Tools of the Trade: Broken Toad Kolinsky Sable Brushes

The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why.

Mr Olivander. Harry Potter. The Philosophers Stone.

Choosing a paint brush is a very personal affair one that isn't always dictated by logic. The Windsor & Newton series 7 brushes widely considered to be the finest example of brush manufacture is a brush that I've never got along with. Every W&N Series 7 I have bought has come with a split tip that no amount of brush soap or wax has been able to correct. My preferred brush is the Raphael 8404 (the one with the orange tip) but a worrying change in their manufacture has forced me to look just what is out there. 

I've used a few different companies brushes but today I'd like to throw the light on a set of brushes I stumbled on in my research - Broken Toad Kolisky Sable Brushes. These brushes range from sizes No. 3/0 to No.2 and are priced from £4 to £4.50. I'd argue the most common brushes you'd use are the N0.1 & No.0 - a cross comparison with the Raphael's range reveals a saving of £6.71 (not including the price of postage). This is a significant saving (you can buy another Broken Toad Brush for that) but are you compromising on the quality?

Being a completist I decided to buy the entire set. 

Each brush is individually packaged with plastic ferrules protecting the brush itself. Each brush also comes with a very helpful guide on how to protect your brushes. This is excellent advice for those who have never given a thought to brush care before. The last point is arguable but I happen to agree with it. It makes sense to me to store the brush bristles down in the ferrule so that no water runs into the metal part of the brush, loosening the binding material.

Opening the brushes reveals bristles that come to a pleasing point. The hair is very soft and retains its shape under moderate use. The bristles aren't as robust as the Raphael's and do not hold the shape when you make stabbing motions with them (like getting into hard to reach holes between chainmail). I feel that the Broken Toad Brushes were designed to the push and pull technique, whereby paint is pulled over a surface to create a smooth blend. 

Because of the quality of the brushes you can use No.0 and even No.1 for fine detail tasks like painting eyes or gems. The end stays sharp even after vigorous use. However I feel to get the best out of these brushes you must use a different size for different tasks. The Raphael 8404 can be used for a vareity of tasks and I fell into the bad habit of using the No.1 for all tasks - fine line weathering, eyes, details work and broad strokes. The Broken Toad brushes rewards the painter who knows how to use the full set rather than overly rely on one single brush.

In conclusion these brushes more than adequately fit the bill for professional and amateur painters alike who are looking for a top quality set of brushes. I'd urge you to buy the set to open up the entire gamut of painting techniques available and experiment with them. These are affordable enough to be used as basic brushes for everyday needs but have a fine touch to them that allows high end shading and highlighting. 

Broken Toad Brushes can be bought here:

Broken Toad Kolinsky Sable

Myles

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Tools of the Trade: An introduction to Paint Brushes

Since I use this wonderful little tool nearly everyday, I thought it would behoove me learn more about the paintbrush. Above is a break down of how the paint brush is constructed. For most modern brushes, the hairs are held in place with glue whereas the traditional method is to hold them with wax. You should never use hot water to clean your brushes; the heat melts the glue / wax, and splays the point of the brush.

Types of Brushes

• Round; The workhorse brush. This has a pointed tip with long, closely arranged bristles for detail work. Look for brushes with a single, cohesive tip that does not have odd hairs.
• Spotter; (Not pictured). Looks like a Round with a shorter bristle length. Used for precision detail, freehand and eye work. This is one of the most important brushes in your collection.
• Flat; For spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. Perfect for cloaks and weathering. 
• Bright: Shorter than flats, these brushes will often have stiffer bristles. Perfect for stippling or dry brushing with softer haired brushes. 
• Filbert: Flat brushes with domed ends Used in larger canvas style painting but can be used like a bright.
• Fan: For blending broad areas of paint. (I don't use this brush - may be useful for weathering I suppose). 
• Angle: Used like the Filbert, good for general painting application as well as detail work. Excellent for precision dry-brushing. 
• Mop: A larger brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application. Use for laying down washes over a larger, detailed area like a tank or the scales of a dragon.
• Rigger: round brushes with long hairs, traditionally used for painting the rigging in pictures of ships. I use these for fine, long lines. 
• Stippler (Below): Round brush with very short hard bristles, used to add texture to flat surface     (such as fur on horses).

