Enamel or acrylic?

Enamel by far.

I prefer enamels as well. Especially for their durability. But acrylics are nice too, especially for their drying speed when you’re in a hurry. But I would say that the trend towards acrylics is caused mostly by many enamel lines being discontinued. 

Acrylic. 

T e d

Depends what I'm painting. Enamel for planes due to the ease of spraying, Acrylics for ships because of their ease of brushing when needed, but it's not a hard and fast rule.

mississippivol

'namel, with some detours towards lacquers...

 

Enamels when available,but use all three.

I use all three. I do like enamel on old car bodies. Sometimes lacquer still has it's place.  But I like acrylic for interiors and floor pans, especially the Liquitex Soft Body line of paints because they tend to come out looking fabric like, I imagine Cteatex would too or any of the fine art acrylics made to be flexible and sprayed on hard or soft materials. I also use craft paints quite a bit. Actually my wife is a genious with brushing craft acrylics, where I more spray them than brush them. She paints her ceramics with them then I clear coat with Liquitex varnish for her.

I think acrylics in an airbrush are harder to clean than enamel or lacquer though ( just my personal experience after decades of solvent based paints and 18 months of acrylic), at least to get everything out. Water clean up just sounds easy, in my experience it takes more than water.. While more stinky, Lacquer thinner swished around over a couple of applicartions pretty much gets the solvent based paints out. It seems like with acrylic there is always some little nook with a dab of paint that won't let go. Acrylic is stubborn stuff especially if it dried a little.

Both have their place.  Depends on the job.  Enamels are my goto- I have been using them for about seventy years.  Particularly for glossy finishes, a gloss enamel gives a realistic gloss look without a clearcoat.  Great for older factory stock car- heavy glosscoat does not look right on a forties or fifties car.

I find acrylics a bit harder to airbrush unless I add retarder.  Some brush okay some don't.  I think there is almost more variation from brand to brand than between acrylic or enamel.  And, then, there are the lacquers :-)

Acrylics. Easy clean up, no harsh odors. No harsh odors keeps the wife happy so I can just keep right on building to my hearts content. I don't care for the odors either and prefer easy water clean up.

O.K. Tickmagnet ;

 How do you deal with brushability issues without resorting to strange mixes ? Doc - T.B.

Okay ;

 Ya got me here . I prefer Enamel above all else .Why ? Well I have been building , personally and professionally for over 65 years. I just started with Enamels and have always preferred them .  Now I am , like so many other marketing things , Being Forced to use the darned Acrylics .I say to Heck with this trend . Gimme my well covering line of Myriad enamels back .And Lacquers for my model cars !  T.B.

I also use them all. Acrylics, lacquers, enamels.

Mostly acrylics due to drying time, lack of solvent-based fumes, and easy cleanup. But I agree with Steve and others above, they all have a place in my building.

My favorite smell though is good old enamel, though that is my least used.

Hah ! Testors Enamels takes me back to 1959 to my little Testors bottles and very first cans of spray paint. Model Master enamels flows a little nicer but doesn't smell much different.

I find MM acrylic and especially Tamiya acrylic to go on much like enamel when thinned with my own thinner blend. Enamel dries slightly more glossy though. Either one can be buffed up later on. All of those I spray with a .5 needle from my 45 yo Badger 200. I don't get the acrylic spatter patterns you see in some videos fwiw. They look more like enamel going on, at least those two brands anyway. Enamel flows out a bit nicer initially.

I use both and occassional lacquer.

Greg

I also use them all. Acrylics, lacquers, enamels.

Mostly acrylics due to drying time, lack of solvent-based fumes, and easy cleanup. But I agree with Steve and others above, they all have a place in my building.

My favorite smell though is good old enamel, though that is my least used.

 

I like the smell of lacquer better than enamel.  And, my favorite smell is the old cellulose airplane dope.  I think that is from my early days at airports.  My dad's idea of spending quality time with me was taking me to airports and letting me wander off while he hanger-flew with his buddies.  I didn't mind, and learned a lot about airplanes and airports.  Ah, those smells of dope an hydraulic fluid!

Acrylics like Vallejo hand brush very well on figures and small parts.

For air brushing nothing beats enamels for their ease of use and  durability. I can spray hair thin lines with my Badger Renegade Xtra  thin tip air brush for hours without having to worry about tip dry, paint splatter etc.

It’s definately a preference, you must experiment on which medium suits you.  I tend to use all three.  Acrylic and enamels for the interior/exterior.   And a spray of gloss lacquer before applying decals.

Mind you, I now have a apprentice at hand.  My grandson Ezra, so now I’ve been using a lot of acrylics.  No fumes and it’s ease of clean up.  My go to AB media is Vallejo Model Air.  No mixing needed as you can shoot it right out of the bottle.

I also use Model Master acrylic/enamel, depending on what needs to be covered.  Do what I have done, a little bit of acrylic, enamel, and lacquer as needed.  I’ve yet to try out Alclad, so this will be another experiment for me.  

Your friend, Toshi

I use Tamiya acrylic for airbrushing and brush painting.  I try to airbrush almost everything and Tamiya is perfect for the low fumes, ease of cleanup and how easy it is applied.  2 drops paint for 1 drop of Tamiya thinner and it sprays perfectly every time.

The colour selection is more than fine with me.  

I also use it for brushpainting details and small parts and with a drop of tamiya retarder it works perfectly.

For car and motorcycle bodies, I stick with Lacquer (Scalefinishes).

I only used to use Testors and Modelmaster but Modelmaster is continually discontinuing colours and the fumes when airbrushing were becoming a problem. 

bluenote

I only used to use Testors and Modelmaster but Modelmaster is continually discontinuing colours and the fumes when airbrushing were becoming a problem.  

