Goobertown went to the Army Painter headquarters to see how acrylic paint for miniatures is made, bottled, and packaged!
Goobertown Hobbies is a great content creator with interesting takes on the hobby. Whether it’s a collaboration with other YouTubers or a challenge for himself, he covers a broad range of topics. Since he has so much great content, why not check out what else he has done?
This week he is looking at how the Army Painter actually makes their miniature hobby paint! This is a fantastic look into the process that brings us the hobby supplies we use.
How Acrylic Paint for Miniatures is Made, Bottled, & Packaged
The Army Painter started in a barn, but now they have a big factory and about 75 employees! They listen to the community’s feedback and constantly try to improve their products, which is always cool to see!
Bottling
The bottling is done by robotics attended by watchful staff. The miniature paint bottles start by being fed into a drum, but some go in top first, others bottom first, so they have a machine that rights all the bottles.
Next, the bottles get filled with mixing balls (which keep paint better mixed) then each bottle gets filled with the correct amount of paint. Then they have a machine that caps all the bottles run through a hopper first. There is a computer control system to make sure everything is done correctly.
To finish them off, they label the bottles; this time, it’s Speedpaint! They can fill over 2,000 bottles an hour, which is pretty wild.
This is how much paint gets bottled in one day, and they are doing four different colors. The machine on the right also mixes the paint before they go into the bottles.
Packing
This is how they set up the sub-assembly for all the new Speedpaint sets!
To ensure all the paints are correct in the box sets, they have an efficient assembly line and change up depending on what paints need to go in which box.
Then, once the paints are in the box, they go through a shrinkwrap machine and to the correct distribution area.
How the Paint for Miniatures is Actually Made
They can’t tell us everything as this is the secret sauce! However, it can be somewhat similar to a hardware store, where you select the color you want, put it into the machine, and watch it mix!
Obviously, though, they also have an industrial mixer to get way more paint mixed up and distributed.
It was fantastic to see the factory, so watch the video below for all the details!
If you are curious about all the details of how paint for miniatures is made, don’t forget to watch the full video above! Also, be sure to Subscribe to Goobertown Hobbies if you enjoy his content!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
