RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review

Last Updated on Februar 9, 2023 by FauxHammer

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RedGrass Games are at it again with a brand new wet palette, the Painter Lite. Made for the beginner and expert pro alike, read on to find out if this fresh wet palette has a worthy place within the ranks of RedGrass Games’ repertoire – and the wider world of miniature painting as a whole.

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RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Summary

If you’ve never used a wet palette before, then this is the one for you – it will keep your paints fresh for days and aid in techniques such as wet blending and mixing, and is of a good size should you want to foray into batch painting. If you are an experienced user of wet palettes looking for a game changer, this particular palette may not offer much in the way of evolution – however, if you are looking for reliability and consistent excellency that won’t break the bank, then the Painter Lite will not disappoint.

RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Introduction

Here on FauxHammer, we have covered wet palettes from RedGrass Games before, namely the Ewige nasse Palette and its sequel, the Everlasting Wet Palette Painter 2. RedGrass Games have a new one now to offer – the Painter Lite. As we’ve discovered, RedGrass Games has the formula for wet palettes absolutely down – and then some. They’ve kindly sent us the Painter Lite wet palette for review, so what does this product have in store for us? Let’s take a deep dive and get wet.

With the palette, that is.

RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Unboxing

Without further ado, let’s tackle the first thing your eyes will be hit with – the packaging.

Now, this is something different than what I was expecting. Instead of coming in a box, the palette and its accessories are all compactly packaged within this vacuum sealed plastic sleeve. This serves me just fine, as the packaging takes up less space in the bin (and for those who like to keep their packaging, less space in your cupboards) and fulfills its sole purpose at the same time. Simple and efficient.

On the back side, we have all the relevant product information, instructions and general advice on how to use your shiny new palette. Again, this is very efficient as it throws out the need for paper instructions inside. Less is better sometimes.

Furthermore, the instructions are very clear and coherent, as well as succinct and to the point. This is how instructions ought to be – like following a recipe with short and precise sentences, rather than wrangling with pages and pages of wordy paragraphs filled with warranty information and a dozen translations, leaving you flustered like Homer Simpson trying to build a barbecue.

Now, tear open the packet and this is what you’ll get;

In terms of contents, we get;

The wet palette

The elastic strap
50 sheets of hydration paper
2 hydration foam pads

All the basic necessities in one neat little package. It’s very minimalist, but all’s that needed for a starter pack.

Let’s have a brief look at each item in turn.

Die Palette

Might as well start with the main entrée itself, and what we really came for.

If you’ve been in the miniature painting hobby for any significant amount of time, chances are you’ve come across a wet palette. You know what it looks like – and the Painter Lite does not deviate from the standard rectangular design. No need to really – as long as it does the job.

The palette is 15x20cm, which is a conventional size, and frankly, perfect for a painter like me, who has to work off half a kitchen table rather than have a true dedicated hobby space. Its medium size greatly advantages those who do not have a good deal of space, or those who prefer not to have large equipment taking up space.

If you’re a beginner to wet palettes, this is probably the best sort of size palette to start off with – you’ll have enough room to batch paint a squad of Space Marines or horde units. However, if you want to paint a massive model that demands a lot of different paints or space to practice wet blending the entire colour spectrum, you may have need of something bigger.

Here is the Painter Lite compared to the Army Painter wet palette I had been using up to this point.

As you can see, they are very close in size, but the Painter Lite is ultimately a centimetre or so wider. But that centimetre gives me more internal room for more paints, so the Painter Lite wins in that department.

It’s also worth noting quickly about how tight the Painter Lite is – on your first try opening it, you will have to creep your fingernails under the lid and pry it open like a crocodile’s jaw. When you close it and put the strap on, you can even pretend you’re a true Aussie croc wrangler.

Jokes aside, this point may sound like a negative, but it really isn’t – it means the palette is absolutely watertight, and this was tried and tested by me trying to tip the water out with the lid on – but I failed miserably. No water leaked out – so you won’t need to worry about taking it out and around and leaving painted liquid at the bottom of your bag. That said, I still wouldn’t recommend transporting it vertically, otherwise your paints inside will inevitably run.

One interesting thing to note is the textured lining on the base of the palette. I imagine the purpose is to help stick the foam pad down to the base by adding a little friction. The foam pads are also a little smaller than the base by less than a centimetre by height – which makes tipping out excess water easier.

Another obligatory thing to mention is the elastic strap – it does what it needs to, and keeps the lid and palette strapped tightly together with no slack. No complaints there.

The Hydration Paper

You get fifty sheets of hydration paper with the Painter Lite – a high number of sheets to suit the longevity of use this item ought to receive. If you’re not familiar with hydration paper, it looks and feels like tracing paper – or baking paper if you’re a budding cook.

The Hydration Foam Pads

Although you only get two foam pads, two are more than enough to last you a long time – provided you take care of them, like we all do with our painting tools, right?

