Assorted bottles of acrylic paint in a tray, with one blue paint being picked out.

Acrylic vs Enamel Paints for Miniatures: Which Should You Use?

The most common paint types that miniature and scale model painters will encounter are either acrylic or enamel paints. They both have their own unique characteristics and are used to achieve different finishes, and are equally popular among hobbyists. It is very important to consider the strengths and differences within each paint, so that you can achieve the look you want on all of your models. This blog will guide you through the key properties of both acrylic and enamel paint, enabling you to make an informed choice that will improve your painting.

Three Warpaints paint pots in the colours, Brainmatter Beige, Pale Sand and Fur Brown on a wooden surface with miniature figures and paintbrushes in the background.

What Are Acrylic Paints?

Acrylic paints are a non-toxic, water-based paint and incredibly fast drying, making them perfect for fast layering, whilst also having a quick cleanup process. Being water-based also ensures that they are very easy to mix, enabling you to create a larger range of colours outside of your existing paint pots. Once dry, acrylic paints produce a flexible, plastic-like, matte finish on the surface of your model that cannot be reactivated, making the paint less prone to chipping and wear on minis used for gaming. 

All of these properties mean that acrylics are an incredibly easy-to-use paint, and very popular with tabletop miniature painters, aiding massively with the hobby's need for quick layering. The more common brands used by wargaming miniature painters include The Army Painters Fanatic Range and Vallejo acrylic paints, both of which have a vast range of individual colours and paint sets available for you to paint with. 

But why should miniature painters stick to model painting specific acrylic paint, rather than painting with regular craft or student acrylic paint? Modelling acrylic paints are formulated to be thinner and have a higher pigment density than these fine art based paints, maintaining a high opacity and coverage. If you thin out any soft body paints for painting wargaming miniatures, you will find that you have to use many more layers of paint to build up any sort of coverage on the model. This can then hinder your ability to build up opacity with control, especially on any smaller detailing within your models.

Collection of enamel paint cans on a wooden surface with minis and various miniature painting tools.

What Are Enamel Paints?

Enamel paints are an oil-based paint with a glossy finish, which has a slower drying time than acrylic paints and is much more popular with traditional model painters. These paints' slower drying times allow you to manipulate your applications of weathering or other detailing for longer and help you to blend or create soft edges smoothly.

The longer working time not only ensures that your paint application is accurate, but also ensures that the paint can level itself out more evenly across the surface of your miniature, giving you a more consistent paint application. 

Enamel paints are also more durable than acrylic paints, they cure harder, creating a tough outer shell on your model that can resist colouration and peeling excellently. Since the paint is also thicker, enamel paints don’t always require you to apply a primer, and you will not have to apply as many layers of paint to your scale model to achieve a full and vibrant coverage. These characteristics are what make enamel paints the preferred paint of many scale model builders and painters, especially when painting aircraft or vehicles. Their models are often made to be displayed rather than to be used in any wargaming games, being painted for longevity rather than frequent use is a priority, making enamel paints perfect. 

Some of the most common and popular brands of enamel paint you will encounter are Humbrol Enamels or Revell, both of which have been around for decades. They both remain as enamel paint brand staples for the majority of traditional scale model painters.

Painting a mini figure with an ABC paint brush. There is an array of acrylic paint bottles and other mini figures in the background.

Acrylic vs Enamel Paints: The Key Differences

Drying time 

  • Acrylics - Acrylic paints are a fast-drying paint, typically taking around 10-30 minutes to become touch-dry. This is a massive benefit if you want to paint a completed wargaming miniature in a couple of hours, allowing you to build up your layers from basecoat to patterns and detailing in a relatively short time. This also reduces the possibilities of smudging your previous layers of paint, making painting smaller aspects on models or characters, such as faces and armour, much more efficient. 

    However, always remember that while acrylics don’t take very long to become touch-dry, they will always take a lot longer to completely cure. Acrylic paints will always take a few hours to a day to completely cure. This is faster than waiting for enamel paint to cure, but you should always wait before using your wargaming models or before painting over harsh weathering techniques or detailing, when using acrylics. Acrylic retarders can also be used to slow down the drying process of your paint and allow you to blend or work with your acrylics for longer.
Four cans of humbrol enamel paints, next to a scale model plane and flat paint brush, on a wooden surface.
  • Enamels - Enamel paint takes a lot longer to dry and cure than acrylic paints, which will mean that you have to leave your model in a safe place to dry for around 24-48 hours. This can mean that adding details and layering will always become a lengthy process whenever you are using them, elongating your painting processes to a couple of days rather than hours.

