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.

Are there any alternatives to GW's paints that don't cost an arm and a leg?  I have some acrylic paints I got out of AC Moore but it just doesn't seem to do the job.  I was hoping that some of you guys with experience could point me to some good stuff.

Thanks

Vallejo Game Color = Costs about the same (sometimes even less via online discounters), but you get more paint per bottle (17ml vs GW's 12ml), better pigmentation, wider range of colors, bottles that don't suck and compatable with Vallejo's expansive Model Color line. The only trick is you absolutely must thoroughly mix the paint up before use and for proper use they need to be thinned slightly and used with a palette.

I use Vallejo and Tamiya Model Master enamels.

I've decided that I like Testor's acrylics better than the rest in most cases. Testor's also has airbrush "kits" that their paints are already mixed for, so that's a plus. Still, GW produces metals such as Tin Bits and Bronze that I really like.

Reaper Master Series

Vallejo is cool, Rackham's got a neat paint line, and Privateer just came up with their Formula P3 line, which look good but I haven't gotten to test yet.

 

Vallejo's are nice, but I've never been 100% satiesfied. Some of the colors over time dry up, and you have to really work to get them to work again, otherwise all you squeeze out is watery liquid that doesn't adhere to the model.

Paints you get at a craft store don't have the small pigments that you need for miniature painting.

I've heard good things about Reaper Paints, but IMHO the task of getting them offsets the convenience of living 5 minutes from a GW store. Thus, I've never used them.

Oh yeah, the Vallejo paints rarely match their color chips, and they seem to be grainy. so its buyer beware.

Grainy is the last word I'd use to describe Vallejo. They have a finer pigment and tend to be very smooth. Seems like a handful of people around here got ahold of a bad batch or something with all the bad things people have to say about them. I've never had a Vallejo paint dry up on me, though they do need to be shaken well before use. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find something bad to say about Vallejo paints.

I've compared Reaper Master Series and Vallejo Game/Model Color to GW.

I prefer the RMS to GW (and use it on most of my models) -- the paint just works better, and dries to a more matte finish than GW's paints, plus it's in a squeeze bottle which is so much handier.

I had to pass on the Vallejo paints, as they required too much agitation to get a good enough mix to paint; this conflicted rather painfully with my carpal tunnel syndrome.

Posted By Wayfarer on 01/29/2007 2:26 AM
Grainy is the last word I'd use to describe Vallejo. They have a finer pigment and tend to be very smooth. Seems like a handful of people around here got ahold of a bad batch or something with all the bad things people have to say about them. I've never had a Vallejo paint dry up on me, though they do need to be shaken well before use. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find something bad to say about Vallejo paints.

Methinks it's less of the paints being bad and more of people blasting them because they aren't GW or they didn't take the time to use them properly. I mean, grainy? Uh... no. Grainy is what I would use to describe craft paint, reaper Pro paint (NOT their master series, which haven't used yet) and even some of the old Coat d'Arms Citadel Color. But not Vallejo.

Ditto with bottles drying out, it's never, ever happened with Vallejo, not even once. On the other hand, I do not own a single pot of paint I've bought since GW switched to their current manufacturer that has *not* dried out. Hell, I still have old Coat d'Arms Citadel Colour that is still good and they are nearly 20 years old! I haven't used Vallejo's inks yet, but everything else has been as good if not better than GW, including their acrylic metallics.

There's no need to diss what Hobbs said. You seem to be discussing VGC paints, Nyarlathotep, while Hobbs hasn't specified which ones he's using. VGC is indeed never grainy, but if you use the VMC range for any length of time, you will quickly discover that certain colours are consistently poorly milled, so there are small pigment chunks that you will run into here and there, usually small enough that you will pick them up on your brush unwittingly and unleash them upon your poor mini, leaving tiny grains that must be lifted off the mini.

Back to the original topic: Boy, there are a *ton* of things one could recommend. I think the smartest thing a person could and should do is actually head on over to the website of artist's paint manufacturers and get edumicashuned on what's in paint. Then you can start picking the right paints for you and spend less money in the process.

For example, how about Golden's paint line. I'm not endorsing them in any way or saying 'These are the best' (because that is not my opinion on them anyways), but it's a really great way to learn about paint. Website here: http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/color/fluid/fldcht1.php

If you click on a colour you will be presented with a huge range of information that can help you understand what pigments make up the kind of paint you want. For example, let's talk about yellow, that colour that never covers over black in one coat or even twenty sometimes. Most people will blame their brand of paint and say that there is not enough pigment in the paint. That's totally false. While having a good pigment load is important, it is far less important than what *type* of pigment was chosen. In the Golden line, they use rating system for opacity that starts with 1 and just goes up from there (1 is maximum opacity. Every company has a different rating system). Need a yellow that is going to cover black in just one or two speedy coats? Then instead of buying Primary Yellow (Transparency 6), buy a Cadmium based yellow or a Cadmium Hue (transparency 2). This will give you yellows that cover in one coat or two. (edit: As to why these two yellows cover differently, well that's a long chemistry explaination for another post )

- An important sidenote - when purchasing paints, the word 'Hue' in a paint name means that colour is not a genuine version of that colour, but an alternative version made with different pigments that attempts to approximate the original. Why would one do this? Because sometimes the original colour is really freaking expensive, or just rather deadly. Cadmium is of course a rather deadly metal, so most companies offer a Cadmium Hue in it's place.

You'll also be able to view what Series a paint is in from the websites of reputable manufacturers. A 'series' is a price group, basically. Paints are offered in series from 1 to 6, usually. The higher the series, the higher the price, because pigments in the higher series may be highly toxic and require more delicate handling in manufacturing, or just plain harder to get than the cheaper ones.

Of course, if you just want to replace your dried out GW and don't particularly care too much about being finicky over paint - well I'll chime in and say you should just grab some Vallejo Game Colour.