They are soft and spongy, and easy to clean out after use. It’s also mould resistant, but if you’re not planning to paint for a while, I’d recommend wringing the foam of its moisture and keeping it dry until you next plan to paint.

Furthermore, the foam absorbs water very well and will keep your paper consistently moist (there, I said it) as we’ll find out in the testing section of this review.

RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Using the Wet Palette

So we’ve opened the mysterious package and scoured through its contents – but how does it actually fare?

Konfiguration

I hope you haven’t thrown the packet away yet – ’cause you’re gonna need the instructions on the back (if this is your first time). Either way, we’ll briefly go through the steps now.

First things first, open the palette and place a foam pad in the bottom.

With that hurdle over, its time to get it wet. Run the palette under the tap until the foam pad is absolutely drenched. After that, tip the excess water out – the water level should not exceed the height of the foam pad itself. You want enough water for it to be slimy to the touch, but not too much that you’re holding a puddle in your hands.

Afterward, take a single sheet of hydration paper and carefully place it atop your foam pad – you’ll find it fits within the palette like a glove. You’ll find the paper curling at the edges and air pockets forming as you lay it down – pretend your hand is a squeegee and iron those air bubbles out and lay those edges flat. You know it’s done when it’s wet to the touch but not enough to be making small streams of your paints.

It’s only taken three steps, but now you’re ready to start painting.

Gemälde

Now, as a painter, I will admit that I am incredibly slow. I buy and build more than I can paint – so I have a whole dragon’s hoard worth of miniatures to use as test subjects for this palette. I started Warhammer back in 2004, and had every Tyranid model I owned painted and finished as lack of funds kept my collector’s mentality in check. But it’s not 2004 anymore, and now I am like Smaug squatting atop mountains of unpainted Necrons and Space Marines. So naturally, it was time to revisit the Indomitus box that brought me back to the hobby after many years of absence.

In true Blue Peter fashion, here are some Skorpekh Destroyers that I started earlier in the year, and only just now have I decided to finish them – particularly, the hyperphase blades. With the blades, I was going for the green crystalline look, where the differing shades of green were blending into each other like on the box art. I felt that the Painter Lite would be a great aid in this challenge, and so we’ll see how it accomplishes that.

It should be noted as well that I will be using Games-Workshop’s Citadel Paints range for these models.

First off, I needed some thinned down Geisterknochen to act as undercoat for the blades, and then Tesseract Glow to go over as a second coat.

As you can see above, I applied paint onto the palette in the form of dollops, and then spread them out. The other two paints present are Warp Lightning and Akhelian Green, which I will use shortly. Now, can you guess the odd one out?

If you said Geisterknochen, I will give you a ‘very nice’ and move on.

Geisterknochen is a base paint – so it’s acrylic-based, and remained usable and solid despite sitting there for hours unneeded. The others, however, being contrast and technical paints, were more akin to washes and lay on the cusp of drying out. Still, I was quick on the draw to use them to capitalise on the desired effect.

The diluting effect the wet palette had on my Tesseract Glow gave me the perfect amount my brush needed to give a smooth coat.

While I was at it, I brought out another model from the Indomitus box – the Necron Plasmancer – to work on his hyperphase staff as well.

This time, I used Akhelian Green to paint the crystal on the staff. Again, the runny contrast paint applied very smoothly from palette to brush, and was still usable a bit later for touch-ups.

Returning to the Destroyers, I spread some Dark Angels Green unto the palette to start the colour blending process for the blades.

Again, the fluidity of the paint being slightly diluted from the wet palette really helped in applying a smooth coat, and then a second one in quick succession once the first had dried (insert two thin coats joke here). Soon after, I carefully smeared some Warp Lightning to start a transition between the lighter and darker shades of green. The hyperphase blades were really starting to shape up.

It was getting late at this point, so I packed everything up and shut the palette. The next evening, this is what the paints looked like;

Some of the moisture had evaporated, but not a great deal, as the paints were still wet but not running streaks across the hydration sheet. The Tesseract Glow and contrast paints, being quite watery and akin to washes, had almost entirely dried out. The Geisterknochen, on the other hand, was still usable when activated with a tiny bit of water – but I had not left much of it at all from my previous painting session, so the little that remained was pretty useless.

Interestingly, the Dark Angels Green was still somewhat usable after I mixed it with a small amount of water – though at this point, it would only be useful as a dark green glaze rather than a base paint.

Moving forward, I had realised I had forgotten to the paint the odd terrain details on the bases of these models – the rocks, the skulls and assorted debris. This time, I dolloped on a wad of Mechanic Standard Grey and Zandri Dust to coat these details, as well as a small puddle of Skeleton Horde contrast paint to act as a wash on top.

