Review. 'evy Metal painting equipment.

[gcsmith]

So the 'evy metal Painting supplies came out on saturday, and today just got a chance to try the brushes out with the book.
Let me just say this, WOW.
The painting guide is high quality, and goes beyond the white dwarf painting tips.

They show case several models, at least 1 from each system, and cover the main techniques you would need beyond standard painting. It covers both gold and silver NMM and covers OSL and cloth, skin and armour.

It has far more than I expected. Only problem with it is it doesnt cover the Diamond blades of the eldar farseer Model. IE it doesnt cover the farseer at all. But does cover the blade encarmine which is similar.

The brushes I think are worth the money, They are FAR beyond the normal GW brush in quality, and so much friendlier to use ive found. Not used the medium yet. Saving it for glazing and OSL and stuff.

Overall i think its a very good relase which while expensive has already started to help my painting massivly.

I would probs give it a 9/10.

Only way to get 10th mark would of been to make it slightly cheaper.

[elmir]

Oh, I'm pretty sure the brushes and that medium are good.

Kolinsky sable brushes and different mediums (glaze, matt, flow aid,...) are good things to have in your toolbox, no arguement there.

The question is though: is this kit worth the steep price-up normally associated with these "GW products"? More often then not, they aren't. Windsor & Newton series 7 brushes of comparable sizes usually run just over 10$ per brush... And those brushes are as good as they get. Maybe the GW really are equally good... They'd better be, because they are more expensive...

Also, you can pick up bottles of 125 ml pf artists' acrylic glazing or matte medium (or flow aid) for less then €8. That's waaaay more cost effective then this premade stuff.

I think the new 'eavy metal hobby kits are no different from GW's trackrecord so far: abusing the ignorance of people and upscaling the price on excisting products by putting the aquilla logo on it. It's good quality! But the pricetag just isn't right.

[faolan]

I think the new 'eavy metal hobby kits are no different from GW's trackrecord so far: abusing the ignorance of people and upscaling the price on excisting products by putting the aquilla logo on it. It's good quality! But the pricetag just isn't right.

You couldn't be more right on this. We looked at the book in the shop the other day (the employees, myself, and some of the best painters in the state) and came to that conclusion.

We also came to the conclusion that, as typical for the WD or the Website, they don't show half of the crucial steps, it's just bang-bang-bang-done, without any of the intermediate steps pictured or even alluded to.

The book itself is a complete waste, you can get it's entire contents online from their website. The brushes, tin, medium, and twin jizz cups are highly overpriced in the rest of the world and down in Australia at $80 it's just obscene.

[Denzark]

Elmir and Faolan

You are right about cheaper alternatives. You are also right about people's ignorance. Lets look at that in more detail though:

Little Timmy spending his allowance on minis to daub in 18 shades of brown and silver doesn't buy the high end stuff like this. Little Timmy's adoring parents, who bought him models in an attempt to wean him of the x-box, may buy him this in ignorance of cheaper products.

BUT, they can 1. Afford it (or they wouldn't buy it) and 2. Are intellectually capable of internet research to find alternative products.

People who have been wargaming for a while will know where to go elsewhere, low income people (filthy students etc) have no business complaining about the price of luxury items.

I would disagree with the term 'abusing people's ignorance', the use of abuse implies there is some sort of immorality. The only moral obligation the company has it to make profits for it's shareholders (and possibly not to use 2nd/3rd world sweatshops) not to lower prices on goods that could be easily sourced elsewhere if people weren't lazy. the price represents the convenience and the branding. It sells so must be reasonable.

Try to remember what they are punting, it isn't a pharmaceutical company with a global cure for bad monkey aids FFS.

[Deadlift]

As for the brushes, I bought a couple of Windsor & Newton series 7 brushes, a 1 and a 2. I have never used better brushes. I just dont see any GW brush being better than these to be honest, not for the price as well.

[gcsmith]

Well I have no near alternatives so i bought them, and tbh the book is more useful to me than white dwarf ones, and the brushes are far better than any ive used b4.

Expensive? sure.
Worth it? I think so. even with cheaper alternatives their worth that price, and I cant get hold of the cheaper alternatives easily.

[Deadlift]

The series 7 brushes can be found on eBay mate.

However, if your happy with your brushes and the medium then that's great. It's surprising how much confidence and ability can be gained by having faith in the quality of the brushes we use. I hope like me you will instantly see an improvement in your painting just by using a better brush.

[gcsmith]

well the book is really nice for techniques and Im glad I bought the brush since the normal GW brushes barely keep a point so would be crap for the techniques.

[xNickBaranx]

Something to keep in mind that I don't think a lot of people understand when gauging the prices of their hobby supplies is that they don't manufacture them themselves. They outsource these products and only put them on the shelves so that people can have everything they need to participate in their hobby in one place.

What this means is that they are always going to cost more than those same products made by the manufacturers that make them.

We're not talking about a supermarket that is selling their own generic name brand pasta and ketchup where they order in gargantuan amounts because they are selling staples. They put a massive upcharge on this stuff because it costs them way more than manufacturing it themselves, and rather than take a loss on bottles of Vomit Brown that sit for a full year on the shelves while Chaos Black sells out every week, they build it all into the cost.