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Hi All

Apologies if this is in the wrong section or has already been posted

Total newbie in miniatures and modeling in general, Wanting to relive some childhood fun so i've ordered the new Blood Bowl set, this will have a human, ork and skaven team included.

Just wanting some general advise on paint, brushes and other things that I might need

I work In a RC hobby shop and know you can pay a premium for certain names even though the products are sub par, Im wondering if this is the same for Games Workshop stuff or should I be looking at other brands

As for the actual assembly and painting I'll check out the tutorials before boring people with lots more questions

Thanks in advance

Adam
'Newbie'
Barnsley UK

GW paints are good, but expensive. Hobby tools are exactly the same as you'll get anywhere else for three times the price. Just don't buy GW glue. Loctite Gel Control for superglue, Testors plastic cement for plastic.
The brushes are... eh. I have mixed feelings on them.

There are two camps on brushes - buy cheap and beat the hell out of them or buy expensive and baby them. I am a beat the hell and replace them guy, especially with models that will require lots of weathering (like my upcoming Blood Bowl set will be).

As for paint, GW makes good paint but the containers are terrible and allow paint to cake up and dry out. Awful design. I am slowly switching over to Vallejo who makes good stuff at a good price.

There's two schools of thought on paints too; 'acrylic paints are all the same' and 'you get what you pay for'. I've seen amazing results from both hobby-grade paints like GW, P3, and Vallejo and craft paints like Apple Barrel and Folk Art. I've been steadily transitioning from hobby paints to craft paints, and I can't tell the difference between new models and old ones with the same color scheme.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

A big part of the trick for either is to thin the paints down to a milk-like consistency, using acrylic medium instead of water. (Water works, sort of, but if too much water replaces the acrylic medium the paint starts granulating...)

On brushes: There's a third school. Baby the detail brushes, and go cheap for larger brushes you expect to abuse. And brush soap for cleaning and conditioning brushes extends their life considerably.

Paints..Remember Wash and dry your minatures..rinse them well prior to priming and allow to dry at least overnight if not longer...allow your freshly primed models to sit ofr at least 24hours after final priming..I will allways suggest using a white primer..(Others have other opionions but I find its easy to darken a model but hard to lighten one up..)

Clean your brushes cheap or Good ..Wash them with soap and water .
.( I have been using shaving soap the small bars same stuff i shave my whiskers with for decades..my detail brush i paid 12 dollars US for in 1991 I still use that same brush today ..
.Paints Army painter and vallejo are by far the best I have found for mini's..I use a lot of urethane airbrush paints as well..and have mixed a lot from liquidex acrlyics and pigments ...

Now important ..make sure your buying fresh paint and not some box thats been sitting on a shelf for a decade or more..

Groo_The_Wanderer wrote:
There are two camps on brushes - buy cheap and beat the hell out of them or buy expensive and baby them.

And of course neither of these options leads to buying GW brushes. You can get better brushes from your local art supply store for less money.

As for the rest: GW paints are good enough, and honestly the price difference isn't that big a deal. They're still cheaper than models, and often you'll find yourself using so little of everything but the primary color(s) for your army that the "get more for the same price" value of non-GW brands doesn't really pay off. GW hobby tools are just re-branded knives/clippers/etc at a huge markup, they only exist to lure clueless parents into over-paying for all the extra stuff the used-car salesman running the local GW store tells them is 200% necessary for their kid to be happy. Same thing with glue, there's no reason to pay extra for the GW logo.

For brushes, the best you can get are Windsor & Newton series 7. A cheaper option would be Army painters brushes. Try and make sure whichever range you choose are made with sable, none of the synthetic stuff.
GW's paint range is pretty good, some of their paints are excellent. Vallejo have a bigger range, are cheaper and come in dropper bottles rather than flip top, these are miles better in my opinion. If however you're copying paint schemes you're naturally going to get sucked into buying the GW range of paints.
GW's hobby tools should be avoided at all costs. They're always more expensive, usually inferior and it's the kind of items easily picked up elsewhere

I would recommend Halford's Grey Primer.
Get hobby tools from Amazon eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/SWANN-MORTON-PREMIUM-RETRACTAWAY-2806/dp/B01ETPFX6W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1479387534&sr=8-5&keywords=swann+morton
with
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Morton-Sterile-Carbon-Surgical-Blades/dp/B0064NZNVI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1479387606&sr=8-3&keywords=swann+morton+10a
or
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swann-Morton-STERILE-PROTECTED-SURGICAL-10A/dp/6040118431/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1479387663&sr=8-1&keywords=swann+morton+10a

Best advice I can give from 18 yrs experience: you're tools absolutely matter (more so the brush than anything else).

There's quite a few tools you'll need such as files and x-acto knives and whatnot, so I'll just link you to a few of the best game-changers.

For plastic sprues, this is the single best tool. I used to cut plastic pieces from trees using knives...this will save you so much time and pain (literal pain in your hand).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TMZ7QA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For brushes, windsor and newton series 7 watercolor brushes are 100% a necessity. I used cheap synthetics for about 12 yrs before switching. I wish I had started with the better quality. Get a size 1 and 0, that's all you'll ever need. Also, be careful not to accidentally buy the "miniature" series 7 brushes...they are not the same.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013E68T4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For cleaning your brushes, and conditioning them when you're done painting:
https://www.amazon.com/General-Pencil-Company-Masters-Preserver/dp/B0009RRT9Y/ref=sxts_k2p_hero1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2668835622&pd_rd_wg=NAEaw&pf_rd_r=G6NHK3TW2Y5NZ7FD5YCX&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B0009RRT9Y&pd_rd_w=6FDA4&pf_rd_i=masters+brush+cleaner&pd_rd_r=5JGCW6WNH4HAAMWFCVA1&ie=UTF8&qid=1479434761&sr=1

For plastic gluing:
https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Cement-Plastics-1-oz/dp/B0006N6ODS/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1479435076&sr=8-1&keywords=model+master+liquid+cement

And lastly, your workspace saver. Once you accumulate somewhere around 80+ paints, it gets tiring digging through a box to find your colors. I picked up this and organized all my paints by color. Should have done this sooner.
https://www.amazon.com/Vatican-Paintier-Products-80/dp/B00A9VTR54/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1479434835&sr=1-1&keywords=paint+carousel


The rest is really up to you. Citadel paints are very good, I pretty much stick with just those, except for vallejo dark sea blue which is the single best color I've ever used. Tamiya ultra fine grey primer is tops. Pick up a pack of tiny ball bearings from amazon to use as paint agitators. And of course get a good desk lamp with white light only. It's a lot to consider all at once, but if it ends up a lifelong hobby for you like it did me, you'll be glad you had it all.

Thank you all for the advise folks!

I've decided to go with some Series 7 Kolinsky brushes, they seem to be mid range on price and seen as though I'm new to all this, I'm pretty sure I'll end up destroying them

As for paints I have ordered a dozen bottles of Vellejo paints, mainly Game Colour with a splash of Model and Model Air

If I feel they are for me I can grab more or if not then I've not wasted too much money