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OK, I recently bought a used monolkioth thru the mail. I could either pay about 10$ just to have it shipped or buiy something else and push it over the free shipping line.

I asked about that technical necron glow paint, but it was out of stock. Finally i picked a bottle of nuln oil at an obscene cost that was still a little cheaper than the 10$ shipping, and i get something for it instead of nothing but shipping, see?

Since this stuff seems to cost as much per ounce as fine caviar, 250 year old whiskey or 100 year old wine I want to know some tips on using it efficiently, especially on necrons. So, any advice on not wasting this hideously expensive fluid? I've heard it called talent in a bottle, I'd like to see what some of the fine folks here do with it.

It's not really expensive at all compared to any specialty hobby products.

There is absolutely tonnes and tonnes of videos and guides on how to use GW washes/shades on Youtube or a plethora of other sites.

A very quick google search would show this, but i think you made the post just to oddly complain about the price of a hobby staple for many of us.

This hobby isn't cheap, that includes supplies.

You can make your washes and shades go further by panel lining with them instead of doing an all-over wash.

GW washes are more expensive then the alternatives especially when they come with the worst lids.

Dropper bottles would be better. Other companies are cheaper.

 Lance845 wrote:
GW washes are more expensive then the alternatives especially when they come with the worst lids.

Dropper bottles would be better. Other companies are cheaper.

They aren't much more expensive at all. A bit sure, but not much. Remember GW washes/shades are in larger bottles.

For paints I agree about dropper bottles, but who cares with shades/washes? If its a problem for you, just buy a dropper bottle for a few pennies and dump it in. We transferred every GW product to droppers last year and it was cheap and quick.

Cheaper does not equal better by the way. There is a reason people like GW Washes/Shades. They are good products. Straight out of the pot is often worth a premium to a lot of people compared to making your own.

 Joyous_Oblivion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
GW washes are more expensive then the alternatives especially when they come with the worst lids.

Dropper bottles would be better. Other companies are cheaper.

They aren't much more expensive at all. A bit sure, but not much. Remember GW washes/shades are in larger bottles.

For paints I agree about dropper bottles, but who cares with shades/washes? If its a problem for you, just buy a dropper bottle for a few pennies and dump it in. We transferred every GW product to droppers last year and it was cheap and quick.

Cheaper does not equal better by the way. There is a reason people like GW Washes/Shades. They are good products. Straight out of the pot is often worth a premium to a lot of people compared to making your own.

Cheaper doesn't equal better and more expensive doesn't either. There are quality equivalent paints and washes available on the market that I don't have to transfer into dropper bottles myself. GW washes/shades CAN come in larger bottles. For a little under the price of a meal. And again, those lids make waste of the product.

Well, this is the first time i've owned a very high price citidal ink. Until now I mostly used army painter inks. Compared to army painter washed yes, nuln oil is very high.

Think what you want.

I looked up painting "necrons nuln oil" and found that maybe I should have gotten the cryptek armorwash instead.

 Joyous_Oblivion wrote:
They aren't much more expensive at all. A bit sure, but not much. Remember GW washes/shades are in larger bottles.

Nuln Oil is $7.80 per 24ml. Army Painter Dark Tone is $3.50 per 18ml. That's 60% the cost.

 Joyous_Oblivion wrote:
Cheaper does not equal better by the way. There is a reason people like GW Washes/Shades.

That is correct. A lot of people stay inside GW's carefully cultivated ecosystem of products and don't try anything else.

OP, I suggest you put it in your paint cabinet and hang onto it. Nuln Oil is great as a glaze for very dark colors (blacks, dark greys, dark browns), tying layers together and providing weak shading. But if you want to shade something- particularly metallics, like Necrons- I'd stick with Army Painter Dark Tone. It's a continuation of GW's old Badab Black, which produces stronger shading with less staining on raised surfaces. Since a picture speaks a thousand words, here's a comparison.

Folks call it 'talent in a bottle' because, frankly, most haven't tried branching out to other companies to see what they offer. Nuln Oil certainly has its uses- like I said before, as a glaze for dark colors- but it's not very good for shading on its own, and I think you'll generally get more mileage out of the Army Painter washes than the GW ones for that purpose.

If you're looking for a recipe for Necrons, Vallejo Metal Color (not Model Color) provides the smoothest silver metallics I've found. A basecoat of VMeC Silver followed by a wash of Dark Tone produces excellent metallics for little effort. If you have an airbrush, a basecoat of Steel with a zenithal highlight of Chrome followed by Dark Tone is even better.

To provide a counter point, I have pots of both Dark Tone and Nuln Oil, and I personally much prefer Nuln Oil. Dark Tone darkens the whole area, whereas Nuln Oil flows into the recesses better. You have to allow for the knee-jerk negativity any GW product elicits.

There's no such thing as talent in a bottle though. They're both washes, nothing more, nothing less.

 Matt Swain wrote:
I want to know some tips on using it efficiently, especially on necrons.

General advice - shake it well. The layer that settles at the bottom is the matte medium. If you don't shake it and just dip your brush at the top layer of the bottle, your crevices are going to become glossy and sticky to touch.

 Matt Swain wrote:
So, any advice on not wasting this hideously expensive fluid? I've heard it called talent in a bottle, I'd like to see what some of the fine folks here do with it.

If you use it properly (as in spot washing - you can find bunch of tutorials on this), 1 bottle should last you for your entire hobby. It's not a 'talent in a bottle' - it's just a method of going down a few tones where you've built up too much light. And while it's expensive for what it is, but it's not expensive if you look at the whole hobby & specialty goods.