"Army painter dips " Topic

I'm having trouble with thinning the army painter tins. I have used them for quite a while and always had to throw half the tin away as it becomes too thick. The tin says thin with mineral turpentine. I have used white spirit and turps substitute to no effect. It does thin it down, but within a couple of days there seems to be some chemical reaction and the dip goes very thick with ‘lumps' in it – which ends up being thrown away

Has anyone else had this problem. I spoke to AP and they say that mineral turpentine or white spirits does the trick – but not in my experience

thanks
Simon

I gave up with Army Painter dip for just this reason. Throwing away half a tin, which had cost me £18.00 GBP or so, was never going to work with me and my genetic tightfisteness! I use my own 'Magic Wash', which costs a few pounds for a litre or so, brushes wash out with water, I can tailor the colour to the base coat and it doesn't dry up.

If you like the consistency of the Army Painter stuff, consider trying Minwax Polyshades polyurethane. It's basically the same substance at one third of the price. I've used various Minwax Polyshades colors for years with great results. At the price I rarely feel bad about pitching the leftovers when the can gums up.

I have used the mineral turpentine to thin my army painter and have not had a problem for at least five years. One must stir thoroughly when the turpentine is added…you don't have to add much to thin it.

Remember to turn the tin upside down when not in use to prevent a skin from forming and to prevent any lumpiness.

I have tried all of the the suggested alternatives and I find they don't quite give the same effect. It is a great product.

Use Future clear floor wax, mix in some Sepia & Black India inks,(to however brown or dark brown you want & may as well put in some acrylic clear matte base paint while your at it, to take out the shine of the wax) & voila! I've been doing it this way for about 20 years.
Peter
board2deathterrain.com

$3 USD Minwax woodstain from Walmart works just as well…it's actually the same thing.

I would like for someone to give me their actual mixing formula. I have been using Future and inks for years, and a jar will last for a very long time, but I dread making it as it takes forever to get the consistency right.

I've been using the brown Soft Tone and Strong Tone Inks in the eye droppers. How many figures are we talking about, though?

I used Minwax on some figures about 20 years ago. They still stink.

I use minwax polyshades on nearly all my figs. Not sure about stink, as none of mine smell.

Note that Army Painter Quickshade is NOT the same as regular minwax stain. Army painter is stain PLUS polyurethane. Poly is what lets it settle in interesting ways and creates the "shade" effect. The corresponding product to AP Quickshade is Minwax Polyshades or some other stain-plus-Polyurethane product.

I've thinned a can with mineral spirits before with no adverse effects, but as folks have said it's so cheap that it doesn't matter if a can goes bad.

I've got a full tutorial along with Polyshade/Quickshade replacements here: link

I used Minwax until the Future thing. I like Future because it's water based for clean up & it smells pretty good too!
The Beast Rampant, I just use pretty much 3 parts Sepia to 1 part black. Sometimes I want it browner, sometimes blacker. So I just add more or either. I just mix it when needed. I never keep the leftover. No need to, it's so damn cheap!

3 parts sepia to i part black but how many parts Future? And do you cut the Future with water and if so how much water?

I don't cut the Future with anything & I use about 1/2 inch of Future in a small vessel, maybe 2.5 or 3 inches in diameter. Geeze, I really just guess, I reckon! I've never seen the need to make it exactly the same every time. Though one brilliant thing about this is, if it's too dark,(which happened to me, just tonight) just wash off your mini with water add some more Future to your pot & re-apply. It's more or less a "up to you" thing here. It is forgiving though! Like I said, if it's too dark, as long as you act within a few minutes, it washes completely off. Make small batches to start with, to get a feel for it.

A couple of thoughts. Turpentine (not White/Mineral spirit or Turps substitute) has worked for me with AP dip. Also using a 'milk frother' – battery operated hand whisk used for making milky coffee is great for mixing the dip and getting it to a regular consistency. I prepare a small jar of thinner to dip the whisk into as soon as it has been used, spin it a few times and it gets rid of the residue.

I also use AP water based washes, and have used Future (Klear, here in the UK, as was) in the past. Future is much more like a water based wash. It does not 'stick' like a Poly based product. Both can work well.

3 parts sepia to i part black but how many parts Future? And do you cut the Future with water and if so how much water?

You can cut the future with up to 50% water and it will still work. I don't water mine down at all.

As for ratios, for a strong wash I do 10 drops of black and 20 drops of sepia in 30 ml of future. A "drop" from a pipette or dropper bottle tends to be about 1/20th of a ml, so 30 drops is 1.5ml so 20:1 future to ink. Cut it back to make it weaker. Experiment with the ratio of black and sepia. Try other brown inks. For mostly plate armour, I like to add a bit more black and then do 10 blue ink drops instead of 20 sepia. So many options.

You can cut the future with up to 50% water and it will still work.

Sheesh, I think I cut mine to about 75% water and I have no problems. Bought the bottle about 3 years ago and have probably a decade left of use with it. Like everyone says, experiment. Since it is water based you can't really screw up too badly. If too dark just wash it with water. It's a very forgiving medium.

And best of all, the figures are dry in a few minutes (even at my higher dilution).

I use a bottle of cheap white spirit. Never had any problems. Great product and works so well I gave up on future mixes and never investigated alternative spirit based products.

Army Painter works as I want it to. Recommended

I've had the thickening problem before with AP dips and didn't manage to save what was left. The latest two tins I have on the go, I store upside down. Both tins are about half way through and so far no thickening….If I manage to get through these 2 tins with no issues I'll post on this board.