Published October 25, 2026. Last updated October 25, 2026. By Andrew M. Tan.
I paint a lot of minis in my studio. But, sometimes I want to move around the house—take the hobby to the kitchen table or to the living room. Lately, I’ve been using my Frontier Wargaming Hobby Deck, an amazing kit, but the lap desk surface limits my ability really dive explore with my favorite approaches.
But, I still want a compact, organized system that won’t take up space! Enter the KRYDRUFI V1 2.0 All-in-One Modular Painting Station. This system brings mixing palettes, brush-cleaning tools, and storage into a durable, stack-able setup for painters who need to pack away their supplies between sessions. I love the additions, especially the textured drybrushing palette and the glass palette.
The kit covers familiar jobs, from mixing acrylics and oil paints to preparing a drybrush and cleaning it afterward. The ribbed silicone brush cleaners have seen a lot of use in my testing.
This is a rolling review. I’ll update it periodically as I spend more time with the KRYDRUFI V1 2.0, including how the components hold up and what I learn about packing the wet palette. For now, here are my early impressions!
Disclosure: KRYDRUFI provided this kit free of charge for review. I received no payment for this review. This article contains affiliate links; if you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinion and reviews are my honest take from first-hand use.
Summary (TL;DR)
- Durable construction with thoughtfully chosen modules.
- Excellent additions, especially the drybrushing and glass palettes.
- Effective brush cleaners for removing caked-on pigment.
- Limited mixing space and careful wet-palette packing.
- Backward compatibility with the original V1, according to KRYDRUFI.
How V1 2.0 compares with the original station
The original Krydrufi portable painting station brought a wet palettes (albeit a tad small), perfect-sized wash bins, and brush holders into a stackable setup. KRYDRUFI added five new or upgraded V1 2.0 modules: the utility box, glass palette, silicone well palette, textured drybrushing palette, and redesigned thesilicone brush-cleaning insert (2.0 now, which I absolutely love).
This also makes the utility-box and wet-palette lids interchangeable. Here, I can confirm that the additions in the V2.0 fit interchangeably the original V1, giving existing owners a way to add the pieces they want.
Choose the modules you will use
KRYDRUFI offers sets and individual modules. You can customize what you want or need. The test unit we have included all the modules, which was an veritable Swiss-Army knife ready to go, for the miniature painter.
Start with the paints and tools you use on an ordinary evening. Most of you will want the acrylic painter modules, including the textured palette for drybrushing. If you’re into oil painting minis like I am, the glass palette is a must-have. Scale modeler’s don’t neglect the power of weathering and filtering with oil paints!
| Component | Where it could help | What to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Utility box and organizer | Keeping small sponges, loose parts, and hobby odds and ends together; potentially storing paint bottles lying flat | Check bottle size and compartment fit; great for gaming tokens or small model bits and magnets |
| Brush-storage tray | Keeping brushes with the packed station | Longer brushes may need to sit diagonally or may not fit |
| Wet palette | Mixing water-based acrylics | No airtight lid; usable area was limited, but expected like the V1.0 version; the wet palette paper worked great, but is a consumable |
| Silicone palette | Keeping separate pools of fluid paint | Cleanup is easy, and in my use did stain, which seemed normal |
| Glass palette | Mixing paints on a firm surface | Best for oil paint, enamels, and any media that may not be water soluble |
| Textured palette | Unloading and checking a drybrush | Great for testing how much pigment you’ve loaded |
| Two water pots with ribbed silicone inserts | Rinsing brushes and helping remove paint from the bristles | There’s no lid, so you’ll need to empty before storing or traveling |
| Rubber-grip brush holders | Holding up to four brushes or tools, with holders positioned inside or outside the pots | Arrange them to suit your working space; they can sit outside or inside the water pot modules |
You’ll need a fairly good bit of tabletop space to unpack the entire set if you have all the modules. The tidy stack you see in a product photographs will expand a lot. But, remember even if you own all the modules, you don’t need to take them all with you! Mix and match for whatever you plan to work on.
