Amazon is running a Big Spring Deals sale. I’ve combed through the listings and collated links to help you decide for yourself. I check on these listings throughout the sale days to add new deals and remove expired ones.
The categories of links include:
Miniature brand name paints, games, and figures
Miscellaneous (books, painting handles, other odds and ends)
Other miniature options
Professional art brands
NEW: Acrylic markers
Domed drybrushes; pointed brushes; other brushes:
Welled palettes; dry palettes
NEW: Texture palettes and brush wipes
Brush cups; brush cleaning tools; brush travel and storage
Studio tools (clippers, files, paint mixers, etc.)
Sculpting tools
Basing supplies (static grass, terrain)
Display cases; travel cases
LAST UPDATED: March 26 4:45pm
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That said, I totally understand if you are not interested in contributing to the profits of big companies right now! I hope you will shop your local game store, boutique miniature shop, or favourite artist instead. They could all certainly use your help!
I share my personal experience with products where relevant, otherwise, I do not have any personal experience with these products.
Deal Checking and Coupons
To check whether a current Amazon price really is a great deal, you can click on Price History just under the price of the item. You can also compare to a longer time period of data on the camelcamelcamel site. Enter the name of the product or paste the URL link into the search box. If you get a list of options, look through to find the specific product you’re considering. Scroll down a bit and you will see a graph of the Amazon history for that item that displays the highest, lowest, and average prices.
When scanning through listings on Amazon, look for a red banner/badge that says Big Spring Deal. That indicates an active deal. It should display a percentage savings, current price, and typical price. Amazon often adds non-deal sponsored items to search results.
Always check the listing for a coupon for additional savings! You may see an orange Coupon badge, and/or green text. Check the box in this area to apply the coupon and save even more!
Limited Time Deals
The products linked below are limited to a certain number of units. Once that amount has sold, they will return to regular price.
A number of Marvel: Crisis Protocol packs
Mass Effect Cerberus Forces Alpha
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Miniatures Upgrade set
Tainted Grail the Fall of Avalon
Ethefields Funeral Witch Campaign Expansion
Miniature Brands
Amazon search results for a specific company or product display sponsored items from other manufacturers in a way that is not always obvious. Where possible, I have include a second link to a brand’s Amazon store front. There you will see only products from that brand, but you’ll have to scan through all of their products to find the ones that are part of the Big Spring Deal promotion.
CMON (Big Spring Deal listings)
CMON has several products on sale. These include Marvel Zombies, Massive Darkness, and several Song of Ice & Fire sets. You can also shop all deals at the CMON Amazon store.
Star Wars Mini Games
The IG-Series Assassin Droids expansion is on sale for Star Wars: Legion.
Miscellaneous
Color and Light
This book by James Gurney is one of the most commonly recommended among miniature painters and artists in general for learning to understand, well, colour and light. His book Imaginative Realism is also on sale. You can get to know more about him and his teaching style for free by following him on his blog, Gurney Journey, and on his YouTube channel.
Colour Wheel
A colour wheel is a handy tool for choosing colour schemes and colour mixing. (A value finder is a handy tool as well.) If your primary concern is choosing colour schemes, this compact set of reference cards includes includes a lot more examples for variations of each colour and is currently on sale. The most common ‘official’ colour wheels (both RBY and CMY) are manufactured in the United States by the Color Wheel Company. My experience has been that these display high quality printing and colour fidelity. So far as I can tell ALL of the options on Amazon are knock-offs, even those purporting to come from well-known art companies or which display the Color Wheel Company trademarks. If you want to ensure you get the real deal, purchase from one of the art companies I linked below. I received a free colour wheel from a Kickstarter with very poor colour reproduction, so it is a buyer beware situation.
Miniatures
Cheap Miniature Busts
If you don’t feel comfortable practicing on $50 busts, these resin busts are less than $2 each. Each listing includes a photo with measurements, but on average they’re 2.7 inches tall. This 10 piece set includes Roman/Greek/Renaissance male and female heads. This 5 piece set is based on famous sculptures like David. There is also a 7 piece set with the busts of classical composers like Beethoven. (Coupon!) For $9 you can get one of five poses of Greek/Roman style bust flipping the bird.
