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So getting back into the hobby and need to rebuild my paint set. I know that while I *could* afford citadel, I have been lurking here long enough to know there are quite a few viable alternatives for a much better price. While I would normally just do a search for my answer, unfortunately the internet on Navy ships isn't always the most cooperative so I put the request for recommendations to you all.

I am looking at buying complete sets of a brand- who has the best overall quality/variety/ease of use/price?

Also looking for brush brands- not trying to go full out and buy the top of the line here, but fair quality for a fair price?

Thanks in advance.

Brushes, I like to get the 'American Painter' brushes from Michael's. They're good, and cheap when on sale!

I like GW's paint line, in all honesty. Never had a problem... Apparently the P3 line from Privateer Press is great, one of my associates uses them exclusively.

I never had a problem with citadel either, they are just prohibitively expensive, esp considering I just dropped a good chuck o change on the start of 3 new armies ('nids, DE, Crons)

They are a bit expensive. The p3 is cheaper by volume, though.

I switched to Vallejo Game color and have never looked back. The dropper bottles are easier to measure from, and keep paint for much longer. As for brushes, I grab brushes from Michael's for drybrushing and basecoats, but for everything else I use either Winsor and Newton Series 7 or Rosemary. If you buy a couple of these, you will rarely use anything else.

I'll have to try the W&N then, everyone seems happy with them.

If you're going to lay out the money for W&N brushes, I would recommend grabbing some good cleaner and using it often. I go for this stuff: http://www.dickblick.com/items/05702-1004/.

I've heard the most positives around here about the Vallejo paints. The Game Color line has brighter colors that match with the last citadel paint range or there's the Model Color line that has more military colors geared at historic scale modelers. So, maybe pick a set of one of their lines based on what armies you'll be painting.

Good luck with getting back into the hobby, glad to see people picking it back up. I did the same a while back and have been enjoying it.

I cant think of the name of it, but I remember seeing a huge array of paint at michaels that came in little tubes... had the consistency of toothpaste when you squeezed it out. Anyone have any experience/ know the price point or even brand name of those?

Cambonimachine wrote:
I cant think of the name of it, but I remember seeing a huge array of paint at michaels that came in little tubes... had the consistency of toothpaste when you squeezed it out. Anyone have any experience/ know the price point or even brand name of those?

That stuff in the tubes is the more "artist" lines of paints. You probably saw a few different brands of both acrylic and oils. For miniature painting one of the things you want to look for in the paint is how fine the pigments are ground. I can't say how the art-style acrylics stack up to the miniature-style acrylics in the pigment grind department. I have heard around Dakka that Citadel pigments aren't ground as fine as Vallejo and some others. I can say that for pretty much all of the art-style acrylics, they are going to be much thicker to start with. So, you'll have to thin all of them down much more than miniature paints to get them to a semi-transparent fluid layer paint. As you thin them down, that's where the pigment grind comes into play. If it's not ground fine enough, you won't get a nice smooth semi-transparent fluid to paint with, you'll get more of a watery fluid and grit mixture. I can't say what to expect with the artist acrylics in this regard.

If you're starting fresh, a paint set would be a good purchase. Gives you a broad base to work from, to which you can add the occasional extra colour you need. I'd recommend 3 lines:
- Vallejo Game Colour. Vibrant paint line that closely matches the previous GW paint line. Has extensive "support" online since many people use it, and a paint compatibility chart exists on dakka so you can match between it and other ranges. Comes in dropper bottles which imo are far superior to tubs, especially if you airbrush.
- Vallejo Model Air. A more muted, realistic and camo oriented set. Pre thinned paints with finer milled pigments that make it ideal for airbrushing, but also beautiful to brush on. Some of the best metallics, especially for airbrushing. Same dropper bottles.
- Minitaire. A recent entry on the market from the US Bager Airbrush company. Best price per volume hobby paint, airbrush ready in a different style of botle that I really like. Vibrant sci-fi/fantasy colours akin to VGC, but I don't think they closely match. Paint behaves a little differently since it's generally much glossier which can make it harder to brush on top of.

If you primarily need vibrant colours for sci-fi and fantasy, I'd suggest either VGC or Minitaire, since they are more suited. If you're more into muted, realistic tones then get VMA. After you get a set, then you can add individual paints from the same or other ranges to fill out what you need.

When I started in the hobby I looked at GW and Vallejo, deciding on Vallejo Game Colour. I expaned my VGC collection, then added lots of VMA when I started with an airbrush. Then I bought a Minitaire set at 50% off. I'm very happy with all purchases, but would only recommend Minitaire at a high discount since it does act a little weird.

If I had to choose between an identical colour from each range, I'd definitely choose VMA - it's just so smooth.

Thanks! I'll keep all that in mind... been thinking about doing airbrush too, but I'm gonna hold off on asking questions about that till I can get somewhere with a stable connection and watch some youtube videos and stuff

Also worth checking out Côte d'arms paint. Very cheap, and is actually the first citadel line with new names and more colours added. They also sell triads and sets cheap. I think they are the cheapest out there, and the pots seal properly.

I like army painter brushes. They are nothing special, but they seem to hold a point way longer than most.

 Eggs wrote:
Also worth checking out Côte d'arms paint. Very cheap, and is actually the first citadel line with new names and more colours added. They also sell triads and sets cheap. I think they are the cheapest out there, and the pots seal properly.

I like army painter brushes. They are nothing special, but they seem to hold a point way longer than most.

+1000000

Since most of what I still use came out of the cote d'arms citadel period, I've been looking to get these when mine start running out.

I use Reaper's Master Series paints. They're developed in "triads" where you have base color, shade color, and highlight color. They come in dropper bottles.