"How good are Army Painter paints?" Topic

I purchased the Army Painter Warpaints Starter Paint Set online and have yet to receive it. I used to use P3 paints, but they got old and I threw them out. I was wondering how good these Army Painter paints are.

Opinions?

Army Painter Warpaints Starter Paint Set is shown here: link

What do you mean "got old?" I have paints that are 10+ years old and going fine. My P# are what, 4 years old and as good as new?

The Army Painter colors (I have 5 or 6) seem about the same quality as P3, Coat d'Arms or any other quality figure paint.

My old P3 paints froze (they were in a shed over a year) and thawed out afterwards. Not gonna take a chance and use paints like that on expensive miniatures. I only had like 10 colors. Not worth ruining my miniatures to save a couple of bucks on paints.

My paints are in my shed. They freeze in winter and get baked in summer. Some of them are several years old and still work as well as new ones!

The Army Painter pints are great..I'm slowly replacing my Vallejo range with them. They seem to cover about as well with far less maintenance.

Some high points are the Hard and soft shades. They work great. The flat coat they have actually dries flat.

I'm trying some of the P3s. They're kind of hit or miss for me for coverage.

Cerdic, I don't wanna take that chance to save $30. USD Not worth it to me.

A lot of the figures painted by Kevin Dallimore in the North Star Magazine nstarmagazine.com/index.htm are done with AP Paints. They look pretty good to me and he seems to like them.

The question may actually be who makes Army Painter paints? Do they make them or do they source it out to another company?

I like them. The only thing I have had issues with is that some times the paint seems to bubble up into the cap. Tends to waste the paint.

How many colors do they have in the range?

We're talking about paint, not concentrated acid. If they were no good, you could always paint over or strip the paint. Damn waste of 10 pots of paint.

The range has 29 colors, five metalics, 7 quickshade inks
and a matt varnish.

Rebelyell2006, again, not worth the time and frustration to save $30. USD I'm sure the environment will survive 10 tiny pots of paint in a landfill. *rollseyes*

Who is saying anything about the environment? I use my paints until the pots are empty, and a bricked pot can be saved by a little tap water stirred with a toothpick or the plain end of a paintbrush. $30 USD thrown out is $30 USD forever lost, and $30 USD pointlessly thrown out is just foolish. And like I said, it is paint, not concentrated acid. Frozen and thawed acrylic paint will not damage the structural integrity and chemical composition of plastic.

I haven't used their paints, but I am using their shader dip on some of my 28mm pulp figs and am generally pleased with the results…

I swear their Dark Tone was is GW's old Devilen Mud, the smell, taste and look all seem the excate same.

Taste? Did they say Taste?

I would have tested the paints on an old figure, or some sprue, before throwing them out. Not that big a deal since it was only 10 pots, but just FYI for anyone else who reads this and wonders about old paints.

I have gone over to AP paints now from Citadel. I augment them with specific colours from other brands if I need them but probably 80% of my painting is with AP. They are much better choice for painting over a dark undercoat than Vellejo as they are noticeably thicker.

I use their colored primer and matching bottled paint. So far, the only ones I've had any problems wtih have been their red.

My website has examples. A link to my "workbench" tag: link

Opaque for good coverage. Opaque *and* lighter colors means easier highlighting. Quickshade Inks for shading.

Gallery of WIPs: link

Well, I have two identical greens – one cover like cats water whilst the other is comparable to Vallejo. So my view is that they are on a par with Vallejo. They score in matching their brand of sprays.

@Heisler,
Good question. I only have their inks so cannot really comment too much but maybe others may know who the manufacturer is? Vallejo? Coat d'Arms? Do they have a country of origin on the packaging? That could narrow it down a bit. Weren't Citadel made in France circa 2000-2002? Not sure what company that could be but maybe that is who Army Painter uses?

@eptingmike..
Apparently Citadel were made in France by Lefranc & bourgois circa 2000-2002, probably up until 2008, according to this link;
link

but now? Citadel and army painter (and a couple of others)are made by HMG UK?

link

and

link

They seem to swop and Change makers along with names which makes finding who makes what for who near impossible.

Isn't HMG UK the maker of Coat d'Arms?
I assumed the Citadel stuff was made in China now but that may just be my dislike for GW shining through. :)

Coat dÁrms…Looks like HMG makes a lot of the Hobby paints;
link
as thier Slogan goes "one Name that covers everything", even pirates :-D

link

I use the basic set of 30 odd colours and three inks plus I supplemented that with a couple of their new colours and the new inks.

Paint: I think they are all pretty good except the yellow which struggles to cover. Nice colour but poor coverage. That can be helped by underpainting with something light or buff coloured first. I also use other companies yellows (can't remember who).

The inks are all excellent but the original three tones are excellent except for their names (I get confused which is which!).

They supplement their dips and colour match well.

Talking of which, the spray/paint colour-matching is also very useful: I use the sprays alot.

All in all, I'm fairly satisfied with my purchase.

I don't bother with the matt spray, mind you: I used mine spraying some scenery. Dullcote is the better product IMHO though you have to be careful that s doesn't 'crackle' the Army Painter Dip (I've had a few failings with that).

John T