The Army Painter: Masterclass Drybrush Revealed

Last Updated on May 9, 2020 by FauxHammer

In a blink and you’ll miss-it announcement – The Army Painter has just revealed their latest product – The MasterClass Drybrush Set – (Coming Soon)

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The Army Painter: Masterclass Drybrush

If you follow the Army Painter Facebook Page or The Army Painter on Youtube – you may have seen this post which appeared yesterday.

Quite simple and basically just a 20-second video giving a glimpse of what is to be known as “The Army Painter: Masterclass Drybrush Set”.

As described in the video;

THE FUTURE OF DRYBRUSHING

IS TAKING A NEW SHAPE

There’s no news on a release date, but based on the time from the Wet Palette Announcement to the Release – Expect it to be around 3 months away (give or take some time due to Covid-19).

Ok, now the “new product” excitement is out of the way, let’s talk about the Elephant in the Room Shall we? yeah…

“The Future of Drybrushing” – is already available and the “New Shape” isn’t exactly that new.

For anyone who isn’t aware of what I’m talking about, let’s have a look at this existing product below?

Does the brush above look similar at all?

That’s because this new Army Painter product looks identical to the Artis Opus Series D brushes (see our review here – TLDR we love them) – Just with a Black (Army Painter Branded) handle…

Even the hair looks the same (Something Artis Opus put months of research into).

See our article on the Best Drybrushes for Miniatures by clicking the image below.

Honestly, I don’t know what to say here. Mainly because my opinion is risking a good working relationship with The Army Painter who do send us review samples.

I’m a big fan of The Army Painter, but I’d be remiss in my duty to you the reader if I didn’t point out the following – This is the second time in recent months where The Army Painter has released a product which is almost identical to one released by a small independent start-up company who gained success from Kickstarter.

After all, you can’t tell me that this;

Doesn’t bear some incredible similarities to this?

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They’re almost the exact same size too!

I’m one of the most excitable people when it comes to new hobby products – It was the reason I created this site after all! But I must admit that this new set of drybrushes makes me uncomfortable.

I was happy to let it go with the wet palette (which was not released in France – the home country of Redgrass Games who make the Everlasting Wet Palette), once could be explained away as coincidence – But this is so on the nose now, it can certainly be described by some as plagiarism.

And whilst that’s not illigal, it’s certainly unethical.

Two Small Companies now, Artis Opus and Redgrass Games who started out as miniature painters, then worked with and built communities so they could deliver the best products possible. I remember reports of games Workshop doing this to The Army Painter back in the day…

All that R&D going into these products, testing materials etc to get it just right. These people who are now taking a small but very-well deserved slice of the miniature painting community pie. Getting usurped by a bigger company who has better reach and better buying power.

It’s not like The Army Painter is even fighting in the same division. It’s a Heavyweight in a match with a Featherweight.

Is that the sort of behaviour you want to support? Vote with your wallets or have your say on the Facebook Post above or Youtube Video below.

Honestly, it’s totally up to you, and I know I am still excited about this new product – I just wish there were some level of an original take on it, such as the brush tray on the wet palette.

If you want to buy the new Army Painter Masterclass Drybrush, I expect the model above will be out in about 2-3 months. Or you can buy it now – it just has Artis Opus written on the side.

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

• UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
• US/Canada: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (US), eBay (CA), Amazon
• Germany: Taschengelddieb
• Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
• Australia: eBay, Amazon
• Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

• 3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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