Modules for days; storage space for the minimalist
Let’s start at the top with things I loved. Modules for every approach and technique you can imagine as a miniature painter come with the set if you so choose. The flexibility baked into the system is beyond anything I’ve tried.
Some portable painting stations come with storage and slots for things you may want to keep your other supplies, e.g., wet palettes, water pots, but never altogether in a single compact system like the Krydrufi portable miniature painting station.
The brush-storage tray is a welcome inclusion, though its length limits what you can carry. Some longer brushes may fit only diagonally, and others may not fit at all. Check your usual brushes against the space, leaving the tips clear of the tray walls.
The organizer looks useful for small sponges and the hobby odds and ends that accumulate around a project. Paint bottles could lie flat inside, depending on their size and the compartment layout. I still need to check bottle fit.
I love the wet palette, but….
Alexander Foust ran into a paper problem when he reviewed the original station. He found that the supplied four-in-one mixing paper allowed his paint to dry during use. Dedicated wet-palette paper improved his experience after he adjusted the water in the reservoir.
For the V2.0, the product here, I didn’t experience these issues. The palette sponge was excellent and the metal clips held it in place. The palette paper is similar to the paper you get with the Army Painter Wet Palette, which is to say it works as intended. The trick is to soak the palette paper for a while, then use it.
Wet palettes are a powerful tool for miniature painters. It keeps your acrylics workable for as long as the palette has water in the sponge. Of course, I want enough mixing space to work through a model without crowding fresh colors into the remnants of an earlier mix. So, if you want a wet palette that lets you really get messy, this will constrain you. But, keep in mind this is where I had to manage my expectations. It’s meant for you to paint on-the-go! And, went I did.
By the way, running paint sucks. Here are other tips for using this tool in an article “wet palette tips for miniature painters” where I cover the setup and best use for this.
The new palette modules are a welcome addition
The silicone palettes fit well and clean up easily
I really like the silicone dry palettes, too. My set includes two, and they felt durable, cleaned up easily, and fit the station well. Their round wells contained a good amount of space to work with washes and inks.
I have ceramic water color palettes that serve this purpose, but I’m finding that these silicone palettes easier to clean. They’re also lighter and won’t break if i drop them!
Glass is the best surface using oil paints
The glass palette is one of my favorite additions—such a great idea. Redgrass creative added a glass palette to their Everlasting Wet Palette kit option, and I praised that so much. Here, the Krydrufi has integrated this glass palette into their station. The removable glass surface provides a firm area for mixing oil paints or other thicker media. KRYDRUFI also lists enamels among its intended uses.
Seat the glass securely in its tray before packing the station in a bag.
The textured palette is so much fun to use
The textured drybrushing pad is another favorite of mine. I had made my own textured palette by gluing bits to a wooden board. But this ingenious addition adds that bit of creativity into the station. This textured palette is made of the same plastic that your Warhammer 40k miniatures are made of. It’s solid polystyrene, I think, with 4 different “textures”—brickwork, wooden panels like on a ship or dock, concrete or asphalt, and a muddy, gritty-like alien surface with bones and skulls in it.
Its raised and recessed details give a drybrush somewhere to shed excess paint and show how the remaining pigment catches an edge. I played a lot with this textured palette, and I’ll show off more photos as I get more experience with the station.
Here some more insight into how this pad could work when drybrushing miniatures.
The silicone brush cleaners were probably my favorite update
The station includes two pots for rinse water. The photos show how the brush holders work with them.
The brush holders have rubber grips and provide space for up to four brushes or tools at once. You can hang the holders inside or outside either pot, which gives you some choice about where the brushes sit while you work.
Inside the pots are ribbed, textured silicone brush-cleaning inserts. I used these a lot and they worked so well, I am probably using these modules as a my daily rinse pots now. Paint came out of the bristles more easily, including pigment caked into my drybrushes. The softness of the silicon also felt great and I wasn’t afraid of my expensive Kolinsky sable brushes from getting worn out excessively.
