Difficulties in getting basics

[lesthegringo]

I consider myself to be very lucky in that I am able to live in different countries due to my job and have a very interesting and varied life.

 

However, as with all in life this does come with inevitable downsides; my recent move reduced a lot of my built models to shattered plastic, along with quite a bit of our personal possessions. There are also other little bits and bobs that are not immediately obvious, but after a while take on exaggerated importance. Silly things, like not being able to get certain foods, or having to pay 10 quid for a small bottle of beer. Another is modelling basics.

 

There is nowhere where I can get paints, or any of the other similar basics here. I can get models sent from the likes of LuckyModel, but when you buy any liquids, adhesives, thinners, paints, all are prohibited to be sent here. With some lateral thinking you can get around some of it, for example I can get acetone and lacquer thinners at local hardware stores to make my own (rather hot) styrene adhesive. Daiso sell various grades of cyano plus are a good source of cheap sanding sticks and craft tools.

 

But when it comes to paints, dedicated thinners, decal solutions, panel wash mixes and so forth, once my limited stock is done, so am I. Unfortunately there is no appetite in some countries for our hobby, it seems that here no-one is interested in something that is not ready to fly or drive or set on a shelf. It does surprise me that there is literally no outlet here, after all 90 to 95% of the population is foreign, but the fact remains that there are a couple of 'hobby' stores geared up for thinks like oil and watercolour painting, needlework, knitting, crochet, even leatherwork and stained glass etching, but no modelling other than RC.

 

At some point I am going to have to see what I can cobble together to replace my paints as they run dry. Filler I can replace with talc and cyano, I can get ethyl alcohol (really weird, that, as in Hungary I couldn't) and acetone, ammonia, plus some other solvents. But the only paints available here are all oils, water colours and guache, so not suitable for modelling. Even acrylics are unavailable.

 

So I am interested in how anyone in a similar situation has got around this. 

 

Cheers

 

Les

[cmatthewbacon]

If you do Facebook, there seems to be a Warhammer Qatar group, with painting and gaming nights at a place called Twisted Forks in Doha. If you got in touch or went along you might be able to discover where they get materials… Citadel Acrylics and Washes will do many modelling genres, and they do primers, cements and filler in the range as well…

best,

M.

https://www.meetup.com/build-paint-and-play-warhammer-meetup-group-doha/?_cookie-check=aVzfgF1C6FOBny51

[Markh-75]

I like in South Lanarkshire, Scotland but there aren't that many good model shops around even here, the internet tends to have what models etc that I want, cheaper too.

When I started back in modelling about 2 or so years back, I had always painted in enamel and still do. For a time I bought from Hobbycraft, still do (but they can be pricey now). There aren't that many modelling shops near me and they tend to have other hobbies like model rail, I like railways but I dont have either the money or the space to make a decent layout; I could if I wanted to but I always get back to making models! I use Revell, Humbrol and Colourcoats paints; I can get thinners for each brand easily enough, Colourcoats have their own thinners, it can be posted along with the paint inlets I order, I prefer to keep to using thinners for each brand of paint (Humbrol enamels = Humbrol thinners, Revell etc). I use wooden clothes pegs to clamp parts when gluing, as well as plastic ones, bulldog clamps, and even alligator clips. I can get very good brushes on line at ABC Brushes, I can buy tools on line or adapt certain things to modelling like using a pair of long electrical probes for holding propellers while I'm painting them (they are about 6" long with a button on the end for opening little jaws at the contact end), and I have a wooden jig for putting the models on during building. The internet is great for modelling but I am a bit 'picky' in what kits I buy due to experience (I dont buy models with crushed boxes unless there are pictures showing that all the parts are good and all there). Kits, sundries, tools, paint; its all a matter of shopping around and/or adapting.🙂

[lesthegringo]

29 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

If you do Facebook, there seems to be a Warhammer Qatar group, with painting and gaming nights at a place called Twisted Forks in Doha. If you got in touch or went along you might be able to discover where they get materials… Citadel Acrylics and Washes will do many modelling genres, and they do primers, cements and filler in the range as well…

best,

M.

https://www.meetup.com/build-paint-and-play-warhammer-meetup-group-doha/?_cookie-check=aVzfgF1C6FOBny51

Cool. thanks!