Slightly less Cheap Miniature Busts
The board game Enthrone includes 8 busts for $40.
Dragons
The dragons in these kits look like decent sculpts for the price. I wouldn’t expect expect much from the paint, but the other extras could come in handy. This set has 3 different dragons plus palettes and cardboard scenery. This set has 2 copies of the same dragon.
Painting Handles
Attaching your miniature to something you can hold while you paint reduces hand fatigue and makes precision painting easier. This doesn’t haven’t to be something fancy! I’ve used old prescription bottles and wooden thread spools for years, lots of people use dice cubes. Some of the fancier options do offer nice features, like a hand rest you can use to steady your painting hand or a more ergonomic grip. I have a few (not these brands) with the hand rest and have found it helpful on occasion. Check the complete Amazon listings for painting handles to compare prices and features.
Miniature Attachment Options
Most handles, and many figure cases, require you to use something to attach the figure to the handle/case. Most people use mounting putty/poster tack, a few use double-sided mounting tape. Double-sided mounting tape works best when the base of the figure is flat. Poster tack works better when you’ve got a slotta base or something other texture for the putty to grab on to.
I am only including products that I have used and would recommend in this section. There are tons of off-brand versions of these if you want to go looking for cheaper options, but I recommend testing them thoroughly! The difference between mounting tape and regular double-sided tape is that there’s a layer of flexible gel or foam in between the two sides of tape, which allows it to adhere to surfaces that aren’t 100% level and flat. It also has a stronger adhesive.
Blu-Tack
A reliable and well-regarded brand. The 2 x 75g pack is reasonably priced.
Gorilla Tough & Clear Double Sided Mounting Tape
After this was recommended to me, it became my top choice. The fact that it is clear is a big part of the appeal. Poster tack and my previous mounting tape added colour or value that would often draw my eye while painting. It’s not a huge issue, but it’s nice not to have colours unrelated to the miniature and makes WIP photos look prettier. If I had a complaint it would be that it adheres too well. It’s sometimes hard to peel it off the base.
Scotch Mount
Before I found out about the Gorilla tape, I used the white Scotch Mount. It is sold in different widths and volumes, and in the US is the one you’re most likely to find in a pharmacy or grocery store if you have an adhesion emergency. (Look for the green checkerboard backing.) It is a ‘sandwich’ of tape, foam, tape, and removing all of those can sometimes get a little fiddly. It has a sturdy and lasting stick though.
Terrain
More Terrain
I found some different terrain options with alternate search terms.
Professional Art Brands
Every time Amazon has a big sale I check sale prices on artist brands like Liquitex, Golden, Winsor & Newton, etc. And every sale, I am disappointed. Oh, there will be a few items, but it’s usually a particular size of a medium or just a few colours of paints. Even then, the prices always seem to be at least a little higher than the prices at one of the big online art sellers linked below. I think the big art brands do not allow online sellers to sell their products below a certain price unless something is on closeout. The board game company Asmodee does a similar thing.
I have shopped from all of the following stores (I like traditional art supplies as well as miniature hobby ones). They’re established, respected storefronts. If you live outside of the US or UK, ask other artists in your area for the best online sellers. You will also find that different brands are more or less economical depending on where you live. Schmincke paints are much cheaper for Europeans than for North Americans, but I think the reverse is true for Liquitex.
I am not sponsored by or affliated with and do not benefit in any other way from non-Amazon links.
Jackson’s
I believe Jackson’s ships to many areas of the world, and you can select the currency for your region from the main page.
Acrylic Paint Markers
A few miniature companies are selling paint markers for painting figures. So far as I can tell these are not different to artist acrylic paint markers that are available from other brands. These come in an almost dizzying array of options, with different types of nibs and sizes of colour sets. Most larger sets include some metallic pens. When comparing sets of different sizes, compare the per unit price for most accurate comparison. Acrylic pens are best stored on their sides.
