Model Master Acrylic Paints

Tony, there are alot of gret places there. Squadron, Sprue brothers and Great models are among the best and largest.

I personally use Sprue Brothers. However, I haven't bought paints from them.

The only place to get Xtra Color Acylix is from Hannants in England or Two Bob's Decals in the US. They are cheaper than most brands and I believe free shipping.

Haven't decided whether I like them yet or not. I shot them for the first time a couple nites ago. Layed down nice and smooth and covered well. Seemed to stick pretty well. Didn't take long for tip dry to set in though and the flat black was drying out in the cup before I could spray it. lol  And it was a bear to get out of the cup too. Tried to use some gloss white but as soon as I put a drop or two of 91% alcohol in and stirred it turned to glue.

I did a search here on MM Acryl and sifted through the threads. One of the guys at the hobby shop told me to thin with water instead of alcohol. Makes sense, it shouldn't dry as quickly. So, while at the shop I bought some Testors Acryl thinner, got some distilled water, went to Micheals and got Liquitex Slow Dri Medium. Don't have any needle lube so I'm gonna try some Pam. Soon as I get my next days off I'll do some testing and see what happens.

I wanted to try acrylics in hopes there wouldn't be as much buildup as with enamels. MM Acryl is the only brand readily available around here. My favorite shop is talking about stocking PollyS Military colors but that's a ways off. If all else fails, maybe I'll try order something else. Any suggestions on the best place to buy online?

Tony

Mike, Humbrol has a mix chart there but Tamiya only has an equivelency chart. I wish Tamiya would make a book or reference guide for mixing their paints to get the colors Model Master and Humbrol make. I for one would be glad to buy one.   Greg.

gjek wrote:

All said, Tamiya would probably increase paint sales if they posted a color mixing chart for the same colors that Model Masters make. To me it seams like a no brainer. You wouldn't need to make 1000 different colors if you just posted a mixing guide. I like Tamiya but MM has the colors.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_fs.htm

It's kind of funny to hear all the 'wars' over scale, paint, airbrushes and whatever each of us swear by. I know I've gotten into it a few times myself.

Personally, I don't like Tamiya, MM acryl or Valejo at all. For me, they don't spray well enough and any other problems I encountered with them.

I do like, have gotten used to and better results with PollyScale, Gunze and XtraColor Acryix. But that's just me. I chose those mainly as my LHS will carry a full rack of PollyScale and Gunze all the time. MM enamels are the 'ol stand by and Mr. Dependable when I need them. I have turned to XtraColor Acylix for the color range (military aircraft) and Gunze is becomming hard to re-stock for the LHS (wholesaler closed recently) They spray as good or better than Gunze (imho) and are semi gloss. Eliminating the need to gloss before decaling. I like them, that's that. It's what I use.

.........only ............when.............I .........must...............

(sound of me beating my head against the wall after using MM Acryl)

David

I have always had several problems with acrylics. I dislike the way they blend together so quickly on the surface. They dry quite fast and I know they have retarder but I never found them satisfying. I also have never liked the way the finished model looked with acrylics. Sure, you can coat the painting or gloss it up, but there is nothing that compares to that rich, smooth, greasy look enamels present.  

No matter what your preferences are there will always be controversy over which is better. My lack of success with acrylics does not mean they are inferior. I have seen some great models that were done in acrylics (and find myself asking "how did they get that effect with acrylics?"). There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to all the different options we have available today. I guess I am stuck in my ways and will always choose enamels or any form of oil paint.

MM enamels have my vote.

cbaltrin wrote:

If I tried that will MM enamels, the paint would not dry and I would get spiders everywhere from wet paint pooling on the surface.

Reduce the air pressure and don't hold it in one spot too long. Simple.

JViguers wrote:

cbaltrin wrote:  MM on the other hand really has no "strong points" IMO -- they are the jacks of all trades and masters of none in the model paint world. You're funny. I've used Tamiya, Gunze, Vallejo and MM acrylics and I still prefer MM enamels. They flow better, have a better viscosity and richer pigments and are alot more durable. Out of all acrylics I like Vallejo Model Air but it needs primer for better adhesion.

 They are more durable than Tamiya/Gunze for sure; however, that is probably the last thing I consider when choosing a paint for a particular task. Anytime I am using a "fragile" acrylic like Tamiya, I am usually following up with a "durable" clear coat or painting something that won't get ware.  I am not knocking MM Enamels, they were all that was available when I got into this hobby (actually, I think the little square testors bottles where all that was available). All I am saying is when I am going to paint something, I choose the best paint for the job at hand, and MM seldom falls into the category of what I need.

Here is what I mean:

 If I am painting a cockpit I want a base cockpit color that will dry fast and hand brush well. I want it to dry fast because I want to start painting the cockpit details soon after I airbrush on the base coat.  I want it to hand brush well because I might need to go back and touch up some goofs after bush painting other details. For this task I always choose Polly Scale. It dries in minutes and hand brushes beautifully. It also does not dissolve the underlying paint when hand painting the details.  If I had used MM enamels. I would need to wait several hours for the base coat to dry and, when I did get around to painting the details, it would dissolve the underlying layer of paint. Then I would have to wait several more hours before dry brushing and clear coating.

