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cheap acrylic paints for terrain

Discussion in 'General Hobby/Tabletop Chat' started by Aginor, Mar 11, 2017.

  1. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Hey y'all!
    With my army nearing the point I want to get to, I am putting some thought into terrain building.
    I do know a bit about terrain building from my brother who builds model train terrains, and of course from some of the great tutorials on YouTube.

    Now I wondered:
    Should I really use my expensive army painter colors for painting the large areas of dirt, sand, snow, rocks, and stone walls on terrain pieces, or should I just get a few cheap colors.


    I saw paints like these on Amazon:

    https://www.amazon.de/Reeves-Acrylfarbe-75ml-Umbra-gebrannt/dp/B00871A35G


    Price comparison:
    Army painter Brown color: 2,70€ for 18ml
    Reeves Brown acrylic color: around 4€ for 75ml

    Does anyone here have experience with those? Are they sufficient for that purpose? What are their downsides?

    Edit: note that those aren't even the cheapest ones. Boesner sells acryllic paints, 500ml bottles for 7€.
     
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  2. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    Honestly I use dollar store paints for terrain projects, I might use a bit of the expensive model paint for touchups or small patches of a certain colour.
     
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  3. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Ok Thanks. I will give it a try I guess. :D
     
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  4. Padre
    Stegadon

    Padre Well-Known Member

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    For me, it depends on the project. Smaller projects are fine with wargaming paints, but for large areas, I'd try to use cheaper acrylics. Hobby Lobby sells 3 oz bottles of paint for under a dollar and they work fine for most projects.
     
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  5. Jorgik
    Carnasaur

    Jorgik Well-Known Member

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    It it´s wargaming terrain and not for a diorama then definitely go the cheap route. Also. the acrylic paints for model-painting are specifically designed to do so, and might not be that good at covering very large areas like terrain could be in one coat
     
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  6. pendrake
    Skink Priest

    pendrake Well-Known Member

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    What you want is craft paint. But, I have no idea if such is available in the € zone.

    @Aginor
    [​IMG]
    ...these are what to use for terrain.

    59ml for less than a € per bottle; in the US they are generally less than a $ per bottle, which is even less than a Euro.

    (Acrylic paint from tubes is for artists that want to paint on canvas or murals or panels. That stuff is thick enough to spread with a knife. It is similar to oil paint.)
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2017
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  7. Boboassa
    Saurus

    Boboassa Active Member

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    You might go even cheaper then that! The terrain doesn't need the paint quality thet models require because you have to cover larger surfaces and small imperfections aren't a big deal...
     
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  8. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    I would recommend buying some cheep large brushes to go with it.
    Often terrain textures can be rough on your nice brushes.
     
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