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What is your go to paint line?; Why?
Topic Started: Sep 16 2016, 01:53 AM (1,293 Views)
Shake
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Grumpy rivet counter
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As a fellow acrylic hater, my favourite paint brand is Xtracolor. Downside is the long drying time, availability (only 2 shops in Holland) and the fact that I am unable to brush paint the stuff. For matt colours I mainly use Humbrol or Revell, the coverage of Xtracolor matt is dreadful.
Tried some acrylics in the past but could not get used to them, and as Graham also mentions, replacing my current enamel paint collection would be a huge investment.

Gr. Sjaak
Posted Image Dutch courage, I love it! Posted Image
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Big Kohona
Hero
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jvenables
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Hawk
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Gunze Mr Color lacquers. Love 'em - fine pigment, great coverage, fast drying, durable and very easy to airbrush.

When I started model making as a kid in the 1960's, I used my father's Humbrol and Pactra enamels, which were mostly either gloss colours or those from those manufacturer's railway colour lines. As a 4 or 5 year old kid, correct colours didn't matter one iota!

When Tamiya acrylics were first released in the late 1970s (or was it early 80's - can't recall now) I tried a few and hated them. By then I had a fairly large stock of my own Humbrol colours from both their standard and "Authentic" lines but the then fairly new Tamiya enamels were quickly becoming my preferred brand. They had a much finer grain than Humbrol and gave a nicer finish, especially through the airbrush. I was also trying a few Model Master enamels at the time which I thought were on a par with, or even slightly better than, the Tamiya enamels.

This mix of Humbrol, Tamiya and Testors enamels kept me going through to the mid 2000's when I moved to Laos where there are no hobby stores and my nearest supplies come from across the Mekong in Thailand. I had never used Gunze paints and knew little about them but since they were all that was available, I tried them and was instantly and mightily impressed. Manna from heaven indeed.

I have brought some enamels and a small supply of Gunze Mr Hobby acrylics back from Australia but I only use these for when I need to brush paint cockpit interior parts and other small details. This is because the lacquers do not brush at all well in the tropical climate (they dry too fast on the brush).
James from Brisbane, Australia
Now living in Laos

Nil illegitimi carborundum
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Moggy
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Advanced Member
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Gunze Acrylic & Tamiya ditto since the late '80. A sprinkling of other acrylics for certain specific colours (Agama russian cockpit turquoise for example).

Alclad lacquers for metallics (sprayed on Tamiya acrylics ;) ) - my former favourite was S'n'J. This bloke also created the only acrylic bare metal colours with the same degree of durability as S'n'j - Hawkeye's Talon line. These are now discontinued - their maker tried to sell the formulae without success so no hope of these ever making it back to hobby shops' shelves :(
Cheers, Moggy

WIP: HAS F-86D RDAF, HAS Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune ANA, ITA G.222 AE-260 Argentina, SH Meteor Mk.4, AX Bristol Freighter Mk.1 FAA
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kingofmen
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Least
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dknights,Sep 16 2016
05:09 AM
H & B Hobbies out of MA has a good selection and good stock.

Thanks, Dave, I'll give em a look.
Kevin Callahan
Auburn WA USA
Visit the re-energized 72 Land blog at http://72land.blogspot.com/
All hail 1:72!
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RJ Tucker
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Ack, Oop, THPPFFT Baby
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I use Testors Model Master. They're available at my LHS located about 3 miles down the road. As far as accuracy, MM is close enough.

;)

RJ
Phantoms phorever!


Flag Plot: My virtual model display shelf
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dixieflyer
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Hero
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Like many of you, I started off with Pactra and Testors enamels in the little bottles as it was the only thing available at the local dime store, drug store, and department store where I grew up in the 60's and early 70's. In '73 we moved to the big city and I finally got to see a real hobby shop with Pactra paint in *big* bottles. (It had a yellow cap, what was that line?) I also discovered Floquil. Man, did that stuff brush well. In fact, all of those paints brushed well, at least for me.
When I came back in the late 90's/early 2000's, I was very frustrated with how paints brushed, it just wasn't the same. Friends told me the formulas had changed. :(
I bought some Tamiya paint and tried to brush it. Wow, what a disaster. I've tried MisterKit, and boy is that stuff fragile. I've airbrushed WEM once, and it is really nice. I've assembled some Gunze paint, and look forward to trying it.

