model pricing

Hans von Hammer

Quit buying "Model Brand" thinners, Sparrow... You can get automotive-quality laquer thinners and enamel reducers at auto parts stores much cheaper per ounce than you can from a hobby shop...

Same with paints... Take your color chips up to the arts & crafts aisles and compare them to the paints there... .99 cents to 2.00 for three-ounce bottles of acrylics...  All you gotta do is get past the goofy "chick-nemaes" they put on the bottles, like "Mushroom" and "Moss", and you'll have Khaki Drab and Olive Drab...

more good tips !

Arrg... Should read, "Chick names", lol...

Yes, I agree, that was my failed attempt at sarcasm.  Hard to do on a computer.  This business (like many) seems to be seeing kit maker consolidation and termination, with that comes fewer players and higher prices, not to mention increased input costs.

Sparrowhyperion

Yes they have..  There is no reason for this recent increase.  No justification.  If I am now having to pay $30 for a kit that less than 6 months ago I could find for $10 or so, then YES the prices have gone up quite a bit.  I realize that most folks aren't living on less than $1k a month so it doesn't seem like as much I would imagine.  But for some of, we are slowly but surely being priced right out of model building.  I can't afford to pay $10 or more for a can of Testors Thinner.  Paint at $5 for a half ounce bottle which might last 2 kits if airbrushed or less if the kit is large.  And don't even get me started on resin.  $30 or so for six small cast resin pieces which aren't even properly cut off their cast blocks, and together make up two engine exhausts....

Yes, they have gone up a LOT.

 

Rich

 

Reasoned:

Come on guys, model prices haven't gone up that much.  We only have a 3.2% inflation rate, and oil... well who needs that anyway?  I mean, they can't possibly use it in styrene.  

 

I agree with the price of paint it is out of control I will go buy crylon or equal brand for the primer coat. And who is going to know if I dont use the color the model called for . One of the colors on the instructions called for black green well I did not have that color but I did have dark green. So I used it now it was on the wheels  of a stuka the wheels are half covered and the rear wheel was so small you could not tell. Or for example the cockpit called for black green will didnot have it so I used flat black now I do not all ways do this but if I have the color and it's close then I will use it.

I suppose I could try some auto thinners for enamel.  But I don't see a lot of enamel paints in local craft shops and I only use acrylics for washes and other weathering/detailing effects.  I'm always leery about using auto thinners on plastic.  Some of them are very aggressive and I don't want to melt down something I put like 40 hours work into.  I suppose I could pick up a few kinds and test them on some different plastics to see the results.

Hans von Hammer

Quit buying "Model Brand" thinners, Sparrow... You can get automotive-quality laquer thinners and enamel reducers at auto parts stores much cheaper per ounce than you can from a hobby shop...

Same with paints... Take your color chips up to the arts & crafts aisles and compare them to the paints there... .99 cents to 2.00 for three-ounce bottles of acrylics...  All you gotta do is get past the goofy "chick-names" they put on the bottles, like "Mushroom" and "Moss", and you'll have Khaki Drab and Olive Drab...

Sparrowhyperion

I suppose I could try some auto thinners for enamel.  But I don't see a lot of enamel paints in local craft shops and I only use acrylics for washes and other weathering/detailing effects.  I'm always leery about using auto thinners on plastic.  Some of them are very aggressive and I don't want to melt down something I put like 40 hours work into.  I suppose I could pick up a few kinds and test them on some different plastics to see the results.

 

 

I haven't tried it, and it doesn't harm cured enamels that I've been able to tell, but you may want to try Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner or similar art thinner to thin enamels. 

It's not as cheap as the hardware or auto store stuff, but it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than Testors/Tamiya/Gunze thinners.

Thanks for the info.  I'll see if I can find it locally to try it out.

DoogsATX

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

I suppose I could try some auto thinners for enamel.  But I don't see a lot of enamel paints in local craft shops and I only use acrylics for washes and other weathering/detailing effects.  I'm always leery about using auto thinners on plastic.  Some of them are very aggressive and I don't want to melt down something I put like 40 hours work into.  I suppose I could pick up a few kinds and test them on some different plastics to see the results.

 

 

 

 

I haven't tried it, and it doesn't harm cured enamels that I've been able to tell, but you may want to try Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner or similar art thinner to thin enamels. 

