Paint :A Rant? Maybe, Maybe Not

Could everyone agree on one brand of car?  Everuone agree on a single TV network to watch?  A single genre of music to listen to?  Why do we need so many brands of model kits?

Enamels are still widely available (Humbrol, Colourcoats, Xtracolor, True North), and they can all be thinned with mineral spirits. They're still easy to use, spray nicely, and are pretty much foolproof.

Tanker-Builder

Then some D#%$@ politician decides that these are toxic to tykes so we must stop and go to Acrylics. Well, guess what? They are just as dangerous when ingested, So, why couldn't they leave well enough alone?

Who did this?  Modelmaster enamels have been on the market until just last year.  No politician banned them.  Rustoleum (or whoever owns Testors nowadays) came to the conclusion that they weren't making enough money and discontinued the line.  No one has banned enamel paints.  Humbrol still sells them in North America. Tamiya still sells lacquer spray paints, I'm sure they are just as toxic or more than enamels.

The buying public dictates what is popular.  I would guess more people are happy with acrylics, thus why you may see more acrylic paint on the market.

Anyway, choice is good!  There has never been a better time for paint selection for our hobby then right now.  

The way I see it is that paint is no different than anything else we use in this hobby.  Everybody has their own individual preferences and through experimentation, they learn what works best for them...and what works best for them may not work so well for the next guy.

So far, the only acrylics I have come across that I absolutely hated were the Model Master Acryl paints and the new GSI Acrysion paints.  My favorite paints now are the acrylic lacquers that MRP makes.  They spray amazingly well, right out of the bottle, and the full cure time is minutes instead of hours, days, or weeks.  I'm finding those to be a suitable replacement for the Model Master enamels that I loved so much.  Loved the ease of use, but not all that crazy about being able to still burn into the paint with fingerprints two weeks after painting something with them.

On the subject of thinners for enamel.  I used to collect used Airpath AP1000 compass fluid from when I would do compass overhauls.  It made a great brush cleaner.  Didn't use it for painting though due to being old and discolored, but the new stuff I was replacing it with would have worked great for that.

I think it's awesome we have so many choices.  I like airbrushing Tamiya and MRP.  I like detail painting with Model Master enamels and occasionally Vallejo model color.  If down the road I discover something that gives me better results I have the luxury of switching. It's a good thing there are dozens of "engine grime" and dozens of ways to put it on.

bluenote

 

 

Tanker-Builder

Then some D#%$@ politician decides that these are toxic to tykes so we must stop and go to Acrylics. Well, guess what? They are just as dangerous when ingested, So, why couldn't they leave well enough alone?

 

 

 

Who did this?  Modelmaster enamels have been on the market until just last year.  No politician banned them.  Rustoleum (or whoever owns Testors nowadays) came to the conclusion that they weren't making enough money and discontinued the line.  No one has banned enamel paints.  Humbrol still sells them in North America. Tamiya still sells lacquer spray paints, I'm sure they are just as toxic or more than enamels.

The buying public dictates what is popular.  I would guess more people are happy with acrylics, thus why you may see more acrylic paint on the market.

Anyway, choice is good!  There has never been a better time for paint selection for our hobby then right now.  

 

 

Testors has not dropped enamels.  All they have done is greatly reduced and re-oriented the size of the MM line.  I suspect the color names were too specific and confused a lot of hobbyists using Testors enamel for non modeling purposes.  Also, they seem to be concentrating a lot on model car paints.  And they are still putting out new colors of enamel paints, although they do seem to be putting out more new colors in their acrylic lines.  I suspect it is a demand thing.  Although I still love and use enamels and lacquers, I have many modeling friends that will not use anything that smells.

If only we had a forum here, specifically for talking about paints and related products!

Yeah! a products info Forum:

      Hey I gotta tell you. I had to pick up two bottles of Tamiya Acrylic yesterday and got to use it before the day was over. I have been using it to touch up my paper ship models. Why? Well it turns out it is a perfect match for most of the printed colors and the White covers the little black lines on the outside of folds with one coat.

      I am beginning to really like this stuff and a small bottle of Windex and some Lacquer thinner have proven to me it is simpler than it was.The Retarder lets it flow like a regular Pactra type paint!