108 Colors Brush Nib
For less than $30 you can get a wide selection of colours and test whether this product works for your needs.
Grabie 72 Brush Nib Half and Half
This set is by a well-known brand. It is a good option if space is more limited. Each pen is half one colour, half another. So you get 72 colours in the space of 36 pens.
180 Brush Nib
This is the set I have, though I confess I keep forgetting to try them on miniatures. Maybe I’ll give that a go in the next day or two and update this entry. They’re not quite as nice as my expensive art store pens, but they’re quite good!
240 Brush Nib
Do you need yet more colour? This set has 240 pens for $76. Another 240 set in more of a carrying case.
264 Brush Nib
The same brand as the set I have, but a verging on crazy number of colours.
288 Brush Nib
Someone just upped the ante to 288 markers in a set, which would not be as easy to heft as the picture suggests.
Marker Refill Paint
What do you do once a marker runs out? You can probably refill them with a fairly fluid miniature paint, like Reaper Master Series. Ohuhu offers bottles that will refill a paint pen 4-10 times.
Paint Brushes: Domed Drybrush
If you haven’t tried a dedicated drybrush yet, take this as your sign to give one a shot. Inexpensive natural and artificial hair versions are now readily available, and prices have dropped since I started tracking. Artis Opus pioneered these brushes in the miniature space, and their Opus D Series set is gorgeous, but it is expensive. Given the way we use these brushes and how they’re made, I don’t think it’s too risky to try an inexpensive brand first. Most listings include a photo that shows the dimensions of the brushes so you can compare between options.
You can see examples of results with different kinds of drybrushes here, and read about how I used dome drybrushes to paint a gingerbread man figure.
All of the brushes listed below appear to be made with real goat hair. If you prefer a synthetic option, these eyeshadow brushes look like the same design, though with less of a range of sizes. This six brush synthetic set offers six different sizes. These craft brushes are also not on sale, but are very inexpensive.
Sdanart Drybrush Set – 3 brushes, 3 sizes
If you’re new to this kind of brush and want to try one out for as cheaply as possible, this is one of the most inexpensive sets I’ve seen (from a company I’ve seen before that has some reviews to consider.) This similar PANDAFLY set is a similar price.
Boar Bristle Stencil Brushes
Stencil brushes are often made with flattops, but occasionally you can find them in the dome shape. These are made with boar bristles rather than goat hair. When dry or when used with oil paints, the boar bristle feels very rough and stiff. It softens up considerably when used with water-based paints or when rinsed in water. Despite this, they do offer somewhat different textures than the soft goat bristle brushes. Royal Brush set. This set of 6 includes flattop and domed bristle brushes. You may be able to find another use for the flattops.
Paint Brushes: Domed and Detail Sets
I found a few listings for sets that include the domed drybrush style brush packaged together with small detail synthetic brushes. From the photos the drybrushes do look like real goat hair, but I think all the detail brushes are synthetic. I highly recommend spending the money for a quality Kolinsky sable like Winsor & Newton or DaVinci to paint precision detail work, but having a few cheaper synthetics for rougher jobs can also come in handy.
Nicpro 21 piece set – 21 brushes: 5 drybrush, 11 pointed round, 3 flat, one angle handle
Nicpro 20 piece set with case – 5 drybrush, 11 pointed round, 4 flat
Nicpro 12 piece rainbow set – 3 drybrush, 5 pointed round, 1 filbert, 2 flat
Other Paint Brushes
(Possibly) Sable Brushes
Check through these listings carefully! Some of these sets include larger sized brushes that are intended for watercolour painters. Some brush sets listed are made with synthetic bristles but use deceptive search terms or sponsored listings to show up on the search.
Note that I am not recommending any of these! My personal recommendation always is to spend the money to buy at least a couple of the brand name Kolinsky sable brushes recommended by many miniature painters. (Winsor & Newton and Da Vinci are two popular brands.) I’ve never had a cheap sable or a synthetic brush that kept as fine a point for painting detail.