Testors Model Master are only eliminating certain colors in their enamel line - not all of them.

Your fume problem can be solved if you invested in a spray booth.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

 

 

bluenote

I only used to use Testors and Modelmaster but Modelmaster is continually discontinuing colours and the fumes when airbrushing were becoming a problem.  

 

 

Testors Model Master are only eliminating certain colors in their enamel line - not all of them.

Your fume problem can be solved if you invested in a spray booth.

 

bluenote

 

 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

 

 

 

Testors Model Master are only eliminating certain colors in their enamel line - not all of them.

Your fume problem can be solved if you invested in a spray booth.

 

 

 

 

Model Master used to have close 300 or so enamel colours at the height of their popularity, they are now down to around 100 (with about 60 of those specific to cars).  I think its pretty clear they are getting out of the enamel business.  They discontinued half of their enamel line with the discontinuation of their Model Master II line (international military and figure).  

 

Yup, I can get a spray booth, but why bother if there's acrylic paints that don't smell and I can just spray at my desk?  Much easier for me.  Don't really have the room either for a spray booth.

 

To each their own, but I have no use for Modelmaster anymore.  There's just way too many better options for me now.  

 

I am wondering if Testors is really getting out of the enamel business.  While they have eliminated the military line, they have added colors to their general enamel color line.  Maybe they are just trying to bring in more crafts and non-military enthusiasts.

bluenote

 

 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

 

 

bluenote

I only used to use Testors and Modelmaster but Modelmaster is continually discontinuing colours and the fumes when airbrushing were becoming a problem.  

 

 

Testors Model Master are only eliminating certain colors in their enamel line - not all of them.

Your fume problem can be solved if you invested in a spray booth.

 

 

 

 

Model Master used to have close 300 or so enamel colours at the height of their popularity, they are now down to around 100 (with about 60 of those specific to cars).  I think its pretty clear they are getting out of the enamel business.  They discontinued half of their enamel line with the discontinuation of their Model Master II line (international military and figure).  

 

Yup, I can get a spray booth, but why bother if there's acrylic paints that don't smell and I can just spray at my desk?  Much easier for me.  Don't really have the room either for a spray booth.

 

To each their own, but I have no use for Modelmaster anymore.  There's just way too many better options for me now.  

 

Its not so much that Model Master discontinued their MMII line as that they consolidated both lines, and discontinued colors from both lines. And they also added new colors. They finally introduced enamel versions of their ship colors, as well as some various new international colors. And as stated above, they have expanded their small square bottle enamel line and more than doubled the old color selection there. 

I suspect that Testor enamels are not going away anytime soon.

stikpusher

 

 

bluenote

 

 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

 

 

bluenote

I only used to use Testors and Modelmaster but Modelmaster is continually discontinuing colours and the fumes when airbrushing were becoming a problem.  

 

 

Testors Model Master are only eliminating certain colors in their enamel line - not all of them.

Your fume problem can be solved if you invested in a spray booth.

 

 

 

 

Model Master used to have close 300 or so enamel colours at the height of their popularity, they are now down to around 100 (with about 60 of those specific to cars).  I think its pretty clear they are getting out of the enamel business.  They discontinued half of their enamel line with the discontinuation of their Model Master II line (international military and figure).  

 

Yup, I can get a spray booth, but why bother if there's acrylic paints that don't smell and I can just spray at my desk?  Much easier for me.  Don't really have the room either for a spray booth.

 

To each their own, but I have no use for Modelmaster anymore.  There's just way too many better options for me now.  

 

 

 

 

Its not so much that Model Master discontinued their MMII line as that they consolidated both lines, and discontinued colors from both lines. And they also added new colors. They finally introduced enamel versions of their ship colors, as well as some various new international colors. And as stated above, they have expanded their small square bottle enamel line and more than doubled the old color selection there. 

I suspect that Testor enamels are not going away anytime soon.

 

 

do you know any of the names of the new colours?  I’ve been checking in on testors website and it shows the same colours for years.  I can’t see anything new.

this is definately good news though, I didnt know they were adding any new colours

In the Model Master line, some of the new colors are German- Feldgrau (Olivgrau) RAL 6003, Olivgelb, the previous mentioned naval colors such as hull red, RN, USN, and DKM colors. In the little square bottle colors they have new colors such as pea soup, sunflower, honey, etc. They are named in crafty names, but of course have uses in our hobby.

stikpusher

In the Model Master line, some of the new colors are German- Feldgrau (Olivgrau) RAL 6003, Olivgelb, the previous mentioned naval colors such as hull red, RN, USN, and DKM colors. In the little square bottle colors they have new colors such as pea soup, sunflower, honey, etc. They are named in crafty names, but of course have uses in our hobby.

 

In the round bottles they have a couple of new metallic colors, and have brought back the semi-gloss black, which I really like.  I believe they used to call it black chrome, but the new semi-gloss black seems to have the same sheen as the old black chrome.

Don Stauffer

In the round bottles they have a couple of new metallic colors, and have brought back the semi-gloss black, which I really like.  I believe they used to call it black chrome, but the new semi-gloss black seems to have the same sheen as the old black chrome.

 

 

In the round bottle Model Master enamels they have Gloss Black and Classic Black. The local dealer told me the Classic has less gloss than the Gloss black fwiw. I have just the Gloss black, I have plenty of acrylics that can cover matt or satin blacks and anything in between so I  have not bought the Classic black to confirm. But the little bit I saw on the rim when I peaked in a jar did seem it would dry with less gloss than the full gloss.