Paint Preference (brands)

I have had to go with Three favorite brands, just because of my timing in switching to Acrylics

For now, and a number of years into the future,,,,,,,it will be Polly Scale and Aeromaster, until the supply I acquired recently dries up, both for airbrushing and brushpainting (a person could still get most of the colors if they really wanted them, at least for my genre)

After that, it will be a combo of brands in order to get the colors I need,,,,,,Vallejo Polyurethane White Primer with LifeColor paints over that, with some MisterKit colors to round out my palette

I am silently hoping that another paint company comes along before I run out of the Polly Scale formula, though,,,,,and that some new company plus LifeColor will get me through

Rex

For airbrushing, I use only Tamiya acrylics. For hand brushing, I use Vallejo. .

Tamiya sprays beautifully and is very durable when cured. More importantly, Tamiya can be easily cleaned with Windex even after it is cured. This, to me, is crucial for keeping my airbrushes super clean.

In my experience, when Vallejo starts to dry, the only thing that can remove it is lacquer thinner. I do have a spray booth but would hate to spray lacquer thinner. When mixed with an alcohol- or ammonia-based cleaner, Vallejo becomes a gooey mess. If you want to spray Vallejo, you'd better clean your AB immediately after a painting session. However, Vallejo is superb for hand brushing due to its excellent self-leveling property.  

I do spray Vallejo primers and varnishes. I clean my airbrushes immediately after I'm done with Simple Green.

Chrisk-k

In my experience, when Vallejo starts to dry, the only thing that can remove it is lacquer thinner.

Chris,

Denatured alcohol will clean up Vallejo pretty readily, dry or not.  Less toxic than lacquer thinner.

As Phil mentions, alcohol will clean Vallejo paints easily, as will their airbrush cleaner (I use it as a stripper when required, and thin it half and half for cleaning the airbrush in between colours).  An ultrasonic cleaner will remove Vallejo paints from the working components of an airbrush nicely, at least mine does.  

To answer the original question, I use Vallejo's model air for spraying and a combination (depending on the colour I need) of model air and model colour for hand painting.  I really like their paints, they spray beautifully, the coverage is nice, and playing with their mediums, you can achieve some nice translucency.  I use their grey primer and their clear coats as well, satin being my favorite these days.  As with any paint, stir and shake vigorously before and during painting.  I use their proprietary thinner, simply because I've not figured out their formula and thinning with water makes the paint too 'wet' for my liking.  I like their packaging (eye dropper bottles) and a little goes a long way, which is nice on the wallet.  I always found I had a difficult time in metering out Model Master or Tamiya from the bottle, and even using a syringe to meter out the paint, I found it difficult to keep the syringe clean.  Vallejo, I can simply meter out by number of drops.  That's only my preference, to each their own.

My favorite line of paint is Guze's "Aqueous Hobby Color". They spray like a charm (even finer than Tamiya), have very fine pigments, are easy to get out of your airbrush and they come in a lot of different colors. They even smell better than Tamiya's paints IMO. I heard that getting those paints is really hard in the US though... Tamiya paints are great as well, but they don't offer such a nice color variety. My choice between Gunze or Tamiya paints depends on the subject most of the time: I use Gunze if I can, but for some paints are not in their line-up (the interior colors for P-47s for example). That's when I use Tamiya paints.

I echo what Phil and AndrewW said. I'm pretty much sold on Vallejo acrylics. They spray as well or better than Tamiya and brush on better than Tamiya. Actually, I think they brush on better than any other acrylic paint I've tried. As far as using them in an airbrush I use their Model Air paints which are pre-thinned for airbrush use. And I've never had to thin them any further. I won't go into any more detail since AndrewW covered it all.

I just ordered my own ultrasonic cleaner so it's nice to know that the Vallejo paint cleans up well in them.

I've been looking over Lifecolor's catalog, and I gotta say I'm very intrigued. It looks like there's a few places to get their full line here in the states too

Gunze. I think If had to give up Gunze, my next choice would be Lifecolor. They have a good lengthy review on Britmodeller. Seems they have a bit of a learning curve when airbrushing, but their colors are really nice and accurate. They hand brush beautiful right out of the bottle too. So no need to get enamels just for handbrushing.

