- contact@scarhandpainting.com
Who doesn’t love to get some of them high quality brushes? I’ve been painting since the mid-90s and if experience taught me anything it is that there’s never enough brushes to go around with. Luckily, just when I was about to sweep the Internet in search of something new, that I could feed my brush hunger with, a package from Iron Keep came in. Inside there was a trio of Fine Sable brushes that I got to test. Here’s my honest review of the three.
All three Iron Keep brushes came packaged in separate plastic tubes, accompanied by instruction manuals. Each tip was lined perfectly and secured by a protective cover. Visually appealing, the brushes made a good first impression. An original choice of colors for sure – not really my cup of tea, but I wouldn’t stress over the color of the handles – it is the head of each individual brush that I’m most interested in. In this case the tips are sharp and flexible and bellies have just enough girth and length to my liking.
There’s a lot of brushes in the market that I could compare with Iron Keep Finest Sable. For the purpose of the review I decided to compare Iron Keeps with brushes I use on a daily basis. That would be:
Citadel (Warhammer) Artificer Series: 22€-32€, daVinci Maestro series 10 (much smaller belly): ~10€, Army Painter Masterclass (smaller tips): ~10€, Green Stuff World Silver Series (lower quality): 6-10€, W&N Series 7: 17€-25€
All sizes of the Iron Keep Finest Sable brushes are about 14€-15€ each, which might be more than cheaper and arguably lower quality alternatives, but also less than Citadel Artificer series and Winsor & Newton Series 7.
In order to be thorough I took all three brushes on a four days spin. I have used the trio almost exclusively for the entirety of the latest Warhammer 40,000 Genestealr Cults commission of over two dozen miniatures. All three brushes performed admirably under my typical rigorous routine. Take note that I do not care for brushes much. These are the tools of my trade and as such, are required to carry a burden of all kinds of paints including washes, metallic pains, textures and varnishes. Not only did the Iron Keep Finest Sable emerge victorious, but I have no bad things to say about the performance. The brushes behaved just like I would imagine from other mid-high end hobby brushes.
When it comes to comfort of work and belly/tip behavior, Iron Keep overperformed compared to Green Stuff World Silver Series, DaVinci and The Army Painter. Throughout the process my impression was that the Iron Keep performed on par with Citadel Artificer and W&N Series 7, which are some of my favorite lines of brushes. Below are a few pictures of the brushes after the job was done.
Iron Keep delivered and I am genuinely happy about the three brushes. Both pricing and the quality works for me. The only issue I have is the limited choice of size. I prefer to work on slightly larger brushes and would definitely get size 3 and 4 if available. Either way this is not the last time you will see Iron Keep Finest Sable at my workbench – they now join the ranks of my favorite brush lines. Look out for yellow handles all over my workspace from now on!
Why not at the very source: Iron Keep Fines Sable
You might also find these brushes at selected online stores.
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.
Playing miniature wargames used to be all about textured boards and fluffy static grass mats. These days there’s a variety of alternatives, the best of which is in my opinion a proper gaming mat. Gaming mats look great, they’re durable, easy to store and most importantly offer a wide spectrum of themes to improve the gameplay experience. When it comes to gaming mats there’s a few clear leaders in the market, but my favorite is the Playmats – a well established Polish brand of gaming accessories and Battle Mats for wargames. For years now I have been a faithful customer, improving my wargaming experience with Playmats, be it with their original designs or via commissioning them to produce items to my personalized specifications. This review is less of a classic price/quality/etc. and more of a product-focus. As it happens the Playmats just released a Battle Mat produced in association with yours truly. A great opportunity to present to you my own idea realized as a fully fledged product of a well known company.
The product in question is the “No Man’s Land” mat for wargames. The idea behind the mat is to provide a ravaged trenchline background for a desolated battlefield, so that any configuration of so-called trench-hills will fit, regardless of setup. The inspiration came out of nowhere when I was making a new Trench Crusade gaming board and weighted my options between fully 3D modelled, plank covered ‘ground floor’ and a standard battlefield type gaming mat. Modelling floor tiles is a tedious task that limits setup options for scenery, whereas for a gaming mat – there was just no design of what I had in mind anywhere out there. Most gaming mats are designed to look good as standalone products and are not necessarily treated as a background for a full scenery set – I figured to pitch my idea to Playmats and to my surprise they took it in with an open mind.
