I have a project coming up eventually that will require a lot of painting. My question is this: The article I am using for reference uses Floquil paints. I have found a cross reference for the needed colors in Humbrol paints. My questions are these: One, are these paints a water-base or are they a solvent-based like Scalecoat paints? Two, do Humbrol paints brush paint well or are they thinned for airbrushing. Three, if anybody has worked with them, how do they like them?
Thank you for any assistance the forums can provide.
I like Humbrol paints, although I have only ever used them for brush painting.
They are solvent based so you will need some paint thinner to clean up. They cover quite well with the first coat and they flow well so they leave very few brush marks. They will have to be thinned if you want to use them in your airbrush.
I would suggest that you get into the habit of cleaning the lid and the rim of the paint can each time you open them. (In fact I do that with all my paints - nothing worse than a stuck lid). Otherwise you will end up with a build-up of dried paint around the lid which makes the can difficult to re-seal and which can get a lot of crud into your painting process.
They need to be stirred well because they tend to separate over time, but they re-mix very nicely.
My biggest beef is that not enough suppliers carry them in Canada. Thanks to Osama Bin Laden we Canadians cannot import hobby paints from the US. Something about them being material for blowing airplanes out of the air I believe. Bullfeathers!!![:(!] There used to be a LHS that had a great selection of Humbrol paints just a few kilometers from me but they of course went out of business. What’s new?
Anyhow, I think you will like Humbrol paints if you give them a try.
They are available in both solvent based and Acrylic versions in a wide variety of colors in gloss, matt & satin. I currently use mostly the Acrylic which will clean up with water. I don’t use an airbrush, but they would definetly have to be thinned for airbrushing. They do tend to the thick side and sometimes they need to be thinned a bit even for hand brushing. With a brush they cover very well in one coat and you don’t need much. No streaking or brush marks.
If I had any one nit-picking complaint about them it would be consistency issues. Some cans tend to be thicker than others & do require some thinning. The last time I ordered some, I ordered two cans of a dark, forest green color. One was absolutely perfect consistency right out of the can. The other was much thicker, had more pigment in it I think & had to be thinned. Color consistency from one batch to another is very good though.
Gidday, for years the solvent based Humbrol paints were the only model paints available here, and as a very average brush painter I’ve been happy with the results.
Given that I don’t use an airbrush, the fact that it brush paints well is good to know. (Some of the paints I have seen don’t brush well.) I do have some lacquer thinner for the Scalecoat II color I use, so solvent-based paints aren’t a problem. Having to mix them with every use wouldn’t be anything different from the paints I have now. What is the smell like? Is it similar to Scalecoat’s smell or is it some other smell?
I haven’t used them in years, but the non-acrylic Humbrol paints at least used to be enamels, which use a different thinner from lacquers. You can probably clean the brushes OK with lacquer thinner, but don’t add it to Humbrol paints that are too thick.
I just use the lacquer thinner for cleaning the brushes when I use the SCII. I don’t use it to thin. At least the bottle of SCII that I have seems to work just fine as it.
As I mentioned in my rant above, my only source of Humbrol paints went out of business.
I decided to see who else in Canada retails the stuff so I went to Humbrol’s main website. They have a store locator but it doesn’t show a single retail store in Canada. It does show three wholesalers but by the looks of their websites they won’t sell direct to the public. I sent a message to Humbrol asking who retails their product in Canada. I will send messages to the three wholesalers asking the same question.
In the interm, does anyone in Canada know of a retailer here? As I mentioned above I can’t order from the US because of air security concerns.
To me it smells very similar to solvent based Floquil, with a hint of Enamel smell. The ship colors I used from Humbrol are more of a flat finish and semi-gloss. I just opened a tin that I had from about 1974 HM 12 Dark Blue. The price is still on the side 1/2 oz. 50 cents and it’s still good. [:D]
It might be worthwhile checking to see if the Humbrol Acrylics might be exempt from the security concerns in shipping to Canada. It couldn’t hurt to check with Canadian regulations & with Hornby USA to see if they can be shipped to Canada. I’d also check to see if they can be shipped to Canada via something like UPS Ground. It might take considerably longer, but at least you might be able to obtain them that way.
I saw the list of wholesalers last night (Sunday) so I had intended to call the Toronto supplier this morning which I just did. They gave me the names of two hobby retailers in Toronto who carry Humbrol paints. They are Hornet Hobbies and John’s Photo and Hobbies if anyone is interested.
The smell question comes from the fact that I live in an apartment building and I don’t want people complaining. (Not that they do about the SCII paint.)
For those interested in currently available model paints, you might want to check out the article comparing various model paints that appeared in the March, 2014 issue of MR on pages 54-57. This article has information on a number of model paints including the Humbrol brand.