Post by Paul P. on Oct 1, 2012 11:22:44 GMT -5
Hi all because at heart im an oily and as such would only use Winsor and newton, i thought i would do a test of various different makes of acrylics and see which i prefered. Now you ardent acrylic people out there will already have decided which you prefer so this was mainly for my own benefit and for perhaps some others that are thinking of changing.
I tested paints from the top end, cost wise, to the cheapest i could get, and looked for
1 price
2 value
3 ease of use
4 finish
5 blending
6 drying time
The ranges i looked at are
1 Vallejo
2 Life colour
3 Gouche
4 Artiste
5 G.W
6 Boldmere
Starting with Vallejo, obviously a choice, and very popular, with a lot of modellers, not cheap at about £18.00 for a set of 6, excellent coverage and dries within a few minutes, i found them quite difficult to blend and one colour came out a different shade straight from the bottle. but dried to a very matt finish
Life colour. these retail at about £15.99 for a set of 6, the only set i have is the skin tone set. These went on well with good coverage and consistant colour and the drying time of about 3 to 4 mins meant that there was time to blend the paint. They dried to a flat matt and i really liked the finish.
G.W now i got mine from a local toy shop and i thought they were expensive at £2.55 for a small bottle, certainly less paint than the Vallejo or life colour. it went on well with also a decent drying time, approx 4 mins, this will depend on how thin you have the paint, mine was about milk cosistancy. these also dried to a matt finish
Gouche, these come in either a pot or a tube and are not a bad price at £2.00 for a large pot. drying time was very quick but on some colours I.E red dried to a sheen which can be annoying, they covered well but i found them difficult to blend mainly because of the drying time.
Atriste, i got these from "The Range" and are £1,25 for a bottle twice the size of the others. They cover very well and dry in about 4 mins to a matt finish in all colours. they also blend very easily.
The last one is Boldmere, i bought these from "The Works" and are about the cheapest on the market. A set of 24 tubes was £3.00. They dry fairly transparent and take a lot of coats to get a block colour, i also found that applying a coat on top of a dry coat sometimes removed the lower coat, Again they dried to a matt finish in about 4 mins and were easily blended.
All in all there isnt a great deal of difference in the paint at the top end apart from price. In my own personal opinion and as a Newby to acrylics i will use the Artiste range, unless my family buy me the Vallejo or life colour
, they are great value and do the job just as well and have a fantastic range of colours, perhaps not for the tanky modellers, but definately for figurists.
I tested paints from the top end, cost wise, to the cheapest i could get, and looked for
1 price
2 value
3 ease of use
4 finish
5 blending
6 drying time
The ranges i looked at are
1 Vallejo
2 Life colour
3 Gouche
4 Artiste
5 G.W
6 Boldmere
Starting with Vallejo, obviously a choice, and very popular, with a lot of modellers, not cheap at about £18.00 for a set of 6, excellent coverage and dries within a few minutes, i found them quite difficult to blend and one colour came out a different shade straight from the bottle. but dried to a very matt finish
Life colour. these retail at about £15.99 for a set of 6, the only set i have is the skin tone set. These went on well with good coverage and consistant colour and the drying time of about 3 to 4 mins meant that there was time to blend the paint. They dried to a flat matt and i really liked the finish.
G.W now i got mine from a local toy shop and i thought they were expensive at £2.55 for a small bottle, certainly less paint than the Vallejo or life colour. it went on well with also a decent drying time, approx 4 mins, this will depend on how thin you have the paint, mine was about milk cosistancy. these also dried to a matt finish
Gouche, these come in either a pot or a tube and are not a bad price at £2.00 for a large pot. drying time was very quick but on some colours I.E red dried to a sheen which can be annoying, they covered well but i found them difficult to blend mainly because of the drying time.
Atriste, i got these from "The Range" and are £1,25 for a bottle twice the size of the others. They cover very well and dry in about 4 mins to a matt finish in all colours. they also blend very easily.
The last one is Boldmere, i bought these from "The Works" and are about the cheapest on the market. A set of 24 tubes was £3.00. They dry fairly transparent and take a lot of coats to get a block colour, i also found that applying a coat on top of a dry coat sometimes removed the lower coat, Again they dried to a matt finish in about 4 mins and were easily blended.
All in all there isnt a great deal of difference in the paint at the top end apart from price. In my own personal opinion and as a Newby to acrylics i will use the Artiste range, unless my family buy me the Vallejo or life colour
, they are great value and do the job just as well and have a fantastic range of colours, perhaps not for the tanky modellers, but definately for figurists.
