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Anyone else having severe issues with the thickness of these new paints? Seems like every "base" i buy i need to layer it multiple times to properly color what im painting. That many layers of paint ruins the detail in a lot of areas.

Tempted to say feth citadel now. My Zagstruk is looking like crap because these new paints are forcing me to put so many layers on i killed the detail on him.

Honestly? No.

At least no more or less than with other paints and ranges. Some of the problem colours in the old set are much improved, some of the awesome ones are not as good. But then, given sufficient experience with them, I'm sure delinquent shades can be named in Vallejo, Reaper, P3 or whatever.

Are you thinning them?

No, im not thinning them. Normally i do, but these are so thin as it is they come off the shelf TOO thin. Its almost a step up from a wash, 7 colors in a row same thing.

I've never had a problem with the coverage of GW's base paints.

It sounds like you haven't shaken the bottles at all.

No such thing as too thin. You should still be thinning them. In fact I find them not wet enough and tend to dry on the brush too fast. Ie thicker than before. Personally I like the previous line better, more fluid.

They pool up in crevices everywhere like washes do, but theyre thick enough to still "paint" - that qualifies as too thin lol

Dude you need to stir and shake it!!! All your getting is water and a small amount of pigment. After a stir and a good shake you'll be sorted. Strip zagstruck and go again man he is an awesome mini!!!!!!

I have had no troubles with them, except for some very specific changes in consistency that have altered how I achieve some effects, i.e. Lead Belchers is very different in consistency to the old Bolt Gun metal.

I suggest that you make sure you paint hasn't separated/mix it as well as you can. Add a flow-aid medium and consider changing your undercoat colour. Are you using black or white?

I agree OP. the base layer thing is a load of crap. many "layer" paints are clumpy and opaque.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 bebopdrums2424 wrote:
No such thing as too thin. You should still be thinning them. In fact I find them not wet enough and tend to dry on the brush too fast. Ie thicker than before. Personally I like the previous line better, more fluid.

also true. aside from a few standouts that I really love from the new range, im moving away from citadel. all in all warpaints are simply better.

You need to use less paint on your brush.

 sing your life wrote:
You need to use less paint on your brush.

Why do you say that?

 azreal13 wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
You need to use less paint on your brush.

Why do you say that?

Becuase if you fill the brush with paint it will blob on thickly.

Also wiping off paint can sharpen up a split brush.

 sing your life wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
You need to use less paint on your brush.

Why do you say that?

Becuase if you fill the brush with paint it will blob on thickly.

Also wiping off paint can sharpen up a split brush.

While your advice isn't wrong as such, the OP is having the exact opposite issue, he's finding them not thick enough.

I use one of these to mix my paints. It is a great way to ensure consistency.

Try adding an agitator ball into the pot(s): they really help when shaking/mixing. They really transform the consistency of the paint, especially with metallics.
Cheap ones come from ball-bearings: about 6mm in diametre (roughly 1/4") steel spheres that will change your paints.

Putting a stainless steel ball bearing in all of my paints is one of the better things I have done and I suggest others do it too.

I got a whole bunch on Ebay fairly cheap.

Honestly, I can't say I've had an issue aside from them drying out because I was leaving the pots open and painting straight from them when I first started painting. I've never had them act lik a wash like you are suggesting unless I dillutted them WAYYYYYYY to much.

I peel the little plastic piece off the back and throw it in the pot to help stir it up, and use a palette to mix paint with and to thin with. I've never had a problem with them.

Managed to make it work somehow despite the paint pooling. The other colors i used were older paints, i never had any bright yellow so thats where the new one came from. Took way longer than it should have - this was 3 days right here lol (and curse my shaky hands, freehanding flames aint easy when you shake all the time lol)

The yellow is literally 4 layers of Averland Sunset. Yeah, 4. Good grief lol
And to the guy that suggested stripping it and trying again: its finecast. Thats why i was so ticked that it was covering detail before actually coloring the model.

I have found that since this years paint price increase that not only did the price go up but the quality went down ..So now its Vallejo, Reaper, and Army Painter for me for replacements..(even Model Masters is working better than "the newest" Citadel Paints)

I use to use gw paints before I started airbrushing. That and they cost 6 bucks in Australia and 3 for Vallejo. Pics of the paint?

 kronicpsycho wrote:
I use to use gw paints before I started airbrushing. That and they cost 6 bucks in Australia and 3 for Vallejo. Pics of the paint?

