Thursday, July 16, 2009

Product Review, FREE giveaway and more!

Product Reviews, Free Prizes and Special Characters!
Hi, today's post will include a heavy amount of awesome for all you people who love Product Reviews, Free Giveaways and Special Characters! Yes, you read it right, there is prizes to be given out with this post! Keep reading to find out more!
Review - H.J. White Taklon Brushes

I received this set of synthetic nylon brushes in the mail today, which I got from miniwargaming.com/ . I am impressed with the shipping, since all the brushes were protected with bubble wrap, keeping them safe. It also only took a few days to arrive.
H.J. White Taklon is a white rayon taklon filament, man-made to perform like traditional Red Sable. Taklon has a good point, spring and a sharp edge, plus it is very affordably priced.

At first glace, there points are very sharp and the bristles are very firm, which is great for picking out details. Surprisingly, they are also priced really well for there quality. I estimate there durability to be mid level, sitting with sable-synthetic blend brushes.

Tonight, I used them to paint 2 Space marine characters, which will be featured after this review. The brushes performed good un-thinned with and thinned GamesWorkshop paint. It went on smooth, and cleaned off reasonably well with just a swish in water. When used with Leviathan purple wash, the #1 size brush didn't perform very well as it required multiple dips in the pot to complete the wash process.

I still prefer my Raphael Kolinsky brushes, but they are $35 each, so this alternative will be great on smaller projects!



Pros - Value, Easy to purchase, Best Synthetic Brush I've used
Cons - More suited for oil and acrylic based paints, Sable and Kolinsky are better choices for water based paints (GamesWorkshop, Reaper, etc)
All in all, I would give this brush set a solid 8.5 out of 10.

The Special Characters
What I have on display today is a White Consul Chapter master, with his escorting Liberian and captain. Any one of these characters will make minced meat out of some unlucky fool!

To the Prizes!

Today I have a sets of 6 brushes to be given away! Only used enough to make the above review! They are in perfect condition and waiting to be mailed to two lucky people!

This contest is available to anyone who is a follower of the Ottawa Gamer, and makes a comment on this post. After one week time, on midnight July 22nd, I will number the comments and use Random.Org to find the lucky winner. The winner name will be posted, and asked to send an email with there information to get the goodies out. Retail Value of the prize is $40.

In short, post here, follow the blog, and let the good times roll!

30 comments:

  1. PICK ME! PICK ME! OMFG PICK MEEEEEE!

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  2. I'm curious where the brushes are made and if they are a particular 'brand' name. Thanks.

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  3. I prefer Kolinsky brushes but they are *way* too expensive for me to have as many as I want. Even if I don't win this I think I'll look into synthetic brushes based on your review so thank you!

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  4. Miniwargaming has done lots of good and funny stuff, I love them, too bad I'm too busy with my blog to continue with their forums...

    And... Pick me! Pick me! Pick Me! hahahahah..

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  5. I wanted to try these and never had the chance, that and I need a thick brush

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  6. I want some free stuff.

    John
    Santa Cruz Warhammer

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  7. I've just started using Winsor & Newton Galeria brushes, although I haven't done enough painting to see how they really perform. But you can never have too many brushes.

    - Courtney @ Cadian 127th

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  8. I've found (in the uk) proarte ser. 60 brushes to be good "cheap" brushes and use W&N ser. 7 for anything where the brush wont get wrecked in 10 seconds.

    (as far as the comp goes, don't enter me, I live in the uk and potage will be horrid :) )

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  9. I could use some new brushes :)

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  10. Free stuff, who's not into that?!?!? Great review, too.

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  11. Love those brushes. I got a free set from miniwargaming when they had the deal on. They are not the same quality as GW, but are very close. Would love another set! ;)

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  12. Can never have too many brushes!

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  13. Looking forward to following your blog reviews and whatnot. Been looking at those brushes for a workhorse type brush for basecoats.

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  14. Great contest idea, come on Random.org!

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  15. Oooo I'm always up for new brushes.
    Great Review btw.

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  16. I've always been of the mind go with the cheaper brushes. For a couple reasons, 1 - I'm not the greatest painter, 2 - how much longer would a $35 brush last over a 2 dollar brush?

    That's one thing that I've not been able to find much on and would love to hear an opinion about. How much have you painted with your current Kolinsky brushes?

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  17. 2 - how much longer would a $35 brush last over a 2 dollar brush?
    You'd be surprised.... If the extra expense is for quality and the brush is well maintained, the more expensive brush can have 20x the lifetime. However, if you aren't painting for several hours every week, the $35 is probably overkill.

    That being said, I'm always up for a contest and trying out some new brushes...

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  18. On brushes: I've used god knows how many gift certificates to Michaels and gotten tons of brushes. I have found that synthetic is only useful to me for detail work. Anytime I use them for anything "bigger" they just don't seem to "soak" the paint well enough. I believe that's the point you're probably trying to make about the type of paint.

    Between a reaper 20/0 and the citadel brushes I can get pretty much anything done so I have never tried the $35.00 brushes.

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  19. New free brushes would be totally sweet lol Also nice job on the characters, I really like how you did the weapons

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  20. I've never been very fond of sythetics, but I've tried very few so I could be mislead, they do always seem to clean up pretty easy though...

    With the 'multiple dip' for washing did you mean that the brushes do not hold paint well?

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  21. Hey I could do with some new brushes! I was thinking of picking some of the new GW one's up. Then. This shows up looks like I'll wait a while.

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  22. I could use those brushes. They sound way better than the GW ones.

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  23. Brilliant stuff mate! Those brushes sound cool as!

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  24. Brushes . . . mmmmm . . . brushes.

    The White Consuls look great.

    Nice looking HQ

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  25. I've had the same walmart brushes for something like 6 months now. I suppose I am due for some new ones! Good review on the brushes; I am afraid that although I paint frequently, I know very little about brushes (and their maintenence). It sounds like you know quite a bit, so if you get the time, a post on brush maintenence would be very helpful!

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  26. Not sure if brushes will help my sad painting, but I'd be willing to give it a shot! ;)

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  27. Sign me up! I appreciate the review of the brushes.

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  28. New brushes are always welcomed :) Good review!

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