Any recommendations for a brand and color for cheap latex paint that I can use as my layout’s base coat? I’d especially appreciate knowing if someone has found a paint that replicates Georgia clay.
A brand of paint called Apple that is sold in the craft area of Wal-mart comes in colors that are close to clay, such as burnt sienna and cinammon. You can always mix these, too, to get the exact shade you want. They are all water based acrylics, which I have found to be easier to work with than a can of latex paint.
Additionally, check the “Paint Goofs” shelf at Home Depot or Lowes. You can often find an appropriate shade of earth tone latex paint that was rejected by a customer or was a mixing error. Shouldn’t cost more than $5-$8 for a whole gallon.
Check with any paintstore for “Miss-tints.” They’ll sell them cheap.
Cacole’ ssuggestion is good, but only for small areas. For an entire layout, I would “thrid” the suggestion to look for mis-tints at the hardware store. They may even “re-tint” one of the mis-tints, as long as you aren’t more specific than “dirt colour please”. [;)]
Andrew
Definitely go with the cheapest interior latex flat house paint you can find. Save the craft paints for highlighting effects on rocks and stuff like that.
I have had good luck in getting custom mixed (tinted) paint at Home Depot. Review the color chips for the best looking Dirt and Grass colors to your eye. Keep in mind that the lighting around the color chips will usually be much brighter than the lighting around your layout. I usually get a quart of the least expensive flat latex that is one or two shades lighter than the color that looks right in the bright light.
A quart of latex paint goes a long way on most home layouts.
Hope this helps.
Dennis
One RR Ave
Thom,
Remember that you can dilute the latex 50/50 so that a gallon will paint an empire. Then you can dilute it even more for various “washes”.
I used “light wheat” from Wal-Mart at about $9 per gallon. I’ve used less than 1/2 gallon, I think.
Has anyone used stains instead of latex paints? I bought some stain to do my mailbox post and now have about 99% of the can left over —
Dave Nelson
Stains won’t absorb at the same rate into different materials (and won’t absorb at all in a lot of them), so you’ll end up with a blotchy, inconsistent mess of a basic layout cover. Stains will also tend to dry shiny on things they’re not designed to stain, and who wants a shiny cornfield? You can get a custom mixed gallon of paint at Ace Hardware for a whopping $9. Might as well spring for the better material.