I wish I had these inserts in my other water pots. Brush cleaning is a routine part of painting, and this small component made a noticeable difference to it. I would still use light pressure, especially with fine-tipped brushes.
For end-of-session brush care, Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver is the brush soap I recommend. My brush-cleaning guide for miniature painters explains the routine.
How it compares with my Citadel water pot
The KRYDRUFI water pot has pretty much replaced the Citadel Water Pot I reviewed earlier. The silicone cleaner at the bottom handles the brush cleaning, and the holders keep my brushes nearby. I use the pot for rinsing between colors and keeping a little water handy when a technique calls for a damp brush or a small dab of water. It has what I want in a compact water pot.
The compact design comes with a few limitations
Packing a wet palette needs care
The wet palette closes with a shallow, tray-like lid that nests into the tray below. I’m still checking whether it presses against the hydrated sponge, paper, or remaining paint, and how well the palette preserves mixes during travel. The close fit makes sense in a compact, stackable system. Clearance is the question I still need to settle.
Mixing space is limited
The wet palette has a smaller working surface than any of the other wet palettes I’ve tested, including The Army Painter Wet Palette and the Redgrass Everlasting Wet Palette Painter 2. If you like to leave several colors and intermediate mixes on the paper, that smaller area is worth considering. The dimensions follow naturally from a compact system in which every tray needs to fit the same stack.
If you want a separate palette with more mixing room, you can check The Army Painter Wet Palette on Amazon. The linked reviews above explain how the larger palettes compare in everyday use.
The clips for stacking the modules together requires some work
The clips take some work to work well. If you don’t have small hands, they are kind of hard to operate and stiff. They loosen up with use, but not by much if my experience with the V1 is any indication.
The side clips are essential for locking the module and trays together during travel. Consider how comfortable you are with small fasteners, since you’ll use these whenever you pack the station. I’m not sure how this could be solved, but just be aware of this.
The trays need to go back in the right order
Think of the modules as thick and thin trays. A thin tray sits between two thick trays, like a sandwich. This alternating arrangement continues through the stack. The thick trays carry the locking clips and require the thin trays to sit in between for the system to work. You can mix-and-match as long as you’re aware that at minmum you’re taking 3 modules with you; two thick, and one thin one, always.
And you must pay attention to the order of these modules as you pack and unpack.
KRYDRUFI’s packing instructions say to close each lid fully before stacking and use no more than four modules. Its V1 2.0 usage update also explains that glass and dry palettes stored in a lid must sit within the recessed outline. A misplaced palette can obstruct the module above and prevent the clips from closing.
Who should consider the KRYDRUFI V1 2.0?
This is probably best for those miniature painters and hobbyists who have limited space on their tables or work area; that need to pack up easily, but don’t want to neglect any possible tool. It’s also a great system to take all of your essential supplies with you to a local hobby store or a offsite painting session.
If you’re an experienced painter who already use several palette types and tools, then you’ll appreciate how thoughtfully this is all integrated. The engineering was impressive with the v1.0 version, and this all carries over into this updated v2.0 with even more options. The entire system is ambitious, and I think it works well.
Conclusion: What I think so far
For a portable painting system, the KRYDRUFI V1 2.0 is excellent. I love the drybrushing and glass palettes, and the silicone inserts made routine brush washing easier—I’m sold on just the brush rinse system, if I’m being honest. But, that’s my need. For those who want more, it has that, too. The durable construction and thoughtful selection of modules are its main strengths—indeed, a Swiss-Army Knife for the hobbyist on the go; it just won’t fit in your pocket.
I’ll update this review as testing continues. You can check the current KRYDRUFI sets and modules and choose the combination that matches the techniques you use.
Stay tuned. More info coming soon!
Until then, happy miniature painting!
Enjoying your visit? Join Tangible Day!
Leave a comment, or follow Tangible Day.
Tangible Day on YouTube (Miniatures and More!)
By Andrew M. Tan
Andrew is a commissioned miniature painter with more than 20 years of hands-on experience painting tabletop miniatures, photographing models, and testing hobby tools in real-world use. Read his full bio.