What kind of paint works best to paint structures such as walthers structures, acrylics or enamels?
I found a large selection of floquil paints at the local hobbyshop, but i was dissapointed that i could not find a set with many colors in it instead of having to buy all the colors individually. Is this the case or can someone direct me to a place where i could buy a large selection of colors?
Looking through my walthers catalog yeilded the same results. I thought about using my testors paint that i have for model car kits, but i didn’t quite know how they would work for me.
Buildings are almost never shiny…so any enamel for model cars will look out of place [unless you want to spray a coat of Dulcote to flatten it down when you’re through].
Try the Testors Model Master line of paint…the military colors will give you a nice selection of colors for buildings and if you use only flat paints you won’t need to coat it with Dulcote when you’re done…[although I’d recommend you do it to seal the paint and give you a good surface to weather without worrying about removing any paint].
If you have questions about what colors to use…just take a look at the buildings around you and see what they look like.Then just try to duplicate them, either with straight colors or by mixing…there’s almost no way to make a building the ‘‘wrong’’ color, I’ve seen some truly bizarre colors on houses and businesses.
I wish the hobby shops near me carried Floquil. It’s great paint. Your hobby shop may also carry Polly Scale Railroad Colors. These are great for buildings. (and almost everything else) The Model Master military colors are good too. (as mentioned). Your probably going to have to buy individual bottles. I don’t recall ever seeing a whole set. (consider it an investment) Testors makes all 3 of these paints.
For nearly all model railroad work you want flat paints. The Testor’s enamels are mostly gloss paint intended to give a good glossy finish on model automobiles. One good source for flat paint are craft stores (Michaels is one chain). They carry a line of waterbased flat paints in a blizzard of colors for $.99 a bottle, whereas the Floquil and Polly Scale paints are touching $4.00 a bottle. For structures, you pick the color by eye, for rolling stock you might want to take some color chips or magazine clippings with you to find the right color.
Another good paint source is your auto parts store. They carry spray cans of auto primer, red, light gray and dark gray. The red makes a good boxcar red and a good brick red, and drys really really flat. The dark gray is just right for steam locomotives, tar paper roofs, and rolling stock underbodies. Light gray is good for covered hoppers.
Hardware stores carry Krylon spray cans of a good pullman green. It’s usually marked “camoflage”.
Back in the steam era, the railroads went for darker colors that didn’t show the soot too badly. This worked on rolling stock and structures. Victorian era houses were often painted in very bright strong
I use mostly cheap acrylic paints from craft stores. I go to A.C. Moore and buy something like the “Anita’s” brand, which I’ve gotten for as low as 4 containers for a dollar. Yes, you heard me, a quarter each. I think the last sale was 3/$1, and the regular price is only about 79 cents for this stuff. At that price, I have a half-dozen shades each of green and gray, which gives a more realistic look to structures and rocks when I can vary the shading.
Wal-Mart has these, too, but the craft stores have a bigger selection, and their sale price beats even the biggest of the big-box outlets. While you’re there, you can pick up plaster cloth, Celluclay, paintbrushes, Envirotex, balsa wood strips and a host of other stuff to use on your layout.