Can You Mix MM & Testors Enamel Paints?

Chrisk-k

When I dry brushed tank tracks with Testors silver, the result was too conspicuous and too glossy.

I mixed MM flat black with Testors silver and dry brushed Hetzer tracks which had been washed with burnt umber pigments. I love the result!

The only part of a tank track that would look realistic drybrushed with silver are those that have metal to metal contact. Otherwise, Testors Steel is real good for using to drybrush the parts that contact the ground or rubber rimmer roadwheels. You can mix that with a drop or two of Testors Rubber to get a more brownish steel such as was reportedly found on German armor due to the high manganese contenet in the steel.

Sounds like you mixed up a color close to Gunmetal, Chrisk? The MM bottles are made by Testors too right? So mixing should be no prob. I always mix in those small stainless dishes you can buy from Tamiya or Gunze. the paint doesn't stick well to them and they are easy to wipe dry when done, but you have to work fast.

When I dry brushed tank tracks with Testors silver, the result was too conspicuous and too glossy.

I mixed MM flat black with Testors silver and dry brushed Hetzer tracks which had been washed with burnt umber pigments. I love the result!

Don't be afraid of mixing colors.  I needed just a small dab of burnt iron for four exhaust pipes.  Rather than go out and spend $3.69 for another bottle of paint, I just mixed some exhaust color with some burnt sienna and came out with a pretty good representation of burnt iron.

as a counterpoint on the color mixing deal,,,,I used to mix colors, but, that was in my Floquil and Enamel days, I didn't want to have to do that anymore after changing paint types

since switching to Acrylics,,,,,,,I just went and bought paint one bottle of each color at a time (later buying more of the "right" ones),,,,,,,and matched them up to actual standards,,,,,relabeling the caps as I came across "matches" that didn't match

I now have 352 matches to standards, and only have 10 colors that I might have to mix (no one makes those 10 colors in any model paint range, although some were labeled as matches)

Rex

Don,

I love to mix custom colors. I come from a background of painting on canvas and mixing colors for that is standard procedure. I do not find that it works as well for me in model paint however. I mix little tiny dots/puddles of it on a hard plastic surface and find that it dries far too quickly to really be useful. One can work around this and mix a larger portion of your custom color to slow drying but I usually dont need that much. After trying this too many times with unhappy results I just bit the bullet and began to acquire the large collection of colors that most modelers seem to have  :(. I use enamels btw

I would love to hear of your experiences in getting around this or any advice that you have to offer.

Chris

oh yeah, that is perfect for you then to mix just the right shade.

I use enamels for dry brushing and painting small tools on tanks. Accurate color reproduction isn't too important for such applications. That's why I can afford mixing colors :-)  

I mix MM and the square bottle stuff all the time.

I applaud your desire to mix colors.  Too many folks these days will not attempt it. If it doesn't come in a bottle they are lost.  BTW, you might consider picking up a book on oil or acrylic painting at a library if you are unsure about how to mix colors to get the shades you want.  Most beginners books on picture painting include a chapter or so on mixing colors.

You can as long as there there both the oil base version. That's to say they both clean up with paint thinner. Not water.

Yes, you can mix those enamels together to make custom colors.