Acrylic paint from 1980s

[David o]

Wondering if anyone may remember the brand name of a certain type of paint. I doubt it's produced any longer. They were in small glass jars, somewhere between the size of Testors and Tamiya. The paint itself flowed beautifully with a brush. Fact, that's why I began using them because Tamiya was horrible to brush paint. The array of colors was vast but I mostly used green brown and dark yellow for the german camouflage.

The label looked like it was hand written and I remember the paint itself having a windex like smell to it.

Like to get my hands on this again but like I said I doubt it's even around.

Please drop a line if this sounds familiar to anyone.

Thanks

 

[the Baron]

Hmm...from the 80s? I don't know of a brand from the 80s, that is, brought on the market in the 80s. Your question does make me think of Pactra, though. It was around since the early 70s, but still available through the 80s into the 90s.

I had paints from 2 of Pactra's lines. One was an acrylic enamel-that should make some peoples' heads explode!-, which came in small cylindrical jars, about the size of Tamiya's larger jars. The caps were yellow, and orangish yellow, with paper labels showing the paint's color and a text description. They were water-soluable. The other was an enamel in small, square bottles, shaped kind of like a small column of 3 courses of dressed stone, with a teardrop-shaped indentation on the front. That teardrop contained a lower-case "p" for Pactra. Those were military colors, mostly matte colors. I don't remember exactly, but I think those were thinned with mineral spirits.

I still have some of the acrylic enamels, and one teardrop bottle, "Suntan". They are all still good, though I haven't tried the Suntan color in a long time.

They were great paints, easy to use, and the gloss enamels had a nice finish. I really liked those colors, and sadly had to find replacements as I used up that stash. There was a green that was perfect for German Jäger tunics, which I never quite replaced.

I don't know if that's the paint you're thinking of.

 

[David o]

Thanks.

I don't think it was Pactra. But the jars look identical from looking at pictures on line

 

[urumomo]

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/3604.aspx

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

PollyScale? Those are awesome paints. I have quite a few PollyScale left.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/3604.aspx

Pactra we’re square bottles I believe…

 

[the Baron]

Pactra we’re square bottles I believe…

Both, as I mentioned in my post. The acrylic enamel line was in round jars, about the size as Tamiya's large-size acrylics. Pactra had an enamel line of military paints, that came in small square jars, about the size of Testor's enamels in the little glass jars.

 

[the Baron]

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/3604.aspx

A blast from the past, Momo! I have a post in that old thread, too.
There was a revival of the brand, though perhaps not the formula, about 10 or 12 years ago, too. But it was out of Poland. There was a manufacturer there who release a line of paints called Pactra. I think the name was the only connection. I never bought them. I already have enough paints, that I don't buy very many different brands at all.

 

[the Baron]

David o, if you're thinking of PollyScale, I never used those. Another brand that was around for years. The hobby shop I frequented probably carried them, but I may have thought of them more as from the model railroad side of the hobby. I never used Humbrols, either, though they were probably in the shop.

 

[the Baron]

...I began using them because Tamiya was horrible to brush paint...

I forgot about that point. If you mean Tamiya's acrylics, they brush just fine, but they really need to be thinned. I use Tamiya's own proprietary acrylic thinner for this, and they flow just as well as the water-based acrylics I use.

I painted Tamiya acrylics right out of the jar for many years, till I learned to thin them. Back then, actually, I did all of my hand-brushing right out of the jar or bottle. Or I used rattlecans for large surfaces. Some of Tamiya's acrylics were OK applied that way, but others were always troublesome. Black and White, particularly, both matte and gloss, tended to clump, and to lift off previous coats. Eventually, as I was learning to use my airbrush, and thought more about thinning the paint, I realized to try it with the paints for handbrushing, and there were no more problems.

Also, maybe try doing some searches on images, whether from your own memory or from the suggestions here, and see if you can find a pic or two of the brand you're thinking of. And then share it back here, so we can solve the puzzle

 

[David o]

Thanks for all the replies.

I honestly can't remember. It may have been Pactra, it may have been Polly Scale or some other brand. The jars from the pics are familiar but that's about it.

I was 14 or 13 when I "found" these painrs. I'm 52 now. I didn't have an airbrush at the time and brush painted everything. I used Testors for everything. Tried Tamiya and didn't like it. Then I found these and I couldn't believe how good they were. They smoothly c coated everything right from the bottle. Fact, I painted an 88mm flak with one of their Grey's. Beutiful finish. Then I found their dark yellow,green and brown and the camo came out great..even by brush. A good wash and some dry brushing faded it nicely, as I remember.

Anyway....perhaps it'll come to me eventually. The hobby store where I bought them has long since closed so there's no chance of asking the owner. I do remember the Windex smell to them. That does stand out. I won't forget tht.

Anyway....thanks

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

I love PollyScale colors. Such a shame I didn’t hoard a few more prior to the LHS owner retired I frequented to back in the early part of 2000s.

I have multiple paint lines aside from PollyScale and Testors Model Master colors. Others are:

Humbrol
Mission Models
Tamiya - both their acrylics and lacquer lines
AK Interactive Real Color - these will be my go-to colors once my PollyScale and Model Master colors are depleted.

 

[TimM63]

All I used when I was 11 or 12 was Testors Enamel. I get flashbacks now when I open one to use and get a whiff of it. It wasn’t until I got back into the hobby last year that I started using other paint.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

Lol… remember the Testors glue (I forget the color tube) that smelled like oranges? I still use those square bottles of Testors enamels …. mostly basic colors.