I will skip the entire design process and focus on the finished thing instead. The gaming mat I got is a standard 48×48″ (122x122cm), one sided print on a rubber pad. I have many Playmats products already so to no surprise the quality is very good, with strong and vibrant colors, smooth cutting lines and perfect rubber pad to print adhesion. The final design is very much to my liking, full of messed up trench floor, ideal to stick out from beneath trench-hills.
The No Man’s Land comes in a variety of sizes and as such it fits a variety of games, including Trench Crusade (like in my case), but also an Imperial Guard themed board for Warhammer 40,000/Kill-Team or a cool Warzone trench line. I am very happy with the results.
For the record: I do not earn any affiliation based returns from the sales of this product. Now that I have a cool No Man’s Land gaming mat of my own, I have no further horses in this race, if you catch my drift. I’m here spreading the hobby love because I do appreciate Playmats eagerness to release my idea, not to forget the great quality of all the cool stuff they delivered throughout the years. At this point I am a fan of theirs for life!
This and other Playmats products are available at Playmats.eu or Playmaty.pl for all of you – Polish friends.
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.
K&K Hobby Accessories is a young, but fast growing company from Poland, that specializes in miniatures basing materials. Formed by flesh and bone miniatures hobbyists that decided to use their combined expertise to create a series of quality products for basing and beyond. As it happened I was given a few products in order to test. Here’s my thoughts…
Stairght out of a batt I was struck by how big the containers are. Sure there’s “300ml” information on the packaging, but online pictures left me under the impression that these are all half the actual size. In fact they’re huge and it definitely impacted how I feel about the product line. Other than that, the packaging is made of medium-hard plastic with a sticker on top of the lid. Looks nice IRL, not over the top but definitely proper for what the product is.
Inside there’s a nice variety of natural material, be it a mix of fine sand and gravel up to some hefty chunks, or a mix of flat basing rocks varying between 25mm and up to 120mm. Basically everything you need for your standard troops and impressive centerpieces alike.
Compared to immediate competition, with about 2,99€ per 100ml the K&K Hobby Accessories Simple Basing and Basing Rocks insert themselves at a low end of pricing spectrum, which is great!
K&K Hobby Accessories Simple Basing (Sand, Rocks etc.) – 8,99€ / 300ml (2,99€ / 100ml)
The Army Painter Battlefield Basing (Rocks / Sand etc.) – 5,99€ / 150ml (3,99€ / 100ml)
Green Stuff World Hobby Sand (thick, fine etc.) – 5,99€ / 200ml (2,99€ / 100ml)
Warlord Games Battlefield & Basing (rocky sand, etc.) – 6€ / 180ml (3,33€ / 100ml)
A mix of fine hobby sand with small-to-medium sized gravel and a few heftier gravel chunks. I use a similar mix to add extra detail to commissioned 40k and Trench Crusade basing. I got two in order to compare quality control and I do like the balance of particular ingredients and how consistent it is.
This one I was very curious about. I’m used to spending hours, ravaging through home&decor or building material stores, searching for a proper set of ‘hobby’ stones for my basing. I do appreciate a set of hand picked flat stones in a variety of sizes, that I am not forced to waste my time looking for. Again I got two sets and the consistency between them is solid.
Here’s where real magic happens – a mix of fine sand, gravel and… 30 pieces of 3d printed detail that can be used to create an awesome diorama, a scenic base, or a set of fine looking bases for a miniature army. As someone who 3D prints as well I have nothing bad to say about the print quality – the detail is crisp and well cleaned/cured.
Obviously a review is nothing without some proper testing, to which I jumped right into. A standard procedure of creating two bases, similar to what you can see in all my Basing Tutorials.
I am very happy with how K&K Hobby Accessories behaved, especially the fine sand that filled all the gaps and built sufficient volume. I will definitely come back to you with painted examples and probably a full tutorial, to better present the end result, but for now and with my experience, I am satisfied with how it all worked out.
K&K Hobby Accessories are a breath of fresh air and a nostalgic step back to how proper hobby materials used to look like and behave back in the days. Before the time of big companies that dominated the market and started shedding off weight and quality from their products we all used to buy large packs of specially selected sand and gravel. Somehow the K&K Hobby managed to deliver and to keep the pricing on par with the lowest amongst the immediate competitors at the same time. Compared to colored cork and shaving, the K&K Hobby Accessories are all natural, which comes with a variety of features such as weight, detail and textures. I like how it feels, I like to work with such materials. It’s been years since I purchased a basing sand or gravel from a hobby-oriented company. I plan to change that and get me some more of that K&K goodness. How about you? Is this the kind of basing material you’d be interested in?
