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Here are some Colour Recipes for Kings of War: Armada Empire of Dust from Gallery: Armada Twilight Kin. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
‘BROWN’ hulls:
Tinny Tin (Vallejo), *
Hammered Copper (Vallejo), flbr
Silver (Vallejo), flbr
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *strong
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *soft & dry
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
PURPLE sails:
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 1:1 Midnight Purple (Vallejo), *
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *strong
-Strong Tone (The Army Painter), *soft & dry
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 5:1 Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), *
Mix Midnight Purple (Vallejo air) 3:1 Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), *
Alien Purple (Vallejo Air), * soft zenithal highlight
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
GREEN osl:
Duck Egg Green (Vallejo Air), *
Pallid Wych Flesh (Games Workshop), flbr
Light Livery Green (Vallejo Air), *
Off White (Vallejo), l&p
Light Livery Green (Vallejo Air), bl
–Vallejo Poliurethane Matt Varnish, *
BASES:
Mix Ghost Green (Vallejo) 1:1 Ghost Green (Vallejo a),
Mix Ghost Green (Vallejo) 1:1 Ghost Green (Vallejo a),
Green Stuff World Splash Gel Water Effect Light Green Water,
AK Interactive Atlantic Blue Texture,
AK Interactive Pacific Blue Texture,
AK Interactive Water Foam Texture,
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
flbr – flatbrush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
The Notts Hobbies is at it again! The UK based company debuted in the market last year with a set of Drybrushing tools and now they’ve expanded the range with a brand new Complete Weathering Set. I have been testing the new products for a while and am now ready to drop my take on them. Here’s my thoughts…
Similar to the Notts Hobbies Complete Drybrushing Set the new Complete Weathering Set consists of a range of useful items dedicated towards a certain area of miniature painting. The updated set contains 25ml Grime Oil Wash, 25ml Rush Oil Wash, 25ml Verdigris Oil Wash, Weathering Sponge Holder*, Heavy Weathering Sponges* (50pcs), Light Weathering Sponges (50pcs). Priced at 15,99GBP** and comprised of items worth over 20GBP total, the Complete Weathering Set is a steal!
*Included in previous Weathering Set
**you get 10% discount using code scarhand10 on checkout
This year I’ve decided to tap heavily into oil paints thus the addition of Oil Washes to Notts hobbies range was a great surprise. They came well thinned down, with heavy pigmentation and packaged in comfortable to use plastic containers. Designed to be used straight out of a bottle, mixed or further thinned down with white spirits. Once applied, they seem to dry much faster than alternatives, with a strong and vibrant finish. Personally I like the effect, but for those of you who’d like their verdigris a bit more green and rust a bit more dark – these can be mixed and combined with one another to achieve a variety of tones.
The addition of Light Sponges to the Complete Weathering Set is, in my opinion, a great move. I missed these in the previous version of the set and although I am capable of cutting some cubes out of a piece of foam, I appreciate nice looking, comfortable, pre-cut sponge cubes. Oh, and these literally come free included in the Complete Weathering Set so – I rest my case.
I’ve always had a great experience with Notts Hobbies products and the new Complete Weathering Set is no exception. If not for the fact I got it for free I would definitely order it myself, just for the washes. The Sponge Holder and 100pcs of Weathering Sponges is just a cherry on top for the price. This set seems like a great introduction to weathering with oil paints. If you’re on the fence about oils – I sincerely recommend giving the Complete Weathering Set a try. If you do – save 10% by using my affiliate link and the code scarhand10 on checkout.
I hope you find this review interesting and if you do – I would be extra happy if you tagged me at Facebook or Instagram and let me know your thoughts. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Trench Crusade New Antioch tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for the Principality of New Antioch skin, a simplified version of what can be seen in Gallery: New Antioch.
Before we start, some notes:
Previous steps: Armor
Although metal elements can be painted separately I strongly recommend following part one of the article before moving to this color. All previous Trench Crusade content can be found at: GAMING/TRENCH CRUSADE.
Step one: Base Color
I have painted the initial layer with Vallejo Game Color – Tan (72.066). This is a rather thick paint, that I like to thin down before application.
Step two: Highlight
Next, I applied a large area flatbrush highlight of Vallejo Game Color – Anthea Skin (72.107). Another thick paint, but this time I used it right out of the bottle in order to increase coverage and build layer volume.
