Anyone using Army Painter Paints?

[knarthex 62050]

Hey folks!

If you have seen my current WiP, you know that I am painting 15mm Armor for a friend...

 

He sent along the Team Yankee paint set that Battlefront puts out, though the paint is made by Army Painter, and while the rattle cans are fine, the bottled paints leave quite a lot to be desired....

They are very thick when they come out of the bottle, separate very quickly, and take a loooong time to mix up.

When it gets thinned, it starts turning translucent very very quickly.

The one shade that was included in the set, (I suspect it is a 'soft body black') is fine on the other hand...

 

So I am wondering what other peoples experience with Army Painter products has been...

( I know what is being said on the FoW forums, and it isn't pretty....)

 

Thanks!

 

Gorge

[TGP 74985]

I don't think I have any APPaints.

 

Is there an APP app?

 

Do you need a vortex mixer? (I saw posts about vortex mixers in the acquisitions thread.)

Edited November 13, 2016 by TGP

[Darsc Zacal 46997]

I've only tried the AP paints when they first came out several years ago.

I found them very thin, thinner than Reapers paints, so I'm surprised to hear you're finding their current bottles too thick.

Several of the colours also had a tendency to crack once they dried. Haven't bought any of their paints since.

 

I have bought some of their washes, which I quite like.

[SparrowMarie 25784]

I bought a couple of the sets specifically for Shadows of Brimstone that they make. For the most part they were super thick and hard to work with. I had one paint that leaked out of the bottle before I even got to use it so I don't know if it was a bad batch or what. The only ones I found really useful were the inks that came with it.

[RouterMike 2210]

I have the two Shadows of Brimstone paint sets from Army Painter, and the Quickshade ink set. The basic paints from the SoB sets were the thickest dropper bottle paints I've ever seen. I did not try thinning them down with just water. I can see how that might be problematic. I was using them with my airbrush and they thinned down pretty well with airbrush thinner, which is far more medium than water. I would suggest you try thinning them down with a mix of water and matte medium.

 

I liked the inks from these SoB sets well enough to pick up the Quickshade ink set. Overall, I won't be looking at Army Painter for opaque paints, but the Quickshade inks are great, and come in very handy when I paint up several critters at once. I also hear their rattlecan primers work well with bones if that's something you're looking for.

[Darsc Zacal 46997]

It sounds like they've changed the paint formula used in their bottles since they first came out.

I should also add that I tried the coloured spray primers on some hard plastic minis and I found they went on kind of thick. Of course that was also a few years ago too.

[Gadgetman! 19991]

I have the mega set, and i very rarely bother with any of them.

They need A LOT of shaking, and when new there's not really enough empty space in the bottle for that, much less for an agitator bead.

The White is so chalky that I could just as well use it to fill holes in drywall.

 

I've had to give them a good shake to get them somewhat mixed up, pour out about twice the volume of a 6mm bead, then open it and adding a bead. Only then can they be shaken up properly.

(You need to shake before pouring or you'll end up dumping mostly medium, and end up with even thicker paint)

 

Thinning with water is not something I do with them any more.

[knarthex 62050]

Thanks for all the input folks!

I am only using 2 paints (Yankee Green and Maverick Khaki, and the Ordnance Shade...

The rest of the colors I need I am using other brands, mainly VMC....

[ced1106 5678]

The AP Zombicide paints were thick, because they were targeted towards new painters.

 

The AP Kings of War paints are not thick, pretty similar to Reaper. 

 

The Quickshade Ink set (eye droppers) are a must for tabletop and advanced tabletop. The black shade is their Dark Tone. I also use the washes to thin my paints.

 

A wet palette's helped keep the paints wet, so it doesn't matter too much if a paint is thick. I *think* the thicker AP paints had better one-coat coverage than thinner paints, particularly red.

 

Since I've been buying paints and inks by the set, I have overlapping colors from companies with different paint consistencies. So I'll try mixing two similar shades of different consistencies for better control -- particularly if I didn't shake the bottle enough and there's too much flow aid on the palette...

Edited November 13, 2016 by ced1106

[vutpakdi 1828]

I tired the original paints as research for my beginner classes. The colors that I tried worked well enough, and I had no complaints. I did like the metallics. I don't remember any issues with the paints being too thick.

 

I gave away all of the paints except for the metallics since they were just research and not better than the Reaper paints.

 

Ron

Edited November 13, 2016 by vutpakdi

[StygianBeach 6]

I use a few Army Painter colours.

 

Leather Brown is my neutral colour I use to paint the edges of my bases. I have not had a problem with Leather Brown, or Ratskin Brown, or Greenskin and Necrotic Flesh.

I like Weapon Bronze too.... The Dragon Red on the other hand, is so transparent it is tedious to paint with.

 

So of my 6 Army Painter paints there is only 1 I think was not worth purchasing.

[Egg of Coot 3320]

The only AP stuff I'm using at present are their inks, and I find them to be quite handy.  They provide good coverage and are well behaved.

 

The Egg

[buglips*the*goblin 93849]

The shading washes are superb... the paint is hit or miss.  Firefly Green and Grenadier Green are nice.  Some of the others... significantly less so.

 

Also Monty Shade has a tendency to whiten if you use too much.  Which is its own interesting effect, made my Shermans look rainbeaten.

[Grayfax 18385]

The only Army Painter paints I have are specifically for Zombiecide.  I have the original and the Black Plague sets.  The Zombie Shader is a great lightweight ink, and I haven't tried the others.  I find the Strong Tone to be a bit too dark on the zombies for my taste.  As for consistency, I have found these to be very similar to the Vallejo Model Color paints.  Nothing like the bullet bottles you have.  I wonder if there is a different date range for these as well.  

Of course, I wonder if these are made in a different place.  The Zombiecide paints also list Guillotine Games on the bottles (that the others do not) and are all listed as only being made in France.  

[BadgersinMeadows 2564]

I only use the Quickshade inks, and they are great. They work very nicely for painting up many miniatures to a tabletop standard quickly.