Probably the best would be at the source: K&K Hobby Accessories Page, or one of the stores that decided to carry this line of products, that can be found at the “where to find us” tab there.
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.
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.
Watching the miniatures hobby industry from within for over two decades can definitely yield a few observations, such as what trends dominate the current period. If I was to pick one it would definitely be “all-in-one”, starting with portable painting stations, transportation cases and hobby tools aimed to help artists that might struggle with limited space. Nowadays I am more of a sedentary type of a hobbyist, but I used to work in a hobby store and travel quite a lot, carrying my hobby around. All that to say that regardless of my current situation I can appreciate easy to transport, modular hobby solutions. One of which, the All-In-One Modular Art Box by KRYDRUFI, I would like to present to you in this article.
KRYDRUFI EU & UK
KRYDRUFI USA
KRYDRUFI AU
Long story short, I was recently contacted by KRYDRUFI asking if I would like to test out the All-In-One Modular Art Box, to which I agreed. The item arrived in good condition a few days later, all the way from China. I’m a sucker for the high aesthetic value of packaging both overall and of each individual piece and the first impression was great.
The All-In-One Modular Art Box comes with a variety of functionality. It usually consists of
* Large two-chambers Water Bucket,
* Two separate Water Tanks equipped with Silicone Brush Cleaning Inserts,
* A total of four Brush Holders,
* Two Airtight Paint Storages,
* Two Wet Palettes with a 5mm Sponge and Disposable Palette Paper supply,
After taking the All-In-One Modular Art Box outside and painting miniatures in the garden, I can genuinely say that I am impressed by the plethora of functionality squeezed into this single, relatively small product.
As someone used to working long painting sessions, I am especially fond of a large Water Bucket. Thanks to the separation through the middle, the Water Bucket, combined with two Water Tanks, results in less time spent on replacing dirty water and more time spent on actual painting.
Probably the most ingenious of the entire set are the Brush Holders, especially the two with small containers at the bottom. No need to worry about messing up the table in a hotel with a dripping wet brush – these puppies have you covered!
Two Brush Cleaning Inserts are a cherry on top. Not everyone will appreciate them, but I’m one of those painters for whom this is a perfect brush cleaning solution.
Finally, all these things fit into the Water Bucket to get carried as a whole, or just save space on the workbench between projects. A brilliant idea designed to make best use of the limited work space – what’s not to love about it?
Apart from the obvious, being able to adjust the number of lower modules and then stack them via special side clamps to carry the whole thing around is just brilliant. I can easily imagine combining two sets into one giant stack, while leaving one fully equipped upper part on the in-house workbench. As for the clamps, they are pretty hard to unlock and I am not sure as to how they would perform in the long run. Plastic seems somewhere between brittle and solid, only time will show if it loosens up or breaks.
For those of us pre-planning the paint job, the Airtight Paint Storage is a perfect solution to save space on travel via pouring a bit of each required paint into an individual slot, instead of carrying each bottle separately. Can also be used to great effect to sort and storage small parts. It is relatively easy to clean as well.
Last but not least, I don’t know about you, but me personally – I love to keep particular tools well organized and in one place. I would imagine the stackable Wet Palettes will suit multiple painting projects perfectly and save space on the working bench. Not to mention spare paper clipped on top and in between the Palettes, rather than kept separately.
The set comes equipped with a Highly Moisturizing Sponge for each Wet Palette and a stack of Disposable Palette Paper. The quality of both seem on par with items from other suppliers I worked on previously. They seem to be pretty durable, but can also be resupplied from the KRYDRUFI online store if needed.
In my opinion the KRYDRUFI All-In-One Modular Art Box embodies the All-In-One aspect completely, offering a variety of functionality and modularity. Most importantly it comes in a very compact, space saving form, which for many might be the deal breaker. The price varies between $20 USD for the entire upper module (KRYDRUFI Cleaning* Brush Holder Module) to about $46 USD for the full set (KRYDRUFI All-In-One Modular Art Box Ultra). The KRYDRUFI All-In-One Modular Art Box seems like a perfect solution for artists who may struggle with limited space or budgets, and the difficulty of organizing tools of various sizes. The Low price point of the product for what it brings to the table makes it even better. So if you are one of the hobbyists who’d like to keep their tools well-organized and easily accessible, then in my opinion the KRYDRUFI All-In-One Modular Art Box is the way to go.
