What brand of paint are you using and where do you get it from?
Mostly Badger Modelflex, LHS.
As far as spray or brush?
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For overall paint jobs on freight & passenger rolling stock and locomotives. Solvent Based: Scalecoat II. From Minuteman Scale Models.
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For weathering, and overll paint jobs on some freight cars. Waterbased (acrylic): Polly Scale. Hobby Town USA.
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For Metalizing “stainless steel” and other natural metal finishes. Solvent Based: ALCLAD2. Hobby Town USA. (Alclad2 Aqua 600 is waterbased).
I have a supply of Floquil spray cans that I hoarded, but for the most part Model Master covers all my needs. The militaries of the world have used more variations of gray, black, red, and brown than all the railroads seem to have.
Tru-Color Paint all the way! I’m a lucky one, I still have a local hobby shop and he stocks Tru-Color Paint for my Southern Pacific color scheme. Best paint I’ve ever used in over 30 years of airbrushing.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
Special mention:
I forgot that I also have a number of Badger Modelflex paint bottles as well. I painted the yellow sections of the bus (photo below) with a mix of Modelflex Santa Fe Yellow and Santa Fe Red (Warbonnet colors). The seats inside were painted with Pollyscale.
Reason I mention this is that on another forum I belong to, I’ve read posts from modelers slamming Modelflex paint. Basic statements were that Modelflex’s shelf life was “too short” and the paint would dry up, while still inside of the bottle.
Well, the bottles I have are between 8 and 10 years old and the paints inside of them are intact!
With Modelflex, one has to make sure that the lid and the top of the jar are clean, lid screwed on firmly, and (as with all paint products) stored in an area that’s away from heat and sunlight. [;)]
I still have a bunch of the old Floquil still in stock but am replacing it with Scalecoat, I for metal and II for plastics.
I have tried Tru-Color but have not been successful in spraying it with my airbrush so will stick with what I know for now.
Rick J
Ceap craft paint from MIchael’s or W-mart for painting structures and foam scenery. Michael’s also sells burnt umber, burnt sienna, and rust artist paint that I use when weathering cars and locos.
I use Tamiya Color Acrylic paint for most models. The flat colors look the best. Use them to paint figures if you want your figures to look like Preiser. Tamiya paints are found in their own rack at the hobby store.
For spray paint I use Testors cans. Flat colors look better. Find it at hobby shops and toys stores or department stores which sell model airplanes and cars.
For painting plaster scenery base I use an earth tone color latex paint from the hardware store.
Hi Anthony:
Most of my paint collection is Polly Scale but of course that doesn’t help much since it is discontinued. It can still be found at hobby shops and swap meets but the supply and colour selection is dwindling. If you can find it, it airbrushes quite nicely. It seems to store forever without deteriorating.
More recently, I have been using True Line paints. It air brushes beautifully and it brush paints with good coverage without globbing (2 coats on unprimed brass rod). I get mine from Hobby Wholesale in Edmonton, Alberta. Here is their list of dealers:
For strictly brush painting I really like Humbrol paints from England. Almost always covers in one coat and goes on smooth. Tons of dealers:
http://www.humbrol.com/us-en/stockists/north-america/
The other side of the question is - what paints do I not like (or perhaps they don’t like me[swg])?
Testors in the bottles, brush painted. It takes weeks to dry hard, if it ever does. Before it is fully hardened you cannot handle the model or you will leave finger prints in the paint. It also globs badly.
Testors spray cans (Lone Wolf and I will have to politely disagree[swg]). They put down way too much paint too quickly. Trying to apply a thin coat is very difficult. It is also very difficult to remove unless you use a very aggressive stripper. Dullcote and Glosscoat are good, but again they put down too much paint IMHO.
I have also had poor, sometimes terrible, results brush painting with Tamiya flat colours. It just doesn’t flow, period, but I’m talking about
LION uses colors from WalMart opr Hobby Lobby, him uses spray cans from the hardware store, although Testor’s spray cans are far better for modeling.
Perhaps LION could lear to use an air bursh, but there is no way on God’s greean earth that him would ever clean it properly. 100% Rattle Can. If not work, toss it and get another.
ROAR
Floquil, PollyScale, Polly S, Accupaint, Scalecoat, Testors Model Masters and Testors Dull- and Gloss-cotes, Tamiya, Humbrol, Pactra, Gunze Sangyo, and DecoArt.
The first four have been discontinued, but all except the last were bought at hobby shops, mostly local. The DecoArt is crafter’s acrylic from the dollar store.
I’ve used the Gunze Sangyo and DecoArt stuff only for brushwork, but all others have been used for both airbrushing and brush painting, to varying degrees.
I also use various water-based interior house paints for scenery.
Wayne