Most of these brushes will not be needed and are mentioned for the sake of documentation. I only use a bright, spotter, round and tapered mop. With this collection I can blend, layer, dry brush, wash and ink. Anything else I need to create I merely improvise.

What sizes do we need? If your used to Citadel's sizing then this scaling system can see a little daunting. Most previews give the actual size of the brush on screen. To find out what size you need simply hold up your old paint brush to the photo on screen to work out which size is a detail, large etc. As a general rule of thumb the number 0 or 1 will be a good size for most projects if you buy a quality brush such as the Windsor and Newton Series 7 or Raphael 8404. These brushes come with an exceptional point and can be relied upon for even fine detail work.

Click the picture for actual scale of paint brush

I use a size 0 and 1 Raphael 8404 round, a Windsor and Newton 1 Spotter for detail and fine work; a selection of Rosemary & Co Red Sable round for everyday work and I am planning on buying some pure red sable Bright's for dry brushing.

What brushes do you use? Do you have any recommendations I haven't chosen? Any brands you swear by? Please leave a comment below and share with us all!

Links for Excellent Brushes:

Raphael 8404


Rosemary & Co. 

Windsor and Newton Series 7

Da Vinci Sable

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Paint Brushes of Renown; Winsor and Newton series 7 Kolinsky Sable

Windsor and Newton series 7 Kolinsky Sable 

Price: £6 - £10 depending on the size.

Availability: Easy to source online or in Hobby Craft.

Whenever the question is asked: what paint brushes are best / should I use for my miniatures, inevitably, the Winsor Newton series 7 Kolinsky sable brush will be recommended.  These paint brushes were the preferred choice of Queen Victoria and have carried on a tradition of excellence and performance ever since. I believe that the 'Eavy metal team use these brushes, and so do many other prominent painters within our circles.

These were the first brushes I used outside of Games Workshop's range, and I have found them to be quite spectacular. The brushes have a good belly and an exquisitely sharp tip (I use the size 1 for most of my work , even the fine detail because the tip is so fine). Even though these brushes may seem quite expensive, when taken care of, these brushes will endure years of heavy use. 

The Winsor Newton make two kinds of series 7 brush; Round and Miniature. The Round (below) will be more familiar to us as the workhorse brush. 99% of your painting will be performed by the Round since it has a large belly and longer bristles.

Click the picture for actual scale of paint brush.

 The Miniature range (below) has a shorter bristle length, perfect for detail jobs where brush control is paramount. Because of the excellent belly load of the hair and the short bristle length, the brush retains it shape better during paint; meaning I can almost use it like a pen to create freehand designs, or dot eyes.

Click the picture for actual scale of paint brush.

I use the Round 1, 0, 00 and the Miniature 0. This collection fulfills all my blending, layering, and fine detailing needs. You may also wish to consider the 2 if you intend to blend on large flat surfaces, however I have found the 1 large enough fulfill this role quite nicely.

If you buy a set of these brushes I would advise you buy some brush soap and store them bristles down (keep the plastic sheath for this). For the price you are paying, you want these to last longer than a few paint sessions. I've had my brushes for just over two years of heavy usage. and only now have I seen the number 1 split at the tip. This is the brush I use the most so its not surprising it has started to die. Disturbingly however, many people have posted problems with split tips with much younger brushes. 

With the arrival of Rosemary and Co. offering better value for money for comparable quality and Raphael series 8404 offering superior quality control, the Winsor and Newton series 7 still remains an excellent choice of brush - but is no longer the apex tool of the miniature painter. 

Links:

Winsor Newton series 7 Konlinsky sable brushes (eBay link)

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Travel in Style; My portable paint station

The problem; how do I travel safety and comfortably with my collection of paints and equipment (putty, airbrush, brushes etc)? This has been a real problem for me as I am required to move around the country quite a bit for work. I needed a durable case with plenty of storage room. 

The solution; an aluminium vanity box used by makeup artists.

This thing comes with 22 separate storage compartments, each compartment has removable sides so you can make the size of each compartment the size you require. It is easy clean black cloth interior, ideal for makeup, hair accessories ect. 

This particular case comes with a removable strap which clips on the side of the case, a very useful feature for mobile makeup artists, beauticians and hair dressers. I've found that I can contain my entire collection of paints, putty and airbrush set (excluding compressor, but I have quite a large one) easily fits in here. The removable 'walls' allow for a degree of customisation to accommodate your own collection. 

