You can kiss testors goodbye!

[1972coronet]

I've got jars of Tamiya and Gunze-Sangyo that're more than 20 years old, and are still just as good as they day I opened them. Heck, I've got one jar of Tamiya Clear Red that's 37 years old, and a jar of Gunze Clear Orange that's the same; bought on the same day in summer 1985. 

Then there's Testors...

Lucky to get a year out of them before they dry-out or clump-up -- stored the same as the aforementioned paints. 

Testors was good paint back in the day. I used theirs and Pactra's until I discovered Tamiya and Gunze. At first, it was a question of price (teenager on a budget) and accessibility (not everyone carried Japanese-manufactured products in the 80's and 90's)... Then it hit me: dollars-ahead by purchasing quality paints and products!

By c.1997, Testors quality had diminished. Not sure if it was merely a California thing (EPA, CARB, et al.), or if it was a nationwide deal, but the paints were spotty at best, quality-wise, by then. I'd prep & paint the same way as I'd been doing for 10 years prior -- lay down colour coats, and wait... and wait... and wait... WEEKS before the Testors stuff flashed enough to colour sand and polish! 

I knew a guy who'd painted a Monogram 1971 Hemi 'Cuda with Testors Panther Pink, then got busy with life: married, moved away, did a stint in prison, reformed, moved back home... and that Testors paint was still tacky to the touch.

[customline]

3 hours ago, Dpate said:

Word! That's all i  use really is MCW, Scale finishes, tamiya, mr color, and some others.  I actually own a can of testors that i got cheap but never used lol.

It's probably stuck to the shelf 😕 

Edited May 2, 2022 by customline
Added pic

[deuces wild]

Same problem I have with a couple of cans of Daytona yellow.....

[Rodent]

Yes, the lacquer cans seem to die like that. I have 35+ year old enamels that are fine.

[peteski]

16 minutes ago, Rodent said:

Yes, the lacquer cans seem to die like that. I have 35+ year old enamels that are fine.

I think the problem is not what type of paint is in the can, but how well the can is made (sealed) at the factory.

Back in the day, quality control was likely tighter than it is now.

Edited May 3, 2022 by peteski

[Rodent]

Just now, peteski said:

I think the problem is not what type of paint is in the can, but how well the can is made (sealed) at the factory.

Agreed, but just maybe. I have had 15+ lacquer cans fail and one enamel. It may just be when the cans were made, IDK. Like many of us, I used to like the OEM color line and stupidly bought too many just to hoard.

[Sandboarder]

1 hour ago, Rodent said:

Agreed, but just maybe. I have had 15+ lacquer cans fail and one enamel. It may just be when the cans were made, IDK. Like many of us, I used to like the OEM color line and stupidly bought too many just to hoard.

I’ve probably got 40+ lacquer cans that have been stored long term. Never had one fail. I’ve only ever owned 5 cans of enamel and 2 have failed. 
 

My Lacquer cans are older then the Enamel’s I’ve purchased and they have been stored exactly the same way so I think @peteski is right the the quality control and can manufacturing idea. 

[niteowl7710]

I saw this video "news" posted elsewhere and when I commented on it the comments got turned off...😄

While I will say I don't see a single price increase currently in effect either at the retail or distribution level based on lists available this morning, does it really surprise anyone that they're coming? The raw material price to make paint had started to rise pre-pandemic and the resulting 18 months of chaos certainly did nothing to solve that problem.

My problem is with this guy's maths...First off all on a distribution level you can't buy those little jars individually, they only comes as a six pack and the price is listed as such. As pointed out 46% isn't doubling, and based on the current pricing that increase would make the price $3.79 - at MSRP. That's the other problem I have with this type of scare for clicks content. It's MSRP...nobody pays MSRP, and only Hobby Lobby and HobbyTownUSA seem to have the gal to price things that high. 

I'm not necessarily sure I believe Rustoluem is trying to kill off Testors by any means. But the customer base who uses it constantly shrinks as there just aren't that many people loyal to enamel paint (outside of specific color match stuff like MCW/Scale Finishes) like there was 35-40 years ago and other (better) paint has established footholds into hobby shops for decades. But anytime a volume business- in this case breaking down a quart of paint into dozens of little bottles and then charging 1/5 quart price for a few ounces of it - suffers a loss of volume sales it makes it more and more expensive to keep the product out there. 

Edited May 3, 2022 by niteowl7710

[espo]

Regarding the issue of leaking Testors and Model Master spray cans. The integrity of their spray cans has been an issue for some time. I have had to dump more than a few that the can had leaked. In the last year we relocated, and I had to pack up all of my paints during the move. I had to do an additional purge of leaking cans at that time and moved only the ones that showed no sign of leakage. We have been here for 13 months, and I already have more of these can starting to leak.  While I'll mis many of the colors that I liked using.  I don't foresee ever buying their pants in the future as the containers seem to leak before I can ever use them.   

[jaymcminn]

Meh, Testors was dead to me when they dropped MM acrylics and metalizers. The MM spray lacquers were okay and had some great colors but between the terrible nozzles and high failure rate of the cans I stopped using them many years ago. 