Step three: Highlight
I then applied a more contained highlight of Vallejo Game Color – Skin Tone (72.099), switching between edge highlight and flatbrush.
Step four: Wash
Similarly to previous painting tutorials, I applied a lot of The Army Painter – Strong Tone Wash. I actually used an airbrush for this, covering the entire miniature, but it might as well be done manually.
Step five: Final Highlight
Finally I applied strong highlight by stippling Skin Tone (72.099) onto the sharp edges, muscle groups and knuckles, making the color pop.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Trench Crusade New Antioch tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for the Principality of New Antioch metal as can be seen in Gallery: New Antioch.
Before we start, some notes:
Previous steps: Armor
Although metal elements can be painted separately I strongly recommend following part one of the article before moving to this color. All previous Trench Crusade content can be found at: GAMING/TRENCH CRUSADE.
Step one: Base Color
I have painted the initial layer with Vallejo Game Color – Tinny Tin (72.060). This relatively thin color is easy to move into any recesses, but also maintains a strong coverage. Can be thinned down ever so slightly if needed.
Step two: Highlight
Next, I applied a large area flatbrush highlight of Vallejo Game Color – Chainmail (72.053). A much brighter steel color with strong pigmentation that covered most of the surface, except recesses. I deliberately used flatbrushing rather than drybrushing, to build volume and prepare the surface for incoming washes.
Step three: Highlight
I then applied a more contained highlight of Vallejo Game Color – Silver (72.052), switching between edge highlight and flatbrush.
Step four: Wash
Next I applied a lot of The Army Painter – Strong Tone Wash. I like to go hard on washes, applying lots and lots of them to allow for pigmentation to do its thing. I actually used an airbrush for this, covering the entire miniature, but it might as well be done manually.
Step five: Final Highlight
Finally I applied soft highlight by stippling semi-moist Vallejo Game Color – Silver (72.052) onto the sharp edges and most exposed areas of metal. This might work especially good for tiny detail such as chainmail, but also large areas that lack color diversity.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
I’ve been having a blast playing on the Silesian Trenchline scenery set for the last two weeks. Spoiler Alert: The set has been completed for quite some time now. That out of the way, let’s rewind a bit and get right back to where I left in the Silesian Trenchline part two article. That would be the undercoat…
In order to save time I prefer to get everything built first, then apply undercoat wholesale. This is where two 2×4′ folding tables and a set of thin HDF trays tends to come in handy. I go one tray / large piece at a time, spraying black undercoat where it’s required. I then set the tray on one of the tables and get another one. Once out of free space, I stack the trays on top of the previous layer, using small plastic cups as supports with a minimal point of contact. Fifteen minutes later everything’s nicely black.
For the painting process I went with a trusted, simple color scheme. The goal of which was to produce effective results while being easy to repeat across the entire set or to return to with any new scenery additions in the future (Such as the Antenna Cross added later on).
The core list of paints and a video tutorial following each step of the painting process can be found at Tutorial: Painting Trench Crusade Antenna Cross.
Easy to say the painting process was much faster than the building and modeling part. One to two hours of airbrushing followed by a few more hours spent on detailing. Finally a break after applying the AK Interactive Dark Earth texture on top of each piece, to come back another day and finish with a round of drybrush, apply varnish, add a few dozen Gamers Grass Brown 2mm tufts and call it done.
Although the Silesian Trenchline was complete and I had a few games on the set, the inspirational release never came. A few days later I still felt hunger for more Trench Crusade scenery for my tiny dudesmen to explore. The set felt complete and was pretty playable, but upon giving it more thought I figured to double down on some fancy centerpieces – or at least fancier than the ones I already had…
First, I added the probably most iconic Trench Crusade scenery piece – the Antenna Cross. I used a widely available STL with a few tweaks to increase playability and set the piece within my existing scenery set visual cues. A large wooden step around the base of the cross with a small sniper’s nest mid way up the cross and some Sandbags here and there made it work. I felt sated for the day…
The very next day, I had to come back to the project for another round. Got super inspired with a set of DIY objective markers seen at a local Discord – just had to make a set of my own. Nothing special, just a mix of resized 3d printed weapons, crates, ammunition and candles. I threw in a Meshmixered statue of Saint Karen – Patron of Supplies Acquisition, for a strongly themed secondary centerpiece.
