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If you're just used to GW paints you may be tempted not to shake other brands like these enough,

which might explain having to use multiple coats as not all the pigment has been resuspended (I can't say for sure about Instar but I've a few Vallejo and Armypainter colours like that)

GW uses a very gummy mix, especially for layers;/foundations which makes them less likely to separate but means they're harder to do some blending techniques etc with

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
If you're just used to GW paints you may be tempted not to shake other brands like these enough,

which might explain having to use multiple coats as not all the pigment has been resuspended (I can't say for sure about Instar but I've a few Vallejo and Armypainter colours like that)

GW uses a very gummy mix, especially for layers;/foundations which makes them less likely to separate but means they're harder to do some blending techniques etc with

Though I shook the paints way more vigorously than I ever shake GW paints, I gave it another try. This time I shook them so long, it bordered on a workout

This indeed improved the coverage and I now only needed 1 extra layer compared to GW base colour. It also now matched the GW colour better, the difference is now only minimal. So the paints are better than my first impression was, but GW still wins on convenience IMHO.

Maybe there should be a "shake like crazy" instruction on the bottles

Shake it like it owes you money.

Without starting to sing OutKast.....

We have begun to add new type of agitators to our bottles which perform and mix better than standard ball bearing types by having a greater surface area but also dispersing the pigment better throughout the bottle.

This should avoid having to have a workout!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all keeping well!

We have two very exciting announcements to make

First off, we will be phasing out our Colourshift line to make way for the new INSTAR Spectrum line, this line will consist of what we are calling "Shift" paints, these work in the same way as colourshifting paints but dry clear leaving only the shifting element behind, this means you can create your own colourshifting materials by mixing them into any metallic colour you like to any strength level you like.

Want a Silver with a hint of blue, mix in a tiny amount of Blue Shift and you'll get a small blue reflection, want a heavy blue shimmer effect, add in more.

Want to make a Gold and Purple colourshift colour, no problem, just mix Purple Shift in with Gehanna's Gold for example

We have 6 colours we plan to release meaning that with just our portfolio of metallic colours, you can mix around 472 different variations, add in other lines and that number grows even more!

And that's not all, you can also paint these on top of normal paint and still get the same result, we did this with an Assault Marine in Alpha Legion style colours by doing a basecoat of IV-08, layered with Grey Blue and then Green Shift painted over the top (It was a quick one hour speed job so apologies on the quality, tabletop wise it's awesome looking!)



Video of Assault Marine - Assault Marine painted with INSTAR Spectrum Green Shift

We don't have a release date yet but it's very very soon, we'll announce it here and across social media so if you're not following us, just follow the links in our signature

Then secondly, we have something very very special, our release of INSTAR Water+



This is a very special product from our Provectus line and the first to be released, Water+ is a painting aid that is used to thin down paints as normal, but unlike using traditional thinners, Water+ acts differently by crosslinking the pigment particles in the solution giving a much more even distribution both on the palette and brush.



This is especially important when it comes to painting as this even distribution means that you get more even coats per brush stroke thanks to the cross linking process, rather than the pigment level being highly concentrated at the start and end of the brush stroke thanks to the effects of water tension, the cross linking effect created by Water+ means the pigment leaves the brush in an orderly fashion ensuring that the same amount of pigment is dispensed from the brush onto the miniature every time, this avoids the problem of tidemarks and uneven coats showing more of the previous layer in models when taking photographs



You can clearly see the improved effect of Water+ when the samples dried out clearly showing the tidemarks created with plain distilled water compared to the even dispersion of Water+



All of our testers so far have fallen in love very quickly with this revolutionary new product, any orders placed through our store will automatically recieve a free 5ml sample of Water+ to try for themselves.

Release date is the 31st March 2019.

If you wish to see Water+ in action, MonkeysWithFire have been testing it over on their channel, for his thoughts on it, check on the stream this Thursday!

