"Do people like paint sets?" Topic

I've just seen the WWII paint sets that Army Painter will be selling at Salute and it dawned on me that I've never purchased a set like this. The idea behind the AP set is that it is everything you need to paint a WWII Brit or German uniform for example. Their paints are great and they are a great company to deal with, but I'm reluctant to buy a set like this. I'm not convinced their colour choices would be the same as mine, especially when it comes to matching base colours to highlights. I also enjoy the part of the painting process where I pick my colours and I sometimes make changes early on if I don't like the look. Most tutorials I watch by great painters all tend to mix and match Citadel, AP and Vallejo to find the best combinations. I expect there is a price break ordering sets as opposed to individual pots which is good, and it is definitely a good thing for beginners who want a bit of guidance on colour schemes. Who likes paint sets like this and why? Sell me on the concept.

I sell quite a lot of sets. I think gamers like the option of one-click for a given need. Many gamers, like me, appreciate making it simple.

I'm starting WW2 Germans. Give me a set with the right feldgrau etc. Same reason I loved Flames of War packaging – a platoon in a box. No working out how many packs and what to do with extra figures…

But if sets are not for you that's just how it is

I like them if I don't have many of a company's paints. They fill gaps quickly but eventually I get single bottles to avoid dupes.

I bought a set of Vallejo horse colors. I thought I'd let them get it right for me.

Not really.

I buy paints for perceived specific needs. Sets always have about 10%-20% colors I know I'll never use.

That said, when I discovered the Walmart craft paints, the ones that used to be 97 cents each, I bought 1 of each shade they had of brown, gray and green, knowing I'd end up using all of them at some point or other.

I've purchased a set which covered WWII German armor colors, and that worked out well for me. Troublesome in that they aren't all used at the same rate and I couldn't buy individual replacements, but this happens.

If you want to set me off on a rant, talk about paint companies remaking their entire line so I can't tell what the replacement bottle will be called, or even if they still make that color.

I buy individual bottles, but then I'm not doing historical period work.

I don't, but I see the appeal for certain applications or gamers.

I use paint set for some projects, but not for all projects. I do like sets when I'm starting a specific era that I'm not too certain about what the right colors ought to be. I still follow the original paint scenarios for the Vallejo sets for many of my WWII 15mm figures and just re-buy when I run out. For vehicles and such, I'll normally go with individual colors.

I tried a couple, but both had colours I've never used, so I won't buy them again.

Yes I do. Many sets over the years. Partha, Vallejo, AK, Howard Hues, Army Painter and a few others.

Thanks.

John

Depends. Huge mega sets, no. However AK and Scale 75 have some good ones for things like wood etc. those I've bought

Never bought one as they do them for the periods or lines that I paint.
If they did, I would likely buy one.

As a seller, it is a mixed bag. I sell both individual and sets. The AFV are a better seller than planes or uniforms.

I buy bottles or "pots" as I need them.
If I buy sets, there will inevitably be stuff that I won't use all that much.
I'm gonna need some horse colors very soon, but I won't need sets that throw in Green. I have plenty of Greens already. I need horse colors.

The problem with sets is that if there is one color you already have or one that you would never use, then the value proposition of a set is gone

For WW2, Vallejo have traditionally the best base colors – AK seems to be duplicating those colors

For highlights, the tradition is to mix in something like Iraqi sand (Vallejo), so if the set doesn't have a clear highlight mix in like that, you still need to research and buy something else

WW2 colors are usually pretty accurate, which means, that you should really use a lighter tone as a base, due to the scale effect, or a desire to wash after base coat

John

@John the OFM

Horse colors can be a matter of opinion, like flesh tones – I like a lot of variation. Also, getting Bay correct with black legs, mane and tail has a bigger impact than selecting a precise color

Bays and chestnuts are much more orange than most people think. Vallejo orange brown is a good starting point. Can be darkened (German camo dark brown is a classic) or desaturated a little with Grey

Blacks are really very dark brown (sometimes blue is for a cold color)

Greys vary between dark Grey and warm white

Fancy coloring is usually combination of of other colors

John

Oh, I'll be getting the very same horse colors I'm using now. Mostly Contrast paints. But still using some Craft Paint.
I have Comanches, Spanish Cuera dragoons, 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, a few British Legion, Texas Rangers and lots of "empty horses" to do.
Up to now, I've been primarily priming.

