Paints what do you use and how do you buy?

Mostly Tamiya,Modelmaster Enamel,and Vallejo.I do have a few Life Color about,and I have a Mig set for flesh tones.

I buy mostly from my LHS,and if I have to order something,it's who has it for the best price or if I happen to be ordering a kit at the same time.

My main paint of choiceisXtracolor enamels. For the most part i have to order this from Hannants, though the LHS does have a small selection, just not the ones i use. Also Tamiya Acrylics and Humbrolenamels, both from the LHSand recently startyed useing Vallejo for figures. Have to order that.

Over the years i have built up a stash of paints. haveing learnt what colours i use most and which not often, this ranges fromjust the one tin/jar for those i use once in a blue moon to 5 or 6 of the ones i use all the time.

Itsa just a case of building it up over time. When you need a colour,order 2.If you know its one you will use alot, then when one runs out, get 2 more and just build it up.

I use Testors enamel.  One of the problems with it is that it does go bad after awhile, so I generally like to buy new stuff for each new project.  I then pick up the colors I need based on kit instructions.

Note that there is a Painting and Airbrushing forum down in the Tools, Techniques and Reference Materials section (after the Model Subjects section).  This is a very helpful forum with frequent discussions on types of paint.

I mostly use Tamiya acrylic paint and I order it on Ebay ahead of each build. The guy I get it from has very good prices and he is very quick to ship it from Ohio to my home in Florida. Check him out   jackrabbit9820

I have a wide variety of paints:

Model Master acrylics and enamels as well as a few square bottles of Testors enamels

Pollyscale acrylics

Aeromaster acrylics

Gunze/Mr. Color

Vallejo acrylics

Alclad lacquers

Humbrol enamel (tiny collection)

Life Color

Tamiya

I get a majority of my paints at my LHS or Hobby Lobby (IF they have the color I'm looking for)

I've also acquired a few from collegues as well.

Other ways I buy my paints are through scalehobbyist website or at a hobby shop I found in Webster, NY whenever I'm in the area.

Thanks for all the info. Don sorry i guess this post may be in the wrong thread. I was more curious as to how people buy. I have heard some buy a large amount of a variety just to get them started then others just buy per project. I have been ordering most of mine through hobbylinc since they are nearby in Atlanta. I have found them to be extremely slow in processing an order tho. I have ordered from mega hobby and have had good luck with them to be as far away as they are. Would be nice to have a mom and pop shop pop up in my area or a better Big store besides michaels or hobby lobby. Our hobby lobby only sells old MM enamel which i used at the start but found I enjoy acrylics more. They also have a meager selection of older tamiya kits. They are mostly geared to take care of the car builders.

Foxhound500

I've wonder myself how in the world do people buy paint? I always never have what i need so I always have to stop and order what i need. Then wait.... It is very frustrating. So what paints do you guys use? I wanna use acrylics and have found that i like AK and Mig. They go straight into the AB and come out perfect. No thinning. I mean yes if it came down to it i could thin and mix myself but meh I rather have a accurate color. So how do you guys aquire your paint? Buy as many colors as you think you need or buy as you need? I try to get as much as i can because no LHS sells what i like/need. Starting back into the hobby has been fun but frustrating at the moment cause i have no paints hardly.

I use nothing but ModelMaster enamels. I do keep a small stock of the little Testors bottles too, but find myself only using a couple of the colors, mainly browns and chromate yellow. There is a Micheals store much closer than the LHS, so that's handy in a pinch.

Mostly, I get from the LHS...sometimes I'll tack a couple bottles onto an online order.

I keep a pretty good stock of the usual colors, for what I regularly build, on hand. Typically, I have enough colors to choose from, that I can mix whatever I need, or at least get close enough.

When I am ready to start a new model, I check my paints (mostly Vallejo Model Air)to see if I have what I need. If I don't, I order from Squadron or Sprue Bros. or others.

Jim  

I mainly use Vallejo, Tamiya acrylics and Model Master acrylics. FYI, if you have a Hobby Lobby near by they carry a mixture of acrylic and enamel Model Master. Look closely because the acrylic and enamel paints are mixed together on the rack. Hobby Lobby also carries the basic Vallejo colors. They're a little thicker than Vallejo air and could use a little thinning for AB useage. Hobby Lobby also has a great selection of paint brushes and artist oils and acrylics for reasonable prices.

As to the most "accurate" color, there really isn't one for any given military subject, albeit armor, aircraft or ships. Even if every Sherman tank came out of the factory in the same paint within 30 days time they will look different due to weathering, sunlight, usage, etc.

Foxhound500

Thanks for all the info. Don sorry i guess this post may be in the wrong thread. I was more curious as to how people buy.