Thanks for this thread, I'm learning quite a bit from all of you.

Warren
"History is the lie we all agree upon."
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woody
Hero
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Any paint can be made manageable if you're doing single color or hard edge camo. I use MM. It is readily available and like Jeff I ignore the label and pick the color that matches my needs. Out of the bottle I consider them crap paint. However, if used with Floquil retarder and MM Airbrush thinner, they become very manageable for spraying. The real secret to this is the retarder. I do a lot of freehand soft edge and mottling so having a paint that will flow freely through a Paasche AB to give a very fine feather edge is very important and this combination works. I have yet to find an acrylic that will spray reliably for this and I've tried most of them. I do use some Vallejo Model Air for detail brushing and Alclad for NMF. Oh yeah, use a quality airbrush and brushes or no paint will work well.
Cheers,
Woody
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Big Kohona
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Mark Schynert
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Yeast
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woody,Sep 17 2016
03:51 PM
Any paint can be made manageable if you're doing single color or hard edge camo. I use MM. It is readily available and like Jeff I ignore the label and pick the color that matches my needs. Out of the bottle I consider them crap paint. However, if used with Floquil retarder and MM Airbrush thinner, they become very manageable for spraying. The real secret to this is the retarder. I do a lot of freehand soft edge and mottling so having a paint that will flow freely through a Paasche AB to give a very fine feather edge is very important and this combination works. I have yet to find an acrylic that will spray reliably for this and I've tried most of them. I do use some Vallejo Model Air for detail brushing and Alclad for NMF. Oh yeah, use a quality airbrush and brushes or no paint will work well.
Cheers,
Woody

This is interesting, because I realize that I have only ever used MM/Testors enamels for single color or hard edge, and it's performed fine. In the unlikely event I need to use this stuff for freehand camo, I'll try out the retarder/thinner approach.

Now here's a question: does MM dry any faster when thinned with lacquer thinner?
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InchHigh
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It's a good day to build.
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Mark Schynert,Sep 17 2016
11:56 AM
Now here's a question: does MM dry any faster when thinned with lacquer thinner?

Yes. It also sprays finer and adheres better. My observation.
Jeff

Time spent modeling is not deducted from your lifespan.

I spent most of my money on beer and women. The rest of it I just wasted.
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dknights
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The court of LAST RESORT!
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InchHigh,Sep 17 2016
01:00 PM
Yes. It also sprays finer and adheres better. My observation.

Never thinned MM with anything but their thinner. Will have to try it.
David M. Knights
Fortes fortuna adiuvat

14 Finished: Special Armor V-2, Airfix P-51
15 Finished: SBS Gladiator engine
16 Finished: Brengun C2 Wasserfall, Merit SS-N-2 Styx, World's smallest diorama, Airfix Hurricane.
17 Finished: Japanese Carrier Deck, Belcher SS-4, Italeri AB41, PLAN Type 039A (not 72nd scale)
18 Finished: NONE
The bench:Platz T-33, Trump. T-34/85, Meng F-106, Airfix P-51 #2, Airfix P-40
Revell MiG-21F-13, Ace Citroen V-11
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woody
Hero
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Quote:
 
Where do you get the Floquil retarder from?

Cliff, I got it at my LHS. Floquil has been discontinued, but places that still have some of it around often have the retarder because most people don't know what it's for. Gunze also has a product called Mr. Retarder which I have not got to trying yet. I suspect it would work as well.

Now in the realm of playing chemist and messing with things that don't necessarily belong together, I've also used retarder that was meant to be used with a no longer produced commercial urethane anti graffiti product. The result was the same. This product is similar to urethane auto paint. My thought is that retarder for enamel or urethane auto paint would also work, though I haven't tried it yet. I also have no idea what the results, either chemically or health wise might be.

When I experiment like this I always do the mixing in a shot glass, that way if it turns to rubber, and it does do that sometimes, it's not made a mess in my airbrush cup.
Cheers,
Woody
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Big Kohona
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Big Kohona
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