Testors or ???

When I was a kid too I had a lot of the testors stuff as well, paint, glue, drop cloth, the works.

Now I use stuff from all over the place, Testors, Micro-Mark, Squadron, Tamiya, the hardware store, etc.

With me it has to do with personal preference, availability, and/or cost.

For an example I'll show you a little of what my breakdown is:

Paint: Testors Model Master with a few Humbrol and Tamiya paints

Thinner: Lacquer and Low Odor thinner available at the hardware store.

Glue: Zap brand CA, Tamiya and Micro-Mark brand liquid cement, Testors and G-S Supplies for clear parts.

Squadron Brand putty (I mostly use CA for filling though)

Tools: Some are hand me downs, others I bought or got as gifts.

Airbrushes: 1 Aztek and 2 Badger

There's more but you get the idea.  The tools and even some of the paint took 15+ years to acquire.

Thanks, Coldiron.  That's basically what I was looking for.

I have a bunch of MM enamel and acrylics, thinner, and clear coats, but I'm going to try out some Tamiya paint on my next build.  I have every type of Testors cement, and they seem to work fine.  I use Testors putty, but I think it's garbage.  But in instances like that, it's hard to know if it's a lack of experience that it sucks, or if it actually does.  I ordered some Squadron putty, which I have read seems to be better.  I also have an Aztek A480 and compressor.

I guess I just want to make sure I'm not getting sucked into name brand recognition, especially if there is something better out there.  

Kind of like home theater equipment.  Everyone knows about Bose, but for the price and quality, there are better things out there for each application.

BeerGremlin wrote:

I have a bunch of MM enamel and acrylics, thinner, and clear coats, but I'm going to try out some Tamiya paint on my next build.

Hi BG,

If you're going to try out Tamiya paints, I would suggest starting out with Tamiya's own thinners as well. While there are alternatives which can be used, it may be better to use their thinner, at least at first, so that you know how it's supposed to behave.

If you get into Tamiya paint in a big way, it's much more economical to buy the large 250ml jugs of thinner rather than the "paint jar" size.

Here in Australia, Tamiya thinner comes in 3 sizes,

10ml = $3.50 (approximate prices)
40ml = $5.00
250ml = $12.95

Easy decision...

~Hi Nathan ~ Of course there's alot to preferences, and even those we all tend to apply to our given experience. I was drawn into this post, because I started in models as a kid with alot of Testors products and after returning to modeling only 2 years ago I've tried quite a few alternate choices. I still really like the Testors Enamels in the small square bottle when I want an enamel. They are great for what they do, and are cheap and come in terrific colors(I have alot of friends in Europe that feel exactly the same way about Humbrol, which I never used then or now)As far as styrene solvent glue goes, most of us have taken to using thin liquid glue(widely held Tamiya is the best) over the gel tube type(though that stuff is still handy for some jobs!) The Testors liquid glue is good too ,I've gone through a bottle since being back, but I like the Tamiya better. Speaking of Tamiya, you guys we're talking about using thier thinner, and talk about brand recognition-it's virtually nothing but isopropl alcohol(with a tiny amount of retarder, I've read) Anyways a whole quart of alcohol is about $2 at any drugstore, and works great for thinning, airbrushing, and clean-up of Tamiya acrylics(which are unlike ANY other acylic out there except for Gunze Sangyo-which from what I gather is maybe the same ?) I have nearly all the Tamiya products I really like them, and thier thinner bottle is very handy to hold alcohol.(The Tamiya 'retarder' is just now becoming available finally too)(I'm told by my friends in the UK they cannot get  rubbing alcohol readily there, so some may be out of luck with that tip.          ~ Nathan, I know what you mean about Bose, they are good, but for the money....you could maybe do better. I know that at one time(1977! ) when my Father bought a pair of Bose 901's(the sound cones in the rear,walnut cabinets,remember them?) they we're state-of -the -art. (They did sound AWSOME)   Just like Bose, Testors has tried to keep up, and still makes  very servicable gear., but you will have to try lots of others and just decide for yourself. 

~~ oh for putty, the Squadron works for some jobs fine but is kinda crap too. The real tip for putty(besides never needing it  ) is look to automotive repair suppliers for the 3M spot(green) & glazing(blue tube)putties.  (about $20 but will last the rest of your years prolly !)

Best of Fortune to you ~

INDY wrote:

Speaking of Tamiya, you guys we're talking about using thier thinner, and talk about brand recognition-it's virtually nothing but isopropl alcohol(with a tiny amount of retarder, I've read) Anyways a whole quart of alcohol is about $2 at any drugstore, and works great for thinning, airbrushing, and clean-up of Tamiya acrylics(which are unlike ANY other acylic out there except for Gunze Sangyo-which from what I gather is maybe the same ?) I

Well, the reason I suggested starting off with Tamiya thinner is because Nathan is unfamiliar with the paints. Get a feel for how it works with the proprietary thinner before looking at alternatives. Certainly Tamiya thinner is mostly Isopropyl alcohol, but that's not all it is. So it will behave differently.

Indy, you may be familiar enough with the paint and its properties to use an alternative thinner and know how it's going to behave and will know how to compensate for differences in said behaviour. Likewise, I often use ethyl alcohol with Taimya acrylics - I know how it will behave and how to compensate for any issues which might arise. Yeah, I know it's not rocket science, but in Nathan's case, being unfamiliar with the product, Tamiya's own thinner is about as "idiot proof" (no offense intended, Nathan ) as it gets - it just works. 

Here in Australia, Isopropyl alcohol is not very common, and can be just as expensive (or nearly so) as Tamiya thinner.

It's often been speculated that Tamiya and Gunze acrylics come out of the same factory. I don't believe this is the case. They are similar, but I believe Gunze's paints contain a latex-like co-polymer - I haven't noticed any indication of this with Tamiya's paints.

I may be new to this modeling stuff but I'm not so crazy about the tamiya acrylic paints. With the airbrush they work great but with the brush not so great. If you recoat something before its completely dry, I get what looks like paint removal spots. I have switched to some model master acrylic. The color's that i used worked better for me.

bob

Thanks for the conversation, gentlemen.  I like hearing about your experiences and the different products you have used.  At least I am on the right track.  Getting back into the hobby was a bit overwhelming at first.  But, now that I've immersed myself in magazines, books, and forums, I'm starting to get a good idea of the general modeling process.

Today, I received my last package of stuff, so I should be able to finally complete my first model since returning to the hobby.  Each time I started a new step in the process, I had to order something else!  I hate not having a LHS near me.

Oh, and thanks for the link, Hawkeye.  I've been poking around your site the last couple weeks.  I'll be sure to come to you when I do my first NMF aircraft.