I'm not sponsored by the people who make these cases, nor am I affiliated with them in any way, and I apologise if this article has read like a sales pitch. This is what I use and I really love it. It's solved my problem in an affordable and elegant fashion. 

Dimensions : Aprox - Length 34cm, Height 29cm, Width 24cm Weight : Aprox 2.8kg. Lightweight yet robust and secure. Removable strap can be adjusted to different lengths. 

Links:

Aluminium Vanity Make up Box

And for those in the US

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Tools of the Trade: Paint Brand Comparison Part 2; Vallejo

Vallejo

Vallejo produce three ranges of acrylic paints each of which has been specifically designed for military modeling, fantasy miniatures and the use with an airbrush. The Vallejo range is huge; model colour boasts a range of 220 colours, the model game colour range has 119 and the model air range has 110 (including mediums, varnishes and primers). This is a vast and vibrant range that is continually expanding and developing. With the proliferation of airbrushes throughout the painting community, coupled with the wide availability of these paints, Vallejo is often the next range of paints people try after Games Workshop; so lets have a look at what's out there. 

Model Colour

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

This is the largest of the lines with 220 different shades of paint available. These are advertised as acrylic vinyl colour; which means they offer excellent coverage and can be diluted very thinly for the use of layering. Looking over the paint range and comparing them with Citadel's, we can see that there quite a few dull, unsaturated colours (lots of mud and grey in the label descriptions) as these were designed to be used with historical military modeling kits. The nice people at Vallejo have also put together special colour sets (such as WWII German Cam) that makes re-creating historical colour palettes very easy.

These paints are excellent when you wish to create a more realistic colour palette for your miniatures and can offer a level of authenticity that may escape other ranges.

Game Colour

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

Whereas Model Colour has been designed to re-create historical colour palettes, the Game colour range offer a range of highly saturated colours for fantasy miniatures. These paints are highly pigmented and are a little thicker than its Model Colour equivalent. These paints feel like they have been designed for one-coat-coverage (although they cannot be used like Games Workshop's foundation range) and layer highlighting when you do not wish to blend the colours. These paints are slightly thicker because the pigment is acrylic resin rather than vinyl. This means that the colours will adhere to plastic and metal a little better, and will be more resistant to the wear and tear of wargaming.

Kabalite warrior from the Dark Heart. Instead of smooth transitional highlight on the armour, the 'eavy metal team have edge highlighted the armour plates to emphasize the sculpted lines of the miniature. 

If you were to purchase these paints I would highly recommend you create some gunk to help you with transitional blends dilute and help blend colours together more smoothly. 

Model Air

Price: £1.50 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

This range has been designed to the use with an airbrush but can just as easily be used to paint miniatures like normal paint. These paints are very thin, the pigment has been ground much finer than other acrylic paints to stop paint particles obstructing the nozzle. The formula of this paint contains acrylic resin, giving all the protective qualities of game colour but without the drawback of thick paint. These are easy to mix and can be diluted further with other additives. This range also supplies metallic and varnishes to be used with an airbrush.   

Advantages of Vallejo.

These paints are very easy to get hold of online and should be available in most model railway, craft or model shops. The range is huge and offers an excellent array of supporting additives to be explored. The paint is inexpensive, of good quality, and you get a lot for what you buy.

One of the strongest advantages this range has over its competitors is the eye dropper style paint pots. When the paints are used only a minimum amount of paint comes into contact with the air and so extends the working life of the paint. For those who use an airbrush using the eyedropper is much easier to keep track of quantities and is much easier to squeeze into the receptacle.

When shaken properly, this paint can be thinned down to a good degree for layering using just water. It is also very responsive to the range of additives and mediums that Vallejo sell.

For me, the metallic air range is the real highlight of the entire range. The metal pigment has been ground very finely and offers excellent coverage with outrageously thin coats. I would however, advise against the Model Colour range of metallic as they are quite thick and hard to thin evenly. 

Disadvantages of Vallejo

Bottles are well designed but not perfect. Paint will dry in the nozzle and this will lead you to just apply more pressure on the bottle, thus causing a mini-explosion of paint on your palette; very annoying. However, these clogs are easy to clean out with a straightened out paper clip.

