testors verses everyone else

[barkel]

OK, this post is nothing about Dull Cote. I assume that with so many people touting its wonders that it is probably a good matte finish.

What I want to know about is the rest of Testors line. Is it any good? They are enamels, right? How does that differ from accrylics?

What I\'d really like to see is some examples of CMON minis painted with different brands of paint. GW, Vallejo, Testors, Reaper, et cetera. I\'d especially like to see it if one person has painted with several different brands so I can get a better comparison.

Oh, and I guess your opinions on which paint brand is best would be fine here also.

barkel

 

[vincegamer]

Well, I haven\'t used testors enamels in oh 12-15 years. They really are not suited for minis in my opinion. For one thing they are a total pain in the neck if you make a mistake. I was also using them straight from the bottle and for small details paints really need to be thinned, but enamels require thinning with some sort of noxious thinner. They were designed for things like model cars/plains and toys and can create a nice glossy surface, but again, not good for mini people.
Of course this may have changed in the past decade, but it should still be generally true for enamels. Does testors do acrylics?

 

[Evonine]

I began my mini-painting career with Testor\'s enamels....now I look back and think that I was nuts! Everything that Vincegamer said was pretty much right on the money. The biggest downfall, IMHO, is that they are not water-based. Testor\'s does make acrylics, but from what I\'ve seen of them, they\'re not much better than their enamels. Great for larger models maybe....don\'t know, but not good for minis.
I personally use many brands of paint interchangable, including Vallejo Game Color (my current favorite!), IWM (Iron Wind Metals) paint, GW, and some craft paints. I\'m not a person who does all of one mini in one brand....I like different colors from different brans.

 

[Dragonsreach]

I too, started painting with Humbrol Enamels so I know exactly where Vincegamer is coming from. The enamels are of very limited use for miniature painters of the type used for 40K, D&D, et al..

After giving up on enamels I transferred my affection to Artists oils. Then drifted away from the hobby (Oh those lost Miniatures)

When I got back into painting I started with GW\'s original sets and still have a limited number of the original paints. Now I have a collection of GW, Hobby Craft & Artists Acrylics, as well as a couple of Artists Gouache\'s.

One Acrylic I really like is Windsor & Newtons \"Paynes Grey\", which is a beautiful dark Blue/Black.

I\'ve found that the GW paints are Ok but I\'m tending to mix them a great deal lately. Mainly due to this site & the advice I\'ve gleaned and been given.

I\'ve yet to see Vallejo paints but I see the results on here and am very interested.


:duh:

 

[airhead]

testors & other enamels

Used a lot of enamels back in the 70\'s & 80\'s. They are not \"all glossy for cars\" some were flat for tanks & railroad. Humbrol\'s railroad colors had some of the neatest colors (grime, grease, dust, mud, tire rubber, etc.)

My personal opinion:
1. enamels were tougher than todays acrylics. (stayed on the mini better during play)

2. you often did not have to prime prior to painting as the enamles had better coverage.

3. enamels generally have a finer ground pigment and go through an airbrush better.

BUT:

4. enamels are harder to mix - mix on a pallet and then throw away the pallet once the paint set on the pallet.

5. You had to keep mineral spirits around to clean with and thin paints with - smelly, toxic & flamable

I now use almost exclusively acrylics, just for the ease of mixing & painting. Couple of coats of dulcoat to protect them.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Anybody tried Andrea Miniatures Paints?
I just got a figure delivered including the paints list and was wondering at the quality of their paints.
Feed back would be helpfull, ta.

 

[barkel]

Americana

I have had some limited experience with Americana. It is $1 (US) for a bottle twice as big as GW\'s. They have a decent array of colors as well.

There are two problems with them. 1. they don\'t seem quite as vivid as GW, though I suppose that could be remedied by mixing in white. And 2. they are super thick. You have to add an incredible amount of water for it to be usable.

I have found it to be quite good with painting scenery. I don\'t use my GW for scenery anymore. To expensive.


barkel

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by airhead
My personal opinion:
1. enamels were tougher than todays acrylics. (stayed on the mini better during play)

My experience was completely the opposite. Sure, acrylics will rub off sooner from handling (enamels will eventually rub off too) but if I dropped one and got a chip, sometimes it would take off the paint from 1/4 of the mini. This is lessened by priming minis, but the enamels still bonded more strongly to themselves than to the mini. My experience is when acrylics chip it\'s a tiny chip.

 

[Darth Ewok]

hehe. i use apple barrel paint. its an acrylic fabric paint. 44 cents for a bottle of paint 3 times the size of GW\'s stuff

 

[finn17]

Enamels...Yuk!

I still have a substantial Testors and Humbrol collection from my youth. I have to say, I have no positive memories of them at all. I am sure they have a use but IMO painting minis sure isn\'t one of them.
I bought a whole set of Andrea colours a couple of years back when I had given up on GW and Vallejo wasn\'t heard of in the UK. They seemed very good. In fact they are suspiciously like Vallejo. The bottles are certainly from the same source.

 

[sippog]

Andrea

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Anybody tried Andrea Miniatures Paints?
Feed back would be helpfull, ta.

I like Andrea paints. In fact I think they cover slightly better than the much vaunted Vallejo - though I agree there\'s probably not much in it.

At the moment my favourites are Liquitext pots. They cost around 3 quid and are a real bargain quantity wise relative to GW, Vallejo etc. Thin down really well and work in an airbrush.

Not to be confused with the Liquitext student colours in tubes which are only good for impasto. Generally, cost seems to be related to the amount of pigment and density of colour

 

[Sand Rat]

Hmm - well, like most of the ancients around here when I started I was using Testors/Pactra paints - then one day I was introduced to the joy of waterbased acrylics, primarily Apple Barrel - however, I use Ceramacoat, Anitas, and Americana as well. Some are thicker than others, but I seem to get pretty good coverage. And as for the rubbing off issue, thats why they invented Clearcoat, aint it? Although, I have to admit I got some pretty good effects one time by dullcoting Testors Metallic Jade. :idea: (course it was an accident) lol

 

[freakinacage]

i\'ve allways worked with gw but due to recent forum discussions have bought a load of vallejo stuff. should recieve it tomorrow. seems to be well priced. by the way, how do you pronounce it? is is with a j like vallayjo or a mexican h valleho? or other please help i don\'t want to sound stupid (again):~(

 

[vincegamer]

Since it is made in Spain I have assumed the j is a jota (pronounced ho-tuh)

 

[Chrispy]

I assume it\'s \"yee\" like in llama and then h, for something like \"Vae-ay-hoe\". There are subtle difference in Mexican Spainish and Spain Spainish, Chupacabras don\'t live in Spain for example...

Also, does the paint have anything to do with fantasy painter Boris Vallejo or it that just coicedence? (I know it\'s a common name..)

 

[r2-j1]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Anybody tried Andrea Miniatures Paints?
I just got a figure delivered including the paints list and was wondering at the quality of their paints.
Feed back would be helpfull, ta.

I use alot of Andrea color paints, because I can get them locally. I put them on about the same level as vallejo. They seem to give the same great coverage and come in the exact same dripper bottles. I was told they were made by the same factory as vallejo.

R2

 

[Flashman14]

hmmm . . with what we know today about how to paint I wonder if we couldn\'t make a nice set of Testors work. We all know how to prime, and to blend and shade and to finish off with a dull cote.
One would only hahave to overcome the smell of thinner, right?
Now, no doubt someone is saying, \"Well then Flash, why don\'t YOU try it?\" And my answer would have to be, \"No.\" :bouncy: