Stupid question on contrast spray

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.

**Daedalus81**

I ordered Wraithbone from eBay. The can is Wraithbone, but it doesn't have the little orange shield saying "contrast undercoat". Is this the right thing still?

**Flipsiders**

Contrast sprays are basically a lie. You can use contrast paints over basically any spray undercoat other than black, including metallics like Leadbelcher. All Wraithbones are essentially equal in this regard, so whatever you got should work. There's no special formula or anything.

**Daedalus81**

Awesome - thanks!

( so the label is for crappy painters like me

)

**Rybrook**

It's an older can, before contrast was a thing.

**Ghaz**

Rybrook wrote:
It's an older can, before contrast was a thing.

The Wraithbone and Grey Seer rattlecans dropped at the same time as the Contrast paints.

**Rybrook**

Is that the same for pots?

I thought there was a bone colour spray before.

**Ghaz**

Rybrook wrote:
Is that the same for pots?

I thought there was a bone colour spray before.

You're thinking of the Zandri Dust spray. The Wraithbone and Grey Seer rattlecans and all of the paints seen in this article on Warhammer Community dropped in the same week.

**harlokin**

Flipsiders wrote:
Contrast sprays are basically a lie. You can use contrast paints over basically any spray undercoat other than black, including metallics like Leadbelcher. All Wraithbones are essentially equal in this regard, so whatever you got should work. There's no special formula or anything.

While you can certainly use other sprays, Wraithbone seems (to me) to have a smoother finish than other sprays I have used.

**Ghaz**

harlokin wrote:
Flipsiders wrote:
Contrast sprays are basically a lie. You can use contrast paints over basically any spray undercoat other than black, including metallics like Leadbelcher. All Wraithbones are essentially equal in this regard, so whatever you got should work. There's no special formula or anything.

While you can certainly use other sprays, Wraithbone seems (to me) to have a smoother finish than other sprays I have used.

From The Science of Paint on Warhammer Community:

You know when we said colour is the art, and bases are the science? We weren’t telling the whole truth. Some colours have unique properties which make them difficult to pin down, with white paint being the most tricky to nail.

Pigment is made by grinding down chemical compounds. Each chemical compound has a minimum size it can be reduced to, with black pigment being the smallest, and white pigment – or titanium dioxide – being the largest. As such, pure white paint can appear clumpy or struggle to provide good coverage.

When we make white paints, we mix them with pigments of other colours to increase their coverage and smoothness, as pure white can lead to a bumpy or rough surface texture,

The Wraithbone and Grey Seer paints are mixed with other colours to 'fill up the spaces' between the titanium dioxide to provide a smoother finish for Contrast paints.

**Fire_Forever**

Ghaz wrote:

The Wraithbone and Grey Seer paints are mixed with other colours to 'fill up the spaces' between the titanium dioxide to provide a smoother finish for Contrast paints.

This.
All acrylic paints vary in finish/quality in part based on their pigments. The other major contributing factor is the binder; acrylic, vinyl, enamel, a combination, etc.

**mrFickle**

Flipsiders wrote:
Contrast sprays are basically a lie. You can use contrast paints over basically any spray undercoat other than black, including metallics like Leadbelcher. All Wraithbones are essentially equal in this regard, so whatever you got should work. There's no special formula or anything.

Although it’s technically true that you can use contrast over any base I think calling them a lie is a bit of a stretch. The paints themselves are designed to be used on top very light colours and GW have picked 3 that’s they recommended as a good base for contrasts. If you used a darker bone base you will not get the same results

**Fictional**

Yea, its less of a outright lie and more of a slightly iffy marketting job.

Everything I remember them saying made it sound like you must use one of the 2 contrast bases or the other paints wouldnt work.

What they actually meant was "it works best if you use these, and you will get similar results to our examples, with less effort on your part", same way that drinks say "best served chilled".

**tneva82**

Flipsiders wrote:
Contrast sprays are basically a lie. You can use contrast paints over basically any spray undercoat other than black, including metallics like Leadbelcher. All Wraithbones are essentially equal in this regard, so whatever you got should work. There's no special formula or anything.

Well it is smoother which helps with contrast(flow) but you can get similar result by putting coat of satin varnish over whatever base colour.

Albeit difference is tiny one. What matters most is how light the undercoat is which affects colour.