There is no agitator for a paint that has a reputation for separating into medium and pigment in bottle. I would recommend buying agitators for the Model Colour and Game Colour ranges, but this would bump the price up. Taking the cost of agitators into account, each paint would cost about 4p more (but these can be re-used over successive generations of paint that you buy).

Game colour really needs more than water to thin it. It's incredibly thick and is best suited for layering without too many transitional stages (look at the dark eldar range painted by 'eavy metal for an example of extreme edge highlighting). This line does not lend itself well to subtle tonal changes and will be frustrating to use for many people. The separation in the bottle, and clogging in the nozzle are also pronounced in the Game Colour range.

The Model air range suffers from the same problem as the rest of the vallejo range; the colours easily sperate and need plenty of shaking. However, because of the thin consistency of the paint, these problems aren't a big deal (two or three shakes will normally be enough to mix the paint). It could be argued that another disadvantage of the range is that you're paying for diluted paint; something that you can learn to do yourself with regular acrylic paint. For the way I paint (thin layering) these paints are ideal to use straight out of the bottle, but some may not like the consistency of this and would prefer to thin the paint themselves.

Other products in the Vallejo paint range:

Liquid Gold

Price: £3.20 for a 35 ml. plastic pot with a childproof cap.

This is an alcohol based paint that uses metallic pigment mixed with resin to produce a much more vibrant finish. This next bit is important if you wish to use these paints:

"The colours can be mixed with one another and dry almost instantly. They can be overpainted or varnished almost immediately. The specific weight of the pigment causes the formation of sediment at the base of the container, and paint should be thoroughly shaken or stirred before use. If it were necessary to dilute the colours further, only 96% pure alcohol should be added to avoid oxidation."

In my opinion, these paints are unparalleled in their finish of true metallic metals. They require a little more effort to use, and ideally, you would need a more robust style of paint brush (those used for oil painting and are designed for the rigors of cleaning with turpentine or spirits). For the tiny amount of extra effort you put into the preparation of these paints you get an incredibly vibrant and strong metallic finish. These paints work excellently with citadel's range of washes.

The alcohol used to dilute this paint is isopropanol, or rubbing alcohol. It can be bought quite cheaply from your local chemist or online. Please beware that this alcohol is extremely flammable and so are the Liquid gold paints themselves. Be careful in their use and storage.

Washes

Price: £2.00 for a 17ml eye dropper pot

I have not used these, so I cannot pass on an honest opinion about them. I've read that they handle very much like much like Games Workshop's range of washes.



Vallejo Extra Opaque


Price: £1.79 for a 17ml eye dropper pot


I have not used these, so I cannot pass on an honest opinion about them. I've read that they handle very much like much like Games Workshop's range of Foundation paints.

Additives

Vallejo also produce aerosols, varnishes, brush cleaners, drying retarder etc. There is a lot to play with here for the miniature painter. These offer good value for money and are an excellent resource for people who are just starting to explore wider world of fine art with acrylic paints.

The full line of auxiliaries can be found here:

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/gb/auxiliaries-model-paints.html

Pigments

These pigments help produce very realistic mud and rust effects. They can be sealed with matt or glaze medium. The full range can be found here.

Conclusion

Vallejo offer an unbelievably diverse range of good quality paints, at a cheap price. If you are only used to Games Workshop's range of paints, pick up a couple of pots of Vallejo paint to try them out. I have not tired the range of washes or extra pigmented paints but I have read that they are quite similar to Games Workshop's wash and foundation ranges. This is not the finest example of acrylic paints on the market, but in terms of price, availability, range and quality, the Vallejo range offers an excellent resource for the miniature painter.


Links related to this article.


For a discussion on paint agitators

Home made paint agitators

Where to buy paint agitators? 

Generalsplatton's review of Vallejo and Reaper Master Series acrylic paints 1, 2

Vallejo to Games Workshop Citadel paint comparison chart

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Tools of the trade; Gunk, your miracle acrylic supplement!

"Gunk" is a self made solution to aid the thinning and lengthening of the working life of acrylic paint.  If prefer to use a palette, this stuff will become your next best friend. Do you have a problem keeping your paints from drying out before you've finished using them? Do you have a problem with your paint separating when you thin it with water? This is the solution for you.

Ingredients:

Filtered or boiled water.

Flow Improver

Acrylic Fluid Retarder or Slow Drying Medium

Bottle to contain solution. 

