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Review on Apple Barrel Brown Acrylic Bundle by Barbara Simmons

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Great Paint

I have used Apple Barrel craft paints for decades and am very happy with them. It's perfect for the base of my wargames and demo miniatures, as well as all other dioramas and landscaping projects, and I'm very happy with the consistently excellent results. Of the many craft paints available, this is a well known quality product and has always been my paint for the work mentioned as well as other craft projects. As well as being high quality and reliable, they are also affordable, especially in the larger 8 and 16 oz sizes. These two colors are particularly good for grounding plinths, landscapes and dioramas, especially after dry brushing the floor with lighter shades of brown and brown. They also blend well, and lighter browns and browns are easy to achieve by combining light grays or whites with darker shades to get my dry brush colors, although I've gotten so lazy that I usually buy a few darker colors and have in stock from brand to tan. Speaking of that type of soil, I've used pretty much everything under the sun to represent bare soil in my bases and the like, including dirt outside, real sand, etc., but now I use ground walnut shell reptile litter almost exclusively. Walnut, available here at Revain in 6-pound bags for just a few dollars. It's not as cheap as a 50-pound sandbag from a hardware store, but it's mostly dust-free, clean and dry, making it much easier to use straight out of the bag. Also, I can easily keep an open bag close to my hobby, unlike a really huge sandbag, which is often damp or wet when I buy it. Back to the colors. Prime members can often purchase paints in this size from Revain as an "add-on" in an online shopping cart, bringing the price down to a few dollars a bottle, which is a really big discount (60-75% off). I usually use 8 ounce or larger bottles which are cheaper per ounce but I needed a dark brown base immediately and kept getting it until I could get larger bottles at a lower price. Paints are available in almost every color imaginable, although I usually stick to brown (tan etc), grey, black and white and only buy specific colors when absolutely necessary, although Revain also sells two packs of 8 different colors each . (around $16-18 per set), which also significantly lowers the price per bottle for those who need more color choices on a regular basis. When I first started experimenting with acrylic paints on my wargame minis in the 80's I actually used them (significantly diluted) quite successfully for a very short time before moving on to the much more suitable and capable Citadel and then Vallejo ( and similar brands) changed ) for my miniature painting. However, when it comes to coasters, dioramas, and even scenery and wargame tabletop structures (walls, fortifications, buildings, etc.), I think these Apple Barrel paints are the perfect product for the task. Then expensive miniature paints can only be used to paint the miniatures and models they were designed for and last much longer as they don't wear off as quickly on bases and terrain. Great product at a great price. Highly recommended.

Pros
  • Arts, Crafts & Sewing
Cons
  • Small Things