Saw this on the Fauxhammer website which I thought I'd share with you.
It is their idea of the Best Paints for Miniatures and Wargames Models 2019. So a few caveats before we start. This list is their choice, not mine. They themselves say that 'best' is subjective - it depends on what you want the paint to do (so a 1 coat paint vs an airbrush paint depends entirely on how you paint yourself). Best can also mean 'most sold' which is not about paint quality but availability, price and promotion.
The list was based on their own readers' feedback and votes.
They also summarised the strengths and weaknesses of the paints involved.
I've also added my own experiences to the paints on the list that I've used myself.
So without further ado...
15. Creature Caster - Pro Acryl
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People are quickly falling in love with these paints. Whilst the Pro Acryl range is relatively new on the scene, they are lauded for having really dense pigment, ensuring great colour coverage in just a few layers. Even though they are quite pigment heavy, they still thin very nicely and work great with brushes or airbrushes alike. Due to their properties, they are an excellent choice for blending and dry with a matte finish.
The entire range is acrylic based (if you couldn’t tell from the name). They currently consist of 24 colours & 5 metallics. These paints come in 17ml dropper bottles with a unique twist cap lid which prevents all clogging. (It’s the best bottle type in this whole list).
You can buy the whole set or individual colours, direct from the Creature Caster’s online shop. Creature Caster is a US based company so there are some slightly heavier shipping costs outside of this region. But they aren’t prohibitive costs (unless you want to buy individual bottles). Although they could do with an Amazon or eBay presence for wider reach.
This set is gaining popularity fast as more people hear of them.
14. Mig Jimenez - AMMO
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Badger’s Minitaire range is another series dedicated to miniature painters and model makers. Like their Stynylrez Airbrush primer paints. These paints are specifically designed for airbrush use. But you can brush them on if you wish. They come in 30ml dropper bottles with flip-cap & pour lids. Each 30ml bottle is about the same price as other range’s 10ml – 17ml bottles. After a shake, they will run through most airbrushes without the need for thinning.
There are 80 colours in the set and getting the complete set makes the price a bargain. If you are looking to airbrush entire armies to get them out of the door quickly, then a few bottles of this would be perfect for your initial base coats and highlights. If you really want to save money, the Complete paint set is a steal. They are just a bit tricky to find online nowadays.
11. Warcolours
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Warcolours are another great range dedicated to miniature painting. Almost directly comparable to ranges like Creature Caster’s Pro Acryl set. This range has over 180 paints in 15ml dropper bottles. They also have a nostalgia ’88 range. Which matches the colour, bottles, feel consistency and…. erm… smell (apparently) of the Original 1988 Citadel Colour range.
The one-coat base paints have a matte finish and are pigment dense for good coverage. The rest of the range has a satin finish. Many users have lauded these paints for their behaviours when layering and glazing. Another set that works well through an airbrush.
These are available directly from the Warcolours website, as individual bottles or in sets.
10. Secret Weapon
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Secret Weapon is another company focussed on miniature painting products – mainly resin products for modding existing wargames such as Warhammer or Infinity. Their paint range is rather small. Their mech Acrylics range has 30 Colours and their Weathering Acrylics also have 30 paints.
The stand out for Secret Weapon though is their large range of washes (again 30 of them). Using these paints to pin wash or shade your miniatures really adds depth to the model without much need to thin them. Thanks to how fine the pigment is in these washes. you’ll ensure that the colour depth sits exactly in the recesses you need them to.
The range comes in 20ml dropper bottles for application with a brush or airbrush.
9. Black Hat Miniatures – Coat d’arms
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There are a lot of claims online that the Coat d’arms paints are the same as the 80’s to early 00’s Citadel Paints. And that the manufacturers of these paints were the guys who supplied Games Workshop with that Citadel range. As far as I can tell, this hasn’t been confirmed, but I’ve emailed the UK distributor to ask. From several comparisons online these are comparable to the Classic Citadel Colours, but they are not an exact match.
Nevertheless, these paints are loved by oldhammer fans for that nostalgic look & feel. They even come on the classic (80’s Citadel era) flip-cap bottles.
Phil's comment ; I have quite a few Coat d,arms paints. Pretty good paints in my humble opinion.
