107 replies to this topic

[poison]

Background:

I have been in the paint business for the last 12 years (a trained chemist) and over that time I got to find out all the secrets of the trade. I am also "I swear too much" off having to pay 2-3 pounds for 12ml of paint for painting my minis.

 

Idea:

Since the know-how is there, I have been testing some recipes and crunching some numbers and I am at the pleasant position to believe that I can make and sell high quality wargame paints for one (yes 1) pound a pot.

 

Suggestion:

In order to bring to life this dream, I also need input from fellow wargamers.

So I will be more than happy to hear your thoughts, things you love and hate about existing paints and any other helpful info you can share with me.

 

You can let me know your thoughts from this topic or by private message if you prefer.

 

 

 

 

UPDATE 06-06-2015:

 

We are proud to announce the launch of the paint line.

The name of the paints:

WARCOLOURS

check out the website and feel free to order:
www.warcolours.com


The first 5 orders from bugmans' users will receive 10% discount ( to receive discount use code: bugman10 ).
All orders from bugman users will receive 5% discount ( to receive discount use code: bugman )

 

 

Edited by poison, 05 June 2015 - 07:53 PM.

[Pellegrim]

mmm .. sounds good. So you would make it for one pound a pot. How does that compare to 2-3 per 12 ml? How much is in a pot?

EDIT: But a Great and exciting idea. Good luck!

Edited by Pellegrim, 14 January 2015 - 09:19 PM.

[poison]

i am aiming to be able to offer them for one pound a pot of 15ml. that makes it 50-65% cheaper at least compared to the leading brands

[Pellegrim]

OK. Don't know if that difference would make me order instead of just walking in one of two shops in my home town. I'n not a fanatic painter though. If I was I would seriously consider.

[TaxiForBiggins]

Wish list:

Dropper bottles.
Runnier than GW
Shade sets (base, shadow, highlight)
Good ink like army painter strong shade or devlan mud
Cheap
Good pigment concentration
Fine pigment metallics.

[Montegue]

What he said. 

 

Dropper is hugely important. Pigmentation is important, ability to easily thin to the right consistency (either via water or medium), and good washes. 
 

 

[Heogrundin]

Dropper bottle is a good suggestion, as well as the shade set. I used to have a really nice shade set from Reaper to do flesh with, it came with three tones and it helped a lot with skin. Also put some work into making a good metallic gold. I am not sure if that is a difficult color to do, but no matter what brand I go with, metallic golds always have poor coverage and bad texture. Think about doing a Kickstarter, or something similar to get started. Good luck.

[poison]

TaxiForBiggins:

Thank you. Most of your suggestions are already on our list too and in terms of the paint consistency etc we are spot on.

 

When you say shade sets I understand you mean for every color to offer three different tones i.e. red(base) dark red(shadow) pinkish red (highlights).

 

Is that correct?

Edited by poison, 15 January 2015 - 06:15 AM.

[poison]

Montegue:

 

Thank you. Dropper bottle is our prefered bottling option, including a bead for mixing.

We have developed a nice consistency paint that dilutes easily.

 

Would you agree for having the paint a little less thick (or runnier) than citadel?

 

As for washes we have done nothing yet. We need to finish off the paint formula first.

[poison]

Heogrundin:

 

Thank you.

In general metallic colors are very different from normal colors. the addition of metal fine trimmings is what gives them the metallic effect. We do have some good formula to make a large color range of metallic colors beyond the three basic ones (silver gold copper and their tones).

 

As for the problematic coverage of gold is something similar with the coverage of yellow. true yellow (without white) does not cover well. it can be addressed with other tricks though...  

[poison]

Pellegrim:

 

Thank you for the comment.

Yes it might not be very big difference if you are buying one or two pots of paint.

But people who paint regularly or people who have a small paint collection tend to buy 8-10 pots a time. This means you will be paying 8-10 quids instead of 20-30 (depending on prices).

 

 

[LancerD]

You could offer paints as a set, either in fixed colours like Vallejo game or model colour, or as a "build your own" the way that reaper does to make purchasing more convenient. Producing a colour chart showing complementary colours suitable for shading, highlighting and blending with each other, as well as equivalencies for other popular colour ranges may also help in that regard.

 

As others have said, Dropper bottles, pigment concentration and very fine flake for metallics would be highly desirable. Personally I'm not so concerned about viscosity out of the pot as I always thin my paints, as long as it is consistent. 

 

Some other questions I'd want answered before buying are:

How do they react to being thinned with hard water?

Do they play nice when mixed with paints from other companies?

Can they be used with an airbrush, or do I need a specific range for that?

Do they contain flow improver? (some people like it, some don't)

Are they non-toxic? (I'm a brush licker)

 

If you can gather enough interest on the forums, it might be a good idea to look into kickstarter or similar to move things along to a marketable stage of production, or try to partner with an existing company willing to invest in producing your range. 

 

Good luck, a bit of competition in this industry can only be a good thing  

[Thurgrim]

I'm liking the look of this and I agree with what others have said, would you (possibly further down the line) release a spray paint version of your range to make undercoating easier similar to The Army Painter? Also have you had any thoughts on what to call your range?

Edited by Thurgrim, 15 January 2015 - 10:22 AM.

[poison]

LancerD:

Thank you for your comments.

Really good suggestions there about the paints.

We have already addressed the following: non-toxic, dilutable with tap water (hard is fine).

For the rest, we will look into them. - cheers.

 

Because the final price is crucial we do not want to join with anyone. We are not doing this to make money rather than offer a high quality product and have fun while doing so.

 

the kickstarter (or similar) is under consideration.

[poison]

Thurgrim:

 

Thank you for the feedback.

Spray paint will be great but there is no way to transport it when buying online. Big problem there.

 

For the name we do have an idea but we are open to suggestions! Please let us know

Edited by poison, 15 January 2015 - 10:30 AM.

[SCW]

Probably don't want to highlight it too much but if it was similar or near identical to some leading brands in the more common colours that would be very useful. Is there a potential date this may start being produced for sale?

[poison]

SCW:

 

We would ideally like to make the range of paints very versatile and hopefully many colors might match existing colors by leading brands.

But to be honest, exactly matching a color takes a lot of effort. we will do our best.

 

well we need to sort out the color range etc before being able to launch something. maybe in the next 3-5 months hopefully

[TaxiForBiggins]

Good idea on the similar colour thing Someone 3rd party will do a colour conversion chart.

 

Start with basic colours to get feedback and expand the range from there.

 

Kickstarters are a lot of effort. Do your research first!

 

Best of luck

[poison]

Good idea on the similar colour thing Someone 3rd party will do a colour conversion chart.

 

Start with basic colours to get feedback and expand the range from there.

 

Kickstarters are a lot of effort. Do your research first!

 

Best of luck

 

do you mean to launch a small range and then build onto that?

 

can you be a bit more specific about the kickstarter?

[Thunderförge]

Might be worth finding out the cheapest type of bottle you can for selling, because if you buy expensive bottles that will increase your unit cost a lot, especially if you're working in low quantities at first.

I'd sooner but cheap throwaway bottles and pour them into my old GW bottles if it makes it cheaper for me! (as well as full colour labels vs. black & white labels too!)

 

I guess others might disagree, but you could give people the option. :-D