Reapercon Surprise! BONES LEARN TO PAINT KIT

[Wren]

I didn't expect regular forumites and con-goers to get as excited about the kit as you have. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

 

The techniques covered are the basics someone listed above, and do not include layering or another more advanced blending technique more suited to cloth or flesh. That would be a topic well-suited to a future kit, were one to be made. I have actually not seen the current LTPK series instructions. I started with the original Pro Paint kits. The first one of those was a single 8x11 page folded in half for four pages of instructions. It used the same rat and Anhurian figure. The Anhurian was my first fully painted figure. And I'll finish up that rat someday...

 

In a similar vein, if anyone has any feedback (positive or negative!) on the instructional booklet, please feel free to mention in this thread. It will be useful information to whomever writes any potential future kit, whether that's me or someone else.

 

I have legitimately painted Bones straight out of the pack, and watched lots of other people do the same at Pax paint & take. I know some folks have had problems, and I wish I could figure out what is going on with the small number of Bones that don't seem to work well out of the pack. I do strongly recommend washing them first (ant ditto with metal and especially resin). I also had concerns about space and complexity with getting into priming in the kit. To do so would swap a paint for a primer, so it'd be down one colour. It also adds another element to explain to a newcomer. I know I found all the prep and such required to paint minis both a little daunting and a pain in the butt when I was starting out.

[Wren]

You guys think my wife will mind if I get these for my son's first birthday in June? ;)

 

I'd wait. Fresher paint is always better! Also, by the time your son is 8-12 and interested in painting, maybe we'll have holographic 3D video tutorials or something! ;->

[MissMelons]

I'm not sure where my copy of the booklet went. I imagine the Mr has been giving it a good read. From what I read of it, it is INCREDIBLY helpful and the step by step pictures were a plus. 

 

--Found it. The advice for taking care of paints/tools is an excellent addition (As is the entire triad and msp hd list on the back with their prices)

The step by step instructions with the pictures helps to compare progress and the explination of washes and dry brushing is excellent. 

 

If another kit comes out, I'd definitely buy it, if not for myself then for the Mr or a new painter. 

[hungerfan]

I like it but could see someone who has never painted picking it up and being a little confused when they get to the Final Stages section.  Other than that I enjoyed painting the skeleton so far and will be ready to finish him up on Sunday and move on to the Orc. My daughter really wants to paint Cthulhu and keeps reminding me we need to do that so if everything goes as planned I will let her do that while I continue on with the kit.

 

If she were older I would let her use the second kit I bought but at 4 she is not ready and a giant piece like Cthulhu should be an easy mini to tackle. :) 

[ShadowRaven]

I really should go through the instructions. 

[JackMann]

I know that they're usually good right out of the package. It's just that on those few cases where they're not, it's annoying enough that I think it's worth cleaning them every time.

[Wren]

I did a paint and take a few years ago, and the con organizers asked me to make extra sure it was kid friendly. I happened upon plaster pieces in kits in the craft store with a strip of paints and a terrible plastic brush. I even found one with a unicorn, and others with monsters. It ended up that the kids at the con were all 8 and up and wanted to paint 'real' minis, and only some of my adult friends had a go at the plaster pieces, but so it goes. ;-> I would recommend priming them or using sealer or something, as they soaked up a ton of paint. (I had people use the Reaper bottle paints I had for P&T, those lidded strip paints seemed far too likely to spill.)

[KevinR]

Is there any sense of how soon the new LtPK will be available (Reaper store or distribution)?

[Last Knight]

Is there any sense of how soon the new LtPK will be available (Reaper store or distribution)?

SOON.

[MissMelons]

According to Paizo's website... I know there's something else and such and blah blah blah, rumor and conjecture. BUT the Paizo website is referencing the Bones kits with something as......i just freaking forgot what it said. 

 

Okay, found it. The Kits...guessing from Paizo, are officially called Bare Bones. Which I think is pretty clever. They can be preordered but what caught my attention is that the set is called: Armor and Fur. Which is alright but there's only a tiny itty bitty fraction of fur that you're really dealing with in the kit. @[email protected] But yes. 

 

/hugs her ltpk bones box....my precious.

Edited May 3, 2014 by MissMelons

[Last Knight]

According to Paizo's website... I know there's something else and such and blah blah blah, rumor and conjecture. BUT the Paizo website is referencing the Bones kits with something as......i just freaking forgot what it said. 

 

Okay, found it. The Kits...guessing from Paizo, are officially called Bare Bones. Which I think is pretty clever. They can be preordered but what caught my attention is that the set is called: Armor and Fur. Which is alright but there's only a tiny itty bitty fraction of fur that you're really dealing with in the kit. @[email protected] But yes. 

 

/hugs her ltpk bones box....my precious.

They've also been there for over a year. I imagine things may have changed.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I didn't expect regular forumites and con-goers to get as excited about the kit as you have. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

 

 

 

For my part I feel it's necessary to have a handle on what new people either have been taught, or can learn, from the paint kits.  So I see it sort of like keeping up on curriculum.  The fact that this kit happens to be written by you is an extra sweet bonus (and very appropriate, given your thorough testing of Bones).

 

For the issues, I don't think it's so much Bones as certain paints.  If you want to run down some experiments for your own thoughts on it, try MSP Walnut and the Dark Elf Flesh triad on bare bones.  Walnut's been giving lots of trouble with poor adhesion, and Dark Elf might be hit or miss.  It was a little sketchy on Kaladrax, but I had a lot going on at the time so that's a "possible".

 

There might be a few others, too.  It's a minority, but at this point there's no way to tell which ones might give trouble because nobody's run a full data check on the range (quite an undertaking).  In absence of that data, the liner colours as basecoat work to correct the potential issue.  Anyway, give those colours a test and see how it fares for you and it might be a step closer to figuring out what's going on with those particular colours.  Maybe we can figure out a common root cause, because lots of the other MSPs, most in fact, don't do the same thing. 

Edited May 3, 2014 by buglips*the*goblin

[Darsc Zacal]

CSI:Buglips

[ced1106]

In a similar vein, if anyone has any feedback (positive or negative!) on the instructional booklet, please feel free to mention in this thread. It will be useful information to whomever writes any potential future kit, whether that's me or someone else.

 

Not for the instructional booklet, but I'd like to see the Hobby-Q painting kits come back. Hobby Lobby carries Vallejo paints, and I'd like to see Reaper paints carried in craft stores. A Learn to Paint Kit would be a great way to introduce new non-hobby painters to Reaper products, as well as provide fewer SKUs for craft stores to handle. I wrote to Michael's a request to carry the kits, then wrote to Reaper for the Hobby Q kits. IMO, I think angels and horses would be a better fit with craft stores audiences than orcs and skeletons.

 

Hobby Q kits: http://www.nobleknight.com/ViewProducts.asp_Q_ManufacturerID_E_311_A_ProductLineID_E_2137419757_A_CategoryID_E_4_A_GenreID_E_

 

EDIT: I think the KS II had some good models? : Dragon Hatchlings, Angels, Lions, Mouslings, etc.

Edited May 4, 2014 by ced1106

[Wren]

I had two of the Hobby-Q kits, and I think they were pretty cool, too. One piece Bones that don't need priming would be much better suited to craft store oriented kits.

 

NOTE: Please don't take this as any sort of insider info, since I have none at all. Nor is it a plug for more work. Just an opinion!