Miniature paint set buying: what model paint sets and a mini paint set actually contain

Entry prices, checked

How to choose

1. Check what kind of set it is. Some sets are a general starting palette, others are built for one faction, era or colour scheme. A themed set is excellent if it matches your project and largely wasted if it does not.
2. Count the useful colours, not the total. A set with a broad spread of usable base colours, a metallic and a wash beats a larger set that spends its count on near-identical shades you will never distinguish on a model.
3. Look for a brush you can ignore. Most starter sets include a brush. Treat it as a bonus rather than a reason to choose, because it is usually the first thing a new painter replaces.
4. Work out the per-pot price. Sets are normally cheaper per pot than singles, but not always, and pot sizes differ between ranges. The comparison worth making is per millilitre of paint you will actually use.

What a good starter set contains

The colours that finish models are less exciting than the ones that look best on a shelf. A useful set gives you a dark and a light neutral, two or three strong base colours, a flesh tone, a metallic and at least one wash, because that combination will complete a model from primer to finished without gaps. Sets that lack a wash or a metallic look larger and leave you buying the two most-used pots separately. This is why counting colours is a poor guide and why the composition of a set matters far more than its size.

Themed sets and when they make sense

Manufacturers build sets around a faction, a historical period or a specific scheme, and these are genuinely efficient when your project matches, because someone has already solved the colour matching for you. The risk is obvious: a set built for one army is a collection of near-unusable specifics for another. For a first purchase a general set is the safer buy, and themed sets come into their own as the second purchase, when you know what you are painting and want the exact palette rather than an approximation of it.

Whether sets are actually better value

Usually, but the saving is smaller than the packaging implies once you account for the colours you will not use. The honest comparison is between the price of the set and the price of the pots from it you would have bought anyway, and by that measure a tight set of well-chosen colours often beats a large one by a wide margin. Pot size complicates it further, because ranges differ in how much paint they put in a pot, so the same headline saving can mean different things between brands.

Common questions

Are miniature paint sets good value?

Generally yes, provided you use most of the colours. The per-pot price is usually lower than buying singles, but a large set with colours you never reach for is worse value than a small one you use fully.

What should be in a first paint set?

A dark and a light neutral, two or three strong base colours, a flesh tone, a metallic and a wash. That combination will take a model from primer to finished.

Is the brush in a starter set any good?

Rarely more than adequate. It will get you started, and upgrading it is usually the first worthwhile purchase after the set itself.

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