Miniature Paint Brush Sets
Due to the demand from miniature painters and nail artists, the offerings for detail brushes are constantly expanding! There are a few options as low as $7-8. The variety of shapes and sizes can vary widely among sets, and some include a carrying case or tube.
Brush Rinsers and Cleaners
Most of the items in this category feature silicone nubs and textures. Swishing your brush across these gently agitates and opens up the bristle head to help remove paint. Most are sized for somewhat larger brushes than what we use, but should still work.
Silicone Rinse Cups
Many rinse cups include a removeable silicone brush holder ring on the top of the cup. Some include drip trays that may or may not be removeable.
Collapsible Brush Rinse Cup
This is an inexpensive option with a nice variety of cleaning textures.
Game Envy Collapsible Brush Cup (not on sale)
This cup isn’t on sale, but it’s not too expensive and is specifically designed for miniature painters in size and features.
Paint Puck Water Rinsers (not on sale)
Many of the products in this category are a knock-off of this original, the Paint Puck. The Paint Puck water rinsers come in a variety of sizes, so you can get a smaller one if that better fits your workspace. The prices list discounts, but seem similar to the everyday prices for this brand at art sites like Dick Blick. You can hang brushes along the edge to dry over the drip saucer. (Or you can remove the brush holder part if you find that gets in the way.) I use a tall one of these for watercolour painting, and kind of wish I’d gotten a shorter one. The Dish option on that listing is their new collapsible rinse cup which looks very handy if you travel or need to keep your kit compact.
Standalone Silicone Cleaning Tools
Mini Paint Pucks (not on sale)
(Ignore the part where it says it’s for oil painting, these work fine in water.) Put these small silicone pucks in the bottom of whatever rinse cup you want. I used these to clean my brushes for many years. The silicone textures are sized well for our smaller brushes. There is a ring of ridges around the outer edge as well as different sizes of nubs. They have suction cups on the bottom, but I find that these don’t really work and I often have to jab it down to restick it. I am currently using the Game Envy Scrubby. It is a weighted silicone scrub pad. It moves around a little more than I hoped. I guess my dream would be a weighted scrub with a suction cup. You can purchase the Game Envy Scrubby from their store now.
Game Envy Weighted Brush Scrubber (not on sale)
I am currently using the Game Envy Scrubby from their recent Kickstarter. It is a weighted silicone scrub pad. It moves around a little more than I hoped, but less than the mini paint puck. I guess my dream would be a weighted scrub with a suction cup.
Texture and Sponge Cleaning Pads
Silicone texture products designed for cleaning makeup brushes can also be well-suited to our needs. I tried one designed to slip over your hand a few years ago, but it was clunky and hard to use at my desk. If I were to buy another, I’d get something like this compact silicone and sponge set, or this silicone and sponge set. They intend the sponge for wiping powder off of dry brushes, but I use a damp sponge as part of my brush cleaning routine. I coat the bristles with brush soap and gently draw them across a damp sponge. Then I dunk the brush into my watercup and swish the bristles across the silicone texture pad. I don’t know if the included soap would work on acrylic paint, you might need to use something like the Masters Brush Cleaner instead.
Other Brush Cleaning Tools
Bottle-Fed Brush Rinsers
I’m kind of astonished at how many listings there are for these, it seems like a pretty niche product to me. Some include extra features like a brush holder stand or palette, but I’m not sure how useful these are.
Dry Palettes
Many welled palette options available are not ideal for miniature painters because the wells are too large. Small wells are more suited to small amounts of paint, and smaller surface area slows down evaporation. I’ve tried to find only options with smaller wells, though the options are limited for hard plastic palettes.
Ceramic Welled Palette
Ceramic palettes are easier to clean paint off of than plastic palettes. This Meeden palette has the style of wells I recommend. Note that ceramic palettes are quite sturdy, but it is possible for them to break, so may not be the best choice for all setups.
