Hi.
I've done a fair bit of painting but only recently started painting figures. I got a cheapo set of paints from a craft shop. 24 small tubes.
From a stash of large tubes (2quid for a 300ml tube) I make the colors I use quite offen, like grey, stone, flesh etc and mix them up in smaller pots.

They seem to work fine, but im having trouble getting the right consistency. My brush gets very tacky and I have to wash it every min.
I mix my paints with a little water.
Even when I just use a small amout of water I dont get very good coverage from them and have to paint larger areas up to 7 times to get a flat color.

Is this standard or should I go out and get myself a good set of paints? I'm looking at the Vaelljo paints. Mainly due to the bottle and them being slightly smaller and cheaper. Looking at a pound each on ebay.

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It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.

Oh, also, I wanted to know if there is a product that can turn your paints metalic?

I've got silver and gold metalic, and use reds and browns to make bronze, copper and tin colors. But when you start to add other colors you loose the metallicness (if thats a word)

I also like to use a bit of metalic to show magic. I use a small amount of metalic grey for Gandalf and it looks really good.

It would be really handy if I could buy a powder to add, or even to paint on after.
Anyone?

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It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.

I would suggest you buy a better set of paints. I used to use tamiya paints, which are meant for models, but when I tried to thin them down to use on GW's minis they didn't work which seems to be the same problem you are having. Since then I have started using GW paints and it has made an enormous difference. I've heard vallejo is very good as well and might switch to using their paints in the future so that looks like the best solution for you.

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“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

I would stick with GWs paints for their minis. Tamiya paints are a pain to use and i find for me only work well through an airbrush. As for vallejo paoints i believe they are almost the same as GWs, in fact i believe vallejo manufacture the paint for GW.

Ok great. I think I'll pick up a bunch of them.

Ebay? Or is there somewhere better?

Also, what are inks?
Are they just very highly pigmented?

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It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.

I think Games Workshop paints have more pigments than others but thats just me. For Games Workshop paints try their website or popping into your local store. I personaly would never buy paints on ebay as theres no guarantee of how old they are etc.

I order from ChaosOrc's superstore.

http://chaosorc.com/modeling-supplies-gw-paints-c-45_112.html?osCsid=794e8bae7fd1fd6eec022a4b0cd2d4e0

They used to have those paints for 2.23 apiece, they must've updated the prices pretty recently. I've ordered from them lots and they've got some ridiculous discounts on some stuff and pretty fast shipping.

Inks are watered-down paints for quick shading in short. Since they're thin they flow into the recesses creating shadows. However some of them leave a glossy finish, and IMO GW's new washes are much better. Well worth picking up, Badab Black and Devlan Mud especially.

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Flying is the practice of trying to crash into the ground and missing.

My best tip is to have a look at some peoples work in progress and see how they do things and try them yourself. And dont be afraid to ask questions, as the saying goes the only stupid question is the one you dont ask. We all started somewhere.

Thank you but unfortunatly I live in the UK.
And i really do mean 'unfortunatly'.

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It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.

Try Games Workshops own website. Or these people:
http://www.wargamesworkshop.com/Product ... 4&GrpID=48

Good link man. thank you!

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It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.

No worries.

I have used Vallejo and GW. Due to the fact that they are in a dropper bottle, you will get a lot more mileage out of a bottle of Vallejo (the bottles seem to go on and on). That said, i must admit I prefer GW. The paint consistency seems a tad better and the colors are more fantasy oriented (whereas Vallejo is superior for historicals)

I ended up getting a set of 35 Vallejo paints. they were cheaper on ebay and I got to pick my own 35, which was handy as they worked out to 1.30each and I got a few metalics, varnishes and 3 whites as i use that most offen and you only ever get one white in a set.

Really happy with them.

However, I was hoping that my old crappy paints were the reason for the tip of my brush curling. But it still happened. Ive just got a couple of pro series 7 sticks and have yet to test them out.

What size brushes do you guys use?
I only use 4/0 for detail and it still seems too big sometimes!

_________________
It's all fun and games untill someone gets hurt.
Then it's a sport.