8. Green Stuff World
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Green Stuff World – named after the popular moulding compound (properly known as Kneadatite) which was used to manually sculpt the master models for Citadel Miniatures before Digital Sculpting took off. The term ‘Green Stuff’ was popularised by Games Workshop and other model making companies who used it. GSW is a company focussed on miniature modelling customisation.
GSW specialise in products that are somewhat outside of the usual box. Their products help you create features and effects which are truly unique to their brand. A favourite amongst converters.
The real standouts of their range are the Metallics, Colourshift (Pearlescent & Irridescent) paints and Fluorescent paint. Along with their ‘out of this world .effects paint, such as Spider Serum for creating realistic webbing.
All products can be purchased from Green Stuff World directly and come in individual (various sized) dropper bottles, They also sell some theme sets.
7. Tamiya
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Tamiya is a well-known brand of scale models. For miniature painting they are really smooth, pigment-dense paints that generally finish with a matte to satin texture. Their Tamiya Color glass bottles with twist caps come in 2 varieties; standard 23ml or the mini 10ml with over 50 standard colours available.
Most people pick these up due to general availability in their region over other brands, they are very common in most hobby stores. But the most commonly used colours by most miniature painters aretheir clear colours. Which are similar to Games Workshop’s Gem Paints.
Simply apply a clear coat over a metallic surface to tint that colour and give a candy effect where the metal shine is below a lacquered surface. This is especially good for jewels.
Another thing they succed with are their compact Weathering Master Sets, which are small parces of 3 dry pigments with a provided applicator brush.
Phil's comment : I bought a load of Tamiya paints a few years back - and regretted it ever since. Not sure if I was using them correctly but found the coverage to be poor and within a short time the pigment would solidify meaning i had to thin them down and put a ball bearing in each pot to keep some form of consistency. Some may think them the gold standard (and maybe they are better for airbrushing) but I won't be buying them again.
The top 6 will be published in my next post!
It is their idea of the Best Paints for Miniatures and Wargames Models 2019. So a few caveats before we start. This list is their choice, not mine. They themselves say that 'best' is subjective - it depends on what you want the paint to do (so a 1 coat paint vs an airbrush paint depends entirely on how you paint yourself). Best can also mean 'most sold' which is not about paint quality but availability, price and promotion.
The list was based on their own readers' feedback and votes.
They also summarised the strengths and weaknesses of the paints involved.
I've also added my own experiences to the paints on the list that I've used myself.
So without further ado...
15. Creature Caster - Pro Acryl
The entire range is acrylic based (if you couldn’t tell from the name). They currently consist of 24 colours & 5 metallics. These paints come in 17ml dropper bottles with a unique twist cap lid which prevents all clogging. (It’s the best bottle type in this whole list).
You can buy the whole set or individual colours, direct from the Creature Caster’s online shop. Creature Caster is a US based company so there are some slightly heavier shipping costs outside of this region. But they aren’t prohibitive costs (unless you want to buy individual bottles). Although they could do with an Amazon or eBay presence for wider reach.
This set is gaining popularity fast as more people hear of them.
14. Mig Jimenez - AMMO
Mig has an almost overwhelming range of paints. Primarily directed at real-world scale models such as Tanks, Ships and Aircraft. They have over 240 standard hues, many of which are matched to real-world colours. They also have ranges of metallics & crystal paints too. Not to mention their mediums and varnishes.
All of these paints come in 17ml dropper bottles and can be used with a brush or through an airbrush. they are one of the more inexpensive products on the market. But that doesn’t mean they are a “cheap” product.
A stand out of the Mig range is their set of weathering effects. Including Washes, Streaking Effects, Nature Effects, Water Effects Mud & Others. They even supply grass and leaves. Mig are specialists in the weathering field so if you want to grime up your mini’s especially vehicles. these are definitely worth your consideration. They even have a series of magazines walking you through all of the techniques so you can master them easily.
All of the products can be bought as individual pots/bottles or for some minor savings; They have a wide range of collective sets.
Phil's comment : I have tried a couple of their weathering range and found them excellent. No idea as regards the paints but I assume they are of the same high standard.
13. AK Interactive
AK is another brand who specialise in paints for historic scale models. You’ll find lots of similarities between AK and Mig. That’s because Mig Jimenez (of Mig) previously worked for AK. Parted ways and started his own company.
