Back again your newbie modeler....

When I was doing models the first time you basically had 2 options: Testors and Model Master.

Now you have many more, Boyd, Humbrol, Tamiya, Poly Scale, MM and regular Testors. Not to mention Acrylic and Enamels.

While I have read that acrylic is the best for AB and enamel is best for brushing, what brands do you prefer? I really like the Tamiya line for their colored caps and seems that they have the best tone in pigments. What is everyone else's opinion?

Also what is everyone's thinning ratios as right now I spray regular testors 1/4 oz bottles straight up without thinning. I am very cheap so any way I can get more paint for my buck yet keep very nice coverage is a bonus to me. If anyone is on MSN messenger you can reach me at [email protected] as I have lots of questions.

i use model masters and polly scale. mainly MM, always enamels, no acrylics...found no use for them

I still use Model Masters. Have for many years. I tried the the others but still prefer MM.

Acrylics can preseent problems in an AB since they tend to dry quickly and clog the tip. The quick drying time also may result in more orange peel. Further, if you get moisture in the air line and it spurts out all at once, the spider legs that result will be of tinted water rather than water that has not been tinted with oil based paints.
That said, I have had some good results with both Polly scale and MM acrylics.
Both these and Andrea/Vallejo can be used very successfully with a regular brush and an increasing number of figure panters are moving this way. I think it was Anders who had that stunning India bust a few weeks back done entirely in A/V paints.
I have always had good results with MM enamel in the airbrush as well. Floquil works great, too.
I won't go into my usual Tamiya hairball rant. I'll just say I won't use this stuff except for the clear colors.

I prefer MM Enamels and exclusively use them. I like how they are easy to thin with lacquer thinner, easy clean-up with the same. Also like hhow they take a bite into the plastic and cover well. They re all I have ever used. Tried acrylic once and didn't like them at all. Way too thin and didn't cover well.

I guess it really is a personal preference because I have been using straight 1/4 oz bottles of normal testors acrylic and I absolutely love their coverage. I cannot spray Enamel because of my apartment so cleanup is too tough.

I was going tonight to get some Tamiya acrylics to see how I liked them as I have heard they go on really smooth as well.

Maybe I should just get a few of each kind and find out for myself, but being a cheap@$$ I really dislike doing that, lol.

I use tamiya acrylics for spraying and the occasional citadel colour when I run short ... its all my local shop sells. For brushing I use humbrol enamels and oils. I like the results i get so i dont bother much with experimenting anymore.

Seriously if you want good results it pays in the long run to experiment with a few brands. Sometimes a problem you´re having could easily be solved by using another brand of paint. If you do decide to try a few different brands, just get different colours and then you wont be out anything extra!

I use Tamiya and Gunze paints for AB and humbrol and oils for hand painting and weathering .

Rick

i have a few bottles of tamiya acrylcs, havnt AB with them yet... i have model master, but i still prefer testors enamels for everything, AB , brushing ,they do hte job all the time and never had problem with them! as for the thinning, i just make sur its not to thick or liquiedy, you leanr with experience

Frank

I still brush paint my models and I find that Humbrol enamals work best for me. I also use Modelmaster paints, but much prefer the way Humbrol smooths out when drying. Humbrol also drys pretty much dead flat.

I mainly use Humbrol paints. I have had bad experiences with acrylics and now recently with artists oils. However with Humbrol suppliers drying up (excuse any unintentional pun ) in Cape Town, I may need to look at using Tamiya products...

when i first started the hobby, i used Tamiya Acrylics. but now i prefer gunze-sangyo and gunze is the most easy paint to get in malaysia.i'd try MM also and get good result with it. and i try Humbroll too.
Anyway i still prefer gunze sanyo simply because they have lots of color range and easy to get. and i achived good result with them too..

I use a mixture of both Acrylic and enamel, they both have their good and negitive points some have better colour matches than others most people will have a mixture of both types/brands of paint

I'm a Tamiya fan...partly because the only hobby shop we have here is a distributor of Tamiya.

I use Tamiya acrylics for the main colors of my models. Then I resort to Tamiya enamels for details.

For weathering, special effect and detailing, I use Grumbacher or Reeves oil colors.

Angela

figures: Valejo acrylics
Armor: MM acrylics and Tamiya Acrylics
Washes, Buildings, groundwork. Humbrol enamels, W&N oils

Mainly MM enamels.... (few acrylics) I have a few bottles of Tamia (the clear colors) The MM are redily available in town.... the other paints are @ a shop 75 mi away.......

I use enamals, acrylics, oils, watercolors and inks, each one serves a purpose. It's just a matter of getting use to the characteristics of each and using each to your advantage.

MM Acrylics and Polly Scale acrylics. I hate AB cleanup with enamels

From 1985 up until last year I was a firm Tamiya Acrylic user. This year, however, I've begun switching to ModelMaster Acryl and Polly Scale Acrylics because of their finer paint pigments and range of colors. They airbrush quite well and don't call for the high degree of thinning I used to do to Tamiya Acrylics.

Over all the years, Tamiya's acrylics formulas have changed so much that they are virtually impossible to handpaint and consistently get a good result. So, to go with my ModelMaster and Polly Scale acrylics, I use Vallejo Acrylics for handpainting. I find these three wonderful to use in concert with each other.

Gunnie

I use Tamiya for AB, thinned? I simply fill the new bottle to the top with thinner ( achohol/water) and it seem to be a perfect ratio. Humbrol for brushing. Like Frank said, I'm happy with these and don't experiment to much
[:::]
cheers
Slug