Army Painter Quickshade

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:58 am

Ok, I finally got a chance to try the Army Painter Quickshade and I have to say that I am impressed.

I undercoated this model (painted as a Westfalian Fusilier) with white spray primer and later in the day I spent 20 minutes painting solid base colors, with no black lining, shading or anything else. I dunked the model in the Strong Tone Quickshade, pulled the excess off with a dry brush, and left the model to dry. This morning, I highlighted the flesh tone and blue with one stage each (which took about two minutes), brightened three or four spots with a pure white highlight (one minute), spattered on some mud (which took even less), and finished off the base later in the afternoon.

I think the end result is very good for wargaming standards.

This was the first of the Perry plastics I have painted, so I am willing to bet with familiarity of the model and an assembly line approach I could paint base tones on four models an hour. I normally can finish three Napoleonic infantry models a day with my usual techniques, but this would work out to something like twelve models a day! Hmmm... a 36 figure battalion in three days... stay tuned, I'm going to try a little experiment...

Post by **barr7430** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:42 am

Clarence, this indeed is the classic argument. Your photo is mag x2 or 2.5. The models were not designed to be viewed like that so you have already proven that the finish will stand up to scrutiny on the table. Viewed at 0.5 or even .25 mag.. the view we all get hovering above a wargames table this wee chappy is indistinguishable from a so called masterpiece by Dallimore or Dean etc.
I agonize over this all of the time. Taking 6+ hours to paint a mini to win a painting competition, gather fame as a 'painter' etc is NOT the same as having a nicely painted 2,000 figure wargaming army and being able to put on fantastic games for show or just pleasure.
Go for it... 36 figures over the weekend.. you can do it!!!!

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:13 pm

Yep, I used the oversized photo so people could see the effect of the Quickshade. Here he is at actual size (though it will depend on the resolution of your monitor if he looks that way to you). The model is indistinguishable from the several hundred three-layer models I own when placed on the wargames table.

I'm going to put together a battalion of the Victrix Brits this weekend and get them all undercoated. Later this week, I am going to see how fast I can turn out thirty models. I'll post daily results...

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:04 pm

Ok, here we go. This afternoon I assembled 22 models for the center companies of the 88th Line. Unfortunately, Victrix flank company boxes aren't out yet (but I have one on pre-order). I'll have to add the grenadier and light companies later. My plan is to base the unit on 50x45mm stands, 6 figures per base. For this little experiment, I will only be finishing the center three bases, but I should get some idea of how long it will take to turn out units with this technique. It took me a couple of hours to assemble these models.

Shiny plastic doesn't photograph very well, but you get the idea.

Minor quibble... I had to use two boxes to create the above unit. There are not enough shouldered musket arms to fill the rear rank. I could have mixed in some advancing poses in the second rank, but then I would have needed to use some firing poses in the first rank. Anyway, I plan on building three or four battalions, so it's not a big deal. I will simply plan on combining all of my firing figures into the second battalion.

Stay tuned...

thinredline · Post by **thinredline** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:50 am

Definately gonna be watching this space with interest

Thinredline

subedai · Post by **subedai** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:19 pm

I like them and will be interested in the outcome of your 'experiment'. My philosophy has always been if it looks good enough at arms length, why bother painting any more detail? After all, it won't be seen in amongst all the other stuff. A lot of reasonably well painted figures on a table with decent terrain will always win out over a few stunningly painted works of art. I don't know how to post pics here but to back up my statements my blog The Words of Subedai has loads of my stuff in various scales and periods. Rarely do I use more than three colours for shading and then mostly on the larger areas. PS I make most of my own terrain as well. Be my guest and have a look. All comments welcome...provided thay are complimentary of course.

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:01 pm

The models were all undercoated with Army Painter matt white spray paint. I always use spray paint to undercoat my models, but I normally use a black primer. For the purposes of keeping time, the process took all of about ten minutes including schlepping the lot downstairs to the garage and setting them up on a cardboard sheet I use for this purpose. I let them dry for a couple of hours before bring them back to my painting table.