[DanL]

Seems like all companies have decided to use the Covid event ( Social Instability) to gouge the consumer and wildly increase their prices and now we are seeing the reports coming out of all the record profits they are generating. Rustoleum has bought up it's competition and will charge whatever they like and we have little choice. The competition that's left will also increase prices because for them that is the smart thing to do... this is a serious world problem and not just a hobbyists headache

[peteski]

3 hours ago, DanL said:

Seems like all companies have decided to use the Covid event ( Social Instability) to gouge the consumer and wildly increase their prices and now we are seeing the reports coming out of all the record profits they are generating. Rustoleum has bought up it's competition and will charge whatever they like and we have little choice. The competition that's left will also increase prices because for them that is the smart thing to do... this is a serious world problem and not just a hobbyists headache

Are you implying that RPM bought out Testors within the last few (COVID) years?!  That would be totally inaccurate.  RPM owned Testors, Floquil and many other  brands for many years before COVID.  Your view is a huge and very inaccurate generalization of the current world situation, but getting deeper into this goes well beyond what we discuss on this forum,

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 hours ago, DanL said:

Seems like all companies have decided to use the Covid event (social Instability) to gouge the consumer and wildly increase their prices and now we are seeing the reports coming out of all the record profits they are generating...this is a serious world problem and not just a hobbyists headache

 

4 hours ago, peteski said:

 Your view is a (somewhat) inaccurate generalization of the current world situation, but getting deeper into this goes well beyond what we discuss on this forum.

You're both right, as far as we're allowed to go on this forum.

But "supply chain disruptions due to (insert blame here)" has become the universal global equivalent of "the dog ate my homework".

As an independent business owner who depends on many outside suppliers to continue making my own livelihood, I'm tired of seeing supposedly competent adults constantly pointing fingers, passing the buck, and making excuses, while many companies post record earnings.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[peteski]

4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

But "supply chain disruptions due to (insert blame here)" has become the universal global equivalent of "the dog ate my homework".

My point was not to specifically (and only) blame RPM.  They don't make all their paint making ingredients in-house - everybody down the chain of suppliers RPM utilizes has jacked up their prices.  RPM just passes those  increases to the consumer, while also making their own profits.

Plus he seemed to imply that RPM bought Testors during the pandemic just to jack up the prices. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

27 minutes ago, peteski said:

...he seemed to imply that RPM bought Testors during the pandemic just to jack up the prices. 

I didn't read it that way.

[bluenote]

Tamiya enamels are an excellent replacement for Testors.  Up to now, they were only available in Asia.  We now have them across Canada as of last year.  Not sure if they plan on bringing them to the US, but they are definately worth importing.  They do not dry out, they brush on perfectly.  They have about 80 colours I believe.  The jars are almost exactly like Testors, but much nicer in my opinion.  And they have that nice, enamel smell!

 

 

[Michael Bentt]

Quote

So interesting that there are people here who have inside knowledge of Testors prices are going up! Why not share this vital information and end the specullation? I am sure that is not beyond the scope of what can be discussed here if it can be verified.

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

It's a pretty simple thing.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it.

It's a completely useless and futile exercise to go through the contortions of trying to exact blame on someone.

It won't change a thing.

 

 

 

Steve

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I didn't read it that way.

Well, we are all individuals and interpret things differently.  Here is the sentence in question

13 hours ago, DanL said:

Rustoleum has bought up it's competition and will charge whatever they like and we have little choice.

To me "we [the modelers] have little choice" seems to imply that RPM bought out all the the competitors (hobby paint). and now they can charge whatever they feel like.

But whatever . . . Steve has the right idea.  If we don't like it, we just shouldn't put up our money for it.

 

 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

44 minutes ago, peteski said:

...To me "we [the modelers] have little choice" seems to imply that RPM bought out all the the competitors (hobby paint). and now they can charge whatever they feel like...

Yes, he said that. And he's right.

Buy the competition, charge whatever the market will bear. If it happened to be something more important than paint, somebody would be ranting about monopolies, and maybe the fed would look into it.

But he didn't say when Rusto bought out their competition.

Yes, he mentioned the period involving the Covid idiocy, though I still disagree that there's any "implication" that Covid and the purchase(s) by Rusto happened within the same time frame...but the comment isn't carefully structured and an "implication" could be read into it.

Still, mentioning two disparate events in the same paragraph doesn't necessarily make them temporally related. That assumption is made by the reader.

But thanks for the condescending English lesson, in any case.  

Edited May 4, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[martinfan5]

12 hours ago, peteski said:

Are you implying that RPM bought out Testors within the last few (COVID) years?!  That would be totally inaccurate.  RPM owned Testors, Floquil and many other  brands for many years before COVID.  Your view is a huge and very inaccurate generalization of the current world situation, but getting deeper into this goes well beyond what we discuss on this forum,

It was early 80's, I want say like '84 when RPM Bought Testors.

[Dpate]

6 hours ago, bluenote said:

Tamiya enamels are an excellent replacement for Testors.  Up to now, they were only available in Asia.  We now have them across Canada as of last year.  Not sure if they plan on bringing them to the US, but they are definately worth importing.  They do not dry out, they brush on perfectly.  They have about 80 colours I believe.  The jars are almost exactly like Testors, but much nicer in my opinion.  And they have that nice, enamel smell!

 

 

I have a few bottles of those.  Semi gloss black, chrome silver, etc

[1972coronet]

52 minutes ago, Dpate said:

I have a few bottles of those.  Semi gloss black, chrome silver, etc

Where did you purchase them? It would seem that they're not available in not only California , but the U.S. as well (according to Tamiya's website).
Please give a name and/or a link.
Thanks. 

[JET.]

I was at Canadian Tire today and all the dupli-color spray paint is over 20$ a can now.. used to be like  $9 -12 a few weeks a ago

[Can-Con]

28 minutes ago, JET. said:

I was at Canadian Tire today and all the dupli-color spray paint is over 20$ a can now.. used to be like  $9 -12 a few weeks a ago

Got a couple cans the first week of March, it was over $20 then.