No problem- fine for initial post here.  Just letting you know that there is a place where you can partake in good discussions on paint.  Threads don't continue too long here, but paint threads see lots of posts in the Painting and Airbrushing forum.  If you are interested in paint questions, you will want to check there occasionally.

My paint stock is about 90% Model Master Enamels, some Tamiya, Alclad, and Vallejo. And I agree with Don's statement about MM going bad way too soon. That has been hapenning with the newer paints. I have a few bottles of MM enamels and Testors small square ones that are at least 15- 20 years old and are still good so I question their current quality control.

I buy them as I go along on builds mostly either from Hobby Lobby or two Hobby Shops I have within a 15 mile radius from my home. Certain colors I have to order if the LHS don't have them in stock or I just don't want to deal with heavy traffic. Sprue Bros usually takes about 3 days to deliver so they are pretty fast. 

Vallejo, Model Master Acrylics and Enamels, Testors Enamels and Lacquers, Tamiya Gray Laqcuer Primer, Acrylic Art Paint, and various assorted Tamiya Weatherine Master.

I would get some Tamiya Acrylic from time to time.

Toshi

Hi ;

 Well , being as how most of my projects are ships , I buy in six bottle cartons . For the rest I buy as needed . Mostly Model Master and Vallejo . T.B.

I use Model master acrylics and oils.

Both hobby shops in town has them.

They also have tamyia Wich I have a few but I prefer the model masters.

I have a few Vallejo  that I'm trying. so far I like them.

the Baron

 

 

Foxhound500

I've wonder myself how in the world do people buy paint? I always never have what i need so I always have to stop and order what i need. Then wait.... It is very frustrating. So what paints do you guys use? I wanna use acrylics and have found that i like AK and Mig. They go straight into the AB and come out perfect. No thinning. I mean yes if it came down to it i could thin and mix myself but meh I rather have a accurate color. So how do you guys aquire your paint? Buy as many colors as you think you need or buy as you need? I try to get as much as i can because no LHS sells what i like/need. Starting back into the hobby has been fun but frustrating at the moment cause i have no paints hardly.

 

 

 

 

In my Farbkastl, I have Testor's; Model Master; Tamiya; Andrea; Vallejo; craft store brands Apple Barrel and Americana; Grumbacher; Windsor & Newton; and some old Pactras from my youth.  I might have a Polly-S railroad color or two, too.  And I have Schminke Mussini oils.

 

I must have started with a base set, when I was a kid, probably Testor's little square bottles, and I added specific colors as I got older and more experienced, for specific kit needs.   I guess that's still what I do, adding colors as necessary, based on subjects--I just added RAF colors last year, for a Hawker Typhoon build.  Before that, I would have used the closest equivalents in my paint supply.

 

I have bought most of my paints live, at hobby shops.  With the advent of the Internet, I do buy some paints online, especially if no store in the area can order them for me.

 

And I've got acrylics, enamels, and oils.

 

Your comment about AK and Mig matches my opinion of Mig's products.  He took the guesswork out of it.  You want to use chalks for weathering?  Well, you can buy some pastel chalks and grind them yourself (not very difficult) or you can buy prepared powders, which have produced in specific shades, with binders to help them adhere better.  You need weathering wash to replicate oil stains?  Well, you can make your own, with oils and mineral spirits, or acrylics and water/isopropyl, and use trial-and-error to get a result you like, or you can buy the relevant product from AK.  He did for paints what the aftermarket manufacturers did for scratchbuilding.  When I got into modeling at the age of 6, there were no resin cockpits, or wing folds, or more accurate dive brakes for an SB2C.  You had to scratchbuild those details.  When I got back into modeling around '99, I learned that all those things we did ourselves, could now be done with aftermarket sets.  Same goes for Mig Jimenez and paints.  And there are other makers, too.  Lifecolor, for example, with their sets of specific uniform color sets (eg, US Army, 1944, European theater).

 

I don't buy a color because I might need it in the future, so I don't offer that as advice.  But I do recommend looking for any source you can find, don't limit yourself to just one.

 

Hope that helps, best regards,

Brad

 

 

Yep you pay more. In the long run it saves me the heartache of accidently mixing and thinning paint too much or not enough and wasting precious paint. So the extra cost to take the guess work out and make my life easier is worth it to me. and thank you everyone. It all has been very helpful info. I do use other oddball stuff to get effects i want. I use charcoal for gunpowder and exhaust and use some other stuff. The paint tho i let the pros get the right shade mixed up and thinned for me. I am new to AB so i'll take all the help i need so i can focus more on control and making sure the layers are even.

