Paint

DAVIDR1960

New Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2021
Messages
3
Good Day,

I am just recently purchased 5 U.S.Navy model ships and 3 U.S. Navy model Aircraft.

I haven't done a model since the early 80's and was surprised that the paint is difficult to find.

Can anyone help me with a good source of supply for paint. Especially for these projects. I did some searching and found some paint but mostly U.S. Army models. I need different grays among others.

I've read where Model Master and Testor are no longer being manufactured. If I must mix my own colors . What's the best brand.

Thanks
 
I found the Vallejo Model Air sets very useful for paints

like this one. Had perfect colors for low vis dark grey F-15 scheme as well as the FA-18

1639175432492.png

and this one

1639175568220.png
from-1970-to-present-vallejo-airwar-71155-profiles.jpg
 
Good Day,

I am just recently purchased 5 U.S.Navy model ships and 3 U.S. Navy model Aircraft.

I haven't done a model since the early 80's and was surprised that the paint is difficult to find.

Can anyone help me with a good source of supply for paint. Especially for these projects. I did some searching and found some paint but mostly U.S. Army models. I need different grays among others.

I've read where Model Master and Testor are no longer being manufactured. If I must mix my own colors . What's the best brand.

Thanks
Welcome back to the hobby, Dave, and welcome to the Herd!

There is a very good selection of paints available to us modelers today, much better than back then.

In my own paintbox, I've got various brands and media:
  • Tamiya acrylics (an alcohol-based acrylic, not water-based) - They are formulated for airbrushing. For that reason, it's best to thin them, whether you airbrush them or apply them by hand. I get my best results in both cases, using Tamiya's proprietary thinner
  • Tamiya rattlecan enamels - I like Tamiya's Aircraft line of paints, for my airplane models. I have some basic colors for US WWII subjects, like OD, neutral gray, intermediate blue, and some IJN colors. Rattlecans are handy when I don't want to fire up the airbrush, and the colors for me are starting points. I don't care about debates about what olive drab should look like. I leave that to the HyperScalers. This color looks right, and besides, I'll weather the hell out of it anyway.
  • Model Master enamel and acrylics - yes, RPM Intl, who owns Testor (through Rustoleum) has discontinued the MM military color line, and also the car colors, too, according to my friend at Stevens Intl/MegaHobby. You can still find them, though, as stores sell out their stock. I thin the enamels with mineral spirits and the acrylics with isopropyl
  • Testor's enamels - these have not been discontinued, but RPM/Rustoleum has changed its marketing strategy. It's pushing the acrylics in the little square bottles, and aiming more at the general hobby and craft audience, not just the scale modelers. This line was already sold in stores other than hobby stores, like Walmart, and in arts & craft stores like Michael's, HobbyLobby, and the now-defunct AC Moore. I thin the enamels with mineral spirits, the acrylics with water or isopropyl
  • White Ensign Models - these are enamels, made specifically for ship modelers. I have a couple of their colors for USN haze grey subjects in the 1930s. The website is https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/
  • Andrea water-based acrylics & Vallejo Model Color acrylics - Both brands are water-based, and I use water to thin them. I use these primarily for hand-brushing on figures. Vallejo makes an airbrush line, Model Air, but I have not used it. From comments I have read, you really need to use all of the proprietary peripheral products with that line, so, the Model Air thinner, retarder, cleaners, etc. That's too much for me to bother with the brand
  • Lifecolor acrylics - Also water-based, and I use these primarily on figures, applied by hand.
  • Craft-store acrylics - Americana, Apple Barrel, and Folk Art, all water-based, and all available at the arts & craft store chains. They are reasonably prices (so, cheap, but not in terms of quality), and versatile. They do tend to have coarser pigments than paints made specifically for modelers, but I can blend colors well, they work well on my wet palette, they are good for weathering, and they can be airbrushed, too.
  • Pactra acrylic enamels - You might remember these from 1982. I have some left over from back then, mostly gloss colors. They thinned with water. I bought them pretty much because they were on the shelf at my local hobby shop
  • Pactra "'Namel" - I think that was the product name. They came in the little square bottles with the teardrop logo. I have one or two of those. Also thinned with water. I got those when I was in high school and starting to paint things "seriously", especially, using matte paints instead of gloss.
Beyond paints like those, you can look at two other areas of the hobby: model railroads, and wargaming. You can find specialty shops for both, near you-probably more easily than finding scale hobby shops. So if you had to run out and get something immediately, even faster than overnight shipping, it's worth it to look and see what's near you. In any case, there are lines of paints and other products made and marketed specifically to fans of either subject, and those products work just as well for our purposes. Fantasy wargamers have some very good lines of acrylic paints that brush well. Again, availability is a big factor.

Another tip is that many hobby suppliers now sell sets of colors, based on subjects. So, you can find sets of paints for "Luftwaffe 1944, ETO", "IJN 1942", "British Infantry in North Africa", and so on, across various subjects and time periods. The big advantage to a set is that it can take the guesswork out of selecting colors, if you're not too experienced yet-or if you are but want to save yourself some time.

So, take some time, look around, look at the links everyone has shared, and I think you'll find some great products that you can use.

Best regards,
Brad
 
Good Day,

I am just recently purchased 5 U.S.Navy model ships and 3 U.S. Navy model Aircraft.

I haven't done a model since the early 80's and was surprised that the paint is difficult to find.

Can anyone help me with a good source of supply for paint. Especially for these projects. I did some searching and found some paint but mostly U.S. Army models. I need different grays among others.

I've read where Model Master and Testor are no longer being manufactured. If I must mix my own colors . What's the best brand.

Thanks
I buy all my paints from there.

https://www.bunker45.ca/fr/accueil
 
Cool .
Their website is the best and I've been ordering from them for well over a decade .
Great customer service .
 
I found the Vallejo Model Air sets very useful for paints

like this one. Had perfect colors for low vis dark grey F-15 scheme as well as the FA-18

View attachment 89293

and this one

View attachment 89294
View attachment 89295
I like these kits I've been eyeing them for a bit but I feel like the prices for them are rediculous for a few ounces of paint it's nearly 30 bucks .. you'd think they used unobtainium or something in their formula
 

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