 

Les

[lesthegringo]

10 minutes ago, Markh-75 said:

I like in South Lanarkshire, Scotland but there aren't that many good model shops around even here, the internet tends to have what models etc that I want, cheaper too.

When I started back in modelling about 2 or so years back, I had always painted in enamel and still do. For a time I bought from Hobbycraft, still do (but they can be pricey now). There aren't that many modelling shops near me and they tend to have other hobbies like model rail, I like railways but I dont have either the money or the space to make a decent layout; I could if I wanted to but I always get back to making models! I use Revell, Humbrol and Colourcoats paints; I can get thinners for each brand easily enough, Colourcoats have their own thinners, it can be posted along with the paint inlets I order, I prefer to keep to using thinners for each brand of paint (Humbrol enamels = Humbrol thinners, Revell etc). I use wooden clothes pegs to clamp parts when gluing, as well as plastic ones, bulldog clamps, and even alligator clips. I can get very good brushes on line at ABC Brushes, I can buy tools on line or adapt certain things to modelling like using a pair of long electrical probes for holding propellers while I'm painting them (they are about 6" long with a button on the end for opening little jaws at the contact end), and I have a wooden jig for putting the models on during building. The internet is great for modelling but I am a bit 'picky' in what kits I buy due to experience (I dont buy models with crushed boxes unless there are pictures showing that all the parts are good and all there). Kits, sundries, tools, paint; its all a matter of shopping around and/or adapting.🙂

Yeah, I know what you mean, DollarPlus and Daiso have little bits and bobs that can be repurposed to modelling ends, and Ace Hardware has a range of (admittedly pricey) stuff that also helps out. However the sticking point is the specialised stuff, particularly liquids, where your options are far more limited; take Gunze / Tamiya lacquer thinners as an example. I have not found anything that matches those in terms of the function and non-aggressive effect on models (there are probably some other brands too but none are available here). One other item I cannot get here is the resin for my 3D printer, so when that runs out that will be it until I move.

 

With the paints I put them in the model boxes in the container for shipping here so I have a few, but as I say I know how quickly they can go and have no (current) alternative. I'll certainly check out that Warhammer group though. As your luggage is 100% x-rayed on entry I can't even bring any in from visits overseas. Ace have a bunch of primary colours in rattle cans, so I should be able to find a way of getting white, black and certain shades of grey. As a primarily aircraft military modeler I will have to find a way of getting the camo colours. I toyed with the idea of making little test patches of my current stock, then scanning them and then using the photoshop colour picker function to see what the RGB components are, then use the Ace primaries to try and mix similar colours. Not sure if that will work though and suitability on styrene is still a question, or more to the point the thinners.

 

Cheers

 

Les

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Les on a whim I typed in “Tamiya/Qatar” and found this website which sells glues and paints in Qatar.

 

https://qatar.desertcart.com/amp/brand/tamiya

 

Might be worth a shot to see if other brands do the same ? 
 

Dennis

Edited April 13, 2022 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Giorgio N]

In addition to cmatthewbacon's suggestions, on facebook there are also a couple of names doing Gundam and similar stuff in Doha, one is named The Guild and the other OneStop Hobby Shop

If they sell Gundams, they may have ways to import other stuff from Japan as well. Then of course you may already found them and they may not be useful, if you haven't seen them before it may be worth a shot.

Looking into wargames and Gundams is often a good idea as a lot of the tools and materials they use can also be used for plastic modelling. Really the main reason I started using water based acrylics was because when I moved to Ireland in my city I could only find Vallejo paints at a shop with strong emphasys on wargames.

[cmatthewbacon]

Just for interest, this link will give you Citadel's range of green, brown and grey paint in various parts of the range, including airbrush ready...

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-EU/Painting-Modelling?N=3188374743+2013579642+673862412+2542067766+865704738+2401632303+3891072176+3918877057+882366425&Nr=AND(sku.siteId%3AEU_gw%2Cproduct.locale%3Aen_EU_gw)&Nrs=collection()%2Frecord[product.startDate+<%3D+1649867760000+and+product.endDate+>%3D+1649867760000]&view=all

 

You should be able to get or mix a goodly collection of military aircraft schemes from that lot?

best,

M.

