What are the "must have" paints from each brand?

Minimachine

Minimachine

New member
Hey guys, I noticed several posters recommending Vallejo Model Color Ivory in another thread and commenting that its by far the least chalky white acrylic paint available.

What other paints from various brands out there do you consider "must haves" that every painter should own?
 
Zab

Zab

New member
Glossy black from Vallejo is really good too as well as their model air metallics. Any of the scale 75 metallic sets and inks. Any Secret weapons washes. And i quite like a lot of Citadel's base paints. Tamyia clear red for blood FX...
 
Wyrmypops

Wyrmypops

New member
VMC is a bit of a go-to range. They're generally superior.
I'd consider a few P3's, the ivories and coal black are widely recommended, and I'd add their brown ink to that as it stands out amongst brown inks in that it's a red-brown, excellent for dried blood.
The army painter inks are pukka, with the soft/strong/dark tones (that mirror the range of dips they made for hasty army painters) serving as a great chestnut/brown/black inks - strong too, you can alwasy water them down when you want them weaker but other ranges are doing weak washes these days you can't strengthen up.
I favour many of the GW paints but wouldn't recommend them. They change their ranges too often to be reliable. I'm going to have to stock up on some I've used and would use again on squads because some of those paints won't be around long.
Scale75 are getting all the praise these days, especially on their metallics. I've yet to try them, but intend to. In the meantime the "Air" variety of the VMC are useful as they're runny enough you can do some nice layering without thinning and lessening the amount of metallic elements.
Vallejo's Game range have some old favourites. Replicating previous GW paint ranges. Not the best quality, but if there's a colour you've ever relied on that's gone away it might be there.
Andrea have some useful paints you don't often find elsewhere. I've come to rely on a terracotta and dark orange of theirs I picked up in a sale.
I've bad experience of the Reaper range. The triads are well worked out, but something in the chemistry made for paints that rub off far too easily for me. They may have been a bad batch of course, other peoples experience of that range differs.

It's worth shopping all over the ranges. When you think about how much we pay for brushes and minis, paints are cheap. We'd think little of adding a mini we like the look of to the lead mountain that will already take years to get through, no reason not be similarly generous in our paint purchasing and try them out at the first opportunity, they could open up new colour combinations, and learning the quality any new paint has (thickness, opacity, seperation, how X colour reacts when mixed with Y) can be rewarding.
 
oistene

oistene

Active member
I used VMC Iraqii Sand as a mixer a lot, I also like Reaper Midnight Black for doing pure black and shades in colors like blue and purple. GW Agrax Earthshade is a must for bases and weathering, and lately I've taken a liking to the Warcolor transparents, particularly the white.

BTW, love your new signature, Skel. I laff'd.
 
evl hmr

evl hmr

New member
Deck tan is just a super useful colour that can be used everywhere. It's a great addition to skin/flesh, a nice highlight on everything (leather, cloth etc), and can be mixed with other colours too to make great creamy shades.
 
M

mjs101

New member
Minimachine said:
Hey guys, I noticed several posters recommending Vallejo Model Color Ivory in another thread and commenting that its by far the least chalky white acrylic paint available.

What other paints from various brands out there do you consider "must haves" that every painter should own?
Click to expand...

VMC Black Red is my undercoat for any red item. (But check your bottle for cadmium warnings before you spray it. Older bottles have cadmium and should not be shot through an airbrush.)


I like 995 Greman Camo Gray as a not-quite black and a base color for all military metal objects (guns, shovels. etc.) Because it is not actually black, it can be shaded if needed. Rub the edges with a #2 pencil if you want a bit of shine, but no soldier since 1915 would want any shine.

If I don't use a pencil, I use 72.048 Sombre Grey as an edge high-light on German Camo Gray to make low-gloss NMM. Also great for NNM through an airbrush. Ok, so this is not going to win any golden demons, but it still better than Mithril Silver on guns.

Since I've already used 995 for metal, I use 994 Dark Gray for tires. It goes on a little too light, but dries to the correct color for sun-exposed tires. If you think it is too light, hit it with a black ink, but I never feel the need.

819 Iraqui Sand is a universal dry-brush color for WWII vehicles in greens, browns, and german dark yellow (dunkelgelb). Doesn't work on VMC Dark Sand, since the Hues don't match, but over most other darker/richer shades, you can drybrush it directly or mix with the base color. A shade darker than Ivory.


Panzer Aces 341 Flesh and 342 Flesh Hightlight are my favorite flesh tones. The 340 flesh shadow is too red, or rather any ruddy brown would be as good or better. VGC Dwarf Flesh is too orange while VGC Elf Flesh is too pink. (Mixed, I've done great things with dwarf flesh and elf flesh paints, getting really wonderful human flesh tones. However, Panzer Ace Flesh and Flesh Highlight are Just Right without mixing/layering/blending. I still mix/layer/blendin Flesh Highlight into Flesh but the tones are already is just right, I am just creating luminosity depth without changing hue. )
 
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fromchaos

fromchaos

New member
Reaper Msp - My main paint choice, but I cannot go without Flow improver, Ruddy leather, Oiled leather, Red Hair triad ,Bright Skin Shadow, fair skin triad, Blonde hair triad.
Army Painter -Skeleton Bone, green skin.
Every Citadel Shade and Lahmian Medium, especially Reikland fleshshade, Seraphim Sepia, Agrax Earthshade.
Vallejo NMM set, model color red, game color white, red wash.
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
VMC German Camo Black Brown
VAirbrush German Camo Black Brown
VMC Neutral Grey
VMC Ivory
VMC Brown Sand
VMC Violet-Red
VMC Violet-Blue

and honestly forget GW's Lahmian medium, Vallejo's is better value for money @17ml for £2.50
 
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J

JohnLobster

New member
Great thread - thanks for all the suggestions - I have some of the suggested colors but still experimenting

@Dragonsreach - I agree - second all of those - but I haven't tried the violet red - what do you use it for ?

For Matt medium - I use Liquitex - works great. What I do is dilute it with water + flow enhancer to form a standard "gunk" - got that from internet somewhere and put in an empty dropper bottle (use distilled water not tap water, it just takes out another variable). This is then used to thin paint. Works especially well to create your own washes

Glaze medium has some retardant in it to make the paint dry slower - this helps with blending and glazing. Retardant neat is extremely thick so needs thinning a lot before adding to paint. I have a glaze mix that I use that is diluted (as above) glaze medium with some extra retardant. This mix I make thicker than the "gunk" so better for glazing. Note that glaze medium (I think it is the retardant) will make your paint more glossy. This may or may not be an issue for you. I spray flat varnish at the end so not an issue for me

John
 
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