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Testor's paint


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The AMT spray can dates back to the early Sixties.  The Testors bottle pictured is more likely from the Seventies, though Testors paints go back way further than that.

The AMT lacquer might still be usable, if it is a metallic and still has propellant in the can.  The solid colors usually aren't usable as they have settled, no amount of shaking will bring them back it seems.  An AMT can was on eBay the other day, with a couple of hours left to go it was somewhere around $88.  I guess a couple of knuckleheads locked horns over it...

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I purchased a bottle of Pactra metallic  Blue in 1976 for 35 cents. ( it was stamped on the bottle lid so I can never forget the price )

In 2016 I gave several paint bottles ( and a few kits ) to a neighbor's 10 year old son, including the STILL USABLE 1/4  bottle of metallic  Blue.

40 years old and still paintable!

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36 minutes ago, pack rat said:

Some more oldies.

The AMT brush paint bottles shown were plastic.  The last pic shows what can happen if you top them up with lacquer thinner in an attempt to make the semi-solid goo usable (no, it didn't work).  

v oldies 1.JPG

v oldies 2.JPG

v oldies 3.JPG

That’s cool! The last pic.... is the lid screwed on crooked or is it the glass bottle. Never knew AMT had paint. I love the color description.... Violet Fireflake & Green Fireflake.  I assume they’re metallic colors.

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I think I still have Testor bottles marked 10c, 11c, 12c, 13c, and 15c. For some reason, they skipped right over 14c. :wacko: I think they were 15 cents for quite a while through the late '60s. 

I have some Pactra paints of similar vintage, too. And some of this paint is still usable. :blink:

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Pactra "Hot Rod Primer" is a colour I miss to this day. Perfect for Tires, Trim, and so many other things. When Pactra went away, there was some bilge from the company that bought them (Testors??) that they would bring out a similar colour. It never happened as far as I recall.

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49 minutes ago, stavanzer said:

Pactra "Hot Rod Primer" is a colour I miss to this day. Perfect for Tires, Trim, and so many other things. When Pactra went away, there was some bilge from the company that bought them (Testors??) that they would bring out a similar colour. It never happened as far as I recall.

Never used it but have heard many good things about it over the years. For a while, Walmart's cheap Flat Black Primer was kind of in the same ballpark, I think--a very, VERY dark gray, "not quite" black. 

I REALLY miss Pactra's Flat Aluminum and Flat Steel, especially the former. Yah, I know Testor has "flat aluminum" and "flat steel" but they're not even close to the wonderful old Pactra stuff. 

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7 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I REALLY miss Pactra's Flat Aluminum and Flat Steel, especially the former. Yah, I know Testor has "flat aluminum" and "flat steel" but they're not even close to the wonderful old Pactra stuff. 

You said it! Those were great paints too, and they have never been replaced.

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On 8/15/2022 at 11:00 PM, GLMFAA1 said:

Professor Peabody set the way back machine for the 60's and brought back this gem:

P1060702.JPG.cd8a2e11314dcc375959e341b3d981dd.JPG

Yep, that's 28 pennies.

greg

 

That price, sounds more 70’s than 60’s to me. I thought they went for about 15 cents a bottle in the mid-to-late 60’s? It’s been a long time, so I may be wrong about that. 

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3 minutes ago, unclescott58 said:

That price, sounds more 70’s than 60’s to me. I thought they went for about 15 cents a bottle in the mid-to-late 60’s? It’s been a long time, so I may be wrong about that. 

From reading from what other have to say, my memory isn’t as bad as I thought. 15 cents in the mid-to-late 60’s seems to be right. 

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