Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Seen people posting on the desire to have pre painted models.

What standard would they have to be at in order to buy them and please suggest how much you would pay for said standard.

If they used the same models and added on say, 15% for pre painting, I reckon you’d probably get a half decent spray job and a bit of red on the bolter and gold on the aquilla. Maybe some badly painted eye lenses.

Assembly alone would double the cost, not even getting into painting. Unless they did something weird like pre-painting them on the sprue. Which could only be to a very low standard (essentially base coat only), as you can't do highlights or shades on the sprue as you don't know where the light is going to be. And then you'd need to touch up whatever they had done after clipping it off anyhow, and what a nightmare that would be if your paint didn't match theirs.

Just isn't practical.

Can't see it ever happening. GW make lots of money on glue and paint

I would much rather people lobbied them to sell individual parts already clipped and cleaned, ready for assembly

Incidentally, people will paint models to a reasonably high standard for extremely low prices right now, way lower than what you'd get from any real professional business. GW would be silly to try to compete with all the basement commission painters doing it for what is basically peanuts.

I think that models being painted can be considered cheap only from specific point of views. Studios in Poland for example mostly paint for people living in the west, so the prices are western.

GK or custodes could be made in some sort of pre paint for sure.

Cynista wrote:
Can't see it ever happening. GW make lots of money on glue and paint

I would much rather people lobbied them to sell individual parts already clipped and cleaned, ready for assembly

I don’t think GW read this and I ain’t no lobbyist. This is a question based on some responses to the “what can GW do to make you collect more armies thread”

The preposition of how much extra would you pay implies the difficulty in doing this therefore the price will go up. Some people might be prepared to pay quite a lot.

Also GW could just create moods for complete models like they did for metal minis. I have some old DA that didn’t need assembly. They could be sprayed on an assembly line. Or hand painted to a low quality in a country that does cheap mass production

They were doing that thing for a while where certain models were shipping in colored plastic of the primary color of the army. Which seems totally useless to me, but at least it's not actual paint, so it doesn't impact you when you go to actually paint them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

mrFickle wrote:

Cynista wrote:
Can't see it ever happening. GW make lots of money on glue and paint

I would much rather people lobbied them to sell individual parts already clipped and cleaned, ready for assembly

I don’t think GW read this and I ain’t no lobbyist. This is a question based on some responses to the “what can GW do to make you collect more armies thread”

The preposition of how much extra would you pay implies the difficulty in doing this therefore the price will go up. Some people might be prepared to pay quite a lot.

Also GW could just create moods for complete models like they did for metal minis. I have some old DA that didn’t need assembly. They could be sprayed on an assembly line. Or hand painted to a low quality in a country that does cheap mass production

GW can't even manage to deliver failcasts without huge obvious errors that they have to send out replacements on, sometimes more than one replacement because the replacement is also a failed cast. Can you imagine them trying to oversee some sort of third-world painting operation and the number of claims for faulty paint jobs they'd have to process?

yukishiro1 wrote:
Incidentally, people will paint models to a reasonably high standard for extremely low prices right now, way lower than what you'd get from any real professional business. GW would be silly to try to compete with all the basement commission painters doing it for what is basically peanuts.

This was my first thought as well. If you want pre-painted miniatures a solution already exists for that. You can even choose your color schemes and quality level.

I could live with Wizkid D&D level paint jobs, I use those pre-painted miniatures all the time.

I’d prefer something on the level of the AT-43 miniatures. They were done to a level that is better than what I can usually do.

The X-Wing minis also have a good level of pre-paint.

I’ve reached a point in my life that spending the time assembling and *learning* to paint on a set of $50 models is not enjoyable. Just send me the damn things already put together and painted so I can actually enjoy playing the game. I want to be a gamer, not a model-maker.

I'm guessing these would also be pre assembled..

To me that would be pointless...
I don't collect insanely overpriced comic book/geek culture toys/memorabilia instead of Warhammer for a reason. To me there is nothing to achieve other then spendign a lot of cash to own soulless mass produced plastic tat.. (even if it is "limited edition")

The hobby would be confined entirely to the game aspect. And by that logic I might as well play PC games with digital assets for pretty much free. Because the game itself is terrible from a rules and balance perspective for the most part.