If I was going to airbrush some lufwaffe mottle cammo on a German 109, I would grab some Tamiya or Guze because there is just nothing better for detailed painting close to the surface of the model. You can thin the stuff down to practically nothing with 91% alcohol which results in the paint drying practically as soon as it hits the model. Just as importantly, it will have virtually no visible over spray. If I tried that will MM enamels, the paint would not dry and I would get spiders everywhere from wet paint pooling on the surface.

If I want to paint an aircraft tire, I would grab some Polly Scale since if hand brushes and flows so well and very level and streakless. I would just touch the loaded tip of the brush where the tire meets the wheel and the capillary action would draw the paint around the edge of the wheel, after which I would hand paint the rest.

I guess it all boils down to what kind of painting you are doing. Sometimes you actually want you paint to dry slow, such as when you are trying to put a nice gloss coat on a race car. Beautiful gloss finishes are hard to achieve with fast drying acrylics. Acrylics also don't perform well in high volume airbrushing (painting large areas quickly) Usually, they dry to fast for the distance required to travel from the airbrush to the surface of the model. They also dry on the tip of the needle and these dry bits eventually get blasted off of the needle onto the surface of the model. I am finishing a large 1/48 B-17G and will probably use enamels for the exterior finish (however, I will likely use Mr.Color's excellent synthetic lacquers for this job).

A final note about Tamiya paints in particular, you won't find a flat white, gloss white, flat or gloss yellow on the market that even comes close to the opacity of Tamiya (I have not tried Vallejo yes however). All Tamiya paints are very opaque; however, it is extremely noticeable with their white and yellow paints--mostly because other brands have been so horrible with these colors.

cbaltrin wrote:

MM on the other hand really has no "strong points" IMO -- they are the jacks of all trades and masters of none in the model paint world.

You're funny. I've used Tamiya, Gunze, Vallejo and MM acrylics and I still prefer MM enamels. They flow better, have a better viscosity and richer pigments and are alot more durable.

Out of all acrylics I like Vallejo Model Air but it needs primer for better adhesion.

JViguers wrote:

What abt MM enamels? I prefer them over MM acrylics for airbrushing.

MM Enamels are ok as enamels go. Any enamel will likely be easier to airbrush than an acrylic paint.  I prefered them when they only came in flat and gloss. I don't care for the semi-gloss colors at all. They don't cover well at all from my experience and take much longer to try then the flat paints. I have lots of MM enamels laying around from "the early days" but never really use them--most are probably unusable at this point. My favorite paints are Mr.Color, Gunze, Polly Scale and Tamiya. They all have their strong points and weak points (except for Mr.Color, which I don't really think have any weak points, except for brush painting I suppose). MM on the other hand really has no "strong points" IMO -- they are the jacks of all trades and masters of none in the model paint world.

I had several MM Acryls and I never really had any problems with them.

It's trully amazing to see how some people swear by one and others the other brand.

I personally am of the total opposite view of usmc1371, 

MM Acryl as far as I'm concened when compared to Tamiya is like the differnce between night and day 

• MM sprays much easier, at 20psi and a clean airbrush spray right from the bottle without mixxing down with thinner
• Wash up is simple with water
  
• It adheres just fine, even without priming, which I only do for ph, resin and vynil, however cleaning your model down is very important, I use a q-tip and cotton swab with 99% rubling alcohol
• It is a much more durable paint when hard
• Once dry yes it can be quite difficult to remove, unless you use a brush restorer like Winsor and Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer which is non-toxic and water clean up
• It can be sprayed straight from the bottle, I only thin it down if the bottle is old and the paint has thickened over time
• Not sure about the ammonia base, I use a resporator and have a spray booth, which you should use regardless of what you are spraying with.
• MM acryl is easier to brush on, I find
  
• Tamiya is less costly
• Tamiya is generally more widely available

I really have had very little luck with Tamiya, as my experience has improved over the years and my models have gotten more and more complex I find it hard to get the fine detailsdone with Tamiya. I am no expert but over the last few years I have switched to MM acryl and last week was the last straw with Tamiya for me, I had a model screw up and I had to strip it and redo it. Not that I blame Tamiya paints, for some reason I can not work with their paint.

 Really it comes down to experience and your personal preference.

I use MM Acrylics because they are easier to find, and come in more colors than Tamiya.

I like the Acrylics (regardless of brand) better than Enamels. Low or no smell, easy clean up, and some brands can be airbrushed right out of the bottle.

Everybody has their own preferences when it comes to paints. Try several brands, and go with what you like the best!

I haven't had adhesion problems with them, but have experienced lots of tip dry with the airbrush. They certainly brush on better than Tamiya out of the bottle. However, I ended up using Tamiya exclusively and have overcome the brush painting problems.

They certainly do come in lots of colors! 

Triarius wrote:

Your Mileage May Vary. I know people who swear by them. I swear at them. Buy a bottle and try it. If you like it, use it. I'm sticking with Tamiya and Polly Scale.

I agree with Ross. I tried the Acryl paints and swore I could get them to work despite what problems others had with them and many times they worked pretty good for me, but as was already mentioned they do not adhere as well to the plastic as I would like. 

This A-1H Skyraider was painted with the Model Master Acryl paints:

I switched to Tamiya after that and have been very pleased with their paints.

They do not have the color selection that Acryl has but with a little research and mixing you can come up with any color you desire.  

Your Mileage May Vary.

I know people who swear by them. I swear at them. Buy a bottle and try it. If you like it, use it.

I'm sticking with Tamiya and Polly Scale.