Vehicle painting / decaling / flat-coating with currently available paints

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Hi, been away from the hobby for years, and a lot has changed as far as currently available paints / formulas. I’m dealing with several metal (Lee Town, Alloy Forms) and plastic (Sylvan) model vehicles that I would like to paint and decal.

I know (knew) the basic process for water-slide decal prep and application: clean - prime - color - gloss coat - decal - flat coat. But back in the day, I used Floquil paints, and Testors Dullcote & Glosscote. Floquil is of course gone, and I understand the formulas have changed on the clear coat products.

I’d welcome your input on currently available products to use. I know there are many choices, and I’ll definately do some testing before applying these to finished models. But with so many choices, it’s hard to know what to buy.

I have a good airbrush, and know how to use it. Would like to use acrylics for color coats.

It’s difficult to sort through a lot of the Googled and YouTube advice, given it is dated. Appreciate your comments!

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[#welcome] back, Ed!

While I’m still using Floquil, Polly S, and PollyScale paints, along with SMP Accupaint, I’m also using Scalecoat I, Testors Model Masters, Humbrol, Pactra, and Tamiya.
There is an updated version of Accupaint, Tru-color, available, and I’ve heard that Rapido’s Proto-Paint is quite good, too, but have not yet tried either of those.

Most model paints available nowadays will work on both metal and plastic (Sylvan kits, by the way, are resin rather than plastic, and need to be cleaned of mould-release agent according to Sylvan’s recommendations).

Testors’ Dullcote and Glosscote are still available in bottles and, as far as I can tell, still the same formula. I thin both with regular lacquer thinner for airbrushing.
The advantages of the bottles over spraycans include the ability to mix finishes anywhere on the spectrum between dead flat and high gloss, and the fact that you’ll get more coverage from the bottled version than from the spraycan, and more control over the coverage.

If you want info on thinning, spraying, and drying/re-coat times, etc., consult the manufacturers’ websites rather than random googled suggestions.

Personally, I’ve found that if you do a second application of gloss after decaling, then the flat coat, your decals will appear even less decal-like and more painted-on looking.

If you paint using acrylics, give them some time (at least a couple of days) for the paint to cure. You can then give them airbrushed clear coats of Dullcote/Glosscote/semi-gloss without affecting the paint.

A couple of Sylvan kits…

…a solid resin casting (Greg’s Garage, I think)…

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Thank you, Wayne - lots of good info, and beautiful vehicles!

Somewhere in my head, I knew Sylvan models are resin, when I think of resin, I think of the solid casts like Gregg’s. Thanks for the reminder.

The best news (to me!) is about the Dullcote and Glosscote being available in bottles, and that you find that they airbrush well with proper thinning, AND that they work well over acrylic paints. I’ll look up the technical info for thinning and such on the Testor’s site. And I hear a lot of good comments on Tamiya.

I know not to use lacquer over enamel, and the primers I’m familiar with are enamel. After priming with enamel, then covering with acrylic, is it then OK to use the gloss and dull lacquers? Or is there a beter primer choice?