    However, many positives can come with a more lengthy drying process. You will have more time to finish blending colours on your models, helping you to create high-quality transitional blends between colours post-application, while also allowing you to develop softer edges within your paint layers.

    Slower drying also helps enamel paint to fully settle and level out on the surface of your model, reducing the risk of brush marks or uneven paint within your designs. This characteristic also allows enamel model paints to be particularly useful when you want to paint any weathering techniques; you can remove paint with thinners easily if you make a mistake before it has a chance to fully dry and become more difficult to remove.
Rinsing_Brushes_-_683_2ccf9126-b355-40f0-8792-9dacdb48801e.jpg

Cleanup

  • Acrylics - Acrylic paint has the easiest cleanup process by far. Being water-soluble means that it only takes soap and water to clean palettes, paintbrushes or other tools you have used when painting with miniature acrylic paints. Your paintbrushes are less likely to become damaged, requiring no harsh thinners to be cleaned. However, always ensure that you clean the paint off immediately because once acrylic paint has dried between the bristles of your paintbrush, it becomes almost impossible to remove. Acrylics are also a non-toxic and low odour paint, meaning that you are safe and comfortably able to use these paints for lengthy painting sessions or in a home studio. 

  • Enamels - Enamel paints require you to use mineral spirits or solvents, like turpentine, to be cleaned off your paintbrushes or tools, making spillages a lot more difficult to deal with. This also makes the paints more hazardous to work with, as the fumes from these chemicals are toxic. Always ensure that you are painting in a well-ventilated area when working with any enamel paints. 

    Want to know more about how to clean your miniature paintbrushes? Have a read of our blog: Cleaning Your Brushes: Essential Care for Wargaming and Model Making.
Collection of mini wargaming figures on a wooden surface with a blurred background.

Finish and Coverage


  • Acrylics - Acrylic paints will dry with a matte finish and will always dry fixed. Once the paint has dried, you will not be able to reactivate it, and it will form a flexible plastic layer over the top of your model. This allows you to build up layers, from your base coat to the final details and weathering techniques, without damaging or removing the paint below and ensures that your paint layers are waterproof. Using techniques that require you to thin paints, like glazing or layering, becomes much easier with Acrylic paints, thinners or solvents don’t have to be used to thin the paint and won’t start to eat into and strip the paint below. 

    It can be harder to achieve a good coverage with acrylic paints, however, so you may need several layers of thin paint to achieve a completely opaque and brush-stroke-free coat. Acrylic paint is not as dense as enamel paint, so you will always need to apply a priming coat as well before you start to paint.
Top view of a scale model aeroplane with enamel paint pots and paintbrushes next to it.
  • Enamel -  Enamels will always dry glossy on your models, and also contain a self-levelling quality that allows you to achieve a super smooth, even coverage that can hide any imperfections that may occur during painting. If you find the enamel's glossy finish undesirable, you can use a matte or satin varnish or medium to alter the appearance of the dried paint. 

    Enamel does not dry as fixed as acrylic paint, once dry, they are still soluble to thinners of mineral spirits, which makes building up layers of detailing and weathering somewhat harder. If you are working on applying further layers on top of a basecoat, you can run the risk of removing or damaging the layer below, so if you are working on any detailing layers, always seal the basecoat with an acrylic varnish before you start to paint. This quality does make enamel paint much easier to fully strip a model of its paint, if you want to start anew.

    The molecules in oil-based enamel paints are much smaller than in water, so they can absorb more pigment, making the paint denser and fuller-bodied. This means that the colour in enamel paints is often more vibrant and will always require fewer layers of paint to achieve an opaque coverage, often not needing a priming layer to achieve this.
Cleaning an ABC paintbrush in mineral spirits, rinsing off any enamel paint on it. There is a Humbrol Enamels paint pot, ABC brush cleaner and kitchen towel next to this.

Ease of use 

  • Acrylics - All of the above characteristics make acrylic paints perfect for use by beginners in miniature painting, well-suited for quick projects and layering techniques. They require little to no setup and are very forgiving if you make a mistake, allowing you to build up your paint layers in quick succession. 

  • Enamels - Enamels require a more advanced setup, needing good ventilation and care due to the toxicity of the solvents and thinners you use with them. They are a more technical paint that requires knowledge of the correct drying times, solvents and cleaning agents to be used with them. They will provide an excellent finish on your minis, but will always need that extra level of skill to work well with your painting. 
Selecting three bottles of blue acrylic paint from a box full of acrylic paint bottles.

