... And I thought I was the only one crazy enough to use craft paint on models!
I use craft paints exclusively, but I'm kind of a hack. I don't build "good" models... mostly out of the box, inexpensive planes... just for fun. Spending tons of money on a model isn't fun for me. (neither is hyperdetailing or spending hours and hours on a single model, but that's another matter.)
But I DO like to get good results, and I can with craft paints... so much so that I've thought of trying to pitch a magazine article on the subject. Here's the lowdown of what I've found.
All craft paints aren't equal, but they are similar. At our local Hobby Lobby, I can buy Americana, Delta Ceramcoat, Anitas, and Apple Barrel. Some, like the Anitas, are ridiculously cheap... .49 cents each. The Ceramcoat is almost double that at .87 cents each... still far less than a single bottle of model paint. Real model paint is going to perform better than craft paint... it isn't the exact same stuff in a different container. But craft paint can work, and sometimes it can work really well.
On to my experiments. I've found that the Anitas is the poorest performer of all that I've tried. It's usually thicker, and gives less coverage than more expensive craft paints, even after multiple coats. Forget brushing with Anitas, you'll tear your hair out. Airbrushing requires multiple coats to get an even finish, and the pigments are often coarse. A few Anitas colors did seem to work a little better than the others, but it's really hit-or-miss. I have bought some Anitas, though, and dumped the paint just to use the bottles to hold thinned airbrush-ready solutions. A grainy dark grey might be good though, for a non-skid surface on a wing walk, for example.
The Ceramcoat is, in general, the best. The pigments are ground finer, and it's less "gloopy" than the others. It can be brushed on, but only with a very good, extra soft brush, and even then it leaves ridges. Thinning reduces the gloop factor, but also the coverage, so it'll require some fiddling around to get a good balance.
An airbrush is almost a necessity for a good, even finish, and when airbrushed the Ceramcoat can look pretty darned good. You have to use a primer, though, as none of the craft paints adhere to bare plastic very well. One advantage to Ceramcoat is that it dries to a dead flat finish, which looks good in scale. Another advantage is that it comes in about 300 colors. A disadvantage is that they do not produce any sort of chip chart that I can find. I've had to make my own by painting little blobs on index cards, then matching the colors up to my chart in the Monogram Color guide (I've only got Volume 1... anyone seen a good color chart that they like that covers all the paints used by the WW2 forces?) Some colors are very nearly a match, with no mixing required. Others, like Zinc Chromate and Olive Drab will have to be mixed (TIP- the Monogram guide said that early AF maint mfrs mixed black and yellow to get olive drab, and it works!)
If anyone else is getting good results with craft paints, I'd like to hear about your experience. I'm especially jazzed about trying some 27/75 Future and washer fluid( thanks Storch and Bipolar Bill) as well as some of the Liquitex Airbrush Medium.
To summarize, craft paints are not as good as real model paints, but they are cheap, easy to find, and fun to play around with. If you botch a batch, no big deal. They can work pretty good, though as Bipolar Bill posted, they almost never cover in one coat. His post has excellent suggestions, like filtering, thinning, and priming. Forget metallics and gloss coats, they're horrid. If you see half-full bottles of Buttercup Blue and Lime Green at a granny-crafter's yard sale, buy them and dump the paint... the bottles are great for storing thinned mixes.
Hope this helps, BPG