The quantities of the above vary from person to person, but a good rule of thumb is: 5 parts water, 4 parts flow improver and 1 part drying retarder (Anne Foerster's recipe).  I prefer to have my solution slightly stronger; I like to think of it like squash syrup which can be diluted, so I tend to use more 6 parts drying retarder and 2/3 parts drying retarder.


How to use?

Once this solution has been made, simply add a drop or two or it to your paint and away you go. Hopefully, you should find the transitions between shades will be smoother and that the paint on the palette will be useable for longer.

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Tools of the Trade: Paint Brand Comparison Part 1; Games Workshop

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first of a series of articles exploring different paint brands that we can use to paint our miniatures with. These articles are by no means conclusive, but were written with the intention to evoke debate and a rolling discussion on the various merits or shortcomings of each range. Any feedback or personal experience would be highly appreciated.

First up, the one of the biggest hitters on the block; Games Workshop's range of Citadel Paints

Overview 


Price; £2 for 12ml pots

The Citadel line of acrylic paints is probably what we all started using when we first entered the hobby.

This may explain why these are unfairly stymied by some painters as a beginner paint, or a lesser acrylic paint; this is not the case. Games Workshop's range of acrylic paints are of good quality that are widely available and quite easy to get on the high street. However, these paints fall down in two areas; price when compared with other brands, and current pot design (even though the above picture is out of date, the current pot design still has the same problems).

Advantages

This range has a good choice of colours (70 paints in total including the foundation, washes and metallic range) and the paint itself is of good quality. The paint has a good consistency, good pigmentation and can be thinned with water alone. The range of acrylic paints are suitable for use in an airbrush, and I haven't noticed any adverse effects when additives are used. Where this line really shines is through their line of washes and foundation paints.

The foundation range is highly pigmented to offer one coat coverage. Although this statement is slightly boastful, and untrue depending on the underlaying colour, these paints offer excellent coverage with thin coats. A must for low opacity colours like red and yellow if you intend to use a dark undercoat.

The line of washes act as ready made 'juices' (used to subtly change the hue of colour) that leave a slightly satin finish when used. These are of an excellent quality and open up a whole new way of painting miniatures to every level of modeler. It is possible to paint very effective miniatures with a simple, neat basecoat and two to three layers of wash. Painting armies has never been so easy with this line of paints. Try picking up devlan mud to experiment and you'll relaise why this colour is the most popular in most people's collection of paints.

One advantage that I think hasn't been mentioned is the heritage this line of paint has through the 'eavy metal studio. I don't think any other line of paints made for miniature wargaming (niche market as it is) has the depth or breadth of material available to explain what can be done with the product. I've grown up alongside 'eavy metal painting articles, and I owe a lot of my current painting style to messieurs McVey and Blanche.

Engrimm Van Horstmann's paint paint scheme is typical of 'eavy metal's style; bright, direct and clean.

Disadvantages

Ultimately, you feel like you are paying for a brand name rather than an improved quality of paint. On average, when compared with other acrylic paints in the market, you tend to pay more for less paint wrapped in a duff pot. The availability of this product isn't so much of an issue either with the internet hosting a wide array and variety of products.

The biggest drawback of Games Workshop's range is the pot design. I absolutely hate it. Unless you want your paints to dry out within six to eight months of use, you must use this product with a palette; something which the pot design was designed to do away with. The amount of paint exposed to the air when you open the lid means these paints have a low life expectancy (especially in with blood red).


Conclusion

If you are interested in exploring the world of miniature painting (and if you have read this article on a little known niche blog, then i'll assume you are) and you have found out there are other paint brands out there, don't throw away your Citadel paints away quite yet. Games Workshop's paints offer good quality, for a good price, but there are more economical ways to spend your money.

These paints lend themselves well to a clear, direct and bright paint schemes, typical of the well established 'eavy metal style.

Useful resources:

Games Workshop's 'eavy metal online articles  (Unfortunately Games Workshop have taken down all their online article resources. Let's hope they are just re-tolling this and not scraping it altogether.)

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Liquid Green Stuff Review.

Games Workshops latest range of Hobby Tools has courted quite a lot of controversy amongst the online community. Amid this fractious debate, Liquid Green Stuff  introduces something rather unique to modelers who are only familiar with Citadel products. The following review will attempt to discern what this strange product is used for, how it can be used and if there are any cool techniques you can now use with your models.

