Those of you who follow my Instagram will know I have been using the new painting handle this week to paint Mephiston. First thing's first, this is comfortable to hold. I don't have particularly small hands so holding miniatures by their base to paint them can get a bit uncomfortable. With the rounded handle it's a hell of a lot easier to paint smaller minis for longer. This means I will paint faster and get my whole collection done!
Ha. Not really. But it is easier to do with this.
One of the gripes people have had so far with the handle is that it can only do smaller based miniatures. It can take 40mm bases such as Wolf Guard Terminators,
32mm bases such as Mephiston here,
and, crucially for me, it can do 25mm bases like this Strike Team Fire Warrior.
At this small bases size I really struggle to hold them for long periods with them being so small. Stick them on the painting handle and it's far better.
The grip is spring-loaded plastic and is strong enough that I think even metal models would be held firm, but not so strong that you feel like it might buckle the plastic bases or anything. You can comfortably spin this thing around to get the right angles and not worry about the mini.
One interesting feature is that the handle is removable from the model grip by way of a standard camera mount screw. This means you could attach the grip to a tripod or other such items. Creating painting tutorials for Youtube? Why not attach the model grip to a mini tripod so you can display the work-in-progress easily? This is about the only use I can think of for this feature. What it may mean is that GW intend to release either different sizes of handles or different grip sizes (for those who want to hold Archaon on a grip when they paint it!)
So, in summary, I am finding the handle incredibly useful. The ability to hold the three common smaller base sizes makes painting more comfortable for me, especially for 25mm bases. Some are a bit annoyed you can't go bigger than 40mm, but you can put some Blu Tack on the top and attach the model that way. For a mere £5/$8/6,50€, this is an excellent addition to my painting set up.
Erm... I kinda do the same job with blu tac on an old paint pot? Is this really any better than that? I’m curious.
ReplyDeleteThat method is absolutely fine as well. It's the proven free way to do it. For me, paint pots are too small and don't offer me much improvement over just holding the model. This I find easier to grip as it's larger and slightly more ergonomic than a paint pot. I also am finding it to be a handy brace for fine detail work but I haven't done a huge amount of that yet. For a fiver, it's worth it for me! :)
DeleteCool, I may have to check it out in store and try it.
DeleteDefinitely try it out and see if it's worth it for you. If you prefer using the paint pot and Blu Tack method, you might as well save a fiver! :)
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