kingleo Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) im debating to choose what to get tmro for droppers or pot. when you guys paint, do you prefer droppers or straight from the pot? what primer when you brush on your miniatures? Edited April 18, 2014 by kingleo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Welcome to the forums! I think the dropper bottles are easier to use. You can easily dispense the amount you want directly to your palette. It is easy to mix by counting how many drops of each color onto the palette. Saves time from using a brush or something to move the paint from pot to palette. Reaper's MSP dropper bottles come in triads which makes it easy to find three colors that work together as midtone, shadow and highlight colors. I like dropper bottles for storage, but there are some good paint pots that store paint well, too. The only downside to dropper bottles is the tips can get clogged, and then you have to clean them out with a pin or paperclip, etc. This is usually a very easy and quick process. I've used both Vallejo Game Color and Reaper MSP brush-on primers and both work well. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pingo Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I don't quite understand your question. Do you mean whether using eye droppers to remove paint from the pot is better than dipping the paintbrush straight into the pot? If that's so, I would recommend neither. Eye droppers are a nuisance to clean up; and any time one puts a brush into a paint pot there's a risk of accidentally introducing some other color or substance. If you haven't got dropper bottles I recommend a small palette knife which can be readily wiped clean to get paint out. My apologies if I have misunderstood your question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buglips*the*goblin Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) I'm a throwback. Mostly I like to use a brush to transfer paint from the pot rather than use dropper bottles. I will use droppers, and don't mind them, they're just presently a minority in my paint hoard. Which is also pretty throwback itself, really, some of it now being over 25 years old. I'm with Pingo on the eye dropper, though. That's just too much hassle. If you want to use pot paint but like using droppers, you can buy empty dropper bottles and transfer the paint into those. Reaper sells empty droppers, I think. Used to, anyway. That would be the easier route. For brush-on primer, I'm still working through the batch of discontinued Pro Paint II primer I bought in bulk some years back. I believe it's a similar formula to their Master Series brush-on primer, but I haven't tested that side by side. That's for use on my metal figures. For Reaper Bones, I've taken to painting them with Reaper Master Series Brown Liner. Any of the liner colours will work. This is essentially priming, though it didn't start out that way and I stumbled on it by accident. It's extraordinarily robust as a basecoat, so even though it's true Bones don't need primer, for a solid and durable paintjob I recommend priming them with a liner colour anyway. Might as well make them nigh-indestructible if you plan to use them for games. Edited April 18, 2014 by buglips*the*goblin 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RouterMike Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I've used Vallejo and Reaper white primers. As well, I've used Krylon spray primer. I prefer brushing primer on, as it often helps me find new details that I miss while cleaning up the mini. Of the two bottled primers, I generally use Reaper primer, but that may just be because it's closer for me to reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willen Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Now that I've tried it, I am all sold for Scalecolor white primer, brushed on... but airbrushed it is just glorious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ub3r_n3rd Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I love my Reaper brush-on primer and enjoy using the Reaper paints with the dropper bottles. I bought a few paint pots (the Citadel special effects line) which I plan on transferring over to dropper bottles. My brother actually sent me 50 dropper bottles from my Amazon wishlist for my birthday, so I just need to make sure to get some agitators (can use hematite beads from what I hear) added in the bottles to be able to shake them up and mix the paint easily. Last night I went ahead and added on a small funnel as well so that transferring paint from pots to dropper bottles will be easier and I'll just have to rinse out the funnel really good after I'm done using it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bane Of Humanity Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Droppers.... Saves paint easier to control when mixing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharsin Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I love my Reaper brush-on primer and enjoy using the Reaper paints with the dropper bottles. I bought a few paint pots (the Citadel special effects line) which I plan on transferring over to dropper bottles. My brother actually sent me 50 dropper bottles from my Amazon wishlist for my birthday, so I just need to make sure to get some agitators (can use hematite beads from what I hear) added in the bottles to be able to shake them up and mix the paint easily. Last night I went ahead and added on a small funnel as well so that transferring paint from pots to dropper bottles will be easier and I'll just have to rinse out the funnel really good after I'm done using it. I've been wanting to add some beads to my bottles. Has anyone tried to take the tips off of the bottles before? I thought about trying but didn't want to create a big mess trying to fix something that may not quite be broken... I painted some eggs with my family using Apple Barn acrylics in little pots... I instantly missed the dropper bottles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buglips*the*goblin Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 The tips pop out easily (if you mean the dropper bottles). Wrap them in some paper towel or something to keep your fingers clean, hold firmly, and press the tip to one side with your thumb. It should pop out with little effort, and will pop back in nice and secure. I repurpose used-up bottles this way after cleaning them out. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttuckerman Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Buglips is right. I have done this before. I also bought the dropper bottles recently. I have used cut up sprew as the agitator beads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharsin Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Thanks for the tip Buglips! Is it necessary to use hematite? It seems to be very popular as agitator beads. What size and why hematite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RouterMike Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Hematite is a nice heavy stone. For hematite beads, they are polished smooth and basically inert to the paint. 5mm to 8mm is a pretty good size. They're pretty cheap if you buy them as strings of beads. I paid less than $8 for 200 or so of them (4x 16" string that's about 50 each.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pingo Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Basically you need something that won't react chemically with the paint. I would hesitate to use hematite because it is a ferric oxide -- rust, basically -- which could tint the paint reddish if it cracks in the bottle. On the other hand I don't have firsthand experience using it. Metal beads or miniature sprue, especially from old high-lead minis, could be problematic because the metals could react one way or another with the paint. Glass beads should be safe. Stainless steel ball bearings should be too, and might work better because they are a little heavier. As for size, I gather you need one large enough to be an effective mixer and small enough that it gets into the corners of the bottle, not too small or it will get frequently stuck in the nozzle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibbler Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I bought the reaper bottles recently as well, to have my GW Seraphim Sepia and Nuln Oil in. No more tipping them over and spilling all of it!I should get around to get a set of cheap ones on ebay - and transfer the rest of my GW paints. The non-mix-it-up-again-at-every-use ones anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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