Plastic Welled Palette
This palette is compact with small wells, and comes with a lid to help keep the paint wet when not in use. It’s probably not as easy to clean as the ceramic, but the rounded wells shouldn’t be too difficult to clean out.
Silicone Palette Options
In the past few years painters have started using fidget poppers and other flexible silicone options as welled palette alternatives. These are very convenient to clean. Just let the paint dry, and you can pop it right out of the well. Paint that is heavily thinned for washes and glazes doesn’t pop off the same way, but is easily removed with a plastic scrubber. Check the sizes in the dimensions photos! You want the wells to be pretty small in diameter to keep the paint from drying out quickly. This 3×3 pack of 30 costs only $7. The biggest issue with fidget poppers is most come in bright colours, but neutral colours are the best options for paint palettes. This hexagon option is not on sale, but it comes in white, black, and grey. (And I think its regular price is now less than what I paid for mine!)
Plastic Welled Palette
If you’d like some inexpensive and lightweight plastic palettes for kids or conventions, there are several options on sale. You can get the common round 10-well palette in packs ranging from two to 100 from this seller: Hulameda.
Wet Palettes
Wet palettes are popular with acrylic painters because they keep paint workable for longer. The basics of a wet palette are a flat plastic tray you fit with an absorbant sponge and fill with water. You place either a piece of parchment/baking paper (NOT waxed paper) or a sheet provided by the company on top of the sponge, and the paint on top of that.
Note that some of the inexpensive options may not offer refills of sponges and/or paper. You will need to buy something like compressed sponge and cut it to size, or use folded paper towel.
Golden Maple Wet Palette plus Brushes
Includes a set of brushes as well as four sponges, 100 sheets of paper, and a brush rest. It includes a separate plastic palette tray. Comes in grey and red or grey and white.
Nicpro Miniature Painting Kit
The set includes a separate plastic mixing tray, four sponges, 100 pieces of paper, a brush rest, and an elastic band to secure the palette. The set of brushes comes in a case that doubles as a brush stand.
Kreapa Big Wet Palette
Just the basics, but bigger. Tray with flat bottom, clear lid, two sponges, 100 sheets of paper. Dimensions: 23.6cm x 35.5cm
Texture Palettes and Brush Wipes
Wiping your drybrush on a textured surface allows you to remove excess paint and judge whether the brush load is correct for the texture you’re painting. People often make these themselves with old bits, but commercial options are becoming available.
Fuyoooo Texture Palette
The least expensive of the options I’ve found.
L&D Creations Texture Palette
This comes in three different sizes, presumably sized to fit into the more popular wet palette container sizes.
Fondant Texture Sheets
The cheapest solution I’ve found is to use fondant icing texture sheets. You get multiple in the pack, so you can reserve one for metallic colours. (Trust me, you don’t want to get metallic on all of them!) If you’d prefer something a little more solid, this tree bark silicone mat looks good. This six pack isn’t quite as sturdy, but includes multiple sheets so you can have a separate one for metallics.
Studio Tools
Combo Packs
This set includes a set of clippers, files, tweezers, a hobby knife and blades.
Paint Racks
A selection of wall and desk racks. I have six of the wall-mounted acrylic shelving style racks, and I love having my paint so visible. I also have a tiered acrylic rack on my desk that holds the paints I want to have immediately to hand. The listings also includes some MDF slotted options for those who prefer that method of storage.
Silicone Mats
Silicone Mats are a great way to protect your surface from spilled paint and glue drips. You can get simple flat silicone sheets very inexpensively. There are also a wide variety of inexpensive silicone painting mats that include built-in palettes, rinse cups, or other features.
Cutting Mats
If you want to protect your surface from hobby knives and other tools, a cutting mat is a great option. Most include ruled lines and measurements which can come in handy. Paint does not clean up as easily from these as it does from silicone, but you can clean them, or layer a silicone mat on top when you want to get messy with paint.