Done in two hours, with a bit more work put into making the objective markers pop on the gaming board, finally put my scenery hunger to rest. For now…
This is it. The Silesian Trenchline is now ‘fully’ completed, ready to be fed the blood of plastic fighters. Will it ever get expanded? Maybe, but I already moved on to more projects, including half a dozen commissioned lightweight Trench Crusade scenery sets. I also feel like putting a lot more games in, before deciding what scenery might improve the playability on the Silesian Trenchline. If you have any fun ideas – be sure to drop them in the comments below. Until then – keep your helmets on!
hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Trench Crusade New Antioch tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for the Principality of New Antioch armor as can be seen in Gallery: New Antioch.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a thorough layer of Games Workshop Chaos Black spray. This is a standard procedure for me. Chaos Black spray is my go to choice when it comes to undercoat, providing a thin, but durable layer of undercoat.
Step two: Undertone
For the initial layer I used Vallejo Model Air – Panzer Dark Grey (71.056) and airbrushed it all around the miniature. This color will be mostly covered later on, but will help build the volume and set the tone.
Step three: Zenithal Base Color
Next I applied Vallejo Game Air – Grey RLM02 (71.044) via airbrush. I focused on the exposed elements of armor (and cloths for other miniatures), but also stones and planks on the base. Although mostly zenithal, this layer was also applied to vertical surfaces, such as the shield, kneepads, chest etc. I took care to build gradient on such surfaces.
Step four: Highlight
I switched to regular brush, mixed Vallejo Game Air – Grey RLM02 (71.044) with Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh at a 2:1 ratio, then applied a highlight using the Flatbrush technique, focusing on the most exposed areas. This one is crucial and mastering ‘Flatbrush’ can be a fantastic tool to speed up miniatures painting. I also applied a few standard highlights on the edges.
I then adjusted the ration to 1:1 and made another round, less spread.
Step five: Highlight
With Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh I applied another layer. Apart from regular highlights I also stippled exposed areas with the belly of the brush. Not too strong, just to build some volume and leave marks similar to scratches.
Step six: Wash
Here’s where the magic happened. I airbrushed The Army Painter Strong Tone all over the miniature (including different colors built up to this point, but that is a topic for another article to topple.). This can be done manually, but I like the way airbrushed washed behave with less stains and a bit less contrast in the recesses.
Step seven: Final Highlight
I went back to Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh and highlighted the miniature, adding a few well placed spots in the centers and on the edges. This added a strong contrast and changed the way the main color is being interpreted by the eye.
Voila – job complete!
For more Trench Crusade tutorials visit my TUTORIALS REPOSITORY. I add free content regularly, mostly around the games I’m hyped about or projects I work on. Who knows – maybe the Trench Crusade will get it’s own tab in the future. Until then – stay tuned for more Trench Crusade content.
I hope you find this article interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to the Trench Bases tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through the process of creating the Trench Bases the same way as seen at: Gallery: Trench Crusade New Antioch.
Before we start, some notes:
For this tutorial I will be using:
Step one: Trench Floor
I started by breaking wooden coffee stirring sticks into small pieces, then gluing them on top of the bases about 1 mm apart from one another to leave some space to be filled with texture paste during the end stages. I then cut the excess of the sticks and filed it down with a sandpaper stick to match the base’s edge.
Step two: Rubble
Next I put small piles of gravel on the bases and poured thin super glue on top of them and in-between the ‘planks’. I then sealed it with short bursts of aerosol super glue activator. This created an irregular texture made of partially evaporated glue.
Step three: Charred Vegetation
I then broke a thin branch of dried out grape into small pieces and glued one piece on each of the larger bases.
Tip: I highly recommend sealing each piece with thin super glue for extra durability.
Step four [optional]: Barbed Wire
In order to make barbed wire I combined a curved screw and a screwdriver. I then rolled the twisted wire around a brush handle to form a proper shape. This was then cut into smaller pieces and glued on top of the bases.
Side note: For the New Antioch warband I used a ready to use product, but decided to include this DIY wire version in the basing tutorial. It’s not perfect, but it does the job and is much cheaper.
Step one: Base shading
With the modeling part complete I moved to the painting process. After applying black undercoat I airbrushed Vallejo 71.056 Panzer Dark Grey all over the bases. I then followed with Vallejo 71.044 Grey RLM02 airbrushed on top of rubble and branches.