Yeah, my group of mates have all had bad experiences using GW paints for airbrushing too. I cracked open some old GW pots a few days ago and the quality was so much better than my new ones, even though they are a few years old

 azreal13 wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
You need to use less paint on your brush.

Why do you say that?

Too much paint on the brush is the only cause of pooling thats why.
Its nothing to do with the paint itself, everything to do with how much your trying to apply in one go.

That said, your paints sound not properly mixed, All of my citadel paints are too thick to use right out of the pot, and require thinning for every job except drybrushing.
And all take muiltiple layers to get coverage when thinned, doesnt matter what brand of paint you use.
Using an opaque medium can help a bit, Liquitex Ultra Matte Medium is one example. I don't think I really ever use a paint straight up without tweaking it a little with a medium or some flow aid to get the desired effect. A full set of mediums is a wonderful thing to have access to.

No problems airbrushing any of the colours I've tried so far either. Again use of the right medium is key; Liquitex Airbrush Medium, in any ratio is what I find works best with Citadels (well... any brand of acrylics tbh). 1;1 ratio ish usually.
No water, No windex, no alcohol, just medium. + paint.

^ ^^ ^ ^^

I just wanted to add my "me too" to the above post.

If your paints are too watery then you either didn't mix/shake them properly or you got a bad batch (these things happen).

I've had no problems airbrushing Citadel acrylics before or after the changeover. Liquitex Airbrush Medium is my thinning medium of choice (both for airbrushing and brush brushing).

I've never had the OPs problem with base paints, only the opposite (too thick, before thinning).

Only problem here is that the paints were either A) not shaken/mixed well enough before you used them (they need a good shake as they have much more pigment than normal paints) or B) you got a bad batch, though that seems very unlikely for all the base paints you have.

For what its worth finecast strips just fine; use 99% isopropyl alcohol, and or Fairy Power Spray(EU) / Dawn Power Dissolver(usa)

Vineheart01 wrote:The other colors i used were older paints, i never had any bright yellow so thats where the new one came from.

*snip*

The yellow is literally 4 layers of Averland Sunset. Yeah, 4. Good grief

Well then, that's where your problem is stemming from. You'll find this with whatever brand of paint you try to use if you're painting yellow. Yellow is notoriously hard to paint so that it has a rich and saturated coverage due to it being inherently transparent in nature. Regardless of paint brand and GW's new formulations, yellow will doubtlessly remain hard to paint. For best coverage you're going to want to put down a 'warm' basecoat - something like a light brown, and build up in many thinned (Yes, thin your already thin paint) layers, to allow the yellow to be fully saturated. I have to say some of the newer paints do have a thinner coverage, such as the new Abaddon Black, but it' not a real problem as paints should be thinned in just about all cases anyway. Pooling suggests that your brush is loaded with way too much paint - you should have just enough on that you can paint a crisp, smooth line, without the brush depositing a blob at the start of it. Regarding 4 coats - well that's to be expected. Personally, when I'm painting Salamanders with GW's Warpstone Glow, I find it hard to get a full coverage using below 3 layers - so it's not suprising that you have to use 4 layers when dealing with yellow. Additionally, using a thinning medium, not just water, removes the surface tension of the paint and allows it to flow better, so adding many layers doesn't obscure detail. Of course it also depends on what primer you are using. Black is hard to cover with light colours such as yellow, whereas I find White and Grey often need multiple layers of darker colours to get full saturation - I've had to put down 2 layers of Caliban Green (Thinned) over Grey Primer just to get an opaque cover - it's really a catch 22 situation.

Vineheart wrote: curse my shaky hands

Is it possible that this is what is causing paint to cover the details?

Actually i really dont have a problem with white for some reason. Few times i use it i only need to do two layers and thats more because im trying REALLY hard to not spill over to another spot of the model so im not stroking with the brush properly and it leaves speckles of unpainted spots first go around.

And no my shaky hands just prevent me from doing good fine details. When the paint instantly rushes to the low-grounds of the model when i touch it, thats when i go "OK this is really thin paint..." since thats what a wash does.

Either way, i bought a yellow primer for the Stormboyz to follow this guy and its going way, way better than the gray primer did for Zagstruk. Only needing 1 coat now - only reason im not just leaving it primed for the main color is i assembled them fully like a moron first lol so theres a lot of places the spray wont hit well. Also they'd be a different shade from their boss.

Besides you can't feth citadel paints, they feth you.