New and slightly confused.

[Sam junior]

Hi, my name is Sam and I am from Dublin Ireland. I was trawling the net when I hit upon this site.
I am really interested in getting back into painting model soldiers, a passtime I loved as a young man, I really liked the Airfix small soldiers which you had to glue together and paint.
I remember with fondness how pocket money was spent on friday evenings buying them from the local newsagents maybe with a new tin of paint and if the money went to it probably a new brush.
Anyway I have some questions, well here we go.
Iwas walking through town and found a place called games workshop, I was told by the shop assistant that their paints are waterbased, are all soldier paints like that these days?
I seem to remember airfix paiints were spirit based.
Can I get bigger soldiers in Dublin or do I have to get them mail order.
If I buy some oil paints can I paint over water base undercoats.I realise that the undercoat would have to be dry first. Can anybody recommend a proper place in Dublin to get really good brushes as the ones in Gamesworkshop look poor quality.
Sorry for the long post but Wolud it be possible to get large busts in Dublin, I think I would like to start with one of these.


Thank you again,

Sam.

 

[theseeker]

Sam,

You landed in the right place. I don't know anything about Dublin, other than my travels. I am sure you will get a great deal of help from the guys here.
I re-started last year and much has changed. When I first started acrylics were not around and enamels were the name of the game.
Now acrylics are the norm and oil are secondary, at least with old folks like me.
I am sure you find any bust that you want in the U.K. I will leave it up to others to chime in. Welcome to the club!

Rocky

 

[megroot]

Sam,
Welcome on board. The paint where you wanna work with is your personal choice.
I do my undercoat with acrylic and paint with oils. I never gonna get results with acrylic.
For paintbrushes i can recommend only brushes with Kolinsky hair. Don't go for the excpencive ones like Windsor & Newton series 7, for starting are cheaper brushes with good results also. But that is my opinion.
There are guys from Ireland here in the community and be sure they wanna help you out.....

Marc

 

[vergilius]

Welcome to the planet
Let's say there are two camps here; one with oilpainters and one who love to use acrylics. It's your personal taste that makes the choice, so don't start the discussion what's better.
I myself use oils and most of us use enamels or acryl as a base. You can also use some inkts to get some nice effects.
I can't help you with Dublin. It's been 18 years since I visited the place and I heard it chanced a lot. I do hope to visit it again one day.
Feel free to ask all the questions you want and welcome again!

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Welcome here Sam!

The Airfix tincans is long way gone. I can still remember the smell. Humbrol however is still available and I paint with it. Ive tried the acrylics about a year ago and couldnt get it to work. I am going to make a new effert soon though.

Cheers

 

[Einion]

Hi Sam, welcome back to the funhouse. You don't have to be mad to do this, but it helps

Ireland has a good modelling club, the IMSS, which meets in Dublin so I'd recommend you get in contact through pF member John Schley. The IMSS just celebrated their 50th anniversary.

Iwas walking through town and found a place called games workshop, I was told by the shop assistant that their paints are waterbased, are all soldier paints like that these days?

A good chunk of the figure-modelling community use this type of hobby paint today (these are really vinyl paints, but are usually generically called acrylics). Some people, as you'll see here, use oil paints still and others even still use enamels like Humbrol. Some of us have a multi-media approach, using a bit of this and that.

The hobby acrylics - good versions are also made by Vallejo and Andrea in Spain - have had a bit of a golden period over the past few years as more people try them, attracted by the impressive results skilled users can get, the consistent matt finish, the idea of water cleanup plus the speed with which you can progress due to the fast drying.

I seem to remember airfix paiints were spirit based.

Yep, enamels, similar to Humbrol.

Can I get bigger soldiers in Dublin or do I have to get them mail order.

I'm out of touch but there'll be a couple of IMSS members that sell figures still I'm sure.

Can anybody recommend a proper place in Dublin to get really good brushes as the ones in Gamesworkshop look poor quality.

Kennedy's on Harcourt Street might be the easiest bigger shop to get to. O'Sullivan Graphics is not far away, on Camden Street. No idea what brushes they stock now but hopefully you'll be able to find other good Kolinsky brushes like daVinci as well as the old standard, Series 7 from Winsor & Newton.