MonkeysWithFire Twitch Stream

Also, if you do check out the show, don't forget to use the command !discount, this will give you a code to 10% off anything in our store

We'll update again soon!

INSTAR Homepage

INSTAR Paint Store

INSTAR Vintage Store

INSTAR Metallic Store

INSTAR Wash Store

Further proof medieval everything was brown, they ate brown, and everything was covered with mud. Or at least INSTAR's Mud Brown, with a side of Dust Brown and Dull Pewter.

Miniatures are Tiny Furniture's "Tavern with Drinks". Review on RPG.net. : https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17966.phtml

Those look pretty great. I have to get me some paints to test them out.

For what it's worth, I think they're well worth the punt, Albertorius.

Supershandy – The 'Water+' medium sounds interesting. Is it similar to any existing mediums? Just wondering if the effect is similar to flow enhancer or something. The smooth effect looks very useful – I can see it coming in handy for a lot of people.

It also got me thinking. Recently I've been playing around with granulation medium, and trying to force tidemarks/backruns to create texture on a miniature scale. Any market for a medium that would do that, or paints that create a sooty, grainy feel? I want to convey grime and muck without literally texturing the model.

 Apologist wrote:
For what it's worth, I think they're well worth the punt, Albertorius.

Supershandy – The 'Water+' medium sounds interesting. Is it similar to any existing mediums? Just wondering if the effect is similar to flow enhancer or something. The smooth effect looks very useful – I can see it coming in handy for a lot of people.

It also got me thinking. Recently I've been playing around with granulation medium, and trying to force tidemarks/backruns to create texture on a miniature scale. Any market for a medium that would do that, or paints that create a sooty, grainy feel? I want to convey grime and muck without literally texturing the model.

Thanks for the kind words

On the subject of Water+, it's unlike anything else on the market considering the fact it can also be used as a brush cleaner and airbrush thinner too, as an airbrush thinner it's better, we think, than current existing ones in the fact that the pigment is bound in the droplet means that smooth coats are translated onto the model rather than a random mix of water vapour/alcohol and paint depending on how it's dispersed in the airbrush cup.

The crosslinking effect means that as a brush cleaner it's super effective as well at really getting your brush clean by clinging onto the particles in the brush head and removing them gently leading to cleaner brushes and less damage to brush heads

I can see where you're going with the dirt and grime effect, there is an effect call the Dot matrix effect that you can do with white and black paint?

It seems a little difficult to pull off but once it does it leaves a very nice streaking effect, the person talking about it said that for miniatures it would replicate rain effects where the dirt would be washed off. As for a wash...it could be possible with a non-soluble particulate, perhaps a silicon type granule? (Not sand...)

Good Morning Everyone,

We've finally released our much coveted "Water+" (Yesterday, not today....it's not a wind up )



The ultimate product in paint thinning, INSTAR Water+ is a unique creation and only available through INSTAR.

Unlike typical mediums such as distilled water or Acrylic bases for thinning paints, Water+ acts differently by crosslinking the paint and pigment particles in the solution, evenly distributing them compared to typical water based mediums which attract pigment particles to the centre due to surface tension leaving unsightly tide marks.



This allows for much smoother coats per brush stroke since the pigment is evenly dispersed throughout the head of the brush and leaves the brush in an even manner in comparison to other mediums which retain most of the pigment in the brush head until the end of the brush stroke where the pigment concentration will be higher.



Using Water+ is no different from the way you use other mediums, just mix into paint to the consistency you require and Water+ will do the rest, It can also be used with wet palettes too (performance will be reduced slightly due to an increase in dilution)

Check out the Twitch streams from Grey Paladin Arts and Monkeys With Fire to see Water+ in action and see their reactions to using it!

Some lucky Model Box subscribers will have received a sample bottle in their medieval pack while Asset Drop customers will be receiving a 20ml bottle in the latest Discovery box!