The hobby side of it in terms if assembling, and painting takes time and effort if you want it to be done well and up to that very high standard. If time and effort is put in, you get rewarded with achieving your goals. I find this very fulfilling and I can set my goals as basic or as extravagant as I want and be as little or as much creative as I want to be. Taking a short cut to get an average result and side stepping this entire process would make the hobby no longer a hobby for me but just product.

 Argive wrote:
I'm guessing these would also be pre assembled..

To me that would be pointless...
I don't collect insanely overpriced comic book/geek culture toys/memorabilia instead of Warhammer for a reason. To me there is nothing to achieve other then spendign a lot of cash to own soulless mass produced plastic tat.. (even if it is "limited edition")

The hobby would be confined entirely to the game aspect. And by that logic I might as well play PC games with digital assets for pretty much free. Because the game itself is terrible from a rules and balance perspective for the most part.

The hobby side of it in terms if assembling, and painting takes time and effort if you want it to be done well and up to that very high standard. If time and effort is put in, you get rewarded with achieving your goals. I find this very fulfilling and I can set my goals as basic or as extravagant as I want and be as little or as much creative as I want to be. Taking a short cut to get an average result and side stepping this entire process would make the hobby no longer a hobby for me but just product.

Pre painted would be an option, in this hypothetical scenario. You would still be able to buy the kits as they are today

mrFickle wrote:

 Argive wrote:
I'm guessing these would also be pre assembled..

To me that would be pointless...
I don't collect insanely overpriced comic book/geek culture toys/memorabilia instead of Warhammer for a reason. To me there is nothing to achieve other then spendign a lot of cash to own soulless mass produced plastic tat.. (even if it is "limited edition")

The hobby would be confined entirely to the game aspect. And by that logic I might as well play PC games with digital assets for pretty much free. Because the game itself is terrible from a rules and balance perspective for the most part.

The hobby side of it in terms if assembling, and painting takes time and effort if you want it to be done well and up to that very high standard. If time and effort is put in, you get rewarded with achieving your goals. I find this very fulfilling and I can set my goals as basic or as extravagant as I want and be as little or as much creative as I want to be. Taking a short cut to get an average result and side stepping this entire process would make the hobby no longer a hobby for me but just product.

Pre painted would be an option, in this hypothetical scenario. You would still be able to buy the kits as they are today

As long as I can keep hobbying my way I don't really care. If people pay someone to paint their minis or paint them themselves each to their own.
If the other option is facing hordes of bare grey plastic... I say knock themselves out.

GW uses coloured plastic for side games because those products are pitched not just to wargamers and hobbyists but also to boardgame players. It's the same reason many of them are push-fit too - open, clip, push, play - within 5 mins you're playing the game.

But I don't think we'll see GW move toward prepainted models. If they did I would expect it only on a side game or even a new franchise, not on their core games. They've spent 30years selling us the hobby. Not only that most of their creative and working staff not only sell us that, but a good number grew up on it too.

I think Gw's power is retaining that hold over the creative market. Heck they pitch a lot to kids through parents and schools and one of the big things they use is the fact that its not just a toy. It's a hobby that builds skills! Assembling, Painting, Maths, Critical Thinking, Creativity etc... These are all big things they use to help separate parents from their money and to get their hobby into school kids clubs.

GW did try it once - the chapel of sanctuary scenery.

I would never buy pre-painted models. Painting and building is more of the hobby for me than having pawns on the table.

 Overread wrote:
GW uses coloured plastic for side games because those products are pitched not just to wargamers and hobbyists but also to boardgame players. It's the same reason many of them are push-fit too - open, clip, push, play - within 5 mins you're playing the game.

But I don't think we'll see GW move toward prepainted models. If they did I would expect it only on a side game or even a new franchise, not on their core games. They've spent 30years selling us the hobby. Not only that most of their creative and working staff not only sell us that, but a good number grew up on it too.

I think Gw's power is retaining that hold over the creative market. Heck they pitch a lot to kids through parents and schools and one of the big things they use is the fact that its not just a toy. It's a hobby that builds skills! Assembling, Painting, Maths, Critical Thinking, Creativity etc... These are all big things they use to help separate parents from their money and to get their hobby into school kids clubs.

How good a quality paint job you can get on 28mm to be pre-painted as well as mass produced?
I remember having heroclix back in the day and those were SHOCKING paint jobs if compared to you average painter table top standard.