So after all that faff, I turned in for the evening and left the palette shut again – this time, for four days after. This is what four day old paint looks like in the Painter Lite;

Upon opening the palette, you can see that the paints have become to separate, forming those dark oozes in their centre. The Skeleton Horde contrast paint was effectively a tea stain, but that’s to be expected.

So how did the base paints do?

Quite decently, to be perfectly honest. I wetted my brush a little and did a quick stroke test with the Zandri Dust to see if the paint was usable – and as you can see, it was as if fresh from the pot. I had the same result with the Mechanicus Standard Grau zu.

Another thing to note was that the wet palette didn’t stink of wet dog either, or of wet anything in general – that must be the anti-fungal feature at work.

With the remaining paints, I was able to finish off the terrain parts of my miniatures and retain the same paint consistency now as I had four days prior when I had started. The only thing left to do was to do some dreaded edge highlighting along the edges and corners of the blade with Gauss Blaster Green and tidy up the blended greens.

Here’s the final result.

Painter lite skorpekh destroyer group test final

Though I first picked up the brush back in 2004, I have dipped in and out of the hobby so many times over the years that I consider my painting skills amateur at best. This is my second attempt at wet blending, and whilst not perfect, I achieved the hyperphase effect I was going for. Having the Painter Lite palette at hand really helped – before I had even heard of wet palettes, I was using that Citadel palette paper when you had a minute before your contrast paints turned into a colourful stain on the page. Had I dared to go bolder, I could have mixed paints seamlessly with the aid of the Painter Lite to create more transitional blends between the hues. The Painter Lite keeps both the inky contrast paints and acrylic-based paints sustained for hours – days even – and you don’t have to keep dipping into the pot until its bled dry.

Another thing the palette helped me with was brush control – this was especially needed when I was highlighting the raised edges with Gauss Blaster Green. Such a harrowing task was made all the easier as I was able to use the damp hydration sheet to keep the brush bristles sharp and flat before they hit the model.

All in all, this was a very successful test with the Painter Lite.

Will RedGrass’ Games Painter Lite Improve my Hobby?

That honestly depends on whether you’ve used a wet palette before or not.

If you have never used one before, then absolutely this will change the way you paint. The Painter Lite is an excellent gateway to the wet palette world, and it works so smoothly that you may not feel the need to change it up – unless you want to go bigger. But for a beginner, the Painter Lite is a must have. You will feel yourself improving as you use it – thinning your paints couldn’t be made easier, and the potential for mixing, blending and other advanced techniques all lie at your fingertips.

If you have used wet palettes before, then RedGrass Games are as top a brand for them as you get, and to buy any wet palette from them would service your hobby well. Whether the Painter Lite elevates your hobby experience would really depend on what you want out of it. Need to save desk space? Need something that is functionally reliable and will keep your paints fresh for a week? Then the Painter Lite is as good as gold.

If you’re looking for the next step in evolution for wet palettes, the Painter Lite isn’t it. But it’s still a great piece of kit.

RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Price and Availability

The Painter Lite is a relatively new product to the market as of 2022, and can be readily ordered from RedGrass Games’ official website for £22.99 GBP/ €24.99 EUR/ $29.99 USD – a reasonable and affordable price for what you get and the usage you will get out of it. Alternatively, you can get the Painter Lite from Amazon currently for £22.99 GBP/ €29.99 USD.

A quick perusal on Amazon tells me that the Painter Lite is amongst the cheaper options for wet palettes aimed at miniature painting. The Painter Lite definitely felt aimed for beginners, so being affordable is a major plus for this palette. If you are a beginner, then this ought to be the choice for you if on a budget.

RedGrass Games Painter Lite Wet Palette Review – Final Thoughts

Vorteile	Nachteile
Perfect size for those with limited space Good size for practicing simple and complex techniques Paints still good after many days Airtight – water won’t leak out Doesn’t smell even after a few days Efficient packaging Clear instructions Perfekt für Anfänger Affordable price	Standard size may not be preferable for all Does not offer anything revolutionary for the wet palette world

Ultimately, it was a bit of a stretch to say anything negatively about the Painter Lite, quite frankly. Mainly this is because it really serves well as a wet palette for beginners and advanced painters alike, but at the end of the day it will always boil down to what your personal needs are in a wet palette. If you need something of bigger size, RedGrass Games do offer the Studio V2 palette, made for larger working areas and those who want a sizeable ballpark to play in.

But I was impressed by the Painter Lite, and it will be replacing my much used Army Painter Wet Palette effective immediately. I’m also happy that I can go out with confidence that this palette won’t be making it rain in a carrier bag as I take it and some more spooky robot skeletons out for a good ol’ painting somewhere else. Sure, it’s not going to overthrow the wet palette with a storm, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Before I forget, here’s a bonus picture of the finished Plasmancer. Even this crooked Scroogey old droid (probably) yelling at the clouds approves.