No Paint For You!

I binned my paints because they turned to solid plastic. They were over thirty years old.

I started out modelling with Airfix aeroplanes & oil based paints. The Citadel water based acrylics were a revelation to me when they turned up. You could clean brushes with water! No more mucking about with turpentine.

Armed with painting guides I would attempt multiple layers, dry brushing and adding depth with inks. Initially I followed the guides but part of the fun was figuring out shortcuts, like how painting the highlight layer first which would show up on raised areas when applying the darker base colour after. I was still rubbish at painting but pleased enough with the results.

☠ Space Marine Paint Set

This set came with a plastic tray that doubled as a brush holder and paint palette. It also came with a booklet on how to paint Blood Angels, Salamanders, Space Wolves and Ultramarines. Salamanders were the green marines until a Jim Burns painting was printed in lighter tones than intended and turned Dark Angels green. The back of the booklet has banners for modellers to photocopy.

• Bolt Gun Metal - The base colour for Marine weapons

• Salamander Black - The base colour for Salamander Marines and vehicles

• Salamander Green - The highlight colour for Salamander Marines and vehicles

• Marine Dark Blue - The base colour for Ultramarines and their vehicles

• Ultramarine - The highlight colour for Ultramarines and their vehicles

• Blue Grey - The base colour for Space Wolf Marines and vehicles

• Space Wold Gray - The highlight colour for Space Wolf Marines and vehicles

• Terracotta - The base colour for Blood Angel Marines and vehicles

• Blood Angel Orange - The highlight colour for Blood Angel Marines and vehicles

The front art was by David Gallagher.

☠ Ork & Eldar Paint Set

I initially painted my Orks with enamels because it was all I had and didn't know any painting techniques. Fortunately one of the properties of the enamels was they gave good coverage and opacity with a single thin layer with no undercoat. So when I repainted the Orks they didn't turn into amorphous blobs.

• Bad Moon Yellow - Bright yellow ideal for the most extravagant of Orks

• Go Fasta Red - Added speed for anything from Battlewagons to Boars

• Ork Flesh - Deep green perfect for tough Ork skin

• Snake-Bite Leather - Rich golden brown for tanned hides and straps

• Fire Dragon Crimson - A warm purple that ideally matches the fiery colours of this Eldar Aspect

• Striking Scorpion Green - Bright insect green to contrast with the black and yellows of the Striking Scorpions

• Hawk Turquoise - Strong blue/green for the airborne Swooping Hawks

• Bleached Bone - Pale bone for anything from Death Skulls to Banshees

• Tin Bitz - Rusty metal to drybrush onto all manner of Ork machinery

The front art was, again, by David Gallagher.

☠ Expert Paint Set

My inks didn't come in these fancy bottles with labels. The containers were the same as other sets.

• Red - Shading red tunics, banners, etc. - subtle shading on flesh - chaos armour

• Orange - To enrich, red cloth, neutral coloured cloths, fur, leather, wood

• Yellow - To glaze reds, greens - tunics, banners, orc flesh, dragon skin, - for brilliance and depth of colour

• Green - To shade and glaze orc/monster flesh, tunics, chaos armour

• Blue - Tunics and banners, dragon skin

• Purple - Tunics, banner, chaos armour and flesh shading on red and zombie flesh

• Brown - Shading tunics, flesh, equipment, fur and weathering and rust effects, skeletons

• Chestnut Brown - As above but a richer and warmer tone good for fur and beasts, horses

• Black - Steel armour & equipment - lining and detailing

It's interesting to read what applications the range designers intended for them. It wasn't something I paid much attention to at the time.

This box has a cover by Chris "Fangorn" Baker.

☠ "AND THEY SHALL PAINT THE GALAXY WITH THE EMPEROR'S LIGHT"

These paint sets are long out of production. I believe that behind the scenes HMG paints manufactured them. After Games Workshop switched to a new range the old formulations were sold under the brand name Coat d'Arms. That brand has passed through the hands of a number of companies since then but is still available. There are lists of equivalents on the Dakka Dakka Wiki but not all of the names match up.

And finally, proof some of my miniatures did actually get paint on them.