Here's what Asset Drop had to say about it

"Thinning your paints is arguably one of the most important aspects of miniature painting. How thin your paints are will change how they act on the miniature; from how well they cover to the uniformity of the end result. It also opens up different techniques like glazing and washing.

Because thinning is so important, it’s no surprise that there are a variety of products which can help you with it; from distilled water to flow improver to acrylic thinners, all from a number of different manufactures. For most painting applications, I’d recommend a high quality thinner over water, as good thinners change the base properties of the paint much less than water will.

How do you pick the best acrylic thinner though?

This is fairly subjective as different people will want different things from their thinner, in a thinner, and why amongst the ranks of other thinning products, Water+ really stands out. For me, there are four key attributes a thinner should have to make it excellent. Water+ has all of these!

Low Viscosity

I personally prefer my paints to be thin, with lots of flow, for as smooth application off the brush. Having a thinner which isn’t too thick (or too thin for that matter) is a great start.

High Transparency

As well as looking for a thinner with the ideal viscosity, I also look for thinners which won’t alter the opacity of my paint during application. Good thinners won’t make your paint more opaque when dry, but thinners which come out of the bottle milky will make your paint look more opaque when it’s
being applied, and may even alter the colour tone during application. I find this undesirable as it’s harder to judge the end result of your painting this way.

High Compatibility

Although it’s uncommon, I have experienced thinners that don’t behave well with some paint brands. I like to keep painting as straightforward as possible and not have to worry about how my thinner will react with new paints.

Great Value

Finally, being good value for money is the final hurdle. I get through plenty of thinner so being able to buy it in larger bottles is a must.

Water+ has all of these attributes exactly right, while also providing two further outstanding features!

Pigment Suspension:

With Water+, INSTAR have managed to engineer a formula which provides pigment binding properties. What I mean by this is that your paint will no longer separate as readily on the palette! This is an issue which can arise with other thinners, especially water. Now when your paint dries, it will give you a very smooth and solid coverage, even when using thin paints, or paints with larger pigment particles. This is an impressive property of Water+!

Finally, the high precision bottle INSTAR have used for their Water+ has a super fine nib. This helps you to get exactly the right amount of thinner, exactly where you need it. Ideal for keeping waste and mess to a minimum, and getting the correct thinning ratios."

Water+ is available from our store under its own tab on the menu bar!

NIce -- tidemarks, eh? (: How well would it work as a wash with inks? Paints?

ced1106 wrote:
NIce -- tidemarks, eh? (: How well would it work as a wash with inks? Paints?

Very well, it thins them down nicely improving the flow, but because of the cross linking effect it distributes the pigment more evenly rather than pooling so it increases the level of control when using washes and inks

All they really need is a drop and that's about it

We've released new colours this week!

Two new wash shades



You can see these shades in effect on this model



Heavy flesh was used on the skin tones (Funnily enough!) over the top of our Sunburnt flesh to give a smoother transistion blend, the Purple was used to enhance the leather look on the shield

Next up we have two new colours to add to the paint line, Mucus Green should come with a free set of nuclear goggles!



And three new editions to the Vintage line and a welcome return to some much missed colours, Graveyard Earth (IV-36), Scorched Brown (IV-37) and Bleached Bone (IV-38)

Ragnar69 wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
If you're just used to GW paints you may be tempted not to shake other brands like these enough,

which might explain having to use multiple coats as not all the pigment has been resuspended (I can't say for sure about Instar but I've a few Vallejo and Armypainter colours like that)

GW uses a very gummy mix, especially for layers;/foundations which makes them less likely to separate but means they're harder to do some blending techniques etc with

Though I shook the paints way more vigorously than I ever shake GW paints, I gave it another try. This time I shook them so long, it bordered on a workout

This indeed improved the coverage and I now only needed 1 extra layer compared to GW base colour. It also now matched the GW colour better, the difference is now only minimal. So the paints are better than my first impression was, but GW still wins on convenience IMHO.

