Painting for Dummies -- Painting Equipment

Posted by Ranillon on 21. April 2009 20:33

I’ve talked about the actual process of painting for a while, but like any craft painting needs tools.  So, I want to discuss what tools I prefer and from what manufacturers.

First off is the paint I use – Games Workshop.  I know it’s not really original, but I’ve been using them almost since I knew they existed.  For the most part they worked well.  The one exception was the lousy old style of paint bottle (they were hard to close properly and thus paint dried up faster).  They also had poor reds and yellows, but that’s hardly unique to GW.  Fortunately, that last problem has been (for the most part) addressed thanks to their new Foundation Paints.  Otherwise, I find the quality good and it’s convenient to have access to the exact paints mentioned in codexes and White Dwarf.  I’ve tried other paints – Vallejo is pretty good; I can’t stand Reaper paints – but nothing really beats the GW brand in my opinion.

Just as important are the brushes you use.  Here my loyalties are more divided.  I often use GW brushes and find them effective, but they are expensive and not really superior to other brands.  I also use Reaper brushes (which I find far better than their paints).  One stand-out with brushes in general are the flathead versions – they are great for drybrushing and blending.  While it is a hefty $20 in price Games-Workshop makes a large flathead brush just for vehicles.  I love it.

Of course, before you start painting you need to use a good primer.  I’ve tried just about every brand out there and up until recently have been disappointed.  I just couldn’t discover one that would work consistently.  All too often – and despite any precautions I might try – the primer would go on badly and all but ruin the model.  Sure, there are ways to recover, but you don’t buy a primer just to spend extra hours cleaning a fouled miniature.  However, recently I’ve found a brand I like – Board to Pieces.  It doesn’t go on quite as well as others potentially can, but I’ve never had a model ruined.  As a consequence I’ve come to trust it in a way I never could any other brand.

As for sealers I haven’t been as lucky.  They all seem to work about as well and all have about the same odds of messing up the figure.  Avoiding the white haze seems to me to be more a matter of proper precautions and – perhaps even more importantly – luck than technology.

As for things like clips or files there really isn't a difference between the various brands out there.  Use whatever works for you.

More to come…