Army Painter testing range....stand well back!

First of all, hello Carl! Welcome to my blog.

As promised in my last post I am now going to give you the results of my Army Painter new products test....with pictures! That said, the pics are not all that I would have wanted but they suffice; stupid camera. Here is a pic of how the figures used in the test come out using the tins of dip (Dark Tone as I think it works better with the lighter base colours than the brown Strong Tone) and the anti shine spray; my traditional method of choice. These are 28mm Wargames Factory plastic Marlburians (French) painted using Coat d'arm Light Grey for the coats.

Being tested are two of the new Warpaints range, the Dark Tone acrylic dip, actually labelled as an ink, and the Anti-Shine matt varnish in a bottle. Dip/ink first I think.

This is what the light grey looks like prior to any treatment.

Once completed, they were then coated with the dip/ink using a brush rather than being dipped; the bottle has one of those nipples that make it easy to dispense from drop at a time but not much use if you want to dip. Anyway, after a liberal coating and careful lifting off the excess with a brush they look like this....

The figure on the far right is from the traditionally painted group in the first picture. Note how much darker the new batch of figures are. I think these are a little too dark, the dip/ink is clearly not an exact match for the tin versions and the acrylic medium works quite differently to the oil based one. It could be watered down of course but then I find the stuff acts very differently again and the pigment tends to pool leaving a very patchy finish. Possibly, the dip/ink will lift a little when a paint on varnish is used leaving a lighter looking figure but, for me there are just a few too many 'if's' and 'possibly's' for my liking. The oil based dip leaves a better overall result and has not overly discoloured the base coat. For me it looks more like a dirtied white, as I feel French coats of the period should, rather than a definite grey that the dip/ink provides.

To be honest, I would much rather buy the Vallejo black acrylic dip. It is a Vallejo quality product, much better value and can actually be used as a dip. If the warpaint bottle was an exact colour match for the oil based tin I would be very happy, for me and my colour blindness issues colour consistency is everything. Sadly this is far from an exact match and therefore not so useful...a missed opportunity perhaps? Black Ink would have been a better name and description, Dark Tone is quite misleading. And who needs an ink if you are dipping the finished figures anyway?????

So what about the Anti-Shine matt varnish? The sprays were originally hailed as pure gold, a varnish that did what it said and gave a flat finish...and it did. Most of the time...almost most of the time....when it didn't do something stupid like blister the dip finish or 'frost over' leaving discoloured patches on the figures. The spray cannot be used indoors without causing hallucinations but outside the conditions must be 'Goldilocks' perfect, not too cold, not too hot...or damp...or if there is an 'R' in the month.... the list is every growing. And even if you did get perfect conditions the results could still be varied. The trouble was that if you used the oil based dips you needed the anti shine varnish; it was the key to everything. Ordinary matt varnishes could be used but were always variable in quality and finish anyway. None worked effectively over the oil dip.

When I saw that Army Painter had brought out a paint on version of the Anti Shine spray product I was quite excited, a product that would give the required finish and not rely upon fairy tale atmospheric conditions! But would it? Really?

Yep... it bloody well does too!

 

The figure on the right used the spray varnish...that actually worked for once...and on the left the one I used the battle varnish on. Almost no difference and both have a perfect flat finish. The sprayed on varnish has left a slight frosting on the black areas, only really noticeable once the painted version is placed next to it but even then only just. It is a little tricky to apply given that it is very shiny when wet and you are painting it on to a very shiny oil dipped figure, but it does actually work. After some minutes the finish was clearly flatter and as the varnish dried the flatter the finish looked. No hallucinations, no watching the weather channel to find a good day, no anxiety over risking your nicely painted figures to a random varnish event....just matt finished figures that were actually matt finished!

Big happy smiley face! :)

I then tried it out on some other figures I had been working on. These were coated in the oil based Dark Tone dip in the morning, left to become touch dry (about five hours or so on a hot day) and then varnished with the bottled stuff with a liberal but careful brush.

 

I have found that large areas of black do well with a highlight of  German Field Grey prior to dipping/applying Dark Tone. I think these Perry Napoleonic Brits have come out quite well, although I have to say that i really, really dislike the figures...although that particular dislike is for another day I think!

Army Painter stuff

This mornings shopping trip to Maidstone allowed me to top up on paint supplies (my wife allowed me to top up my paint supplies whilst out shopping). Games Workshop have had a major revamp of their paint ranges and I knew that 'No Mans Land' still had some of the older pots on special :-) I am a big fan pc their elf flesh for skin tone and bubonic brown for the nelts and straps on my WSS figures.