The item is available directly from KRYDRUFI online store and you can get a 15% discount by using my link and the code scar15 on checkout, or automatically by following one of the links below. More so, if you do, I will get a small commission thus not only will you save but also support my little hobby endeavor. Seems like a win-win.
KRYDRUFI EU & UK online store
KRYDRUFI USA online store
KRYDRUFI AU online store
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.
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!
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.
A-Case, the company best known for their outstanding magnetic transportation cases for miniatures, is at it yet again! If you follow my content you know that I am a big A-Case fanboy and in a close relation with the company. So much so as to participate in testing of ‘everything A-Case’ before release and providing feedback that is then implemented into the final design. That is to say that although clearly biased, I can recommend A-Case products with full confidence in their quality and functionality. This goes for the Portable Painting Station as well.
The Portable Painting Station is a set of cleverly designed extensions for the A-Case Victory, transforming this compact miniature carrying case into a mobile hobby workshop. Apart from the case, the set comes with:
* Two detachable LED top lights with appropriate click-in mounts.
* Two detachable LED front lights with magnetized mounts.
* Photographic background with detachable, magnetic mounts.
* Photographic background exterior Velcro based holder.
* Magnetic water cup.
* Magnetic Accessory/Paints transportation box.
* Shelf-to-Tray extension.
* Detachable carrying strap.
Sometimes, be it on vacation, visiting a family member, or just on the move the only thing you might want is to sit down and paint your miniatures. The A-Case Portable Painting Station provides a way to not only transport miniatures and essential hobby accessories with ease, but also create a firm, cozy, well lit hobby space for you to work at. Revolving around a compact carrying case the hobby space is enough to get some work done, in comfort, and keep the ‘artistic mess’ contained.
Following the ‘magnetic’ theme of the entire A-Case line, the set comes with an array of additional magnetic accessories such as Water Cup and the Paint Box. These, combined with some classic A-Case accessories such as the Magnetic Painting Grip, can then be transported, with ease and safely, on top of an extended tray.
Personally I find sharing pictures of finished miniatures online to be very exciting. Taking such pictures? Not so much. It usually takes a lot of setup to get a few good quality pics and up until recently I wouldn’t be able to imagine doing this while traveling. That is – until now! The A-Case Portable Painting Station is supplied with a detachable photographic background and a set of additional LED lights that quickly transform a working space into a miniature photographic studio. I could go on on the results, but I think the below pictures speak for themselves.
Not everyone might be interested in miniature photography during a trip. That’s fine, because A-Case takes your individual preferences into consideration. The background can be rolled up and attached to the exterior of the case while additional LEDs fit to the front accessory pocket. You decide if you want to leave these accessories or take them with you.
The Portable Painting Station expands the already vast range of A-Case functionality into a completely new territory, maintaining the theme of magnetized accessory compatibility along the way. It is a well thought through, user friendly and easy to transport hobby gadget – perfectly suited for anyone who’d like to take their hobby away from home. I have done some thorough testing, including an Easter trip. The quality is there, the product does exactly what it was designed for. I am impressed by the functionality and although clearly biased, I can vouch for the Portable Painting Station with my name on the line.
The Portable Painting Station is available from the official A-Case online store.
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.
Seems like following the release of Games Workshop’s Contrast Paints, painting miniatures on easy mode became the new hotness. Different companies jumped on top of the hype wagon, releasing their own version of the recipe, with mixed results. The more the merrier, thus the Green Stuff World, a Spanish company well established in the hobby market, dipped their toes in the trend with their line of Dipping Inks paints.
Recently I have received a chunky package filled with Green Stuff World products, to do with them as I please. I took some of them for a spin and decided to share my experience with you. First on the line are the aforementioned Dipping Inks. Please note that this review is not sponsored by Green Stuff World.
The Dipping Inks is a speed painting system containing paint recipes designed and perfected by Green Stuff World. Thanks to a single coat producing both vibrant highlights and strong shadows, this type of semi-transparent paints is aimed at painting miniatures with ease and speed. It barely takes a bright undercoat such as white, a single coat of speed paint and you can call it done. Alternatively, depending on your skill and expectations, you can build from there by applying more coats, highlights and shadows. Personally I rarely use similar types of paints to start a paint job, but I find them perfect to substitute washes and/or apply blends with, instead.