[lesthegringo]

9 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Les on a whim I typed in “Tamiya/Qatar” and found this website which sells glues and paints in Qatar.

 

https://qatar.desertcart.com/amp/brand/tamiya

 

Might be worth a shot to see if other brands do the same ? 
 

Dennis

Thanks! I'm currently on holiday out of Qatar, and can see that fine, funny thing is when I was in Qatar last week all searches for Tamiya in country turned up nothing! Curious........

 

As for OneStop Hobby Shop, again despite searches this did not show up; from my time in Hong Kong I remember all the fabulous range of stuff for Gundam, a lot of which was from Gunze so was looking for that as well. I suspect I may try searching via a VPN

 

Thanks for all the input guys, I have some leads to follow

 

Les

[lesthegringo]

That Qatar DesertCart site scores 13 out of 100 for reliability! Suspect I will give that wide berth!

 

Cheers

 

Les

[RobL]

Sorry to hear your stuff got broke.

 

I live in a town roughly 60 miles from London, you may have heard of that place...

 

There are no proper model shops at all.  Frankly there's little to nothing useful unless you like nail bars, coffee shops, Turkish run cafe's and barbers, 2 of the big brand supermarket chains and pubs.  Even the out of town shopping village is as useless unless you're shopping for trainers or women's clothing, and a have a significant amount of disposable income.

 

We're an "affluent" commuter town you see, so, the comfortably well off shop elsewhere, because they can and want the town centre to be a literal playground just for them, and the rest of us have to suck it up...

 

There is a RC model shop and a Hobby Craft 16 miles to the west and another Hobby Craft about 15-20 miles to the south. 

 

I am technically disabled, I have difficulty walking, and don't drive however so they're non-starters unless I want to waste 2 hours or more on bus rides. 

 

The only thing locally, 2 miles from me (a 15 minute bus ride), is a car parts shop that has in the last 5 years gained a Games Workshop rack/stand and iirc has for a few years, but not much more than 10, carried a few Tamiya paints and poly cement along with a handful of Revell kits, but that is about it.  He's got bits and pieces so I wouldn't call him a model shop, especially as he started out as a part of a small national franchise of car parts shops, and in recent years has also started stocking air guns and fireworks!?!

 

So, unless I'm in a hurry for GW paints (or desperately want to pay over the odds for Tamiya paints or a handful of Revell stuff), like others are saying - online is the only way.

 

Sign of the times I suppose, but even living in the UK (or perhaps because I live in the UK), especially these past 2 years (understandably), I've found it increasingly difficult to keep any sort of modelling hobby going.

Edited April 13, 2022 by RobL

[lesthegringo]

I must say that until this 'posting' (I'm not military but that's what they are referred to internally) I have been lucky to either have a good lot of well stocked model shops, or easy access via online stores, and in some cases both. Certainly Lucky Model is one I used a lot last time I was in this area so could get anything as long as it was in stock, ditto BNA Model World in Aus, but unfortunately state laws are more stringent here. I can probably get the models no hassle but not the paints etc

 

I have also used Hannants a lot and there are quite a few other online stores in the UK (Sovereign Hobbies for example) who carry good stock and got them sent to my family's home so I could pick them up and bring them with me when visiting. Sadly, I can't even do that now. I suppose I also have to be grateful that my move here was post the majority of the Covid thing, that did impact things too. The internet certainly has helped most times to smooth it.

 

Nonetheless, I really miss the ability to browse the shelves, to have something catch my attention, and then get a big bag of all the extras plus another box to add to the pile of shame

 

Les

[keefr22]

Les, I know it's not ideal, but if you can get suppiles of oil paints you could have a go at painting your models with them! There's a good video by Plasmo on youtube on doing just that;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BitmaECqO30

 

Maybe not ideal but better than nothing? And you could make panel line washes from watercolour or gouache.

 

Are there auto supply stores like Halfords out there? If so you may be able to get spray primers and clearcoats?

 

Keith