Maybe there should be a "shake like crazy" instruction on the bottles

I added a little pebble or ball bearing (didn't have enough ball bearings) to my dropper bottles.
That shakes them thoroughly without trouble.
I actually have to water down the INSTAR paints quite a lot as they cover so well, in my experience.
they are thicker than GW paints, from what I recall of GW paints, and most importantly for me they provide a solid vehicle for tints and other additives...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Supershandy wrote:

ced1106 wrote:
NIce -- tidemarks, eh? (: How well would it work as a wash with inks? Paints?

Very well, it thins them down nicely improving the flow, but because of the cross linking effect it distributes the pigment more evenly rather than pooling so it increases the level of control when using washes and inks

All they really need is a drop and that's about it

Water sounds interesting indeed!

 jeff white wrote:

Ragnar69 wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
If you're just used to GW paints you may be tempted not to shake other brands like these enough,

which might explain having to use multiple coats as not all the pigment has been resuspended (I can't say for sure about Instar but I've a few Vallejo and Armypainter colours like that)

GW uses a very gummy mix, especially for layers;/foundations which makes them less likely to separate but means they're harder to do some blending techniques etc with

Though I shook the paints way more vigorously than I ever shake GW paints, I gave it another try. This time I shook them so long, it bordered on a workout

This indeed improved the coverage and I now only needed 1 extra layer compared to GW base colour. It also now matched the GW colour better, the difference is now only minimal. So the paints are better than my first impression was, but GW still wins on convenience IMHO.

Maybe there should be a "shake like crazy" instruction on the bottles

I added a little pebble or ball bearing (didn't have enough ball bearings) to my dropper bottles.
That shakes them thoroughly without trouble.
I actually have to water down the INSTAR paints quite a lot as they cover so well, in my experience.
they are thicker than GW paints, from what I recall of GW paints, and most importantly for me they provide a solid vehicle for tints and other additives...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Supershandy wrote:

ced1106 wrote:
NIce -- tidemarks, eh? (: How well would it work as a wash with inks? Paints?

Very well, it thins them down nicely improving the flow, but because of the cross linking effect it distributes the pigment more evenly rather than pooling so it increases the level of control when using washes and inks

All they really need is a drop and that's about it

Water sounds interesting indeed!

We're adding agitators to all new batches we produce so this problem has now been resolved, also they're pretty good agitators we use and mix the paints better and faster than traditional ball bearings (And they don't rust either which is a plus!)

And yeah, the Water+ is getting lots of really good feedback, most people will tell you it's a gimmick though they haven't tried it, but once you've smelt it, tasted it and used it, you'll know it's not just distilled water and quite possibly, as one twitter user put it, the wonder product of 2019

That scorched brown alternative is just in time as my last pot is almost gone, and i'll give the water+ a try too

So GW have a supposedly new product coming out that has gotten people thinking they have come up with something new that people haven't thought of.

Well, we'd already beaten them to the punch on that one

Our Water+ is unlike anything else on the market and in fact cannot be found anywhere else on the market, with a heavily modified solution, our Water+ allows you to create smooth, seamless blends, make other paint brands more useable (Such as Army painter and Scale75 being the most prominent ones), keeps your brush tip sharp....

You can't improve washes by helping them flow into recesses better with no loss in pigmentation, you can glaze faster and smoother

You can keep your brush nice and clean, it'll extend the life of your brush, it will give even tiny 10/0 brushes something of a reservoir so you can paint longer, neater and faster

You can use it as an airbrush thinner to keep a high pigmentation level through your airbrush

The list of what this stuff can do just seems to grow as people use it more and more!

Why not check it out for yourself, any order placed with us gets a free sample bottle to try out

I might give the Water+ stuff a try. Does it slow down trying as well like a Liquidex slo-dri stuff? Or can it be mixed with a product like that?

Is Water+ safe to eat?

As a brush licker/two brush blender I’m interested to hear.

Also, does it contain animal byproduct as a vegetarian...