Why Do Wargaming Painters Usually Use Acrylic Paints?

Speed and efficiency are often the main focus around the wargaming aspect of model painting, so wargaming painters tend to choose to use acrylic paints, causing the paints to dominate the tabletop painting world. Their fast drying and layering capabilities help to speed up workflows massively when you are trying to paint a large quantity of models in a short space of time, such as when you would like to create a large army or squadron. You can build up layers of basecoats, highlighting, dry brushing, wishes and glazing in quick succession, while also not having to wait as long for areas of thicker paint to fully dry. 

There is a very quick clean-up process that comes with painting in acrylics, which also makes them very attractive to wargaming painters. This allows for a quick turnaround if you want to paint an aspect of a model in a short session or if you want a minimal amount of cleaning to do after a long session of painting. However, since acrylic paints dry so quickly, swapping between paintbrushes requires a lot more cleaning to ensure that paint doesn’t dry on the bristles and ruin the brush, between colours or techniques. 

Collection of enamel paint cans on a wooden surface with minis and various miniature painting tools.

Why Do Model Makers Sometimes Prefer Enamels ?

Enamel paints are more popular with scale model builders, who prefer their smoother, self-levelling finishes and longer drying times more than gaming model painters. This is because scale modellers often work with larger surfaces on models like aircraft fuselages, tanks or vehicles. Having an increased working time to blend and create layers is invaluable, allowing painters to rework and create blends within their paints with more care, rather than rushing to keep up with a rapid drying time. The self-levelling properties of enamel paints also help to keep the surfaces of larger models consistently smooth, removing the worry of leaving accidental brush strokes in drying paint. 

Some weathering techniques can also become easier to create when painting with enamel paints. A longer drying time can allow you to manipulate the effects of methods, like washes, for longer, allowing you to control where the paint can spread and to correct coverage, long after the paint has dried. Using enamels can also help you to create more realistic grime and rust effects by enabling you to blend various details for longer. 

However, the most realistic finishes can come from painting with a mixture of acrylic and enamel paints, and most, if not all, miniature painters will use both in their practice. 

Painting a Legend of Zelda mini figure with an ABC paintbrush and with paint bottles in the foreground.

Tips For Painting Miniatures With Both Paint Types

  • Thin your paints correctly - Acrylic paints are thinned with water, while enamel paints are thinned with solvents and varying the ratio of water or solvent to paint will help you to create varying techniques or effects. Thinning your paints has a range of benefits, including an improved paint flow, better blending and a way to create a consistent, smooth texture across your minis. Over-thinning will cause your paints to run and pool into recesses on your models, while too-thick paint will look clumpy and dry unevenly. 

  • Use appropriate brushes - Always ensure that you are using the correct brushes with both acrylic and enamel paints. Synthetic brushes are more durable than sable hair brushes, so they can withstand the harsh cleaners and chemicals that come along with using enamel paints. Sable hair brushes, however, can be more delicate, and solvents can damage the cuticle layers along the bristles, causing them to lose their core water and shape retention properties, becoming unable to hold their point as well. Therefore, wargaming and scale model painters will usually keep their sable brushes for detailing work with acrylic paint and avoid using them with enamels. 

  • Work in multiple thin layers - Always work in multiple thin layers when painting your models with either enamel or acrylic paint. You will have a lot more control over thin paint than if you were applying a singular thick coat. This will also enable you to build up your colour gradually without obscuring any of the details within your models.

  • Allow proper drying and curing time - While acrylic paint can appear touch dry after 10 - 15 minutes, you will need to allow it to cure and harden for up to a day. You will be safe to paint over any paint that is touch-dry, but always ensure that the paint has fully cured before you apply any varnish or start to use your wargaming model, so that you can obtain maximum durability. Enamel paints can take anywhere from 24-48 hours to become touch-dry, but can take weeks to fully cure and harden before you can apply a varnish. Ensure that you store them in a safe place so that they can complete this process and harden to a durable finish.

Ultimately, whichever paint you choose to use when model painting is down to the style of painting you choose to work with and what finish you would like your minis to have. Experiment with both paints to find the best way of working for you. When used correctly, they can produce amazing results on any miniature painting project you may have. Exploring how enamels and acrylics work is the key to understanding how they behave when painting, and we hope that this blog has helped you to understand the differences between them.

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