There are also Art & Hobby Shops scattered about, which have some of the less-specialised supplies like synthetic brushes.

Einion

 

[Sam junior]

Thanks everybody for the kind replies.
I feel a bit stupid because it was only after posting that I remembered that Easons has an art department.
I will try during the week.
Enion thanks for the heads up to the IMSS, great site, I will start with some of the Games workshop stuff during the week. I think I will also try getting some of the brushes you suggested.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Sam.

 

[Einion]

I feel a bit stupid because it was only after posting that I remembered that Easons has an art department.

Yep, there too. But I'm not sure if they sell any artists'-quality oil paints, which you might want to invest in for some colours at least.

Einion

 

[Sam junior]

Thanks again, went to Easons 1st floor and there was a good range of stuff.
Another stupid question if I may.

I am almost sure I seen "water based oli paints" , was I seeing things?
They had acrylics, oils and the above mentioned. The are manufactured by windsor and newton.
Next stupid qusetion, would they be mixable/ compatible with both ordinary oils and Acrylics? or are the a new product which requires you to by this range exclusively ?
Thanks again Einion, you seem to know Dublin are you from here, its just when I seen "The Other Side Of The Pond", I thought the United States.

Thank You again,

Regards,

Sam.

 

[Einion]

No you're not seeing things - a few makers have now made water-miscible or water-mixable oil paints, for those who'd like to use oil paint but don't want to mess with any organic solvents for whatever reason.

Next stupid qusetion, would they be mixable/ compatible with both ordinary oils and Acrylics?

Oils yes, acrylics not really - in terms of mixing directly; they can of course be applied on top of acrylics exactly like regular oils. These are essentially just oil paints, merely modified to be able to be mixed with water (although not terribly easily).

If mixed with normal oils the blend is somewhere between the two in terms of properties - the more normal oil paint the less water-miscible it is and vice versa.

Quite frankly I'd always recommend someone go with normal oils unless they have a serious reason not to - if worried about solvent vapours simply switch to a low-odour solvent like Sansodor, which in addition to the much lower smell is a lot safer to use indoors.

Thanks again Einion, you seem to know Dublin are you from here, its just when I seen "The Other Side Of The Pond", I thought the United States.

Most members are in North America - other side of the pond to them

I used to live in Dublin, few years back.

Einion

 

[vergilius]

einion, you're too quick for me !

 

[dinovision79]

Hi Sam,

hope getting back to the hobby is going well! I think it's important to choose the right medium to start with, you will need couple of dozens of different colours.

I would recommend you to check out articles and posts here, eg search on painting with oils, painting with acrylics or go through Forum/Articles, don't forget to set Display options/From to 'Beginning' so you see all posts, not only recents. Spend some time there, it's full of interesting and useful info!

Also, there are a few not too expensive books, eg Danillo Cartacci's for both oils and acrylics or Osprey's book Modeling Fallshirmjagers by Jaume Ortiz or there is another one by Calvin Tan for acrylics. I'm sure there are some oil tutorials as well.

Most useful would be though, if you could see the Dublin IMMS guys in real action.

Hope to see your work here soon!
Denes

 

[Sam junior]

Thanks very much guys, the heads up are paying off, I went to games workshop again and bought a book on painting their miniatures, I thought it would b pretty simple but I must admit the work shown is simply stunning.
I picked up box of their foundation paints, washes and some basic colours.
I will go to a proper art shop for the brushes, I may even pick up a figure or two for practice, just to get started.

Again Thanks for your time,

Regards,

Sam.

 

[terry35]

Hi Sam, I'm Terry from Dublin. In answer to your question about suppliers in Dublin.
With regard to brushes Einion pointed you in a great direction.
With regard to kits, try marks models in hawkins street, very close to O'Connell Bridge.
If your looking for busts try PW Models in blessington street, he is very helpful and carries a lot of stock, it is also worth contacting John Schley from the Irish Model Soldier Society, through the societys website.

Welcome back to the Hobby and hope to see you some time at the club meeting.

Terry.

 

[Sam junior]

Thanks Terry I will try to check out the shop you mentioned. I have found Historex on the web and will probably try using them to start with.