Things I cannot live without:
- W&N Series 7 sizes 1 and 0 (absolutely perfect for all normal and detail painting. Large surfaces may need a 2, amazingly tiny detail may need a 00. I mean, hugely tiny detail. Like, smaller than eyes. Seriously).
- Games Workshop Small and Large Drybrushes
- Games Workshop Tank brush (for speed painting)
- Wet pallette (home made, half a bath sponge, some baking paper and a tupperware box)
- Good angle-poise lamp, with daylight bulb.
- A3 cutting matt.
- Scalpel.
- Clippers.
- Pin Vice (+a bunch of 1mm drill bits).
- Proxxon hand-held electric drill (fake Dremmel, but much cheaper and seemingly more reliable)
- Set of needle files.
- Several bags of static grass (in various colours, from any hobby/model train shop).
- GW modelling sand (the one with the small pebbles in, very handy for texture).
- 5mm Cork Board (absolutely fantastic basing material)
- Various GW and Vallejo Paints, including:
White, Black, Bleached Bone and Scorched Brown as my absolute essentials.
Many other paints are good to have (especially the foundation paints), but these are pretty much essential, and will be used on almost everything I paint. - Vallejo Glaze Medium. So, so, so much better than using inks.
Well, that's me done, off the top of my head.
Paints-wise, I tend to buy as I go. I mix a lot, so buying new colours isn't normally a big thing for me, but for painting an army it is much better to have 'real' paints, as it is much more reliable than re-mixing the same colour for every squad ('cos it won't be the same every time...!).
Buy as needed, is my motto where paints are concerned.
-t.