Step two: Wood & drybrush
Next I covered planks and branches with The Army Painter Grim Black Speedpaint and left it to dry. Afterwards I drybrushed Vallejo 72.046 Ghost Grey all over the bases.
Step three: Barbed Wire base
I started the barbed wire with a layer of Vallejo 72.060 Tinny Tin.
Step four: Wash
I have covered everything with The Army Painter Strong Tone wash – Baron Harkonnen style (almost).
Step five: Barbed Wire
Once Wash dried out and done its job, I have applied a layer of Vallejo 72.609 Rust FX* to random spots on the barbed wire. I then flatbrushed a bit of Vallejo 72.052 Silver* on top and followed up with Vallejo 72.610 Galvanic Corrosion FX, again applied to random spots.
Side Note: *Vallejo Rust and Vallejo Silver are both optional. Looking back I do think I’ve unnecessarily overdone the barbed wire.
Step Six: Highlight
Next I added a bit of contrast by highlighting the sharp edges of the gravel piles, edges of the planks and a few spots on the branches with the Games Workshop Flayed One Flesh.
Step seven: Earth texture
Moving forward I applied a thick layer of AK Interactive Dark Earth texture prioritizing flat base surface, small space between the planks and some areas on top of gravel, to better set all these elements in the scene. The texture was then drybrushed softly with Games Workshop Karak Stone.
Finally I applied a few Gamers Grass Brown 2mm tufts here and there, thus finalizing the visual feel of the base.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Here are some Colour Recipes for Horus Heresy Mechanicum from Gallery: Salamanders. Please take note that this is a simple colour scheme, not covering multiple overlapping layers and blends in between, that lead to the final product. It is supposed to be used as guideline not a step-by-step.
GREEN armor:
Dark Green (Val a), *
Sick Green (Val a), *
Duck Egg Green (Val a), *
Light Livery Green (Val a), * bl
Green Tone (AP), * bl
BLACK shoulder guards:
Panzer Dark Grey (Val a),
Strong Tone (AP), wash
Ghost Grey (Val), flbr [on detail such as logo]
Dark Tone (AP), wash
BLACK vehicle plate:
Pancer Dark Grey (Val a), *
Cold Grey (Val a), *
Black Wash for Vehicles (Val), *
Weathering:
Charred Brown (Val a), *
Fire:
White (Val a), * stencil
Golden Yellow (Val a), *
Hot Orange (Val a), *
Red Tone (AP), * underline
Gold:
Rust (Val a),
Greedy Gold (AP), flbr
Strong Tone (AP), wash
Metal:
Rust (AP a),
Gun Metal (AP), flbr
Shining Metal (AP), flbr
Strong Tone Ink (AP),
Bases:
Dark Earth (AK Interactive), texture
Wasteland Tufts (The Army Painter)
l&p – lines and points,
p – points,
bl – blend,
gl – glaze,
drbr – drybrush,
flbr – flatbrush,
stpl – stippling,
*Airbrushed (with multiple layers and mixes)
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
When it comes to the board games distribution in Poland, there’s not many companies (if any) that can rival Rebel. Being a part of the Asmodee group and a well recognized brand, Rebel sits at the pinnacle of the Polish board games market. It’s not just games that Rebel is known for. Not so long ago the company turned its focus to miniatures hobby and introduced multiple popular brands of paints and accessories to their offer. A few months back Rebel went even further and released their own brand of hobby Brushes. As it happens, a selection of these new “Rebel” brushes found their way into my hands and I’ve been ‘butchering’ them since. If you’re curious as to how they performed then look no further.
The selection of Rebel brushes arrived in a special brush Rollbag, that at first glance looked pretty cool. A leather-like strap with a single clip, nice Rebel logo and a lot of slots for individual brushes. The brushes themselves are split between four series, one of which (purple, promo) is not available for purchase. The remaining three series are Natural Dry, Kolinsky Layer and Synthetic, all looking visually appealing, varying between amazing (dry) and a bit uninspired (synthetic). Overall good first impression .
When it comes to synthetic brushes I approach them with near to none expectations. With the way I paint and the quantity of miniatures that go through my desk I always feel like the expiration date on synthetic brushes is rather short. Rebel synthetics came through two main projects mostly intact, which is legit. The tips held. Definitely better than cheap low quality stuff from Asia, and with performance to be expected from fully fledged hobby brushes. I feel the price range is a turnoff with Rebel synthetics price starting point exceeding the Green Stuff World’s price end point. I believe that availability in local stores and associated discounts will be a decisive factor. These are, in all regards, good quality hobby brushes.
