Oil based paints

[PlagueMoose]

So if I have some enamel paints could I use them in place of the normal acrylics that are used for WH minis?

[tychobi]

Enamel paint is a bit trickier to work with but you can get some very nice results. I would experiment on something other than your models to make sure you are going to get the results you are looking for

[apologist]

@tychobi's advice is solid.

 

Every medium has its own quirks, advantages and disadvantages. Miniatures can be painted using pretty much anything, including watercolours, oils, enamals and more – but with that said, there's a lot more support and experience available for painting miniatures with acrylics.

 

Enamels are a traditional way to paint toy soldiers; they have the advantages that the results are tough and – from what I understand, having little experience of them myself – are much easier to use with an airbrush. The downsides are that they are usually solvent-based and thus hazardous, so need to be treated with care and used in well-ventilated areas.

[Domhnall]

From my experience back when I made model planes, enamels take far longer to dry between coats and are tacky during this which probably hinders the acrylic approach and techniques to painting, but then I've not tried it on minis so I am happy to be told otherwise. It comes down to what approach you prefer as there are superb examples out there of enamels so it's best to see what you find works best for yourself.

 

Personally I find acrylics much easier and forgiving.

[Chaplain Raeven]

A combination of the two works great too. Blocking out the main colours with acrylics, giving it enough time to dry and do the rest with oils can create some nice and easy results.

[sbarnby71]

Make sure you dilute the oils well to avoid gloppy results.

[N1SB]

 

So if I have some enamel paints could I use them in place of the normal acrylics that are used for WH minis?

 

A great question.  Like our Brothers already said, it's different, so I want to be very careful in how I respond with examples:

 

• You CAN totally use enamel paints
• But NOT as a direct replacement of normal acrylics
• Because enamel paint is like a different substance, it's thick, gloopy, sticky, syrup-like, that can cover-up very detailed miniatures (especially for a new painter)
• They also often have a strong smell, can cause headaches (like physical pain) if you're not used to it

 

So I would ask you, what are you thinking of painting with enamel please?  To help with that discussion, I've got some samples:

 

 

All these combine enamel elements with acrylic elements.

 

The green Chaos Knight's metal "skeleton" on the left has an enamel metallic paint (the Japanese car model brand Tamiya spraypaint), with armour plates painted with acrylics.  The metal was further washed with an enamel ink/shade called "Tamiya Smoke", then drybrushed with acrylic browns and oranges to give it a more authentic rust effect.  The idea is I'm deliberately using that syrup-like aspect of enamel paints to create this sickly machine.

 

The Loyalist Space Marine Sergeant in the centre is out-of-focus, but his armour is painted with Tamiya Metallic Red.  It's hard to tell, but it's a bit thick, almost coating the whole model with an extra millimeter of gloop.  Considering that's a 28mm mini, I think I sacrificed some detail for the effect, but it looks cool so I'm okay with it.

 

The Khorne fantasy miniature on the right is actually a multi-part model.  His body is all acrylics, you can see the muscularity and the veins, etc., but his leg armour and his helmet are again enamel (that Tamiya Metallic Red).  You can already see there's a different thickness to those armoured bits, because of the syrumpy enamel paint.

 

 

A close-up of the green Chaos Knight.  The enamel paint makes it look greasy, gross, battle-worn.  All the below refers to Tamiya Smoke.

 

On the bronze shoulderplate, you see this dark patch where it looks burnt out, like it melted a bit.  That's the syrupy nature of enamel.

 

On the gun barrel, you see these different patches of brown, again that's the gloopy enamel paint pooling together to form blotches.

 

The trim above his head, like that gunmetal fender, has these patches of shadow.  That's not actually from the lighting, that's Tamiya Smoke naturally pooling, like the surface retention of water except gloopy, into these nice little patterns.  As I type this out, I'm wondering if this might be too much to handle for a new painter, I dunno.

 

Here's an example of where enamel paint kinda goes wrong...but I kinda just rolled with it:

 

 

This is a converted Land Raider I used for the Horus Heresy era AND later, as an Ork vehicle (like they salvaged it millennia later).

 

Note those blotchy patches.  This was from a spray that, initially, I thought would be fine, albeit a bit thick because I had to cover the whole vehicle.  Again, to shade it, I added Tamiya Smoke afterwards.  That revealed the imperfections.  Now it looks like this ancient, scarred Machine Spirit.  However, if I had wanted a nice, clean look, enamel paints can be tricky to deal with.

 

For now, I'll just say enamel paints are quite different than the tutorials Games Workshop makes (because they're promoting their own acrylic products, etc.)  The safe answer is that they're probably too tricky for a new painter, yet I find it intriguing because a new painter does not have the same preconceptions we do.

 

(The irony is, for 40k Veterans of the Long War, I learned to use enamel paints with Tamiya Smoke from Mike McVey, the famous 1st and 2nd ed GW Heavy Metal painter.)

[Evil Eye]

Enamels are a funny one. They're often used by military and mecha modellers because they airbrush delightfully and dry super tough. However, they are absurdly slow to cure, very thick out the pot and if you want to thin them you will need dedicated thinners. For our needs they're not especially useful for most colour work (unless you're airbrushing a tank or other large vehicle), HOWEVER if you thin them with white spirit they make very good washes. Though personally for such applications I prefer actual oil paints.