Tamsin's Test Lab: Army Painter Speedpaints Test #3

 OK, more tests done.

Repeat of Varnished Primer Test

I just used two figures for this repeat test, one with airbrushed primer, the other with airbrushed primer and airbrushed varnish. This was to see if the varnished surface did stop run-off and affect how the Speedpaint worked.

Primer; primer plus varnish

Conclusion: Varnishing the primer doesn't seem to have affected run-off or how the Speedpaint works.

Speedpaint Over Zenithal Primer

I primed two figures black, then applied zenithal highlights. The first figure just got white zenithals; the second figure was done in two stages - grey and then white zenithals.

Grey & white zenithal; grey primer; white zenithal

Conclusion: The two stage zenithal looks better than the single stage. In both cases the shadows and highlights are emphasised compared to the grey primer. However, they do mute the colours.

Effect of Mixing With Mediums

This was done primarily as a test of whether adding matt varnish or matt medium to the Speedpaint would prevent reactivation. The secondary part of the test was if doing so affects how they work.

To this end I took six identical figures and primed them grey. To one figure I applied neat Speedpaint; the rest got 1:1 mixes of Speedpaint with respectively Vallejo Glaze Medium, Vallejo Matt Varnish, Vallejo Thinning Medium, the 50% matt medium mix I use to make ink washes and Golden matt varnish.

The figures were left for about 24 hours after painting. I then did two tests - first with just water on a brush, the second by applying a first layer of white paint over a small area, followed by a second coat over a wider area.

What I did notice was that, apart from diluting the pigment, the Speedpaint became runnier when mixed with mediums as evidenced by the pooling at the hem. Although that could just have been me applying more paint on the mix figures to compensate for the pigment dilution.

With water, I only saw a slight reactivation on the neat Speedpaint figure. With the white paint I saw a little reactivation with the glaze medium as well. I think I should probably have used one of the colours that I have seen reactivate for this test.

Conclusion: Need to repeat this test with one of the colours that showed strong reactivation (red, green or blue) being careful to apply similar volumes of paint to each figure. For the "neat" figure, it might be sensible to mix with water to give similar pigment dilution.
It does seem that adding medium or varnish may prevent reactivation. It's difficult to tell how much the additive affects how the Speedpaint works.