Test of Army Painter Speed Paints on 1/72 scale Caesar Elves

[Rob Dean]

There is a more detailed report on my blog, but I tried some Army Painter Speed Paints yesterday. 

 

 

My test piece was a unit of 12 Caesar 1/72 scale plastic elves.  I primed these after work, and then sat down with an oatmeal container lid and a single dubious #2 dollar store brush to see what I could do.  Since I didn’t really plan ahead, I had the five colors above to work with.  Hardened Leather and Camo Cloak were used for cloaks and tunics; Slaughter Red and Pallid Bone for trousers; Crusader skin was flesh tones; Pallid Bone hair and arrow feather in quivers; Hardened leather for boots and bows; Leather and Red for quivers.  I used whatever random brown came to hand for belts, and there are a few metallic bits.

 

 

 

I realized after I was partway through that lighter colors cannot cover darker, so the proper sequence of painting is light to dark, regardless of where on the miniature those colors fall.

 

Total time from starting (with figures already primed) to adding grass to bases was about 1.5 hours.  I let them dry overnight and varnished them with my usual spray varnish this morning.

 

 

The above is an idea of how they’d look at the typical table top battle viewing distances, alongside some other archers speed painted using my usual techniques, and an elvish command stand in which each figure was painted as an individual to the maximum level I find amusing.

 

So, honest opinions? 

 

[Chaoswolf]

Viewed at tabletop distance, I think they look fine. 

Even up close I still think they look good.

 

What do YOU think of them?

 

[Glitterwolf]

Looks good to me!

[Rob Dean]

17 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

 

What do YOU think of them?

 

 

I’m sure the second batch will be better, as I internalize the peculiarities of the medium, and they look ok on the table. I’m setting up some 1/72 orcs next.

 

However, it’s definitely a utility move to use them.  There’s nothing about the process to trigger my satisfaction in doing something creative/artistic, so it wasn’t much fun.  Think of dumping the ingredients in a bread machine and hitting the “on” button versus kneading and loaf forming and so forth by hand…

 

That’s why I’ve chosen the orcs for the next run; I do need a bunch of them for my solo campaign and I haven’t been getting to them conventionally.

 

[golldan]

I think they look good on the table along side the other sets, can only tell that the command has some additional details painted, but not by much. 5 colors on 12 minis in 1.5 hours for painting only, is pretty good =7.5 minutes per mini. The only thing that i see is the glossy finish - that is a personal opinion of mine- as I like my minis flat. But I have not used the AP speed paint, so not sure if the pict is taken after painting or after final clear coat that would make it shine.

[TGP]

When I saw “Caesar Elves” in the thread title I was picturing Elfs with Red Cloaks and Lorica Segmentata body armor. 
 

And horse hair crested helmets. 

[Rob Dean]

On 8/13/2022 at 1:23 PM, golldan said:

I think they look good on the table along side the other sets, can only tell that the command has some additional details painted, but not by much. 5 colors on 12 minis in 1.5 hours for painting only, is pretty good =7.5 minutes per mini. The only thing that i see is the glossy finish - that is a personal opinion of mine- as I like my minis flat. But I have not used the AP speed paint, so not sure if the pict is taken after painting or after final clear coat that would make it shine.

Those pictures were take. After my usual matte clear coat had been applied, so, yes, something glossy about them …

[ced1106]

Any reactivation issues?