Feth paying someone to paint my stuff... I would pay for one on one lessons though. Like 20$/hour, or whatever is fair, and I supply the paints, coffee, snacks, beer, and minis as applicable and get coached on technique and how to paint more efficiently. Figure the painter gets a break from painting but gets paid and I get better quality paint jobs and the pride to say “I painted this!” Everyone wins. I mean my models may not be pro painted but ya know. I would opt for that service because i learn better that way.

 Argive wrote:

 Overread wrote:
GW uses coloured plastic for side games because those products are pitched not just to wargamers and hobbyists but also to boardgame players. It's the same reason many of them are push-fit too - open, clip, push, play - within 5 mins you're playing the game.

But I don't think we'll see GW move toward prepainted models. If they did I would expect it only on a side game or even a new franchise, not on their core games. They've spent 30years selling us the hobby. Not only that most of their creative and working staff not only sell us that, but a good number grew up on it too.

I think Gw's power is retaining that hold over the creative market. Heck they pitch a lot to kids through parents and schools and one of the big things they use is the fact that its not just a toy. It's a hobby that builds skills! Assembling, Painting, Maths, Critical Thinking, Creativity etc... These are all big things they use to help separate parents from their money and to get their hobby into school kids clubs.

How good a quality paint job you can get on 28mm to be pre-painted as well as mass produced?
I remember having heroclix back in the day and those were SHOCKING paint jobs if compared to you average painter table top standard.

It's not just the paint quality its the model design as well. I would wager starwars space ships are reasonably easy to paint quickly to a pre-painted status, but that GW's models might not be. Eg Tyranids could likely be painted really fast and get away with it, but others perhaps not so much.

Regardless I'm sure GW would have to move to Asia or India or another nation with lower wages per hour to afford it. I couldn't see pre-painted being mass marketable easily with a UK production facility. Same as how Schleich might produce the tools and do the quality control checks in Germany, but have "other factories" which likely means actual casting and painting happens overseas.

Pre painted could be done in a factory if pre painted models were less detailed and the poses were designed to enable machine painting.

You can get 6 action figures on amazon for 12. Yea bigger than your ever age primaris but it’s possible.

Of course staying in the UK would make it so expensive, hence the question to the people who said they would like pre painted minis, how much would you pay.

mrFickle wrote:

 Argive wrote:
I'm guessing these would also be pre assembled..

To me that would be pointless...
I don't collect insanely overpriced comic book/geek culture toys/memorabilia instead of Warhammer for a reason. To me there is nothing to achieve other then spendign a lot of cash to own soulless mass produced plastic tat.. (even if it is "limited edition")

The hobby would be confined entirely to the game aspect. And by that logic I might as well play PC games with digital assets for pretty much free. Because the game itself is terrible from a rules and balance perspective for the most part.

The hobby side of it in terms if assembling, and painting takes time and effort if you want it to be done well and up to that very high standard. If time and effort is put in, you get rewarded with achieving your goals. I find this very fulfilling and I can set my goals as basic or as extravagant as I want and be as little or as much creative as I want to be. Taking a short cut to get an average result and side stepping this entire process would make the hobby no longer a hobby for me but just product.

Pre painted would be an option, in this hypothetical scenario. You would still be able to buy the kits as they are today

Hypothetical is fine, but realistically how would that play out?

Hypothetically, GW could fill a large office with experienced hobbyists capable of building and painting customer orders to a tabletop standard. Kits have options though - how would ordering work? At the very least you'd need to specify all the armaments for the unit you want. But then there are different heads, assorted other bits of trim, posing, basing. How far down does the rabbit-hole go? Then there's choosing colour schemes...

It's a huge amount of overhead to set all this up and I imagine the cost for this sort of scenario would be eye-watering, and only available as a boutique service for those with the very deepest of pockets... And based in the UK, with our minimum wage levels etc? Forget about it.

For pre-painted models to be a realistic option, and able to be produced in the quantities needed in a reasonable time-frame, you'd realistically be looking at a major change in the manufacturing process and the product line. Probably mono-pose, and fixed unit equipment lists - no more weapon options etc. And with the cost of painting / painters, probably a change in manufacturing location too. And that, to me, would mean that pre-painted couldn't be an 'option' - it would need to be a complete sea-change in how GW operate. And I don't think that's going to happen.