Is Testors enamel REALLY gone?

Its been about two years now that my local hobby store guy said no more MM enamels and was taking out the display. He said the Testors rep said they are no more but the square Testors bottle will stay. That seems to be the case. He since has brought in the Tamiya LP line of paints but I wouldn't exactly call that rack full. They are nice handling paints though. And it's been a while since I've been in there so maybe they filled it out by now.

Hobby Lobby still has square bottles Testors and a lot of the spray cans as well. You see an empty slot here or there through the rack but it's a good sized rack.

IDK, I've been shooting whatever lately from acrylics to decanted Rustoleum 2X enamel which sprays awesome for model cars with just a touch of added lacquer thinner to the mix. Also those LP paints, Tamiya acrylic, even craft paints and lacquer clear coat. It all works out. But I think it's a pretty sure bet to say at this point that MM as we knew it is gonzo. Sure is around here where I live.

I haven't seen Modelmaster ensmels,but still see the little square bottles at Hobby Lobby

Tojo72

I haven't seen Modelmaster ensmels,but still see the little square bottles at Hobby Lobby

 

Yup.  I bought a bunch of the square bottles on Hobby Lobby's web-site.  The Model Master enamels are definitely gone, but you can find leftovers here and there.  Got some Flat Gull Grey and Flat Aluminum MM enamels recently to make some Corrogard paint with.  I think it was a little mom and pop shop in Canada that still had them both on the shelf, and the price was reasonable.  Model Master Acryl's I think are still sold new, but that paint is pretty much worthless...lots of tip dry, and the durability is terrible.  That's the stuff Rustoleum should stop selling.

The entire Model Master line was discontinued. Testors is still around. 

It was Testors' parent company Rustoleum that made the decision to discontinue Model Master. Not a rumor or a conspiracy. The news was all over the Internet, including this forum.

Model Master aluminium buffing metalizer was my go-to spray can for bare aliminium airplanes.  My local hobby shop had a supply of it for longer than most because they closed up shop during COVID so they had 2 year old inventory when they reopened.  I joke that I probably owned the last can in existance.

I've switched to Tamiya AS-12 bare metal silver.  Doesn't buff up like the model master stuff used to but it's pretty close.

Just a note on the major retailers subject...Walmart's site kind of reminds me of that Internet Hobbies place (or whatever the name was) where the guy said he had out of production kits, but didn't actually have them.  I don't think Walmart is doing it on purpose, but somehow their site often will come up in a Google search for things like this, but when you go there it says something along the lines of "on backorder".  Unlike the Internet Hobbies guy though, I don't think that Walmart takes your money for something they don't have.  Sears, according to Google search results, is also apparently a place you can buy out of production hobby items...even though they too never actually have in stock what they show on their site.  Its just something with how they list their stuff with search engines.  Amazon, on the other hand, shouldn't necessarily always be thought of as a "major retailer", since they have partnerships with all kinds of 3rd party sellers.  What you see listed on Amazon is most likely one of those 3rd party sellers who just happens to have some left in their inventory.  I have bought several bottles of MM enamels recently this way, but it was just leftover stock.  Also, if you look at the prices, some of those places know how rare the item is that they're selling, because a bottle of Model Master Enamel is sometimes being sold for $25.00 or more.  The product descriptions there are only as accurate as the information the vendor put in, and should always be taken with a grain of salt.  The only part of the description that I would even remotely trust is the type of paint and the color.  Nothing else should be thought of as any kind of evidence that the repeated official statements of the manufacturer are untrue.

According to the Testors website, the MM line is still around, but greatly changed.  The individual bottles have few military colors.  However, there are boxed sets of the small rectangular bottles that have FS paints.  Two are Camoulflage, and Naval ships.

I was at HL yesterday- I urgently need Steel enamel.  They had it (small bottle only).  Since I needed it for bolt heads and nuts I didn't need much.  I find the Testors enamel best for brushing small spots (usually use toothpick).