"Anyone using Delta Ceramcoat Acrylics?" Topic

I have read rather satisfacted reports of modellers using Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paints with their miniatures.

Anyone here tried them?

Pros? Cons? Cautionary tales?

I use them all the time. No problems.

Yes, they are about all I use.

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You have to be selective about colors and get creative about mixing colors. If you're painting historicals, you will find that all the pastels are not that useful.

I use them(although not exclusively). they are good for the most part, although occasionally i get one that is really really thin. can't beat the price though.

I use them and the other craft acrylics for wargame figures.
I still use Windsor Newton artist oils for my 54mm and larger collector figures.
Pros that I can think of:
1.Cost
2.Longevity (they don't dry up)
3.Handy to buy, for me at least
4.Many colors
5.In general, easy to work with
6.Large enough bottles that you are not always having to get more

Cons:
1.This is not a problem for me, but many people need a bottle that says "Field Gray," "Polish Crimson," or whatever. They are used to the packaged wargaming systems and don't seem interested in, or capable of, doing much thinking outside the box.
2.While they have many colors, they are not military paints and you will probably have to mix some. I have not found a field gray for WWII Germans, so I mix my own. I mix a lot of colors and keep notes as to what I used.
3.Craft paints are, in my opinion, generally low quality paint. I am surely no paint chemist, but I think the pigments are either poorer quality or there is not enough of it, but for whatever reason, at times coverage can be a problem. It can be difficult to get coverage sometimes even over white.

To me, No 3 of the cons is the only one of any real trouble. Despite that, for me, the pros I listed outweigh that single con enough that I stick with them and Folk Art (it can almost seem like a gel sometimes, but has some interesting colors), and Americana.

I have never used their metallics.

Hope this helps. Yo can always try a bottle. They are pretty cheap.

Tom

Wow, 4 answers in 20 minutes!

Scomac, your results are impressive, if you achieved that using almost only Delta Ceramcoat then I just have to try them!

Garryowen, thank you as well for your precise pro/con evaluation, I am with you, the pros surely overweight the con.

Thank you all!

my choice of paint brand back in the day was poly-s. i use a big mix of brands these days but i have a hugh collection of these "craft paints". they work well, but some times you get a er. having said that, the bast way to see if you like them, buy a few. they are cheap enough to experiment.

I use craft paints almost exclusively, and having tried just about every brand out there, Ceramcoat is the brand I look to first when I need a new color.

I think it's a bit smoother in application and finish than some of the other brands, though I do use Folk Art and others often.

I do notice a definite quality improvement in ease of application and results between when I borrow my friend's Vallejo, but I'm not a good enough painter for it to be worth the higher price, and I'm pleased with the results I get.

A common question. Search for 'craft paints' to see the 1000s of responses.

I've left Ceramcoat for Folk Art because it thins better for blending. FA takes a lot of thinning. To each his own. I have probably 250+ bottles of craft paints. I just donated about 100+ of my old craft paints to our church school. I lose track, though I do have a printed checklist inventory of all my paints that I take with me to the stores.

BTW only buy opaque. Do not buy semi-opaque or transparent colors. Ceramcoat had been marking it on the bottle, though I think they may have stopped. Americana only lists it in their online catalog, so be careful. Folk Art is all opaque or artists acrylics, which is even more opaque. Too many people do not realize this, then come onto the forums trashing craft paint as "too thin" or "doesn't cover well." Hello!

I need to do a craft paint tutorial on my blog like I did for decaling! Saves a lot of typing. 8-)

ordinarygaming.blogspot.com

I have a few bottles in my paint box. As mentioned above, I think they have less pigment or a lower quality pigment, so sometimes you run into trouble with colors like red and yellow, but overall, they work fine.

Not exclusively, but I use them quite a bit and have a BIG box of them.

Ditto what Garryowen said

I have bunches of them. They and folk art are what I use the most.

I love Ceramcote, especially for drybrushing. I have some bottles of Ceramcote that are more than 10 years old, and fresh as a daisy.
And I have some 20x more expensive Vallejo (based on size of bottle and cost) that have grained up and flocculated out of suspension after one year.

Why Vallejo is considered a "superior" paint eludes me.

I've tried most of the craft store brands, and Delta Ceramcoat is the only one I'll go back to. There are only a few colors I still use regularly, though.