REBEL
Flat Synthetic M ~5,1€
Flat Synthetic L ~6,9€
Synthetic Layer 00 ~4,2€
Synthetic Layer 0 ~4,4€
Synthetic Layer 1 ~4,6€
Synthetic Layer 2 ~5,1€
Synthetic Layer 3 ~5,8€
THE ARMY PAINTER
Drybrush S (synthetic flat) 5,99€
Drybrush L (synthetic flat) 6,5€
GREEN STUFF WORLD
Flat Synthetic Brush Size 1 3,15€
Flat Synthetic Brush Size 3 3,22€
Flat Synthetic Brush Size 6 3,49€
Green Series 00 3,75€
Green Series 0 3,75€
Green Series 1 3,85€
Green Series 2 3,99€
Rebel’s Kolinsky Layer brushes hold up to the quality you can expect from all Kolinsky brushes. You basically get what you see and can expect solid performance. I had no issues with these, each tip held firm throughout the rigorous painting process. A bit pricey compared to competitors on the lower size end, especially compared to (once again) the Green Stuff World’s Silver series. Interestingly, Rebel gains pricing advantage further on the size spectrum, at some point becoming twice cheaper than Roubloff FFF1 series. Being produced within the EU and available, definitely makes Rebel Kolinsky Layer brushes worth a consideration for European hobbyists.
A quick comparison between two brushes, Roubloff 111F vs Rebel Kolinsky Layer. Tips of a similar length and shape. In my experience they did perform the same which is a testament to Rebel’s Kolinsky Layer quality.
REBEL
Natural Kolinsky 00 size ~7,6€
Natural Kolinsky 0 size ~7,9€
Natural Kolinsky 1 size ~8,1€
Natural Kolinsky 2 size ~9,2€
Natural Kolinsky 3 size ~11,6€
GREEN STUFF WORLD
Silver Series 00 6,56€
Silver Series 0 7,30€
Silver Series 1 8,66€
Silver Series 2 11,28€
ROUBLOFF
111F 00 ~5€
111F 0 ~5,3€
111F 1 ~5,7€
111F 2 ~10€
111F 3 ~23,5€
Dry brushes is the final Rebel series and my personal favorite. Not only do they look and feel great, but the performance is stellar. I like the length of the brush toes – a bit shorter than the recently covered Notts Hobbies, but longer and softer than The Army Painter. Quality is great and the pricing seems fairly competitive.
REBEL
Drybrush S ~4,6€
Drybrush M ~7€
Drybrush L ~8,1€
THE ARMY PAINTER
Masterclass Drybrush Set (3 pieces) 19,99€
GREEN STUFF WORLD
Drybrush size 5 6,75€
Drybrush size 7 8€
Drybrush size 9 9€
NOTTS HOBBIES
Drybrush S ~7,20€
Drybrush M ~7,20€
Drybrush L ~7,20€
A cherry on top is the Rebel Brush Soap, designed to be compatible with their brushes and help to extend their hobby lifetime. The soap comes in a 110ml plastic container, has a strong herbal smell and is oily in touch. It works with both natural and synthetic hair and is quite easy to use. This is the second container I got from Rebel. I have been using the previous one with good results for about a year now. Seems fairly priced around 5,8€.
The final item to arrive from Rebel is the Brush Rollbag designed to hold and transport brushes. Sadly, although visually appealing, the item feels completely misdesigned. The strap has only one clip and as such cannot be modified to fit depending on overall tightness. More so the width of the rollbag is not enough to hold Rebel brushes inside. When covered with protective plastic tubes, some brushes stick out, but it gets worse in case of Flat Synthetics, which being longer than the rest, are sticking out even without protective tubes. On the bright side the quality of material is there and the entire thing can be hanged sideways and used as a brush holder, providing easy access to what’s inside.