When using this product, I would urge you to use a palette. Because of the pot design, you will be exposing a proportion of your liquid green stuff every time you open the pot, and will dry. Take little amounts at a time, put it on a palette and close the lid securely. To apply Liquid Green Stuff, GW suggest using a paint brush because the putty is water soluble. I had my doubts about this, and I would suggest using a synthetic brush for the application rather than your finest kolinsky sable. However, the putty did indeed wash out using water, leaving now discernible residue. Make sure you clean your brush regularly during the procedure not to allow any putty to dry in the bristles. 

So, what does this stuff handle like? What is the consistency of the green stuff? Is it really no better than PVA water? When opening the pot, and running a brush through it, I found that it felt roughly equivalent to toothpaste. It is very easy to thin down with water and I had no problem smoothing it onto the surface of my Talos. I had no problems with it adhering to the surface of the plastic hull. It needed no special preparation or consideration. The liquid putty is not sticky by any means, but I do not foresee any problems with it not sticking to a surface. When dry, it is slightly powdery and thus unsuitable for casting (I know, I thought that this stuff would be ideal for creating parts, but alas no). 

Taking a blob of undiluted liquid green stuff, I smoothed it onto the gap on the hull of the Talos. I found that I needed a little water to help it off the brush and onto the plastic. A little bit of water will help you create a smooth finish.

The above images are of the Talos after one pass of the liquid green stuff. The next step was to file over it and repeat the process until the gap had disappeared. I would suggest using very fine grain wet and dry sandpaper (2000 - 4000 grade) to create the smoothest finish possible. 

After a few passes with the liquid green stuff the gap has all but disappeared. I also gave the hull a very thin layer of liquid green stuff to buff out any small scratches caused by my filing. I found that the liquid green stuff has a working life of around three minutes. After this it seems to separate and clump together.

Even though I have used a brush for this article, I would recommend using a soft nosed clay shaper for detail work and smoothing. Old paint brushes tend to have splayed bristles that do not lend themselves easily to detail work. Clay shapers were created to mimic the texture and pressures that can be exerted by the human finger, and would be perfect for any type of detailed putty work you wish to pursue. The rubber tip will not fray, you can get to hard to reach places with smaller shapers and you don't need to worry about ruining the bristles of your brush.

I applied a milliput wash to the dress of Isabella Von Carstien. 

Another use for this putty I can think of is to replace the mulliput wash technique. This technique is where a lump of mixed milliput is thoroughly mixed water until it is the consistency of a wash, then applied to a scratched or uneven surface to create a smooth finish. I find that I have to use this technique whenever I sculpt a large smooth surface (such as armour, or cloaks) and hairline cracks appear in the putty. Having, what is essentially, a pre-made batch of milliput wash available to me all the time is priceless.

If you have Milliput and liquid green stuff, why not combine the two? Many sculptors have custom blends of different putty ranges to yield different qualities. For example, I have found combining Green Stuff with Milliput yields a putty that has some of the elasticity of epoxy putty, but can by smoothed and diluted with water for sharp lines. Try mixing a little liquid green stuff and Milliput, or magic sculpt wash to produce a putty that can easily fill gaps and is easier to sand. If you do this, I urge you to only mix up small quantities and work fast. Liquid Green stuff only has a working life of around three minutes whereas mulliput's is normally around the hour, hour and a half bracket. 

Another interesting technique I have read is adding a little chalk dust to the Liquid Putty to make the cured putty easier to sand. I know that in order to fill gaps people use a mixture of superglue and bicarbonate of soda; try replacing the glue with some Liquid Green stuff in the combination. 

Alternatives

Vallejo produces a product very similar to Liquid green stuff called Vallejo Plastic Putty. Vallejo's plastic putty comes in a 17ml bottle and is slightly cheaper. I would argue that even though you get more putty for a cheaper price from the Vallejo equivalent, the main reason why you should buy this over GW's product is the bottle design. GW's much maligned paint pot design disadvantages this new product greatly. When opening the pot, you are exposing quite a lot of the liquid green stuff to the air - not good when the product is an air drying medium. 

Milliput wash gives you a very cheap and excellent alternative that can be filed, sanded and manipulated in a solid or liquid state. The drawback is that it is a pain to mix up and difficult to use; I'd rather pay for the convenience of having a product readily available.