Magnifiers
I recommend use of a magnifier for painting detail, especially for those of us who aren’t so young. Based on personal experience, I am only comfortable recommending the Donegan brand, which does not have any products on Prime Day sale. I prefer the lighter weight OptiSIGHT visor, but I happily used the original OptiVISOR for years.
Vortex Paint Mixer
These devices agitate your paint bottles. Nowadays you can find inexpensive purpose-made mixers like these all over Amazon. Back in the day we had to buy heavy and expensive refurbished lab mixers off of eBay. And even that was totally worth it! These are invaluable when you are doing maintenance on your paints (though a mixer does not replace all instances of needing to stir.) Thank you to the patron who suggested adding this to the list!
Organizer Boxes
We tend to collect a lot of little bits and bobs in our hobby. These are a great way to store and organize them. I added plastic tray organizers to my hobby drawers a few years ago and find it helps keeps things tidier. I organized my bases by size and shape in a photo organizer case like these (And then a separate one for pre-cast resin texture bases. Have I organized my actual photos in the last 30 years? Nope!) Thank you to the smart reader who suggested adding these!
Pin Vise
If you are assembling multi-part metal miniatures it is best to pin parts together for greater stability.
Tweezers
Tweezers are a useful hobby tool! They make it easier to pick up and assemble fine details, like adding flowers and leaves to bases. You can use fine point ones to pull the support struts off of 3D printed miniatures. Curved or bent tip tweezers help reach into awkward corners without touching the figure. This 16 piece set includes a great mix of tweezers, incuding one reverse tweezers, and a carrying case. There is also an inexpensive pack of 6, and a pack of 3.
Small Strong Magnets
Some people like to assemble their miniatures using tiny magnets so you can swap out weapons and gear. If you add magnets to the bases of figures you can store them on metal trays, which several of the travel cases below include.
Sculpting Tools
Silicone Sculpting Tools
Silicone tipped sculpting tools work well to sculpt and smooth epoxy putties and bakeable clays. They were once quite pricey – each of the individual tools I have cost as much or more than these sets! The Sdanart listing includes both a size 4 set and a size 8 set. The larger size is useful if you sculpt terrain or larger scale figures.
Metal Tools
The only really small sculpting tools I’ve seen were handmade and are not often made available for commercial sale. The ones on Amazon look like the kind and size of tools commonly available for sale in HobbyTown or similar stores. So bigger than what we would ideally want, but they can come in handy for some jobs. I like the flat spatula one in this set for smoothing putty into a flat layer to cut a shape into, and it’s come in handy for other uses.
Miniature Prep
Diamond Files
Small diamond files are my preferred tool for removing surface issues like mould lines from metal miniatures. Used with a very very light hand these can also work on some plastics, but always test in an inconspicuous area first! This set of 10 is inexpensive. Make sure to choose the 2 x 100mm option on the listing. 2mm shanks mean the correct size files for our purposes.
Clippers
I really like the Xuron brand clippers I have. They cut flush, and do not require a lot of hand strength to operate. If you want to take a shot on some inexpensive ones, there are some options.
Display Cases
Clear Plastic Case with Magnetic Door
Wall Mounted Case with Clear Doors
This comes in a few different colours of case and shelving, with clear doors.
You can see some other display options here.
Painted Miniature Storage/Travel
I have an article that discusses the various options for storing and transporting painted miniatures in more detail. There are a number of different types and sizes of storage options available with Prime Day savings. Storage and transport needs can be very specific, so you may find it worth looking at all of the carrying case options on Amazon.
Cheap and Light Plastic Organizer Option
If you’re looking to store sturdy plastic miniatures or you’re willing to add your own cushioning of bubble wrap or paper towel, this collectible toy organizer may work for you. You can remove the slots between sections to create larger spaces.
Aluminum Frame Case with 6 Metal Trays
Disclosure Statement
Links to products on Amazon in this article are affliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission when someone makes a qualifying purchases by using these links. There is no extra cost to you when buying through these links. The commissions I earn are used to pay the costs of maintaining this site, and I very much appreciate your assistance!
Bird with a Brush 