Whilst there I noticed a new display of Army Painter paints in the Vallejo style bottles rather than the sprays, some of these were previously available but only as expensive multi sets. Now you can get the spray colours and many others as good old fashioned paints for a reasonable £2.00 each. However, my eye was taken by the paint versions of the Army Painter dips and Anti Shine varnish...... fantastic! The dips appear to be acrylic versions but with the same depth and shade of colour; as for the varnish..... Could this be the answer to so many of our prayers....a truly matt varnish that will provide the same great finish as the spray but without the smell and other issues such as blistering or frosting? No idea yet but I am itching to try it. I have three Wargames Factory WSS figures finished using the dark tone oil dip and spray anti shine spray, and they look good even if I say so myself. I shall now finish three more using the new paint versions and post tbe results here for you to decide.
Isn't progress great :-)
I wonder if I will be so positive later?????

The danger of reading other peoples blogs

I, like most wargamers, made a pact with myself regarding new projects. I would not start something until I finished something.... Or at least made some headway. I have boxes of plastic hoplites and support troops still unopened, a pile of front rank marlburians (and some plastic ones too), a division of adler 6mm napoleonic french, pirates..... Well, you get the idea. Then I started reading other peoples blogs......... I was doing so well too.

It started with Posties Reject, Ray, and his wonderful battle reports of games using 'Beneath the Lily Banners', I have now scrapped my marlburian plans for Black Powder and reorganizing...and saving up for a set of the rules - £27.00, thats a full four unit brigade of plastic figures! This though, is merely a minor inconvenience when compared to the blog 'Hurry up and Wait', written by a Falklands war enthusiast. I have always had a leaning towards wargaming this conflict and this leaning has been turned into a full blown tilt. I found myself locating books and trawling the web for decent 28mm figures and equipment with that terrible vim and vigour known only to wargamers and crack addicts; A pact to control my wargaming??? Sorry mate, dont know anything about one of those, never mind, come a have a look at these Royal Marine figures....bring your wallet. Oh, and let me take that soul for you, you wont be needing that will you! 

Its all so very sad but also so very predictable.

Eight weeks and two and a half days to go!

Broadside is now ready to go, all bar the shouting anyway.

We have this week accepted our final trader and we now have three clubs on our waiting list! The only space we have left is in our Wargamers Flea Market, which has ten five foot round tables organised into two sessions, morning and afternoon. We have no idea if this system of bring and buy will work but, given the number of members we have to run the show and the problems of theft etc., it seemed a good idea. Broadside is nothing if not a steep learning curve and will see how things work out and deal with them accordingly for next year; which will be on 9th June 2013 btw. We think this system will also work well for the clubs at the show, lets wait and see. If any reader wants to take a table, let us know ASAP.

The organisation of the event is involved and not exactly cheap. We make use of every rectangular table at the venue, more than eighty, and have to hire in another eighty at no small cost. Add to this the cost of the venue itself, insurance, magazine adverts, flyers, postage, program printing and a hatful of other expenses that crop up all over the place and it is easy to see how new shows can take years to break even financially. We try to balance giving the all important traders a good deal to ensure their interest knowing that good traders attract the paying public...who we also charge a small entrance fee to encourage them to visit the traders...its all very chicken and egg. The trick is to organise the timing of income and expenditure as far as possible to ease the way. Don't run away with the idea that show organising clubs earn well out of these events even after a few years of running, it can all be very tight year on year. Then, as I have mentioned in an earlier post, the tax man is always there too.

So why do we do it? Part of it is down to the fact that we can get a show that is local to us, on our doorstep as it were. Part of it, if I am honest, is also to show off the Milton Hundred Wargames Club and attract new members. Yes, it is a long term plan and definitely not a get rich quick scheme....or evidence of my personal degree of bloody mindedness....It can also be bloody hard work and not a little frustrating, the Internet and its communication revolution just means that you can get headaches quicker as emails get lost a lot quicker than a physical letter!

So now the show is within sniffing distance. Our website has a full list of the traders and clubs attending and soon there will be hall plans to show you where everything will be. We have had a mention in Miniature Wargames along with a quarter page advert in the latest issue and a few forums and trader websites have us listed. More adverts are due in the run up to the event but we need to get the word out there to ensure Broadside can continue and grow....although not by too much as we have already reached full capacity for the venue!! Not bad for a show that has not even held its second event yet. We have scoured the area for larger venues but there is nothing even close so, if we can't get bigger we will just have to get better! We have asked the venue to drain the swimming pool for the day but, unbelievably, they have said no! I know, amazing. We did ask whether we could use the kiddies pool for remote control boats but, you've guessed it, they said no.

I look forward to seeing all my blog readers at Broadside, come over and say hi! Remember, it is closer than you think....10th June....still time to save those pennies.

Comparing Dips....

