Contrast, Speed and Xpress paints on Smaller Figures

[Guy Farrish]

I paint figs, but I’m not a painter. In the same way sawing up wood, screwing it together and staining it to make my bookcases (30 something years ago and still going strong) doesn’t make me a carpenter.

Having said that, seeing that Pendraken is now selling the Vallejo Xpress range filled me with enthusiasm and I was working out what to buy when I suddenly thought…does this make sense with figures below 28mm?

Most of my armies, certainly the ones I am buying large numbers of figures for and adding to now, are 10mm and 6mm with a few 15mm and 2mm for good(?) measure.

I can see GW Contrast, Army Painter Speed, and Vallejo Xpress paints working with largish areas of the same colour on 25/28/32mm figs but I wonder about the effect on smaller figures.

Any experience out there? Logic suggests stick with current methods but I’m always open to evidence based change.

[Mike]

I have used GW Contrast on my 10mm undead for the bones with success.
I used normal paints for the weapons.

But for undead one coat is really all you need.
This unit is a mix of traditional paint/ink/drybrush and contrast.

[Mike]

Like you say, I suspect it could be too much faff if you are using 10 different contrasts on a single figure?

[Guy Farrish]

I was thinking this having just finished painting some 30 Years War Lt Cav and wondering if there was an easier way. (As I hinted, I paint to play, not play to paint).

Leon posting the note about availability of the Vallejo paints made my little heart skip, but then I thought of how many colours I use on these non standard (un)uniformed beasties and wondered if there was a point at this scale/size.

Yours look great, but then you are a painter.

Did the wizard/mage character get the same treatment?

[Mr. Average]

I have found Speed Paints useful for big blocks of color but they still need detailing, particularly at smaller scales. For my 6mm scale troops I have simply not been satisfied and prefer my usual three-layer process even though it’s much longer to do. For 3mm scale, I have found them very handy for basecoating, and for big block color schemes like camouflage, however, as well as for coloring bases.

[Mike]

Guy Farrish wrote:

Did the wizard/mage character get the same treatment?

Noooooo, that was about 4 hours of blending and mixing and doing it the old way.

It may be worth if for horses if you use many of them?

[Mr. Average]

The Army Painter speed paints I’ve found to be a little more stable to apply by the way – they don’t run as easily. So for example in the little infantry bases here I did the base first leaving the infantry white primed, then added their color second, and that worked well – the paint didn’t just go all over the place like a wash.

[Not Connard Sage]

Too much fannying about for 6mm. Block colour, ink wash, paint the detail bits (that one’s the ball ache). Repeat…forever.

…or do what I did, pay to have the damn things painted 🙂

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Steven Francis]

I have yet to cycle back around to 6mm/10mm as I am working though my 40k and Bardsung bits at the moment… But I think using the right colours of speed/contrast would covet the basecoat, shade and highlight of smaller models well and then you can derail on top. But I think it would only work well for low colour counts… So space marines… Good call as one armour colour, then detail. Imperial Guard… With the skin, uniform and all… Not so much…

But I have a back burner project of Epic orks and may try speed paints on them.

[Mr. Average]

Interesting that you mention Space Marines – I also think they’d be good candidates for contrast paints with their (usually) solid base color, but they definitely need highlighting, as a real “highlight” is not necessarily just a version of the base color with white showing through – take red for example, it generally works way better with orange highlights rather than pink. So it’s worth some thought and planning.

[Tony Hughes]

As I mostly use inks for washes I need to use quite weak washes to prevent the ink drying glossy. I wanted a stronger wash for some 6mm vehicles (really it should be called a glaze) and tried a mix of ink with matt medium (W&N stuff but I also got same results with Liquitex later) and it behaves just like they describe in the videos of this fancy, expensive stuff. I tried a similar method to tint the armour of some 6mm Sci-Fi power armour from Brigade Models and was very happy with the result. No problem with coats bleeding or running into following washes or paint.

It wasn’t much use for most of the infantry I painted but it worked well on some cloaks. Best effects were definitely on vehicles. I’m going to try it out on some 10mm in my next project and see if it speeds up painting some Arab units.

Might pick up some samples of the new Vallejo stuff at York as I need a restock of a few paints as well as a pre-order from Pendraken.

 

 

 

[Tony S]

I thought the same thing – that contrast paints were optimized for 28mm.  But I started using Contrasts for 15mm horses, was very, very played with the results.  I’ve begun using them for a most of the 15mm human figures now, and am pleased with the results overall.  However, the smaller details and flesh I still use traditional paints as there doesn’t seem to be enough surface area or relief for the Contrasts to really work in my opinion.

