New to painting - how do you avoid buying all the colours?

[tapir]

Hi All,

I'm all new to this car modelling and painting. After some research I've found a few kits to begin my journey:

Tayima - Land Rover Pink Panther - 1:35

Heller - Renault 4L - 1:24

Revell -  Citroen 2CV - 1:24

Heller - Citroen Furgon Van - 1:24

 

I've check through the instructions and to build these four just i'm looking at x53 tins of paint! 

 

How did you all start? 

Do you all mix from a much more limited range?

 

Also (I think) I'm going to have to go Acrylic and looking at the Revell Aqua paints - they seem to be reasonably well regarded but I'm concerned by the lack of colour choice - is this a real problem or should I go with another brand?

 

Thanks in advance, 

Matt

Edited October 14, 2018 by tapir

[Graham Boak]

You could just stop caring about good matches, but then if you try following the manufacturers' recommendations you'll find yourself going down that route anyway.  Assuming you don't want to follow this path then basically either you develop artistic abilities in mixing the colour you want from a lesser number of basic colours, or you buy a lot of tins of paint.  You don't have to go overboard on this - look at the particular colours you want and check which of them are effectively duplicated in another range, already in your list.  You'll almost certainly find that you don't really need all 53.  Certainly don't buy them all at once: pick one kit and buy what you need for that.  As you progress you'll probably find that having just one on the go at a time doesn't suit your working practices so move on to another but think carefully about what you can use from the first example.

 

Everyone has their own favourite paint ranges so I'm not going to recommend any, other than to say the Revell one is surely good enough for a starter.  If you don't like them try a few tins of something else.  Try a few tins of other ranges just for the hell of learning which suits.  As the saying goes, you have to speculate in order to accumulate.

 

Even without following the "mix everything from basics" route, which I would not recommend to anyone unless they had a good colour eye and a strong artistic inclination already, you can obtain certain colours by selective mixing.  If you want a very dark grey just add a little grey to a black and stir thoroughly (good for tyres).  If your purple is too blue add a touch of red.  In the end, however, you'll find it easier to just by a better match, thus making the chance of a good match on later touch-ups considerably easier.

 

To be honest, a stock of 53 paints doesn't seem too extreme to me.  But maybe not for four cars.

 

PS  The term "acrylic" covers a lot of different types of paint.  I presume that you mean the water-based ones, because they don't smell.  Other acrylics do, being very reminiscent (with good reason I suspect) of the older cellulose lacquers.  But these do give superior finishes, which are very highly regarded amongst car modellers.  Not being one, I suspect this is a gross simplification., and I'm about to get my knuckles rapped.

 

PPS  You don't say whether you intend using a traditional brush or an airbrush.  Many of the acrylics on sale do a very poor job with a traditional brush.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Graham Boak

[tapir]

Hi Graham

 

Thanks for your reply, yes I think your right - I will stick with one kit's paints and go from there. Thanks also for your other tips on mixing.

Yes I am intending to brush paint (I don't have an airbush yet...) and yes primarily I was looking away from oil based paint because of smell. I have been renovating our house and have totally converted away from oil based house paints and the fast drying and lack of odour is great - less time to work and have to be careful with brush marks though. This seems similar to the model non oil based paints.

 

Thanks again,

Matt

[Kitchen Modeller]

You can easily mix paints to get the colour you want - I'd advise getting some empty paint containers (which you can usually get from the model shop) and making up a batch which you can then keep for doing further coats and touch ups - as mixing new batches afterwards can be hard! Found this out the hard way:) 

[Mike]

I'd have a look at the instructions of your first one and get what you definitely need, and then add white and black to that if they're not included.  Build your selection as you move onto the next model using that method, and you should end up with a decent range by the time you're half a dozen models in.

 

The only difference would be if you're buying them online, in which case you should factor in postage, and then maybe buy a couple of model's worth of colours.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

What i did when i came back to the hobby is buy what i needed for one kit. Then as i build more kits i added to that only what i needed, the rest being the closest match. Sometimes mixing what i needed. Four years later i have about 70 bottles of paint. 

[Chimpion]

If you plan to brush paint with Revell aqua, I'd recommend getting a bottle of their thinner - it really helps the paint settle without brush marks. You only need one drop mixed in, so a bottle will last forever.

 

[Modelholic]

A lot of models can be finished in different schemes as indicated in kit instructions (probably no so much with cars but definitely with the military stuff)  so if you don't plan to build the (e.g) B17 in the olive drab option but in the a natural metal option you might not need to buy olive drab.

When considering which kit I'm getting next I usually log on to Scalemates and check the reviews and peruse (peruse...on a Sunday afternoon?...I need more beer!)  their instructions when I can to see what alternative finishes are depicted (there I go again!) then buy paints as necessary for the scheme I want to build.

You'll find some colours will last for ages so your paint selection will grow quickly.

Tom

[bmwh548]

Unless you're going for the "factory look" you can ignore most of the painting instructions. Keep in mind: unlike military vehicles you can paint civilian cars in any (I emphasize any) color you want. You want to paint a 2CV in Candy red? Go nuts. You got mad airbrushing skills? Take the Furgon van and freestyle all over it. In the car department you can play with a lot of schemes and get away with it. Finding the paint that works for you is a lot more important than having the exact paint recommended by the kit manufacturer. My 2 cents.