Quick question guys.
What paints do you use to paint large terrain structures? Obviously you don't get enough in a small pot of miniature paint.
Was looking at just getting some acrylic based stuff from Hobby Craft or some other place, but was wondering if anyone has any experience using anything else?

Matt

I tend to use this 'Crawford and black' stuff found at the works (and probably other discount art/book shops)

http://www.theworks.co.uk/c/art-supplies/acrylic-paints

They do a 2 for £5 deal on the 200ml tubes and it its pretty decent to work with (although it does smell a bit like what i can only describe as wet dog whilst it dries )

I've also bought similar stuff from WH Smith which was also pretty good.

The only stuff I'd steer clear of is the little tubes that come in the sets (as seen on the site above) as the pigment tends to separate a bit if you thin them out and I've had them peel off altogether in the past!

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Another variable is gloss. Some arts paints seem to dry a satin finish.

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

If it's really large, I go to a paints shop and simply buy a liter of matt wall paint in the color I want.
White, black and brown is great (o:

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Sweet. I have a "Works" in town, I will pop in and see what they have got.

Matt

This depends on how large you mean by large and on the type of surface and material.

Regular painting: mix you own from poster paint and PVA. Buy a large container of cheap craft PVA white glue (hobbycraft tend to price gouge a lot of stuff, i dunno about PVA from them, but it is a very cheap thing to buy in general ~2£/ltr). Then add in a mix of colours from cheap kid's craft paint. Add a small amount of water to change consistency as needed. Vary ratio of paint to PVA depending on the material surface and it's colour.

The PVA base will mean it cover shiny plastics and polystyrene (thought dark over white poly tends to leave some streaks, best to do 2 coats). It's also very very cheap (as cheap as bulk PVA glue). You can also add sand, sawdust, etc into the mix for a textured terrain paint. Mix it all up in a wide jam jar so you can get a decent size brush in there.

If it is very large and needs a consistent flat finish you can use spray paint (assuming it isn't made of polystyrene). Very fast, good for large things and large things with lots of fine detail or holes that would slow down fast painting with a large brush.

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Hey Apoc,

I have used kids craft paint in the past for large 40k structures, but after a while the paint would crack and peel off even with PVA and several layers of varnish on top :/

Just working out the best way of painting my large amounts of Epic buildings (with more to come from Wastelands Kick Starter) over the next few months.

Matt

Just got mine. They are very nice. I am planning on doing mine with my airbrush.

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

I can vouch for airbrushing FW buildings in a paint happy methodology. Believe it or not you can actually filter cheap hobby acrylic paint and add airbrush thinner. Hell, I've even done that with a few select GW paints believe it or not. If you don't have a rig I'm not suggesting going out and buying one but I'm not saying that it's unreasonable to tell the missus, "I NEED one" either

Having hand painted some resin buildings before I cannot stress how much a good primer is needed, even more than on metal or hard plastic otherwise the paint will rub and peel over time. You might want to consider some colored primers from like Tamyia or Army Painter regardless.

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Base coat (spray) black then dry brush with larger brush various shades of grey, tan, etc. ... then detail ... see here - http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Legion4 ... 5826482678

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Looking good Legion. Did you still use miniature style paints or another product?

Matt

Airbrush all the way mate. Even a cheap single action airbrush can take a small pot of paint a long way!

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Maybe in a few months, can't really afford an airbrush at the moment.

Yep, just used standard model spray, brush, etc. ... Thanks !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

Can of spray (wash resin first). I know airbrushes are amazing, I just can't face learning to use one. When painting terrain tables in the past I went to B&Q and got them to mix a 'small' pot of the appropiate colour up (goblin green or whatever) and slap that on.