How many paint jars do you have and what is you preference?

That’s a good question. In all honesty, I have many duplicates. Certain brands and shades I’ll snatch up when I find them, because they have been discontinued. Others, such as various companies flat black, khaki, or Olive Drab I’ll pick up because of subtle differences between them. Is it truly necessary, no. But I do like having the options. How many bottles & tins of paint do I have? I have no idea.

modelmaker66

.......how many bottles of paint do you have and are they all necessary?

Hundreds and no, they are certainly not. I should have my head examined.

Hmmmm;

  I think about maybe a hundred. I use some duplicates and a lot of it. Any of the Naval colors especially. Now, that said I use also a lot of MM-Anthracite. It's good for ship weathering.

     Being it's an enamel it is getting harder to find though. I have been looking into AAGH !-Acrylics and found a match but it's an art paint, not made for models specifically. BUT, it brushes great! Oh, and looks good too !

I pretty much am in the same boat as Carlos. When I find a color I like, esp. if it's enamel, I'll buy three or four. In particular on Amazon, it amortizes the shipping costs.

I have too many, for sure.

My biggest problem is that in all my 50 plus years of building and painting models I have yet to figure out a way to index and store them.

Every time I need a color it's the same old story- sort through a bunch of little bottles until I find the one. 

Lately I've been using AK Interactive. The dropper bottles are easier to line up, and the labels are a whole lot easier to read that the Testors MM jars.

I have a lot! And it's not enough.

And no, they are not all necessary.

Many, many of them. I spray enamels and lacquers, so I have stocked up on frequently used colors. I put a strip of masking tape on the lids of my floquil and Model Master jars and write the color name and FS or RLM number on them. That saves a lot of time and agravation.

99

Many lacquers of different brands.

Many, many Enamels, all different brands.

Many, many, many, many Acrylics, all different brands.

Are they absolutely necessary? Yes. There aren't many that haven't been opened.

Just placed an order for 11 more Acrylics the other day.

Jim  

P.S. Wish they came in larger bottles.

Too many!  But recently I've gone too mostly Tamiya acrylics.  However on the Revell/Germany ME-109 I used some Model Master acrlyic. 

Below is a picture of my current paint stash. I think maybe like 30 jars/bottles, not including primer. It's not a lot, but I'm happy when more delivers.

Is it necessary?  Maybe not all of it.  I bought a color that was close to the wood color I wanted to use for a sopwith camel.  Later I stumbled upon a color wheel that had instructions for mixing colors.  For grins I tried to mix up the wood color and got way closer to the color needed than the color I had ordered.  

T e d

Ted4321

Below is a picture of my current paint stash. I think maybe like 30 jars/bottles, not including primer. It's not a lot, but I'm happy when more delivers.

Is it necessary?  Maybe not all of it.  I bought a color that was close to the wood color I wanted to use for a sopwith camel.  Later I stumbled upon a color wheel that had instructions for mixing colors.  For grins I tried to mix up the wood color and got way closer to the color needed than the color I had ordered.  

T e d 

Wow, how long have you been modeling Ted? Two week? Haha. Just kidding man!

Ok, I guess I can expand on my original answer.  I have to admit, I love paint. The short answer is "a lot". I don't realy know how much paint I have. I have been modeling since I was a teenager, so naturall I have the obligatory stash of Testors square bottles (1/2 are  probably unusable). Probably have 20 model master acryl and enamel laying around, but I hardly ever use that stuff.  

My primary paint for interior and brush painting was and still is Polly scally (Apparently I was smart enough in the day to stock up on the colors I use the most -- Steampower black , Grimy black, Concrete (old and new), aged white, reefer white/yellow, RLM 02, 66, 70, Foilage green, interior green, etc, etc...  

I tried my hand also at Vallejo for hand painting so have about 20 bottles of that stuff.

Probably have   50 to 75 bottle of Tamiya acrylic...

Tamiya Sprays, about 20 cans...

Gunze Aqeous, eeek, don't know, about 3 bottles of all the luftwaffe colors. Loved spraying this stuff back when I have in a 109 and 190 buiding blitz.