Squadron Green's Green Putty, recommended by the writers of the Imperial Armour Masterclass book, and use this in a similar way to Liquid Green Stuff. Green putty is supplied in a 65g tube (like oil paint) and offers the best value for money versus quantity you buy (shipping costs may stop this being true). The disadvantage of this product is that it is toxic and quite pungent. 

For the last word in heavy duty pro-modeling, there is Mr Surfacer which can sanded easily. There are three grades available (500, 1000, 1200; the higher the number, the finer the granules) but is lacquer based and gives off some pretty wicked fumes.

In conclusion...

Because of the acrylic nature of Liquid Green Stuff, this material does not lend itself well to sanding. Let me stress that Liquid Green Stuff can be sanded, but much like its bigger brother, once cured the green stuff will bobble and scratch when filed and does not create a smooth finish without a thin layer to finish the job. This product is ideal for filing in those annoying mis-aligned joints, imperfections in sculpting smooth surfaces and eradicating any unwanted depressions. 

I think that part of the reason GW is getting such a negative response to this product is due to it being marketed as a fix for fine cast. If it were simply marketed as a filler for those inevitable gaps that appear in model construction, I think people would be generally more accepting of it. The frustrations surrounding fine cast will colour peoples perceptions of any product they release alongside it. 

Overall, an exceedingly useful tool to have in the arsenal. Liquid Green Stuff is a great product that is let down by GW's awful paint pot design and price when compared with its competitors. Like many of GW's modeling range, this product that will act as an introduction for many people to cheaper alternatives of the same quality available through other companies. 

LilLoser

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Peppermint App; the mobile colour wheel

I know app's a rare sight to see when discussing the hobby, but I recently stumbled across this little gem; Peppermint! 

This is a mobile application for the creation of colour palettes and schemes. Simply pick your main colour and choose analogous, complimentary monochromatic etc and this app will create a colour palette for you.

Where this app really stands out is the photo function. If you see a colour you like, you can take a photo and retrieve the exact colour to match on the colour wheel. You can save palettes and name them too. Within minuetes of playing around with the lite (free) version, I decided to buy this. It's a great little app to consider the creation of custom colour schemes.

LilLoser

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Tools of the Trade: (Sculpting) Embossing Tool

Last week I was finishing up some sculpts and I broke my scalpel blade. Actually, I broke my last scalpel blade, so I had to venture out into the fresh air to get another pack. During my adventure around the craft shop I noticed this rather charming item - it was love at first sight. I knew that my life had just become a whole lot easier.

Why? Because now I can race through chain-mail like it's no-body's business.

The sphere at the tip of this tool is just the right size to sculpt chain-mail. I can now achieve accurate, presentable and pleasing chain-mail at the fraction of the swearing. I am currently ignorant as to the name of this tool, so if anyone can enlighten me i'd be highly appreciative.

Shame that I did not have this blessed tool at the outset of sculpting thirty chain-mail skirts. 

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Tools of the Trade: (Sculpting) Zahle Wax Carver no.5

Hello, I'd like to discuss the tools and materials I use for my conversions. If you feel that you are more informed , or more experienced using the tools or materials I discuss, please say, and I will amend this original post with your comments. Everything I have learned has been through GW hobby articles, websites such as this and good old-fashioned hard-earned-experience.

For my first article I would like to introduce you to my favourite sculpting tool, the infamous Zahle Wax Carver no. 5

The premier sculpting tool for miniature designers (at least it was). In my opinion, this is the holy grail of sculpting tools (and is just as hard to find in Britain). I don't think that it would be an understatement to say, that you could perform 90% of all sculpting tasks with this tool. Whether a seasoned veteran, or just cutting your teeth, you will come to appreciate the versatility of this tool when you start using it.

The curved blade allows you to create fur, hair and sculpt fine details like facial depressions and anatomy. The tools ends in a sharp point, suitable for creating purity seals or chainmail and the large flat surface of the blade allows you to press putty into rough shapes to be refined with the sharper edges. I mainly use the other edge to smooth out putty where my clay shaper would be inappropriate (such as the depressions in cloaks).

I'm sure that I haven't even scratched the surface of the versatility this tool provides a sculptor. If you are interested in sculpting and don't know where to start, you could do a lot worse than making this your first purchase. 

LilLoser

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