Dipping Washes come either solo, or packaged inside well thought through color themed sets of six. I have received three of such sets: Dipping Inks 03, Dipping Inks 04 and Dipping Inks 05 and put them to a test to compare the end results with box examples.
For the purpose of proper testing I have selected a set of old school Undead shield adornments (Warhammer Fantasy Battles), featuring some deep recesses, sharp detail and flat areas. Perfect to display what the Dipping Inks can achieve, depending on the surface.
I have painted each piece with a different Dipping Ink, one layer applied manually (by brush), let them dry and prepared a comparison exposition by gluing each piece beside its corresponding example at the back of the box.
The results are a mixed bag. Most (Deep Black, Elfwood Brown, Skeleton Brown…) really hit the mark, translating very well from the back of the box onto the miniature. Others (such as Green Stone and Skull Linen…) performed rather underwhelmingly, while a few (Turquoise Ghost, Blue Glacier..) produced interesting results that exceeded my expectations. Thorough shaking and more tests produced consistent results which is good news for the entire line, not so much for a selected few Dipping Inks that underperformed.
Dark colors definitely steal the spotlight, producing deep shadows and contrasts, whereas in my opinion the lighter tones might use some more juice to make the highlights pop. That being, due to personal preferences and the way I paint I am probably biased. I sincerely believe I will find a use for every single one of them at some point.
Key features:
Here’s where Green Stuff World Dipping Inks really shake the meta. Pricing is just out of this world. We are used to single 18ml pains coming at a price of between 4€ to 7€. Dipping Inks come in a 60ml bottle for a market bending price of 5.75€ (currently 4.31€ on Green Stuff World page!). It drops down to 4€/bottle if purchased as a set of 6!
By comparison:
Green Stuff World Dipping Ink 60ml – 5.75€ (currently 4.31€)
Games Workshop Contrast Paint 18ml – 6.30€
The Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 18ml – 4.25€
Hands down the best volume for the buck.
With how saturated the hobby paints market currently is, breaking through to general awareness is very difficult and requires some exceptional features on top of reliable results. The Green Stuff World Dipping Inks couldn’t avoid the curse that plagues every other line of paints – being a mixed bag varying between outstanding, ok (a few) and underwhelming. Still on top of offering a variety of effects they come in a large, comfortable bottle and at a phenomenally low price. Most importantly they get the job done on par with competition. Personally I will definitely include them in my day to day commission painting as it seems to me, like I have finally found a good solution for blacks and browns. I sincerely recommend the range and incline you to test it personally, because this is the only way to get to know if these paints work for you.
I hope you find this article interesting. In case of any questions, use the comments section below or contact me via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who you think might find it useful. Stay tuned for more hobby content.
Transporting your miniatures should be smooth and easy. No company seems to embody this philosophy better than A-Case. A relatively small company from Poland, dedicated to producing the very top miniatures transporters. Their entire shtick revolves around magnetism and believe me – Once you go magnetic there’s no going back!
A-Case is best known for their Hybrid series magnetic cases, coming in four different types (and sizes), but there’s more to the line than meets the eye. Lately the company released a Magnetic Token Box, a peripheral accessory fully compatible with their cases. The item is a huge step in improving the comfort of miniatures transportation. Today I will focus on this awesome gadget and present to you its many advantages.
The Magnetic Token Box is an accessory dedicated to transporting a variety of wargaming peripherals, be it dice, laser pointers, gaming tokens and more. Each box is 3d printed with an integrated powder coated metal lid. There are five strong magnets mounted in the underside to immobilize the box inside an A-Case transporter or on top of one another. Boxes come in four colors (Red, Blue, Black and Grey), each 18cm long, 12cm wide and 3cm high (about 7x5x1″). Within you will find adjustable compartments consisting of five powder coated metal walls.
Magnetic Token Box is more than just your typical dice/token holder. It has a wide range of features. The most interesting of, are compatible with the magnetic theme of the A-Case products.
Although I have purchased both boxes used in this review fairly recently, I have been using the beta version of the Magnetic Token Box since last year. I have provided feedback, then watched as the design evolved through multiple iterations, new features being added, size adjusted. I can only say that the actual product got optimized to a point where I consider it perfect for wargaming related needs. The quality is great and the long list of features and possible uses is just mind blowing. It is also pretty well priced for what it offers. Magnetic Token Box is LEGO level of brilliant. I wholeheartedly invite you to try the product out.
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.
