Topic: Substitute paints

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

Perhaps you should consider it an opportunity to look for cheaper (non-GW) alternatives.

This could be an excellent opportunity to start a post on effective substitutes.

Here is a start: https://www.hiveworldterra.co.uk/Article/view_CoatDArmsConversionChart.html

[ZeroTwentythree]

There's also this conversion chart listing paint from Coat D'arms, Vallejo, PP, Reaper (master) and Citadel -- though I think the latter is slightly outdated by now:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart


In the past 5 years or so, I've been using more of the big bottles of craft store paint. I think the quality of some of them has gone up since I first tried them many years ago. I've mostly been buyin Americana brand, from local stores, the quality seems more consistent than the other brand they carry (forget the name.) I still run into occasional bottles of paint with poor coverage, but even if I throw away one out of every 10-20 bottles, I still ending up spending far less for much more paint.

I've also started buying empty bottles and mixing up my own colors using these. I can pre-mix a large bottle of "in-between" shades and speed up my painting. Like this:

[Victor]

Haven't tested those yet, but they look decent:

Warcolours:
http://www.warcolours.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60

PS.: Fidelis, I don't think I have ever seen you post a picture of a painted miniature in all those years. Do you have anything to show? 

[Mightymatt88]

I've been starting to use Vallejo colours more on my models, you can pick them up pretty cheaply at Wargames and Figure shows (I think the last 4 pots cost me about £2 each) and the two ranges, Model Color and Game Color provide a fairly extensive range of colours. Consistency-wise, they tend to be a bit thinner than GW paints, but that's by no means a bad thing.

I'm sure others have more experience with them though. Just my two cents.

[Doc J]

Ive been using a mix of GW, Vallejo and 50 cent walmart bottles and it works for me well enough, I sometimes prefer the 50 cent stuff because it gives me a flat color that I prefer for cloth. The guy at my local hobby store turned me on to vallejo last month and I prefer it to GW, Ive been meaning to expand my color range. I find that walmart paint gives good results when used with GW washes. The flat color on alot of my models is walmart paint. Does Vallejo make washes?

[ZeroTwentythree]

I've never tried them, but they do have washes and inks in their Game Color range, as well as some Washes (not sure if it's the same type) in their Model Color range.

Washes are the one last thing I still buy from GW. I love them.

[Shadespyre]

I still mostly use Citadel - in fact, mostly the previous range which I bought up loads of when they changed. I've used some of the Americana range that 023 mentions, variable quality but so are all paint ranges I've tried. I also like Humbrol acrylics, while my friend swears by the Foundry paint system and its colour triads.

Washes and Chaos Black spray are the two GW products I'll struggle to give up buying new...