New paints?

[Britman]

Not sure if this is the right place for this post,but here goes. For forty odd year's I have been using Humbrol enamels and have always been happy with the results. However, of late I have found them to be a bit thick and gloopy even after thinning they revert to gloop! I could soldier on but thought I would ask the good souls of this site their advice to maybe changing to an acrilic paint. Where and best buys would be helpful. At the moment and the forseable future I use a hairy stick but I do have a brand new compressor and gun for the future.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I'm clearly heavily bias, but if you've been using enamels successfully all this time, why change to acrylics now? I made that mistake about 15 years ago and only quite recently threw most of them out and went back to enamels.

[Giorgio N]

Guess the first question to ask yourself is: should I move to acrylics or simply change enamel brand ? If you're happy with enamels there are alternatives to Humbrol. As Humbrol enamels have not been particularly good for a while, maybe other enamels like Xtracolor or Colourcoats are a good option.

If you want to change to acrylics, and personally I can see many good reasons to do this, then you have to choose between two "families":

- alcohol thinned acrylics, like Tamiya and Gunze. Very good for spraying, not the best for brush painting, at least for me. Gunze has a good range of matched colours, tamiya only has a few matched paints but are easier to find

- water thinned acrylics, like Vallejo, Lifecolor, Xtracrylix, Italeri, Games Workshop and others. These are generally very good for brush painting, can be more tricky at the beginning with an airbrush but can be sprayed (and some spray beautifully).

Personally I'm a big fan of these and to be honest I use most brands. I probably like Vallejo most for ease of use but finding the right paint in their catalogue is not easy. Lifecolor paints are better from this point of view. Xtracrylix are IMHO best accuracy wise for most colours.

Which one should I suggest ? To be honest most of my purchases have been based on the brand I could find in my local area ! Today I mainly use Lifecolor and Vallejo.

One very important thing to keep in mind: water thinned acrylics don't work well on bare plastic, they pretty much all need some primer first

Edited February 1, 2016 by Giorgio N

[dwh]

I'm clearly heavily bias, but if you've been using enamels successfully all this time, why change to acrylics now? I made that mistake about 15 years ago and only quite recently threw most of them out and went back to enamels.

I tried going over to Arylics 2 years ago could not get on with them, even with airbrush,so went back to my Enamels.

I have used the Colourcoats paints, only thing I have found is they take a fair while to dry, even after mixing with power mixer for 4mins.

Derek

[WildWeasel]

Give them a try on a cheap kit with a simple paint scheme that will allow you to concentrate on getting the paint right. As mentioned previously thin with the manufacturers own thinners.

Surface prep is key, enamels tend to stick like the proverbial to a blanket. Where as acrylics need a clean oil free surface. I have found wiping the areas down just before painting with Gunze Mr colour aqueous thinners gives a good surface for the paint to adhere to.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I tried going over to Arylics 2 years ago could not get on with them, even with airbrush,so went back to my Enamels.

I have used the Colourcoats paints, only thing I have found is they take a fair while to dry, even after mixing with power mixer for 4mins.

Derek

If good ventilation is available, thin them with cellulose thinners and they'll be dry very quickly. I masked and sprayed 3 colours on this demo-build destroyer hull in around 2 hours using cellulose thinners. This should be applicable to most, if not all enamels but obviously test them first!

Unopened packets at 18:40 on 5th Jan according to a post on a Facebook modelling group (I was updating as I went):

19:51 hull glued together (it needed holes drilled, nuts stuck in to the bottom etc)

At 21:00 the Linoleum sprayed on top for the decks, masked and the Sasebo grey sprayed on top.

At 21:10 the grey on the hull had been masked at the IJN Anti-fouling red sprayed:

At 21:16 it was unmasked:

All Colourcoats enamels, thinned with cellulose.

[Britman]

I have tried xtracolour but had a bad experience with them. I used their Britannia airways blue and it took a week to dry! It was not an isolated case but does illustrate the problem's in trying to change brands. I would like to stick with Humbrol (no pun intended ) as it is easy to get locally ( Hornby shop Margate ).

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Drying times are more related to pigment extender content than anything else. Matt finish enamels can be handled in a couple of hours, even thinned with mineral spirit thinners. Gloss finish enamels take forever and satin ones are somewhere in between.

[mirageiv]

Just add a few drops of Rustin dryers to any gloss/satin/matt enamel paint and it will be maskable in 2 or so hours, revolutionary I have found when using Xtracolor! I have painted 3-4 colour camo schemes in 1 day in the past with Xtracolor using these.

Edited February 1, 2016 by mirageiv