Speed paints

[question]

I think I've finally settled on a colour scheme for my Votann. I have also been wanting to try speed paints. I know there are multiple companies, and reviews are all over the place. I'm hoping anybody in the community with experience using them could provide advice on what they are using; the pros and cons of their paints.

[mrmanstory]

I use army painter speed paints on my votann and orks. I think they’re fantastic the only thing I’d say if you go with them is try to only get the bottles that say 2.0 on them. Older bottles had an issue of reactivating sometimes days after the initial coat is applied.

[Trickster Raven]

If you look up the channel Not Just Mecha on YouTube, he does a lot using transparency effects from speedpaint type products.

Another thing that works really well is using a zenithal highlight before applying the speed paint. It works really well if you use black primer and then dry brush white over it.

[Casper]

I really like the metallic speed paints from the 2.0 series. It's what I'm using for the gold in my entire Necron army. Applies like butter. I wish I had more speed paints vs GWs contrast paints.

[voodoo]

I find that GW's contrast paint is less like a paint and more like a blend between a Vallejo Translucent paint and an ink. It'll cover, but will be influenced by what's behind it; much ike a translucent, but is more runny like an ink.

That said, NEVER go by the name on the bottle. Gryph hound orange isn't actually orange. Go by your own eyes, and if need be, thin them down with water to get a brighter color.

I haven't ever used Army Painter speedpaints, but they themselves admitted that the 1.0 had issues, but they're largely fixed with the 2.0 if my knowledge there is correct.

[dressedspring1]

I’ve used AP Speed Paints extensively, I think they’re great. 2.0 has no reactivation issues at all and 1.0 needed a varnish after applying or you’d sometimes get reactivation.


I’d heartily recommend them, I like them much more than contrast

[question]

Thanks everybody for your comments. Voodoo, like you I've had a similar opinion of Citadel Contrast for similar reasons, so they were at the bottom of the list. Since Nexus has AP readily available I think I will get a few bottles of 2.0 and give that a whirl. At worst I'm out a bit of money and can always strip & repaint with something else. Thanks again all!

[Jack Shrapnel]

I'm warming up to Army Painter paints... their washes I use in a combo for my nid scheme for example... their tri-colour air system I've used for a few armies now with pretty great results. Haven't tried speed paint 2.0 but thus far I've been happy with the company's products.

[brujonation]

hi sorry for the late input. I've used the gw contrast range for the armor on my Alpha Legion and I will say this.

the gw paints, I've used terradon turquoise, Warp lightning, imperial fist, and black legion paints. it takes a bit of practice, and it varies on application as well. but they lend themselves towards underpainting hard. either with an airbrush "xenithal" highlight, which I don't have. or what I do is a series of dry brushing, washes, or even just straight up deliberate strokes. I pick my shadow color, I used to start at black and work my way up to grey then white, but since I've shifted to a purple under coat since the main color is green, and work up to a lavender then white.

application wise, when working in infantry or equivalent sized areas, use a not so good brush. you may or may not want to dilute the contrast paint w/ the contrast medium (I almost always do at least 50/50) and load that brush up, but be controlled, work an armor panel/object at a time (per dip) and neatly fill the area out and kinda use the brush to apply and simultaneously wick the excess. it's wierd cuz it's kinda like a thick super pigmented wash....but with chaos's 200000000000 miles of trim I got good at keeping it within the lines so there's minimal trim to repaint lol. you want to keep the working area small because once the paint starts to dry you gotta stop messing with it and wait til it's full cured before going in further, otherwise the finish becomes spotty. on tanks it's like impossible to get a good finish with brush, so I just try purposeful patterns that blend...however , if you have an airbrush the stuff I've seen ppl do on tanks looks great. and the contrast paints are very pigmented and vibrant at least with the ones I've picked out. terradon turquoise in particular I have to dilute heavily, about 1 drop of paint to 5 to 8 drops of medium.

I haven't tried the army painter speed paints yet but they look similar so can't really say nothing bout nothing.

[question]

Thanks guys! Never too late to comment. I appreciate it all.

[voodoo]

Apr 9, 2024 16:30:56 GMT -5 Jack Shrapnel said:

I'm warming up to Army Painter paints... their washes I use in a combo for my nid scheme for example... their tri-colour air system I've used for a few armies now with pretty great results. Haven't tried speed paint 2.0 but thus far I've been happy with the company's products.

I use a LOT of army painter paints, inks and colored base coats; and I've always found them to work out really well. Their ink is almost like jelly it's so thick. I typically mix 3:1 ink to water to get it to a good consistency to do the work required.

[question]

Apr 9, 2024 20:15:15 GMT -5 voodoo said:

Apr 9, 2024 16:30:56 GMT -5 Jack Shrapnel said:

I'm warming up to Army Painter paints... their washes I use in a combo for my nid scheme for example... their tri-colour air system I've used for a few armies now with pretty great results. Haven't tried speed paint 2.0 but thus far I've been happy with the company's products.

I use a LOT of army painter paints, inks and colored base coats; and I've always found them to work out really well. Their ink is almost like jelly it's so thick. I typically mix 3:1 ink to water to get it to a good consistency to do the work required.

I hadn't used much AP. A little while ago I bought their skin tones box (3 paints + wash for each of 3 skin ranges + others items to increase the range) and have liked what I've been able to produce so far. Thanks for the tip about the inks. I use ink occasionally and this is good to know in advance.

[StepwisePilot]

I actually had my own Speed Paint question, if that's ok.

Is it similar to GW's contrast paints in which it needs to be on a light primer/basecoat, or is it perfectly fine over a black primer? I'll admit, all I know about Speed Paints is that the original batch had the reactivation issue, but that it's fixed now.

[question]

Apr 13, 2024 0:01:23 GMT -5 StepwisePilot said:

I actually had my own Speed Paint question, if that's ok.

Is it similar to GW's contrast paints in which it needs to be on a light primer/basecoat, or is it perfectly fine over a black primer? I'll admit, all I know about Speed Paints is that the original batch had the reactivation issue, but that it's fixed now.

From Army Painter: "Before using Speedpaints, we recommend priming your miniatures with Colour Primer Matt White to achieve the most vibrant results. However, you can also experiment with other Colour Primers like Necrotic Flesh, Skeleton Bone, or Gun Metal to achieve other cool effects.

Much like a wash, Speedpaints have slightly prolonged dry times, allowing the deeper pigments to work into the recesses. If you want to speed up your drying time, you can use a blow dryer.

A hard palette is also recommended with Speedpaints, as the intense pigmentation may
stain your Wet Palette foam."

To me that says you should experiment with darker primer coats and zenithal highlights on your primer coat should work as well. Personally, my experience is that whether you pick light or dark primer, you have all the usual colour/coating/tonal issues to one degree or another. And I have never had an issue with using primer from another company.

I hope this helps.

[StepwisePilot]

Thank you. 🙂