It's not as cheap as the hardware or auto store stuff, but it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than Testors/Tamiya/Gunze thinners.

I'm always leery about using auto thinners on plastic.  Some of them are very aggressive and I don't want to melt down something I put like 40 hours work into.

Don't worry about ENAMEL reducers (the trade-name for enamel thinner)... They won't attack the styrene.. It's LAQUER that will attack the styrene, and agressively.. However, laquers CAN be used on plastic models over an enamel-based primer, but it's not something I'd recommend anyone try without practice on several models that they don't care about... Any overspray on un-primed styrene will casue it to soften.. Best just to forget about using automotive laquers..  I used them years ago when I was building cars, simply because the color selection huge, and I was in an auto-body repair course and the primer & paint was "free"... I melted a few car bodies before I got the application process down right..

If you do pick up a laquer by accident though, you'll know immediately that you did as soon as you add it to your enamel paint.. The paint will almost instantly curdle in the mixing jar, so it'll never hit the model through your airbrush....

But I don't see a lot of enamel paints in local craft shops

Nope, and you won't.. However, some acrylics airbrush beautifully when reduced properly, and dry dead-flat... Which isn't always a good thing.. If you apply your base colors witha gloss paint, you can skip the clear gloss step for decaling... Just let the paint cure and start applying them... Then continue the weathering process with your washes, then flats, then dry-brush/pastels, etc.... Whatever you do..

Oils can be reduced as well as enamels, and applied with an airbrush, too... Tempera paints from the craft-stores make excellent sludge-washes, as well as allowing you take off any mistakes with a water-dampened paper towel... I use tempera paints for washes and stains almost exclusively, and dry tempera makes an excellent weathering powder... All you need in tempera paints is the basics-ie; Red, Blue, Yellow, White, and Black... With the primary colors, and the B & W aint, you make any shade you need if you're familiar with the Color Wheel, and can mix the primaries into second and tertiary colors, in which you'll find your browns and other "earth" tones...
 Here's a link to the google page for the color wheel..
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=tertiary+colors&aq=2&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=tertiary&oi=image_result_group&sa=X

I know it all sounds kinda tedious, but it's one way you can take back some control over how much you pay for paint...

Interesting and useful information, HVH. In my MRR days I used to use quite a bit of strange brews- house paint, poster paint, felt tips and the like. I mass produced a series of five big common standard Southern Pacific stations and had a gallon of yellow house paint mixed that was just the right color. Lasted me a while, in fact I still have some but it's shot.

I have decided tho that for models, it's too big a risk. Where I used to toss together a 1/32 P-40 in an afternoon, I now spend a month of evenings on a 1/72 model. Nothing ruins my day like a paint failure. So for me, I tend to get all new paint for an important model, a part of the cost of the kit. I guess building in 1/72 makes a difference. Size does make a difference in $$$, although it didn't in trains.

Thanks for the info Hans.  I wonder if they make a gloss OD...?  Lol  it would have saved me smelling nasty glosscoat fumes glosscoating my F9F and 2 P39s last night.  I hate laquer smell. lol

Definitely a big thanks to Hans for the paint news coverage.

Sparrowhyperion

Thanks for the info Hans.  I wonder if they make a gloss OD...? 

Don't quote me on this until I check my rattle-can supply, but I think it's Krylon "Moss" that's a good match for OD, or it maight have been for an RAF shade of Dark Green, can't remember... It's a semi-gloss, as is the Krylon "Earth", which doubles for another RAF color.  Semi-gloss is quite adequate for decaling...

Hope I helped a little... Just trying to save a few bucks (ok, a LOT), so I tend to experiment with a lot of different stuff.. That's why God makes Paint Hulks, lol...

We ought to start a letter writing campaign to get Krylon's manufacturer to list it's FS numbers. lol

Hans von Hammer

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

Thanks for the info Hans.  I wonder if they make a gloss OD...? 

 

 

Don't quote me on this until I check my rattle-can supply, but I think it's Krylon "Moss" that's a good match for OD, or it maight have been for an RAF shade of Dark Green, can't remember... It's a semi-gloss, as is the Krylon "Earth", which doubles for another RAF color.  Semi-gloss is quite adequate for decaling...

Hope I helped a little... Just trying to save a few bucks (ok, a LOT), so I tend to experiment with a lot of different stuff.. That's why God makes Paint Hulks, lol...