Oh, and *2* Headless Horsemen.

I purchased all the AK sets for German Infantry including the 3 different sets for SS camouflage. I think they would be better on 20 & 28mm but I've used them on 15mm figures.

I've never bought one, I just buy individual pots.

I've never bought one of those "dedicated" sets that purport to contain every paint you need to paint WWII bersaglieri or whatever. Mostly, perhaps, because I mostly game periods where standardized uniforms aren't a thing.

I did buy a set of AP washes once, but that was because I wanted the then-new red/green/blue/purple washes, that were only available in a set at the time. I ended up with duplicates of dark/strong/soft tone for my impatience.

Also bought Andrea and Foundry sets of skin tones; I wanted to extend the range of skin tones I had available, and figured this was a relatively cheap way of doing so. Not sure that worked out, really, as a decade on I still don't think I've actually used all of them, but on the other side I couldn't have told you in advance just which I'd end up using, so if I'd bought indivudal pots I mights well have ended up with unused ones anyway.

But I think those three are the only ones I've bought in some three decades in the hobby, so clearly I'm not much of a paints sets buyer.

Like some of you, I started painting miniatures with enamels. I started with Testors because I didn't know better. Floquil and Humbrol followed. They did well enough for my limited block style of painting for 15mm Napoleonics and WW II figures. In the ‘80s I started noticing acrylics.
Long story shortened, I have embraced acrylics. About ten years ago I started buying individual bottles of Vallejo and Army Painter to continue with the WW II figures. I was very happy with how they worked. Then I discovered contrast paints and speed paints. Then I decided to make the plunge and get rid of my old bottles and tins of enamels, and go full acrylic.
I bought one of the Army Painter Speed Paint sets to supplement what random acrylics that I already had. Then I tried an Army Painter Fanatic color. Oh my. Recently I bought a Fanatic Mega Set to totally expel enamels and be the basis of my color assortment. I have also bought additional single bottles of Fanatics to fill in some gaps. I will probably purchase the soon to be released Fanatic set for US WW II colors.
I am very happy with the sets I have bought. The other non "historical uniform" colors included in the sets are still very useful for my sci-fi figures, as well as terrain pieces. I am very glad I eliminated enamels and very pleased with the paint sets.

Horse colors can be a matter of opinion, like flesh tones – I like a lot of variation.

I feel the same about uniform colours. There is no such thing as two uniform pieces that are the same colour khaki.

It's interesting that up close, it is harder to discern colour differences, especially if you do something like put a much darker or lighter coloured belt, strap, etc. between the pieces. But at TTGW arm's length, it is easier to see the colour variation across multiple people.

We loose some of this awareness through photography and especially digital photography as the chemical process and the digitization/(and heavily the)compression process tend to nomalize colours in photos.

Example: (Of course, I have never done this, but I have seen it.) In the modern USN, haze grey paint is a staple. You need and use tons. It is annoying that someone else might come to borrow or trade for some from you, because it shows the other person just really can't plan. I have heard (never done!) that if you put a small ammount of blue striping in a five gallon can and a small ammount of red striping in another, when used, up close it is not noticeable. But from the end of the pier, when the capitan shows up, he will see pink and baby blue stripes on his ship. This is supposed to deter people from borrowing haze grey.

So, I don't expect uniforms to be exactly the same, figure to figure and don't strive for that.

I used to get model kits that came with their own paint, so you had the right colours. And I know some people who use WH40K paint kits and have some very awesomely striking results … I have a feeling that they would have equally striking results if they were crushing berries and plants to make their own pigments, then mixing their own paints. I also have a feeling that a paint kit wouldn't help me.

From what I have stocked in the past, Howard Hues had the best Horse colors and flesh colors.
I had long talks with the owner in the 1980s when his booth was next to mine.
Soon afterwards he began a long process of finding someone to sell his range to and he was successful.

Too many sets include black and white. Not only do I already own multiple bottles of black and white, but I don't use them all that much. I'd rather use a very dark brown, or a light grey/light tan. And so look to buy individual bottles rather than sets.

There is a recent trend to have notable painters create paint sets of "missing" colors. I'm much more interested in sets like these.

I have bought several sets.