Squidmar is back with another tutorial, this time he is rating all the acrylic miniature paints brands out there to find the best for your hobby desk!
Squidmar’s channel is rapidly growing due to his great tutorials ranging from full-scale models to tips, even to practical physics! This time around he goes through a ton of acrylic miniature paints to find the best and (his favorites). Plus he covers the majority of all the popular brands out there!
Let’s check out what he thinks is the best! Just to note, we’ll highlight his favorites, but be sure to check out the whole video below to hear all of his ratings.
Rating All The Acrylic Miniature Paints Brands Out There
He’s giving a score to each brand at the end of their section and then having them go up against one another in a March Madness-style bracket. So we’ll go through and highlight what he thinks about each brand!
He’s collected and rated 17 brands, so plenty to cover!
Pro Acryl From Monument:
He’s not a huge fan of the bottles, but other than that they were huge fans of the paint and it got pretty decent scores all around! Click here to shop all the Monument Paints!
Green Stuff World:
He wasn’t the biggest fan of these as they didn’t cover super well and the consistency wasn’t really up his alley. Still, he was able to grab a good result from them. Click here to shop all the Green Stuff World Paints!
P3 Paints:
It covers really well but when it comes to detail work, he really wasn’t the biggest fan. He also thinks the pots are some of the worst designed he’s seen. Click here to shop all the P3 Paints!
Nocturna Paints:
They have some of the best colors he’s seen, but they are too runny for him and the colors kept separating on the wet palette. You can get a good look, but even with a Vortex mixer, they were hard to keep mixed. Click here to shop all the Nocturna Paints!
The Army Painter:
Some of the colors were a little runny and some didn’t have the best coverage, but considering the price, how nice the pots are, and availability, these have a much bigger score. Click here to shop all the Army Painter Paints!
Vallejo Paints:
The paints flow very naturally, are fun to use, and work great for everything from coverage to detail work. As you can see by the score, these are going to be hard to beat! Click here to shop all the Vallejo Paints!
Reaper Paints:
Considering he’s never used them before, he was a little surprised by how well they work. Overall just great paint to use and have great coverage. The main issue is they can be hard to actually pick up. Click here to shop all the Reaper Paints!
Coat D’Arms:
He really likes the tones they have and they actually use a very similar formula to GW from back in the 90s, however, they really did not cover well and he had to do a ton of coats to get anywhere with them. Click here to shop all the Coat D’Arms Paints!
Scale 75:
The coverage isn’t great but the blending and details are really great on these. The pigment density is high so the end result looks really good, just keep in mind because of the formula, they are hard to use with other paints and have the model come out looking the same. Click here to shop all the Scale 75 Paints!
Warcolours:
The colors look really great when applied but they use a gel medium which can be hard to paint with. However, they blend super well and can give you some very vibrant-looking paint jobs. Click here to shop all the Warcolours Paints!
Citadel Paints:
Even though the price is high and the pots aren’t great, the paints are good. The white and black though are quite bad but other than that, they flow well, the end result is good, and are enjoyable to paint with. Click here to shop all the Citadel Paints!
Apple Barrel:
Considering these are a discount brand, they are better than he expected! They have some trouble when it comes to really high detail work, but overall and for the price, they are pretty good! Click here to shop all the Apple Barrel Paints!
AK Interactive:
These paints flow fantastically and the coverage is one of the best yet. Overall, just a great paint to use. Click here to shop all the AK Interactive Paints!
Instar Paints:
To start, they needed a ton of mixing. They are super glossy paints and it doesn’t cover that well but because they flow so well, you can get a smooth-looking paint job. They can be really hard to control at times as well. Click here to shop all the Instar Paints!
Kimera:
These paints are actually really fun to paint with because they are easy to mix, flow well, and have great pigments. The main issue though is they are not beginner-friendly because you basically have to mix them all since there are only 20 colors. Click here to shop all the Kimera Paints!
Golden:
The Flow version of this line is just super nice. they are fun to use, have good coverage, and just overall he was really impressed with them! In terms of flow from the brush, these might have been his favorite. Click here to shop all the Golden Paints!
Secret Weapon Paints:
The colors look really nice, there is a good flow, and are enjoyable to paint with. The only problem is the somewhat limited selection of colors. Click here to shop all the Secret Weapon Paints!
Be sure to check back next time as the bracket continues to see who has the best acrylic miniature paints out there according to Squidmar!
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Presented with permission from Squidmar. This post contains affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate Spikey Bits earns from qualifying purchases.
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!
