"White Ensign Models Paints?" Topic

Has anyone used the paint line from WEM? I am thinking of getting some for use with both resin and metal minis. I will be brush painting whatever I do. I am a big fan of Vallejo Acrylics but I am intrigued by WEM's claim of perfectly matched colours. Can anyone offer a review from their experiences?
Dave

I use them and I can vouch for their colours being perfectly matched. I use them on metal 1/3000 ships. Funny thing, I am now thinking about not using WEM and using vallejo instead. Mainly for the less hassle of using acrylics.

I recommend them. I like the variety of colours provided. I don't know how they compare to Vallejo. I like to just use the paint out of the tin rather than trying to mix my own colours, so when I have specific references to naval colours I can just grab the tin that is the specific naval colour.

They are thin paint.

The color charts for Vallejo paints are off, last time I checked, so you need to try to match to the actual colors in the bottles.

The big thing scaring me about the WEM paints is the change to enamels. My wife does not want the odours but my biggest concern is change of technique. My wife is feeling generous and says that she does not mind my spending extra on a paint chip set from Snyder & Short; my path is thus set. Vallejo it is. I am going to be smart and buy some extra paint bottles so I can mix up large batches and save them for future works.
Dave

Vallejo are my preferred choice, being easy to apply and the majority of their colours are close matches for FS colours and to be honest at the scale we paint it isn't critical. In fact I use a couple of slightly different shades of basically the same colour just to add a little variation to show different paint 'ages' on ships. This replicates fading over time of the colours and makes your fleet a little more interesting to look at

Polly-S/Testor's also make the more commonly used official colors in acrylic. I've used them a lot and I've liked them.

Don't worry too much about "perfectly matched colors".

As many experienced painters have commented on these boards, "perfectly matched colors" are not necessarily more accurate for small scale models. This is because what we see in the real world at a distance of 1 foot ( the paint chip ) is not the same thing as what we see in the real world when we view large objects ( ships ) from a distance of several miles. Colours viewed from a distance in the real world look much "lighter", due to scattering of reflected light over distance. This effect is general, but is more pronounced for dark colors. Search the web for numerous discussions of this effect ( link ) .

If you use the actual paint chip colors, either your models will tend to look way too dark relative to other objects on the wargames table, or you will have to darken everything else on your wargames table to match, which will make it hard to see your game using normal indoor lighting.

If you're concerned about the colors looking too dark, one thing you can do is prime in white.