Throughout two latest painting projects I got to know Rebel brushes rather intimately and had a good overall experience with them. My impressions vary between the series. I’m rather neutral towards the Synthetics, but dig the Kolinsky (especially the larger sizes), and am impressed by Drybrushes. The promos (purple) I have annihilated, but that’s to be expected. Considering my personal situation the pricing is never a decisive factor and I tend to purchase stuff that I like to work with. That being said the Rebel Synthetics seem overpriced on paper and I feel I can get the same value for less elsewhere. Kolinsky and Drybrushes I will genuinely consider when the time comes and I burn through the current stockpile. I would definitely be happy to find these brushes in local stores. If you are looking for new brushes, I sincerely recommend testing Rebel brushes and see if they click for you, especially the series that are priced competitively. And if you happen to find these brushes in-store at a discount – they’re a steal.
I hope you find this review interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or at Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
If you ever consider expanding your weathering toolset or tapping into the mystic technique of drybrushing – the Notts Hobbies is here to ease your way into it. This UK based company offers a range of hobby tools designed specifically for weathering. In their strive to reach hobbyists around the globe, the Notts Hobbies asked me if I’d like to try out their products. Short after I’ve received the Notts Hobbies Complete Drybrushing Set and the Notts Hobbies Complete Weathering Set. Ran both of them through the painting gauntlet and here’s my thoughts…
I believe that the first impressions matter a great deal. When seeing a product for the first time I expect to get an initial feel of the overall quality and what to expect from its performance. In my experience the first contact creates a bias that inevitably impacts the entire experience with the new tool, even if slightly. When it comes to Notts Hobbies products, the first impression was great. Simple, stylish, visually clean and not overdone. I got the feel that the person behind these products cares for quality over fake hype. Brushes, Drybrush Dampening Sponge and Drybrush Soap all came packaged in nice small boxes adding to the overall quality. Great first impression. I outright felt happy to compliment my workspace with these tools.
The Complete Drybrushing Set comes with three high quality goats hair brushes, a Drybrush Texture Palette, Drybrush Soap, Drybrush Dampening Sponge and a Dice Bag. A lot of stuff. Seems reasonably priced at 34,99GBP.
Brushes feel great. The hair is longer and a bit softer than the Army Painter and Citadel, which are the immediate competitors. A single outlier hair here and there, pretty common to all drybrushes, easy to fix. I had a really good performance with them. Very comfortable to work with. No hair broke loose. Finally, thanks to the length of the brush’s belly, it was easy to keep the ferrule clean and manage paint.
The Drybrush Dampening Sponge is awesome. The packaging might seem a bit fragile, but the sponge itself is just perfect for drybrushing. Synthetic sponge texture keeps the paint from drying out too fast and allows to leave the excess of it inside. It is also easy to clean outright and can be left outside to dry after the painting session. Fantastic tool – I genuinely love it.
Once the drybrushing’s done the Drybrush Soap comes in. Not only does it smell great (I had to take a break from writing this article for a quick whiff a few times), but it also works. Easy to use, getting bubbly with just a little bit of moisture. I used it right after rinsing the brushes to restore their brand new-like look. Wow!
Finally the Drybrush Texture Palette. This lightweight wooden gadget is a nice addition to the set. Wooden texture is great for drybrushing and allows you to loose some paint fast and without excessive moisture loss. Difficult to clean, but with high durability this item will probably serve a long time before the need of retirement.
The Complete Weathering Set contains a Weathering Sponge Holder and a set of 50 Weathering Sponges. These fancy thick foam cubes come packaged inside a translucent bag. An interesting proposal compared to large, cumbersome cosmetic makeup sponges with a useful tool to hold them with and apply paint with precision. Currently priced at 4,99GBP for the whole set (Including a lightweight, durable Holder) it seems competitively priced for what it brings to the table.
Personally I prefer regular sponges for a messy weathering, but after working with Notts Hobbies Weathering Sponges I can see a future use for them. They come especially handy when weathering sharp edges, such as Warhammer 40,000 vehicle armor, or when there’s a need for delicate dust-like effect.
Overall I had a great experience with Notts Hobbies products. From the very first contact, through over a week long, exhausting painting process these items had met my expectations. Reasonably priced stuff with stylish design. I especially like the goats hair brushes. These are currently my number one brushes for anything drybrush related. Really hit the mark for me. The rest of the stuff is definitely worth checking out so if you are looking to expand your hobby toolset, I sincerely recommend giving the Notts Hobbies a try. While at it, you can save 10% by using a discount code: scarhand10 this way you support your wallet and I get a cut as well. Win-win!
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