Beginner paint question

[phish]

Hey everyone-

I just got back into the hobby that I used to enjoy as a kid. Picked up a few 1/25 car sets on clearance at my local hobby store and found that decision to be easy. However, I was completely overwhelmed by paint choices. I have a paasche model H and plan to spray most of the parts with that, aside from small details. I've watched a few videos and done some reading on the forum but I'm overwhelmed by the info. I want to be as frugal as possible with my paint choices for now and would like something airbrushable... which leads me to my broad and probably controversial questions:

1) What's the "go to" brand these days?

2) acrylic or enamel... or both?

3) most cost effective way and place to purchase?

Edited February 14, 2018 by phish

[Ace-Garageguy]

If I were you, I'd take Steve Guthmiller's recommendations. He consistently produces first-rate work.

Paging Steve...

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

If I were you, I'd take Steve Guthmiller's recommendations. He consistently produces first-rate work.

Paging Steve...

You probably don't want my recommendations for just starting out & you want to be frugal.

I'm anything but frugal with my paint, using upwards of a dozen coats of primer, paint & clear on my bodies.

Besides that, I use virtually no acrylics or enamels on my bodies in favor of lacquers, & to top it off, I usually use fairly expensive colors from sources like MCW.

I use a few enamels for interior work, & even fewer acrylics, mostly for detailing on occasion.

 

Steve

Edited February 15, 2018 by StevenGuthmiller

[phish]

Perhaps I'll just start with the testor enamels and do the 1:1 with cheap thinner as donn yost recommends. There just doesn't seem to be a great "one topic says it all" post on paint including price, results and technique. 

Edited February 15, 2018 by phish

[StevenGuthmiller]

47 minutes ago, phish said:

Perhaps I'll just start with the testor enamels and do the 1:1 with cheap thinner as donn yost recommends. There just doesn't seem to be a great "one topic says it all" post on paint including price, results and technique. 

If you're going to try enamels, my personal recommendation would be to use flat Testors enamels.

I used to do it this way with pretty fair results.

You can mix your own colors & thin it with lacquer thinner for faster curing times & then use one of the Testors Lacquer clear coats to make it shine.

Flat paints will lay down much nicer & dry faster giving you less chance of orange peel, runs & sags.

It works pretty well to do it this way.

After the clear is applied, let it cure for a few days & then polish & you can achieve a pretty nice paint job with little fuss.

This 1953 Ford was painted using this technique.

 

Steve

 

[JollySipper]

Since you're wanting to use an air brush, I don't know that this will be much help, but the auto parts stores carry DupliColor touch up paints..... I use the stuff almost exclusively and get fair results. Only bad thing is it kinda limits color choices. They make several primers, (I use black sandable for almost everything), then you use the Perfect Match cans for color and clear with the Perfect Match clear...... That's how I painted this model...... The clear can be polished after it's dried for a couple days......

Hope this is some help.............

[phish]

Would this technique (using flats+clear) also work well for smaller peices such as engine/ suspension?

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, phish said:

Would this technique (using flats+clear) also work well for smaller peices such as engine/ suspension?

Absolutely!

As a matter of fact, I still do most of my engine & chassis parts this way, occasionally mixing in a few lacquers.

This 440 was painted with a custom mix of flat Testors paints & clear coated with Testors lacquer.

The black parts were done the same way except I used Duplicolor black primer as a base color.

The metal parts were all shot with various colors from Alclad.

 

Steve

 

[bauercrew]

Hey there  you just have to find out whats works, i by no means am a paint guy ,but i DO believe what steve says about using flat paints ,,thats exactly what id do with the exception i use strickly the cheap acrylics that i get from micheals craft  ,something like 80 cents a bottle, it took me about a couple weeks to figure out the mixture but i just kept on righting things down and finally found that MAGIC ratio and the right medium,once done with color i hit it with a few coats of duplicolor clear ,let it dry in the dehydrator for 2 days ,then color sand it ,,,to me thats when the color comes out is when color sanding,,may be a few more steps than some others use ,but thats what works for me,,a big PLUS is i no longer have to deal with ALL the fumes,and that made everyone in house HAPPY,, If you feel like it do a search on here and everything i posted IS the cheap acrylic craft paint jobs

[Snake45]

Congrats on having a Paasche H--that's a GREAT airbrush for model car work. Don't let anyone talk you into anything more complicated/expensive. What's your air source if you don't mind my asking? 

The best paint FOR YOU is the stuff you have easiest access to. All I can get locally is Testor/Model Master but that's okay because I'm very comfortable with airbrushing enamels. 

I use basically the Don Yost method (although I believe I started doing it about 15 years before he did, and I'm sure I wasn't the first). Enamel cut 1:1 (sometimes even more) with cheap generic lacquer thinner. Lotta coats built up thin, with extra on sharp edges for polishing insurance. Clearcoat if necessary (I try to get by without it if possible, but sometimes you HAVE to). Color-sand and polish. 

You'll get the hang of it, if you stick with it a while.