Foxhound500

 

 

the Baron

 

 

Foxhound500

I've wonder myself how in the world do people buy paint? I always never have what i need so I always have to stop and order what i need. Then wait.... It is very frustrating. So what paints do you guys use? I wanna use acrylics and have found that i like AK and Mig. They go straight into the AB and come out perfect. No thinning. I mean yes if it came down to it i could thin and mix myself but meh I rather have a accurate color. So how do you guys aquire your paint? Buy as many colors as you think you need or buy as you need? I try to get as much as i can because no LHS sells what i like/need. Starting back into the hobby has been fun but frustrating at the moment cause i have no paints hardly.

 

 

 

 

In my Farbkastl, I have Testor's; Model Master; Tamiya; Andrea; Vallejo; craft store brands Apple Barrel and Americana; Grumbacher; Windsor & Newton; and some old Pactras from my youth.  I might have a Polly-S railroad color or two, too.  And I have Schminke Mussini oils.

 

I must have started with a base set, when I was a kid, probably Testor's little square bottles, and I added specific colors as I got older and more experienced, for specific kit needs.   I guess that's still what I do, adding colors as necessary, based on subjects--I just added RAF colors last year, for a Hawker Typhoon build.  Before that, I would have used the closest equivalents in my paint supply.

 

I have bought most of my paints live, at hobby shops.  With the advent of the Internet, I do buy some paints online, especially if no store in the area can order them for me.

 

And I've got acrylics, enamels, and oils.

 

Your comment about AK and Mig matches my opinion of Mig's products.  He took the guesswork out of it.  You want to use chalks for weathering?  Well, you can buy some pastel chalks and grind them yourself (not very difficult) or you can buy prepared powders, which have produced in specific shades, with binders to help them adhere better.  You need weathering wash to replicate oil stains?  Well, you can make your own, with oils and mineral spirits, or acrylics and water/isopropyl, and use trial-and-error to get a result you like, or you can buy the relevant product from AK.  He did for paints what the aftermarket manufacturers did for scratchbuilding.  When I got into modeling at the age of 6, there were no resin cockpits, or wing folds, or more accurate dive brakes for an SB2C.  You had to scratchbuild those details.  When I got back into modeling around '99, I learned that all those things we did ourselves, could now be done with aftermarket sets.  Same goes for Mig Jimenez and paints.  And there are other makers, too.  Lifecolor, for example, with their sets of specific uniform color sets (eg, US Army, 1944, European theater).

 

I don't buy a color because I might need it in the future, so I don't offer that as advice.  But I do recommend looking for any source you can find, don't limit yourself to just one.

 

Hope that helps, best regards,

Brad

 

 

 

 

 

Yep you pay more. In the long run it saves me the heartache of accidently mixing and thinning paint too much or not enough and wasting precious paint. So the extra cost to take the guess work out and make my life easier is worth it to me. and thank you everyone. It all has been very helpful info. I do use other oddball stuff to get effects i want. I use charcoal for gunpowder and exhaust and use some other stuff. The paint tho i let the pros get the right shade mixed up and thinned for me. I am new to AB so i'll take all the help i need so i can focus more on control and making sure the layers are even.

 

Since you're starting out, it doesn't hurt to pay for things like exact colors, instead of mixing them.  You may get to a point where you try that particular exercise yourself, after you get more experience.  That's what I did.  I have the number of jars of paint that I have, partly because I would look for a specific color off the shelf, rather than mix.

Yeah, using other materials, too, that's a good idea and you should follow your instinct in that regard.  You never know what you'll find, or what use you'll think of, for something meant for another purpose.  You mention charcoal--that reminds me that I have a container of rust, real rust, that one of the guys in our club brought along one meeting.  He was a machinist, and he noticed that when they cleaned their milling machines, there was always a pound or so of rust dust left over.  He brought in a coffee can full of the stuff, and bag of the old plastic photo film containers, and we each took home some rust.  Mix it with thinned white glue, or even dishwashing liquid, you could brush it on and add accumulated rust on a model.  Or it could be dusted on, like a pastel chalk.  And then, there is the old scratchbuilder's rule:  Never Throw Anything Away!  Or at least, don't pitch something, till you've looked at it to see if you might use it.  Back in the day, that went especially for radios and electrical equipment, for all of the wire and little gizmos.  Today, that's digital equipment--computers, etc.  And stereo equipment.  And even plastic containers.  I build sci-fi subjects, along with historical subjects, and I see guys scratchbuild spaceships and other vehicles, or armored fighting suits, out of plastic drink containers, and all kinds of scrap.  You never know.

I'm finding I have to buy online now. The LHS has Tamyia acrylic 23mm for $3.99  plus tax and I can get it online for $2.37.   When you buy a lot of paint that is a tremendous savings.  Most of the time I get free shipping as well.

wow! didn't know they made it in 23 ml , in aust we can only get 10ml , for $3.99