I've got a spinning rack full of Ceramcoat but I keep going back to the same colours, mostly because of problems with semi-opaque or transparent colours, but sometimes because I just really like the colours! "Seminole Green" for example. I've had a bottle of "Opaque yellow" go bad on me, otherwise I've had no problems.

And I have some 20x more expensive Vallejo (based on size of bottle and cost) that have grained up and flocculated out of suspension after one year.

Flocculated… he he… he actually said flocculated. I use this word to demonstrate "a term defining itself" to my grad students:

"A focculator is something that folcculates….. now from that, tell me: what is a flocculator?"

And I use Ceramcoats quite a bit.

I did some flocculating in college Chemistry, but darned if I know what differentiates it from precipitating. It sounds dirtier, though, so that makes it better.

THIS says it's different.
link
Aaaah, so what?

I've used Ceramcoat for 22 years.I do mix the occaisonal Americana in.I stay away from Apple Barrel,I don't like their consistancy. However,for some colors such as reds and oranges,I still use a hobby style paint(Vallejo).

Ceramcoat is a fine paint. I started with Americana years ago so I tend to stick with it, but I have a variety of different brands on my table.

I use Ceramcoat all the time. Their reformulation within the last couple years messed up my African skin recipe but I still use a variety of colors.

I'd stay away from the white on figures though… quite a few I've done yellowed a bit after a few years. I assume craft paints have a low quality binder.

CPBelt:

thank you for your precious info I have already sifted all the "semi-opaque" and "transparent" colours away from the Ceramcoat palette due to your advice…well, the opaque range is still wide enough for me!

If I feel I lack a particular shade and I don't feel like mixing I'll search for it in the Folk Art or Artists Acrylics ranges!

:D

I stopped using Delta Ceramcoat because:

1. They changed the formulation so there's less pigment. My standard colors (like Brown Iron Oxide as my basic brown) doesn't cover as well.
2. They stopped labeling what paints are opaque, semi-transparent and transparent. (They said it confused people.) They had it listed on their website, but that's gone, too. So buyer beware.

So now I only use it for big terrain jobs.

Schogun, they have changed the formulation closer to what it was. They don't have quite as much pigment as they used to, but they are better than they were a couple of years ago.

Ah, so they have stopped marking the bottles! I would be very very careful with Ceramcoat now. Their opaque colors are in the minority IIRC.

Scomac is right about the switch back but not all the way. I read this somewhere in a Ceramcoat press release long ago. Still, I have moved on.

BTW I use Ceramcoat Navy Blue for all my ACW Union jackets in 15mm and bought three bottles of it so I don't run out of it.

Actually I found out which shades were opaque and which were not with a few seconds of google-fu.

link

"Flocculate", well now, one does learn something new every day (whether one wants to or not).

Anyway, I have a big stash of these craft paints. Delta seems as good as any, although I'm not surer I can tell any difference between them and Folk Art or Americana or some of the house brands out there. I started checking these out because so many of my preferred hobby paints were disappearing -- Armoury, Ral Partha, Polly S, and even Reaper shifted to dropper bottles, which I do not like. I'm not entirely sold on craft paints. They ARE a lot cheaper, but there are coverage issues, as noted above, and lack of uniformity or consistency is a problem for me. There are colors in all these ranges I bought a few years ago that I now cannot find at all; either they've been dropped or renamed, but when you want to stick to a uniform color scheme, it's irritating as hell to run out of paint before the end of a project and then not be able to find more. Local stores keep dropping lines or failing to restock, too -- these aren't a high-priority stock item for most craft stores, unlike hobby stores, so you may find big gaps in inventory, paints not shelved properly, old dried up bottles, etc.

That said, I do like them for large models like buildings or terrain, where hobby paints are needlessly expensive to use. But I have yet to find them an adequate replacement for most of my hobby paints, as long as my stockpiles last of the older ranges. I especially have a hard time to match the flesh tones I have used for decades (Armoury), I have combinations of washes from several different bottles to achieve the look I want for most of my figures.

I use craft paint for terrain and basing. They do work for dry brushing. For figures, I usually use Vallejo. Sure it's expensive relative to craft paint, but what's your time worth to you? I rarely have to do a second coat with Vallejo and it goes on easier and faster.