"15mm Napoleonic & WW2 Painting Service Review" Topic

Over several years I'm sure we've all enjoyed mixed fortunes with painting services from excellent to disappointing. Why do we use them? Because our eyes our bigger than our free-time! As a young man serving in the forces and now working as a civilian 80+ hour weeks I love painting my soldiers, but my ambition is greater than my time will allow…at least if I plan to complete before I enter the afterlife! (15mm Waterloo @ 1:20 and elements of 15mm Arnhem WW2 @ 1:1)

So here are a few of my experiences that might help others make that hard decision of where to spend their money. The following caveats apply:
1/ these are my opinions and are therefore clearly subjective – however, I've tried to step back and be as objective as possible;
2/ people spend a lot of time painting and providing the service – we should all be thankful that there are people prepared to help us achieve our dreams;
3/ we all have different opinions upon painting standards based on our own painting ability and style – but there is a basic understanding of better vs weaker standards of painting;
4/ I'm fairly certain that the price we pay for our figures to be painted is low given the time required by small businesses and most of these businesses do so outside normal working hours so they should be applauded.

With that in mind I've included photos of my own painting as a barometer. I apologise intensely for my photography skills – I'm certain they do everyone a disservice! I have only sampled a few over the last two years – there are a myriad of others so this should not be exclusive; please feel free to add photos / price comparison of other work. Note – I normally supply painted samples with my orders and always base myself (simply!). Thank you for reading!

Service 15mm Foot Cavalry Artillery Tank etc
ADC. £1.60 GBP. 2.80. 3.60
Fernando. 1.30. 2.60.
Private. 4.00. 8.00.
Anonymous. ~2.00. ~4.00
Battle Colours. 2.00. 3.60. 4.20. 8.50
FoW P. 1.40/80. 12.00

Links:
ADC: adcpainting.co.uk
Fernando: miniaturelovers.co.uk
Private: will not disclose – small business limited capacity
Battle Colours: battlecolours.com
FoWP: flamesofwarpainting.co.uk / miniaturefigurepainter.co.uk

Service:
ADC: swift, good communication, well packaged, as ordered, very good value for UK;
Fernando: good for large orders where you can't face the same drab uniform multiple times (!), send photos of work for comment (+ve), fast given the distance (Sri Lanka), excellent value but a bit 'stripey' – struggle with colour blending and can miss detail;
Private: my favourite – extremely fast, exactly as ordered, straight on to the table-top without touch-ups but expensive (worth paying);
Anonymous: used by my father for a birthday present – very poor; missed huge parts of the model entirely, blotch style painting; am re-painting everything done by this painter and feel bad for my father who paid good money for a very disappointing job;
Battle Colours: slow, poor communication despite 'tracker' system on web (good idea) and end result was disappointing in my view (BC did apologise and extend a discount on future work); suspect better at larger scale fantasy than 15mm historical;
FoWP: outstanding; swift, very high standard, good communicator and excellent value for money.

Hopefully the photos will speak a thousand words…

link

The spacing between the pricing paragraph doesn't't appear to have worked – apologies; if in doubt check websites!

"Private"…that's funny.

I have my own 'pocket painter' and refuse to share him. His prices are high and I pay it so nobody else is tempted in case they find out.

It's like the 11th Commandment – "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Babysitter"

Of all the ones you listed above ADC is one I have used. I am in the same boat, I'd rather paint my own but, not enough time a maybe a little ADD to sit an paint for hours.

Gareth with ADC does a nice job and a great value. Are their better painters yes, but at double or triple the price. I use three painters and have all three working for me now. Each works on the same army so each army has a consistent look. I have been blessed to be able to afford this at the moment.

It is amazing how some services have junk for quality and try to charge top money.

RuLane: That was a lot of work, so thanks for that.

Like many others, I've no time to paint. So I've tried several painting services; a few spotted on eBay, Ian Hinds or here and a couple from random web searches. Like others the results have been a mix from 'Heck no never again" through to "I'm building him a house and he's marrying my sister".

Once you find somebody who does exactly what you're looking for, there are only 2 rules to follow.
1) Never, ever, ever let him (or her) go.
2) Ensure they have enough work to keep them painting and not go off to to become tour guides in Botswana, try hang gliding off Annapurna or insist on retiring as they want to spend more time with thier family! (HAH! Weak excuses! Get back to painting!)

EXACTLY

Thanks 79thPA! My 'Private' man has agreed to reveal himself! His name is Chris Meacham – please contact me directly if you would like his contact details.

Ah, Chris Meacham is a star among painters!

Quick update on the latest troops I have received, through birthday/christmas presents from my father…

Advised him to use Fernando for large numbers / good value, and despite extensive colour image guidance and provision of samples they are below par. I recently bought some for myself and the same appeared to be true – over accentuation of shading (broad stripes, zero subtlety and the shades of each colour much too far apart – creates a clown effect!), together with very simple errors in painting. Not the end of the world – correctable – but frustrating, especially as they are far from rare troops; good old French Napoleonic Infantry. Still represent good value for large armies but I feel the service quality has dipped.

On the other hand Chris Meacham has just done another beautiful set of British infantry for me. I am looking forward to using ADC, FoWP and Chris more this year, keeping all my £££s in the UK.

Merry Christmas to everyone and all the best for 2013!

Thanks, that was a great article. As for the rest of you"Post your pictures" That what we need to see.

Jabba

when I did commission painting for people it was 1.25 for a 15mm and 3.50 for a 25/28mm infantry double for cav..but that was a while back…going back into the biz again as retirement stares me in the face and since my eyes ore not as young as they once were… 20 mm will be the smallest I will do..as for reference material pretty much have that covered with napoleonics, 7 years war,civil war both US. and English and ancients