Reaper Bones Sqog 77268 - Speedpaint Trials

I have more than a few unpainted minis, and several of them are Reaper Bones*. I really enjoyed the Palette Cleansers I started last year, but realistically that's not going to clear the unpainted Bones pile.

Recent trials of Army Painter's Speedpaints had me wondering how well they'd work on Bonsium; specifically, would they take Speedpaints without primer? Bonsium is supposed to take acrylic paint without a primer, and the surface is smooth, which should suit the Speedpaints, and indeed, Contrast paints if I decide to extend the trial that far.

However, the surface is hydrophobic, so there may be some issues there.

I chose a Squog, one of a group I got in a previous Kickstarter.  These 'frog folk' (or "I can't believe it's not Bullywug" as my son calls them) will make a nice encounter, perhaps even a FfoL warband, especially if I add the Reaper Bones Swamp Troll.  They aren't minis I care too much about though, I have plenty of pre-painted Bullywugs from the WotC ranges; this is simply a case of clearing the pile - ideal for this experiment.

After removing mould lines, removing the base and adding pins and giving the squog a good wash I'll try Speedpaints without any primer.

If that doesn't work I'll prime the mini, then try the Speedpaints again.

Cleaned up Squog

After painting with Speedpaints the minis look like this;

Speedpainted Squog

The Speedpaints cover well.  The paint adheres to the raw Bonsium very nicely.  I'm a little disappointed with the lack of depth.  It's actually less obvious than on these photos.   The result will do, especially if the aim is to get minis painted quickly, but I expected better detailing. 

The colours were all from my Speedpaint Starter Set.  I mixed them a bit to give a greater variety, for instance both the shield and the loincloth use Pallid Bone to dull down Blood Red or Highlord Blue.

I've seen painters give Speedpaints a wash of Army Painter Soft Tone to enhance the shadows, so I'll try that next.

This is the same squog after a coat of Army Painter Soft Tone. This certainly adds to the detailing and in my opinion generally improves the look of the mini.

However, there are several areas where the Speedpaints have reactivated. The back of the loin cloth in particular, though I gave it another coat of Speedpaint before photographing it.

The shell breastplate has also reactivated.

Much better detail on the shield

Note area of reactivated paint on the top right corner of the shell

The loincloth has another coat of Highlord Blue to cover up the patch that washed out

In conclusion, the Speedpaints do provide a reasonable result, and very fast, certainly they are good enough simply to get some monsters painted for role playing sessions, such creatures don't tend to last long in any case. The result is not as good as the Palette Cleansers I have been doing. A coat of Soft Tone helps bring out the details, still quite not what I can do with more traditional methods, but far far quicker.

The reactivation might be an issue, but careful application, plus perhaps extra drying time before the wash, may mitigate this.

I will be using Speedpaints to reduce the Bones pile, but selectively. I'll probably use them on the 'mook' models, ones I'm not too bothered about. Since these are the models I'd probably not get around to painting otherwise, that's certainly a win.

* O.K. Lots and lots (and lots, and lots and lots and lots... )