Haven’t tried it with 6mm, but I wasn’t too keen on the single 10mm figure I tried it on.  I went back to my usual 10mm black undercoat, and then paint as usual.

I was also very interested in Pendraken’s Vallejo announcement, and will try a few in my next order.

[Giles Dorrington]

10mm using a mix of contrasts and speed paints (plus some vallejo metal color). IMHO they’re actually better in the smaller scales as the lack of large surface areas eliminates staining and they’re easier to work with than normal acrylics (flow off the brush better and don’t require thinning). Only downside is they won’t always cover mistakes (depends on which one you’re using).

[Mike]

Is that all contrast type paints bar the metal?

 

[Giles Dorrington]

Not quite. I used Game Color Pale Yellow to pick out the wreath on the shield (needed something with decent coverage to go over the green) and the spear shafts are Scale 75 Inktense Wood. However, the metal is partially contrast; Aggaros Dunes or Basicanum Grey over Vallejo Metal Color Silver. Also I should point out that it’s all over a zenithal highlight, which helps with the contrast.

[Guy Farrish]

Thanks everyone.

I suspect the key to the outcome is the skill and effort involved rather than the materials used.

Good painters (see all above) get good results with any method.

It seems that Xpress paints can (somewhat counterintuitively) produce good results on 10mm, but whether there is any saving in time to achieve that finish is probably debatable.

In the interests of keeping the brain alive with new things however, I shall try them on some cavalry to start with and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

(NCS’s answer, while cheating, is feeling quite attractive as I move into 17th century eastern European armies with all those ****** horses and multi-coloured cavalrymen.)

[Not Connard Sage]

My excuse is that my eyes aren’t much cop these days. I can manage 28s, but anything smaller is tricky 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Guy Farrish]

My excuse is crap painting!

I have painted in so many different styles as they came down the track I am stuck in a horrible mish mash of black lined, white/black/grey/red undercoated, washed, block painted, highlighted, dry brushed, wet blended, shaded, inside out, light to dark styles. (Neatness – yeah, that’s another problem).

So the idea of painting one coat over a light undercoat is a siren song. Hearing that, yes, it does work, but you need to do all the other stuff as well, makes me wonder if I shouldn’t just go back to block painting in Humbrol enamel.

[Mike]

Guy Farrish wrote:

painting in Humbrol enamel.

You just want to get high on turps!!

😀

[Giles Dorrington]

One of my earliest modelling / gaming related memories is the taste of turps. When I was young I used to really like Cresta (a soft drink from the early ’70s). I used to keep my turps in an old Cresta bottle……I probably don’t need to draw you a diagram.

On the subject of contrast/speed paints and horse flesh a friend recommended a 50/50 mix of Army Painter Dark Wood and Hardened Leather speedpaints. I’ve tried it and it works very well.

[Not Connard Sage]

Giles Dorrington wrote:

One of my earliest modelling / gaming related memories is the taste of turps. When I was young I used to really like Cresta (a soft drink from the early ’70s). I used to keep my turps in an old Cresta bottle……I probably don’t need to draw you a diagram. .

Was it frothy man?

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Giles Dorrington]

The Cresta yes, the turps not so much (although probably better for your teeth).

[Steven Francis]

On Mr Averages point about the tone of highlights, different undercoats can have a big effect on the look of the speed paints… So use a pale yellow under red or green to get a more tonal highlight. Still not the control of layers/blending but worth keeping in mind… But it does mean it’s less speed if you have 4 different base colours first!

[OotKust]

Giles Dorrington wrote:

10mm using a mix of contrasts and speed paints (plus some vallejo metal color). IMHO ….

They’re amazing when you use the blown up photo… cheers d

[OotKust]

Guy Farrish wrote:

I paint figs, ,, Most of my armies, certainly the ones I am buying large numbers of figures for a…

C’mon Guy, aren’t you getting a bit old for buying heaps of new stuff..?

😉 dave

[Giles Dorrington]

Thanks. I’m really pleased with how they came out.

[Guy Farrish]

OotKust wrote:

Guy Farrish wrote:

I paint figs, ,, Most of my armies, certainly the ones I am buying large numbers of figures for a…

C’mon Guy, aren’t you getting a bit old for buying heaps of new stuff..? dave

Looking at burial at sea – think of them as ballast.

[Author]

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