About 80 bottles of Gunze Mr color lacquer.... Mostly luftwaffe, gull greys, and Vietnam era USAF Colors.

Alclad II , about 10 bottles.

Metalizer , 'bout 10 bottles...

Mr Surfacer, all the colors and grades...

Well, that about sums it up.

Oh, and two bottles of the usless Ak exteme metal (which have already gone bad ).

So are these all necessary? Of course not, but you dont' know that when you buy them usually and you can't return paint. I would say I could get rid of 50% of them an not notice anything... oh until you remember you needed one for that one thing...

Guess my paint stock philosophy is 'better to have and not need than to need and not have'. :-) Note: That is NOT my kit stash philosophy!

cbaltrin

 

Wow, how long have you been modeling Ted? Two week? Haha. Just kidding man!

 

No.  4 weeks.  

Just kidding.  Actually started into the hobby just after Christmas last year.  Almost a year. 

I can tell that shelf won't be the last of its kind in my shop. 

Quite a collection you have.  I had a few of the square bottles of testors that I used for model railroading but they didn't last. Not sure if it was operator error or if it's common for them to dry up after a year or two.  

T e d

I like that paint rack, Ted.  Where'd you get it?

I've got probably between 20 and 30 bottles; mostly Tamiya, some ModelMaster and some Model Air.

Between 100 and 200 and yet oddly enough I frequently don't have exactly what I need. Like others have said I buy as much enamel as I can out of concern that someday they'll be unavailable. I also find that I'm reluctant to use any of my Floquil colors that I've been hoarding for years.

jeffpez

Between 100 and 200 and yet oddly enough I frequently don't have exactly what I need. Like others have said I buy as much enamel as I can out of concern that someday they'll be unavailable. I also find that I'm reluctant to use any of my Floquil colors that I've been hoarding for years.

 Same here, however I have a rationalization.

I know that many  of those bottles are dry, are virtually empty, or have unusable coagulated paint.

Therefore, strictly speaking, I don't have that many bottles of paint because, many of them are not bottles-of-paint, but paint-bottles.

 

Liegghio

I'm trying to think of a snappy response to your "logic" but all I can do is laugh. 

About this many.  The rack is about 7 ft tall.  Built in the wasted space behind the door. 

Very nice paint rack, and good use of "unuseable" space. Just for grins, there are 2 bottles of Floquil Grimy Black listed on ebay as of last night. One for $46.00, and the other for $51.00. I really like Floquil, and have a good bit of it left, but I believe I'll pass of these........

Tom

56 bottles of Tamiya paint. I have some dupicate colors for mixing and some bottles of colors I've already mixed and will use again.

RESlusher

I like that paint rack, Ted.  Where'd you get it?

 

Thanks. 

I made it out of some scrap 1x4s and 1x2s.

T e d

I would say about 150. 

 I do try to check the enamels and cull out any bottles that have gone bad from time to time.  The Tamiya acrylics last for years. 

I've kept any special mixes as well, for touch ups if needed, but many enamel mixes do go bad.  (Turn to rubber)

I still have a bottle of Pactra Olive Drab that I painted a 1/25th  Tamiya Centurion with in 1977.  Haven't checked it lately.

I have enough, until I need more...

More than a hundred bottles and tinlets of enamel, laquer and acrylics. Of note are my Pactra paints, more than 40 years old and still good. I even have the Russian ans US WWII set still factory shrink-wrapped. The other set are the Humbrol ( WWII RAF enamels) and Gunze acrylics ( USAF, USN, A-10, Israeli).

mississippivol

I have too many, but not the right ones for any current project...

 

Man, this hits home and I'll bet I'm not the only one.

nkm1416@info.com.ph

More than a hundred bottles and tinlets of enamel, laquer and acrylics. Of note are my Pactra paints, more than 40 years old and still good. I even have the Russian ans US WWII set still factory shrink-wrapped. The other set are the Humbrol ( WWII RAF enamels) and Gunze acrylics ( USAF, USN, A-10, Israeli).

 

Oh man those sets bring back some memories! 

Why are the original posts being erased? Found two like this so far, from the same OP.