Despite the title of this post this is not going to be a close up of the MHWC members. No, this post is to compare the effects of the various painting dips available to us wargamers. I apologise for any disappointment.

The first part of this comparison will look at the three shades of dip available from Army Painter, the soft, strong and dark. These three all work in the same way of course, it really is just a case of the tone. These are oil based and quite thick, something that leads many to no small concern. Pushing a painted figure into this gloopy dip does take some bravery to begin with but with proper care and attention the results are worth it. However, much will depend upon which shade of dip you try as the results are quite different.

For ease of comparison I painted four of the same figure in exactly the same way using the same colours. The painting is very basic, just base colours blocked in. The picture below shows an undipped figure on the left followed to the right by the soft tone dip, strong tone and then dark tone.

Army Painter themselves suggest that strong tone should be the default dip of choice, and I can see why. It is the one I use for most things but much will depend upon personal choice and the type of figure you are painting; various colours will work better with different shades. In this picture it is quite clear that any shade will alter the base colours. The soft tone has done this with the minimum of shading. The strong tone (figure three) is very different. The colours have changed far more and there is a lot of shading, I think faces do very well with dip and look more natural. Figures with painted eyes just look odd and creepy. The dark tone dip on the far right is very different. The grey base colour has masked some of the shading but kept a degree of depth, it looks a little less 'dirty' perhaps than the strong tone figure. Army Painter suggest that the soft tone is better used on predominantly light coloured figures, Napoleonic Austrians or 18th C. French etc. I can see the logic of that for the uniform colour but I prefer the definition that the other colours provide. So I tried the dark tone on white to see what happened.

The next picture compares the strong and dark tone. I should point out that the red used is different on both figures. The Marlburian figure on the left used the Army Painter pure red spray, the other figure a basic bright red from my paint box. Sorry, doesn't help I know, but it is the white bit I am looking at.

 

Now I do not think that the dark tone dip on the white of this Black Scorpion Marine looks too bad at all. In fact, I would be tempted to use that rather than the strong tone I normally favour in these cases. Imagine though, the initial concern of plunging your nicely painted white figure into what looks like black paint; a bit of a worry until you see the results. I should stress here that I do dip my figures and then spend some time...and a lot of energy...shaking the dip off in an even and controlled manner; not the 'shake three times and you're done' method suggested by Army Painter. 

I am not at all sure that the more brown coloured strong tone would have worked half as well on the marine figure. It does work very well on the more red based Marlburian though whereas the dark tone may have been to bold. This example shows well how the choice of dip can be dependant upon the figure colour and possibly be counter-intuitive too.

The next picture compares the Army Painter strong tone with the Vallejo acrylic dip, the sepia shade in this case. 

It would appear that there is not much difference between the two, at least to me but I am somewhat colour-blind of course. I am told that the acrylic dip is slightly darker, and provides a better degree of shading too. To my somewhat curious sight the acrylic dip has a greenish tint to it, but I am again told that this is not really so. The Vallejo dip does cover well and also provides a good mix of shade and tone; it is also far cheaper, smells better and being acrylic cleans up better too. I also find that brushing on varnish does not lift this dip and can be applied very quickly. This means that you can get a crack on and not wait for days whilst things cure off and dry sufficiently. One important issue to remember however, is that the Army Painter dip works best when varnished with the Anti-Shine varnish spray. The dipped figures look awful as the oily dip dries but transform marvellously once sprayed. The dip also seems to provide some protection too, a bit like a coat of gloss varnish. You do not get that with the acrylic dip.

This next picture shows a selection of figures painted with the acrylic dip. Again, basic paint job of block colour only.

I think these have come out quite well with relatively little work. The acrylic dip has been painted on

rather than dipped. It even works well with monsters!

 

So, has this post been of any use to you, dear reader? Let me know, I would love to hear your views.

 

Blogging from my mobile phone

It seems that I can now add posts to my blog from my mobile phone...how cool is that?
If I happen to be at a show, shop, club...or even the loo, I can post items of wargame interest there and then.
Ah, the wonders of our modern age! I wonder how often I will actually remember I ca do it?

A blog worth watching

Millwall Mark came across this talented guy on ebay and told me to have a look at what he does. We were both very impressed indeed and followed the thread to take us to his own blog site.

Paul designs and molds wargame buildings in a range of scales and sells them for sensible prices, he even does a whole street of buildings with roads! His river side and bridge model is brilliant, and the guy will even work to a commision.

I really think this is a blog worth watching http://modbuildings.blogspot.co.uk, along with his ebay items; robertco100

I have invited him to attend Broadside as a trader, something he seems eager to do, so you will all be able to see his models for yourselves and pick up something that will grace your wargames table without damaging your pocket!