I’m using your foundation range for my bases and they do the job well replacing colours I used to use, this product has piqued my interest but (without you giving the game away) I need to know if I can use it or not.

 The Phazer wrote:
I might give the Water+ stuff a try. Does it slow down trying as well like a Liquidex slo-dri stuff? Or can it be mixed with a product like that?

Quite the opposite, it actually speeds up drying time a little faster than standard water, but it levels out as if you are using a slow drying retarder so you can get the same results and paint quicker

We haven't tried mixing it, but I can't see why it wouldn't work to slow the drying time


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JonWebb wrote:
Is Water+ safe to eat?

As a brush licker/two brush blender I’m interested to hear.

Also, does it contain animal byproduct as a vegetarian...

I’m using your foundation range for my bases and they do the job well replacing colours I used to use, this product has piqued my interest but (without you giving the game away) I need to know if I can use it or not.

While we don't recommend it, it's perfectly safe to lick your brush using this stuff

And it contains no animal byproducts whatsoever, in fact, it's completely vegan friendly and yes, it not only works with our paints, but other brands too so it's not a one trick pony so to speak

Do you have a US distributor, or is it order from your webstore only right now?

 Supershandy wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JonWebb wrote:
Is Water+ safe to eat?

As a brush licker/two brush blender I’m interested to hear.

Also, does it contain animal byproduct as a vegetarian...

I’m using your foundation range for my bases and they do the job well replacing colours I used to use, this product has piqued my interest but (without you giving the game away) I need to know if I can use it or not.

While we don't recommend it, it's perfectly safe to lick your brush using this stuff

And it contains no animal byproducts whatsoever, in fact, it's completely vegan friendly and yes, it not only works with our paints, but other brands too so it's not a one trick pony so to speak

Good to know, cheers

I’ll grab some to try next time I need a top up.

 vitki wrote:
Do you have a US distributor, or is it order from your webstore only right now?

Good Morning,

We don't have a distributor in the US yet though it is something we are continually looking at so for the moment it's only available through our store

Is there any chance you are doing a Bestial Brown. I am getting low on this color and could really use it. All the GW replacements are not close to the correct color.

angel of death 007 wrote:
Is there any chance you are doing a Bestial Brown. I am getting low on this color and could really use it. All the GW replacements are not close to the correct color.

Not yet, but we can bump it up the list

Follow us on our social media and you'll find out as soon as it launches!

Looking good!

More Tiny Furniture! More INSTAR Mud Brown (and Dust Brown)!

I'm pretty sure this WIP is a Mud Brown basecoat with an Army Painter Strong Tone ink, with a rough drybrush of Dust Brown on the edges.

This TF model is their Medieval Bath. Here's a WIP. The final pics and review are on RPG.net. : https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18067.phtml

Some Advanced HeroQuest WIP miniatures that have taken me only thirty years to get around to painting.

Skaven: Gray IV-24, Cool Grey, metallic black Dull Pewter, and good ol' MUD BROWN!!

Doors: Mud Brown followed by Army Painter brown Strong Tone Ink.

Brown and black brush-on primers.

ced1106 wrote:
Some Advanced HeroQuest WIP miniatures that have taken me only thirty years to get around to painting.

Skaven: Gray IV-24, Cool Grey, metallic black Dull Pewter, and good ol' MUD BROWN!!

Doors: Mud Brown followed by Army Painter brown Strong Tone Ink.

Brown and black brush-on primers.

Awesome work as always, always love seeing your pieces come together

[Thanks -- did some more work, but the pictures didn't turn out well.

Anyway, I'd like to see some brush-on colored primers. I know you're going for the display-level audience, but, for tabletop, I find colored primers make painting faster.

I often use brown. Black is for metal undercoats, but I see Vallejo makes a metal primer. Other colors I would like use are green (orc skin), flesh (human), red, blue, and yellow.

And here's a picture of a skaven firethrower (?) team, base coated with Dust Brown and Cool Grey before washing. :

Basecoat of purple IV-26.