Tone Pro - The hype is overblown

[Karhedron]

I have to admit I was quite intrigued by the Tone Pro range with its claims of coverage and self levelling so I decided to give it a try.

 

I deliberately chose the hardest test I could think of and went for yellow as this is always a very translucent colour and needs to be applied over a perfectly white undercoat. I have seen people applying the new yellow Tone Pro over dark undercoat with good results so I got a pot of Hawkshroud Yellow 3 to try picking out the yellow areas of my Space Wolves. 

 

In order to give it a fair chance, I did undercoat the target areas with Corax white before I started. I chose Hawkshroud Yellow 3 as it is a pretty good match for the Flashgittz yellow I normally use for this task.

 

After 1 coat, I was not impressed. Even with a white undercoat, it did not cover particularly well. The fabled self-levelling properties were not displayed. I applied it a little more thickly than usual but I certainly didn't "blob it on". When dried, the coverage was not noticeably better than FGY. Brush marks also remained noticeable and some of the small recesses on the storm Bolter showed signs of starting to fill in.

 

In order to give it a fair chance, I have applied 3 coats, allowing each one to dry before applying the next. It still doesn't look great. Even allowing for yellow being a difficult colour, this paint does not live up to the hype. The coverage is not significantly better than Layer paints and the self-levelling is mediocre at best.

 

I will continue using it with more rigorous re-undercoating with white prior to application. It is not bad but it is not noticeably an improvement over existing yellow Layer paints. Maybe it works well for drybrushing but for this particular role it doesn't live up to its claims of better coverage or better levelling. 

 

Disappointed of Basingstoke 

 

 

[Karhedron]

In the interest of fairness. I have given another identical Storm Bolter 2 thin coats of Corax and then 3 thin coats if Hawkshroud Yellow 3. The results are certainly acceptable and maybe slightly better than Flashgitz yellow. However it still isn't revolutionary and a marginal improvement certainly won't encourage me to buy more pots in a hurry. It certainly won't change the way I paint. 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:15 PM by Karhedron

[WBRBloom]

Quite interesting, @Karhedron, and I was curious on the colours. I might pick a couple of pots while on vacation in November, and see what I can make of them but, as you've said, I don't expect them to revolutionise how we paint.

 

Question, how viscus is it? Would it work through an airbrush, for example? I'm asking because I've heard good words from people who took the whole thing a step further, especially when contrast colours became a thing, and used them through and airbrush with extraordinary results.

[Karhedron]

I don't airbrush myself so I am not sure. The viscosity seems somewhere between a Foundation and a Layer paint. My understanding is that airbrush paints need to be thinner but I would experiment.