A brush painter checking in....I use Vallejo Model Color paints almost exclusively.  Love the bottles.  Love the colors.  And I think they brush paint pretty good.

For What It Is Worth

a really good place in the US to get LifeColor paints

redfroghobbies.com/products.php

Sprue Brothers has them also, including the additional stock they picked up when they bought Great Models Webstore

There are a couple of places online in Australia that even with the shipping, come out to be pretty good places to get the paints,,,,,,if you can wait for the order, that is

www.bnamodelworld.com/lifecolor

www.brunelhobbies.com.au/.../lifecolor.htm

hope this helps

Rex

I'm not a fan of airbrushing acrylics. Although retarders and flow improvers help, they still don't spray as easy and even as enamels. I can dial down the pressure to 5-7 psi and spray hair thin lines all day long without tip drying, skipping or spitting, something I can't accomplish when using acrylics. I love the old Floquil enamel paints but they have been discontinued. MM enamels is my second choice. As far as the ease of cleaning, I find acrylics to be a tad more stubborn to clean out of the AB. For hand brushing small items I like to use Testors in the small bottles or Humbrol enamels, Both brush on very evenly and smooth. I recently tried Vallejo for brushing and it has a very deep pigment and seems to brush on very well. For metallic finishes, you cannot beat Alclad lacquers. They give the best metal finish I have seen and very similar to actual foiling. These paints are so good that some model car builders remove the chrome from parts and spray Alclad for a more realistic metal finish.

I use mostly Model Master acrylics for airbrushing and enamels(Testors and Model Master) for hand brushing. Tamiya for hand brushing. Will take a shot at trying Tamiya for airbrushing soon. I also have a couple bottle brandson hand I have yet used for airbrushing - Floquil and Vallejo. I also came across an oddball brand I found I use strictly for tires on my aircraft kits. Can't remember the brand but the color is Old Tire black. Perfect match to the real thing.

plastickjunkie, that's something I have been considering too. Enamels seem to be the easiest to work with. I may be wrong, especially since I'm a total noobie, but it seems like there are only two real advantages (or merely differences) to airbrushing acrylics: faster drying time and less toxicity. If that's the case, then I might actually prefer to use enamels. I'm a very patient guy, and I tend to work at a very slow and meticulous pace, so the extra drying time might suit me better. As far as the toxicity goes, I'm a very non-wasteful person, so spillages, over-spraying, and general messiness is of no concern. I also have a work area that sees little to no human traffic and has good ventilation. Plus, and this may sound a little weird, but I actually like the aroma of solvents - don't get me wrong, I don't prefer them, but I've grown up around industrial smells my whole life, so there's something sort of comforting about them. I've counted Model Master enamels at over 300 colors, slightly less than the total offered by Lifecolor, which is plenty. Oh, another advantage I just thought of as I was typing this is that my LHS keeps a large stock of them

I'm the same way, very meticulous and don't rush things. As far as drying time is concerned, acrylics may dry faster but then that's the cause for the inconsistent spray pattern. Some modelers swear by them and that's their choice and I respect it. When I spray something I like to let it sit for at least a day, specially if masking is involved, being acrylic or enamel I like to take my time. I had adhesion problems with acrylics a while back when I removed some masking tape. The area was cleaned and primed but the paint still lifted when the masking tape was removed. That has never happened to me when using enamels. Only thing I can suggest is try both and see which one you favor.

Acrylics can be easier to clean up. Just dump down the sink.

Model Master enamels, Tamiya Acrylics, Alclad II, Pollyscale Acrylics, and Reaper paints exclusively.

I think it's pretty cool how everyone has their own preference of paints. It really says something about how personal of an expression scale modeling is. It really is a form of art

When I can, NMF, with a tiny bit of acrylics for plastic. (A roll of “Super Aluminum Foil” from General Dollar, a bottle of Micro Metal Foil Adhesive, plus a soft brush comes to under $1/sq ft.) Elsewise, acrylics.