I'm off to run a playtest of R2E so that's all for today. The real test should start tomorrow or Tuesday when I get a chance to sit down and paint on the base coats. I normally work on three or four models at a time, but for this process I'm going to try roughly half of the unit at once. I will document both the total time and time per figure.

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:54 am

Here's my test model. It took me twenty five minutes to paint the base colors seen at stage one. Again, I'm painting a Victrix model for the first time and had to pick out some of the details. They will be much faster to paint as I become more familiar with the models. The second stage shows the model after dunking in the Quickshade. The final stage shows the model after some very quick highlights to the flesh tone, red, and white - less than five minutes.

At actual size...

Not bad. I am particularly pleased with the shading effect on the multiple belts on the chest. Some of the details on the back of the Victrix model are a little "soft" - mainly around the canteen, but overall the model was fun to paint. The buttons don't stand out as well as I would like and I may take the time on future models to paint them black first and highlight them silver during the third stage.

The model in the photos still lacks a matt varnish and I believe it will look even better after that. The only other thing missing at the moment is mud spatter, but I think I will wait until basing the model to add that.

Right! I'm off to bed. I may not get a chance to sit at the painting desk tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to tackling the rest of the unit and I should get to it this week!

Post by **barr7430** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 7:09 am

Clarence,

VERY impressive! I must say I faced the task of my Victrix Brtis with a little trepidation for a variety of reasons but the look you've got here is brill. This may also be useful for that OTHER book I'm working on that I forgot to tell you about

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:03 pm

barr7430 wrote:Clarence,

VERY impressive! I must say I faced the task of my Victrix Brtis with a little trepidation for a variety of reasons but the look you've got here is brill. This may also be useful for that OTHER book I'm working on that I forgot to tell you about

One at a time, please, though we might have talked about it once before if it's what I'm thinking about...

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:36 pm

Clarence, Your troops are looking great! I can't wait to start my Victrix!
I painted these figures the exact same way. Dip then highlight.
David

http://www.sdean-forum.co.uk/phpBB2/vie ... hp?t=15223

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:01 pm

Thanks, David... Great minds, etc...

Last time Barry and I chatted, we spent a few minutes talking about painting. I was skeptical on the Quickshade, but he told me you were sold so I had to buy a tin to try as soon as they found their way across the pond. I have to say I am impressed with my initial results. At the very least, I think this is definitely the way to go for massed armies!

Massed Brits on the way...

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:53 am

Hi Clarence,

Looking forward to seeing your Victrix finished! I'll keep and eye on your site and here. The taster "R2E" looks amazing... great work!

Were playtesting "R2E" on Sunday and I have a game of "Sharp Practice" with Pat at the end of the month. I'll take some better images with my new digital SLR camera.

David

quindia · Post by **quindia** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:24 pm

Twenty-two models in four days (I didn't get a chance to work on them at all on Monday).

Not bad at all. Actually, all of the models were painted with flat colors and Quickshaded in just three days. My initial attempts were dunked, but you have to shake off the excess and that's hard to do at my painting desk, so I turned to slopping it on with a large brush, which actually worked a little better for me and didn't really take much longer - we're talking thirty seconds to a minute per figure.

I added some quick highlights only to the flesh tones, red, and white this afternoon. Just looking at the photo, I see a few models I want to touch up (the screaming pink sashes have GOT to be muted

) and the whole unit will get a quick splash of mud. Of course, I still need to paint the flank companies.

From past experience, I average three or four Napoleonic infantry figures per day and roughly get four "days" a week. Here I averaged six to eight. That means I can easily turn out one battalion per week if motivated.

I'll drop in another pic when the Victrix flank companies arrive and I get the whole mob based up and flags added. I am going to mount them six figures per base on a frontage of 15mm per figure, with bases deep enough to protect the lowered bayonets.

Heneborn · Post by **Heneborn** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:27 pm

Has anyone yet tried this with 15mm figures? (no, not tanks!)

What strength of the tone would suit best do you think?