And is there anything else I would need for it?

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:

 Talys wrote:

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Yeah, i'll work my way into W&N, as they're quite expensive. Vallejo was my first choice for an alternative as you can get them on Miniature Market for about $2.80 excluding special effect paints. Technical paint wise, Citadel has a wider variety, but clippers there seems to be some controversy. I'll probably get whichever one of the ones listed is cheapest.

Also, some people mentioned a wet palette. I've heard of these things, but I don't know exactly what they are and their appeal over a regular palette.

Thanks,
JATW

If you're willing to maintain your brushes -- clean them to the point where they look like new after every use -- the W&N or other Kolinsky sable brushes will save you a bundle over time, AND provide you with a good tool. But, they're a total waste of money if you're not, because a gunked up brush is pretty useless no matter what it's made of.

Do yourself a favor and skip the cheap clippers. Buy GW or Xuron: they will allow you to confidently snip very close to the plastic, meaning much less cleanup work. And they last forever. It's no big deal if you're doing 1 box of space marines, but if you're building an army or taking everything off the sprue -- it's much quicker, and you don't have to worry much about scarring the model (and having to fix that with putty and sanding). If you care about that kind of thing, anyhow

That would be my issue. I don't really know how to clean my brushes. I know it sounds quite dumb, but I just wash them in water after every use, so that'll be something I learn. Also, does anyone have any suggestions for airbrushing my miniatures, like any specific airbrush or paint line? And is there anything else I would need for it?

Cleaning is very very easy, always use ice cold water or very cold water, and just swish it around, bang it against the glass when you are swishing back and forth. What I do after is a swirl the bristles in my palm then lick it clean it's that simple.

As for air brushes, that's a more committed thing, to get a set up that's worth it, your looking at around 200 minimum. I would suggest a badger air brush, and a small .5 horse power oiless compressor. Best paints I have found are Vallejo game air pre mixed and ready to go.

Get Rosemary and Co brushes, they are half to a third the price of W&N and very good

Eh for a basic base coating set up its more like 100 or so.
horrablefreight airbrush compressor which already has a moisture trap for about 85 (cheaper with coopin)

and a badger renegade chrome IIRC can go as low as 50.

though even the cheapo iwata clone from china works ok for base coating.

but if you are dead serious about wanting to air brushing then i would actually spend some money for a better set up.

and at that money amount i would be getting the WN7

seriously i have a few running at least a year and a half of hard use still going.

Ok, leave airbrushing 'til i've got more money, and I usually just give my brushes a swirl in the water I use to paint. Is that not quite enough?

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Ok, leave airbrushing 'til i've got more money, and I usually just give my brushes a swirl in the water I use to paint. Is that not quite enough?

Eventually paint will build up and ruin the brush. I got my brush cleaning soap for $6.50 bucks on amazon. It's called "General Pencil Company the Master's Brush Cleaner." Worth every penny. It even revitalized some old brushes. In a pinch you can use hair shampoo. Brush cleaner will make any brush last several times longer, especially your dry brushes. Free up your money for things other than brushes in the future by getting a proper cleaner.

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Ok, leave airbrushing 'til i've got more money, and I usually just give my brushes a swirl in the water I use to paint. Is that not quite enough?

.

That's good enough for rinsing the brush out during a paint session, but when you really clean it, you want to use fresher water. If you don't have any kind of brush cleaner, you can use hair conditioner to help, well, condition your brushes. After washing the brush with a very gentle soap (nothing harsh, so baby soap, or lotion soap) and giving them a rinse with cold water, put a dab of conditioner in your palm and roll the brush in it. Afterward, shape the brush into a nice point, and gently blot away any excess. I've been using this to keep my brushes in shape (along with an occasional soak in W&N brush cleaner) and it's kept all my brushes, from the cheapo Loew Cornells to the nice GW and W&N brushes I own, very good. I seriously have cheap 3 dollar brushes that have lasted for 3+ years and are still serviceable. Cleaning will dramatically increase the life of your brushes.

It's very important that you always use cold water. Using warm or hot water will loosen the bond in the ferrule, which will cause the bristles to become loose, drastically shortening the life of your brushes. I learned this the hard way, thankfully on some $2 for 5 Chinese eBay brushes instead of a $20 W&N

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Ok, leave airbrushing 'til i've got more money, and I usually just give my brushes a swirl in the water I use to paint. Is that not quite enough?

9/10 times thats fine, if you wanna do a 'deep clean' What i have always done is use a drop of dish soap in your palm, wet the brush, and swirl it around your hand swish in water, repeat, then again, i lick to a point.

The biggest mistake new painters make, is they get paints up to the top of the bristles, dont ever do that, in fact, if you have a brush you want to take care of, i would have a second gakky brush you use to get the paint outta the pot, or use the back end of the brush to get the paint, OR be careful not o get paint up into the top of the bristles.

I use hand soap rather than dedicated brush soap. The bar variety rather than the liquid variety. I just break a bit off and leave it on the side of my palette, swish the brush in water and then swirl it over the bar of soap and rinse it out again.

If you've never used soap before, you'll be amazed how much more paint comes out after you think you'd gotten it clean just with regular water.

Maybe dedicated brush soap works better, but I've been using hand soap on the same brush for ages and it's still going strong.

I really recommend the Springer & DaVinci brushes. Especially the very small detail brushes of Springer are awesome.

For metallic acrylic paint i like the Golden FLUID metallic paint. It's really expensive stuff, but so vibrant ^^

Masters brush soap also conditions your brushes which helps it last longer. especially non synthetic brushes.

 Desubot wrote:
Masters brush soap also conditions your brushes which helps it last longer. especially non synthetic brushes.

Regular hand soap also acts as a conditioner, otherwise your hands would dry out.

I've actually revived a few brushes that were ruined from painting with enamels and cleaning with harsh thinners, a few washes with regular hand soap and water conditioned them and brought them back again.