"Army Painter Wet Palette problems" Topic

I have been using a home made wet palette from a small, airtight food storage box, some sponge and baking parchment for the last few months. The only two problem I had was that it was far too small – just a proof of concept – so I took the plunge and bought a proper one – the standard sized version from Army Painter. And so far I am very disappointed.

It doesn't keep the paint in a constantly usable state – even within a session it is drying out and by the next morning it is has dried almost beyond repair. A second problem is that the paper seems to break down quickly and go rather fibrous, like tissue paper, further affecting the paint usability and passing paint colour through to the sponge.

Given the problem with the paint drying out, I'm now keeping the sponge much wetter than I did with the home made version but since there is no seal this doesn't seem to make much difference.

Am I missing something and using it wrong (quite likely as I'm new to this) or is this just not a very good palette?

Midlander,

I use a Redgrass Games Wet Palette, and am generally pleased with it. It does have a seal which allows the sponge to retain moisture. It comes in two sizes.

But many professional miniature painters I've spoken to reflect your comments concerning the paper, and most prefer a good quality baking parchment. Are you seeing paint stains on your sponge? If so, the paper is indeed breaking down.

As we all find out, using a wet palette takes a lot of trial and error, especially regarding moisture. Too much, and the paint thins out to a wash, and too little, the paints dry out too quickly. Different types and brands of paper and sponges have their own characteristics in this regard. Changing brands can restart that learning curve.

Good luck.

Reach out to the maker. Share your issues with them. See what they share in response. Cheers!

Thanks for the responses.

I looked at the Redgrass palette and thought it looked a better design but my local hobby shop stocked the Army Painter version and I thought I'd better support them rather than Amazon or there soon won't be any local hobby shops. I also assumed there wouldn't be much difference. Maybe a bad choice in this case.

It is an obvious idea and I don't know why I didn't think of directly contacting Army Painter. I'll give that a try and report back.

I found what looks like a Petri dish with a screw top in the glass wares aisle at Hobby Lobby (IIRC). It's about 4 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches thick with the lid on. I used a cheap household sponge cut to size and parchment paper. I keep the water about one half to one quarter inch from the top of the sponge. Haven't had any issues.

I also have the Army Painter wet palette, and my experience with it is similar to Midlander's. I will say that it is a definite improvement over a dry palette and the paint stays wet and usable, but it doesn't keep overnight, which is a little disappointing, but not show-stopping. I now prefer using it over the dry palette, unless I'm only painting one small item and I'm using a tiny amount of paint.

Stay away of AK wet palette as it never closes and paint gets dry in a couple of hours. I went to the store and change it for a new one and it happened the same. They do not work.

I use the Masterson Sta-Wet Handy Palette; the medium size available at Dick Blick for around $20. USD

link

It doesn't keep paints dry forever, but I can open it up a week later and add a little acrylic thinner and the paint is good to go.

This link YouTube link
From Hobby Cheating may have some useful advice. I have an Army Painter wet palette but have not used it yet. I am curious to see what my experience will be.