They have a paint range of over just under 400 paints with 100 (what they call) real colours. Matched to real-world historic vehicle & infantry paints. They also have a handy conversion chart matching their paint colours to other brands. This is available on their website. The acrylic colours range comes in the standard 17ml dropper bottles. Whereas the real colour paints come in 10ml pots (similar to the Tamiya’s Mini pots). All paints are suitable for Brush or Airbrush.
Again though, just like with Mig Jiminez – the stand out here is the weathering products. They provide Weathering pencils, Streaking Effects, Dust Pigments & Real Metallics. They even have a series of books and other resources so that you can learn how to apply the products for amazing results.
12. Badger - Militare
There are 80 colours in the set and getting the complete set makes the price a bargain. If you are looking to airbrush entire armies to get them out of the door quickly, then a few bottles of this would be perfect for your initial base coats and highlights. If you really want to save money, the Complete paint set is a steal. They are just a bit tricky to find online nowadays.
11. Warcolours
Warcolours are another great range dedicated to miniature painting. Almost directly comparable to ranges like Creature Caster’s Pro Acryl set. This range has over 180 paints in 15ml dropper bottles. They also have a nostalgia ’88 range. Which matches the colour, bottles, feel consistency and…. erm… smell (apparently) of the Original 1988 Citadel Colour range.
The one-coat base paints have a matte finish and are pigment dense for good coverage. The rest of the range has a satin finish. Many users have lauded these paints for their behaviours when layering and glazing. Another set that works well through an airbrush.
These are available directly from the Warcolours website, as individual bottles or in sets.
10. Secret Weapon
Secret Weapon is another company focussed on miniature painting products – mainly resin products for modding existing wargames such as Warhammer or Infinity. Their paint range is rather small. Their mech Acrylics range has 30 Colours and their Weathering Acrylics also have 30 paints.
The stand out for Secret Weapon though is their large range of washes (again 30 of them). Using these paints to pin wash or shade your miniatures really adds depth to the model without much need to thin them. Thanks to how fine the pigment is in these washes. you’ll ensure that the colour depth sits exactly in the recesses you need them to.
The range comes in 20ml dropper bottles for application with a brush or airbrush.
9. Black Hat Miniatures – Coat d’arms
There are a lot of claims online that the Coat d’arms paints are the same as the 80’s to early 00’s Citadel Paints. And that the manufacturers of these paints were the guys who supplied Games Workshop with that Citadel range. As far as I can tell, this hasn’t been confirmed, but I’ve emailed the UK distributor to ask. From several comparisons online these are comparable to the Classic Citadel Colours, but they are not an exact match.
Nevertheless, these paints are loved by oldhammer fans for that nostalgic look & feel. They even come on the classic (80’s Citadel era) flip-cap bottles.
Phil's comment ; I have quite a few Coat d,arms paints. Pretty good paints in my humble opinion.
8. Green Stuff World
Green Stuff World – named after the popular moulding compound (properly known as Kneadatite) which was used to manually sculpt the master models for Citadel Miniatures before Digital Sculpting took off. The term ‘Green Stuff’ was popularised by Games Workshop and other model making companies who used it. GSW is a company focussed on miniature modelling customisation.
GSW specialise in products that are somewhat outside of the usual box. Their products help you create features and effects which are truly unique to their brand. A favourite amongst converters.
The real standouts of their range are the Metallics, Colourshift (Pearlescent & Irridescent) paints and Fluorescent paint. Along with their ‘out of this world .effects paint, such as Spider Serum for creating realistic webbing.
All products can be purchased from Green Stuff World directly and come in individual (various sized) dropper bottles, They also sell some theme sets.
7. Tamiya
Most people pick these up due to general availability in their region over other brands, they are very common in most hobby stores. But the most commonly used colours by most miniature painters aretheir clear colours. Which are similar to Games Workshop’s Gem Paints.
Simply apply a clear coat over a metallic surface to tint that colour and give a candy effect where the metal shine is below a lacquered surface. This is especially good for jewels.
Another thing they succed with are their compact Weathering Master Sets, which are small parces of 3 dry pigments with a provided applicator brush.
Phil's comment : I bought a load of Tamiya paints a few years back - and regretted it ever since. Not sure if I was using them correctly but found the coverage to be poor and within a short time the pigment would solidify meaning i had to thin them down and put a ball bearing in each pot to keep some form of consistency. Some may think them the gold standard (and maybe they are better for airbrushing) but I won't be buying them again.
The top 6 will be published in my next post!