Paint for brushing and parts

[LittleDrummerBoy Aka LDB]

Hi All,
 

 I havent built a model in a year or two and havent done any cars since I was a kid. I have a lot of the small bottles of testors paint. I am having trouble getting flat black to cover. Do I need to primer all parts before painting them? Will this help my covering problems? I would also like to hear what (brand) and how everyone else is using them. A guy I watch on youtube uses Zero brand paint with good results. I have looked into these and can get them here in the Us. However they are a little expensive (dont mind paying for quality). I have a large amount of Vallejo acrylic paints at my disposal I could use as well but never heard of anyone using them on model cars. I also have lots of createx wicked paints for airbrushing. I know there a lot of questions in this post, just want to explain where I am and what products I already have. I want to get the best results possible and If i can do that without buying more paint that would be great. Any information or recomendations are welcome.

[Ace-Garageguy]

If you have a lot of little bottles of Testors and an airbrush, which is what I understand from reading your post, you might look into Donn Yost's method of thinning Testors enamels with lacquer thinner for airbrushing.

I have no experience with it myself, but his results are first-rate and speak for themselves.

[Snake45]

If you have a lot of little bottles of Testors and an airbrush, which is what I understand from reading your post, you might look into Donn Yost's method of thinning Testors enamels with lacquer thinner for airbrushing.

I have no experience with it myself, but his results are first-rate and speak for themselves.

I've been thinning Testor enamels with lacquer thinner and airbrushing them since at least the '80s, maybe even back into the '70s (on airplanes), I don't remember. I've been using Don Yost's method, essentially, this whole time and I'm not surprised he gets good results because I do too.

I've discovered that I can get an even smoother finish, requiring less polishing out (in some cases, almost NONE) by thinning with naphtha instead of lacquer thinner, but this method has one big downside: Paint thinned with naphtha will start turning into Jello in about a week and can't be brought back, so you never want to thin more than you're actually going to airbrush in the next day or two. OTOH I've had paint I thinned with lacquer thinner remain usable for years, even decades.

[Jhedir6]

Hi All,
 

 I havent built a model in a year or two and havent done any cars since I was a kid. I have a lot of the small bottles of testors paint. I am having trouble getting flat black to cover. Do I need to primer all parts before painting them? Will this help my covering problems? I would also like to hear what (brand) and how everyone else is using them. A guy I watch on youtube uses Zero brand paint with good results. I have looked into these and can get them here in the Us. However they are a little expensive (dont mind paying for quality). I have a large amount of Vallejo acrylic paints at my disposal I could use as well but never heard of anyone using them on model cars. I also have lots of createx wicked paints for airbrushing. I know there a lot of questions in this post, just want to explain where I am and what products I already have. I want to get the best results possible and If i can do that without buying more paint that would be great. Any information or recomendations are welcome.

I've actually started switching from Tamiya acrylics to Vallejo. I find Vallejo dry better and smoother than Tamiya's, only draw back is Vallejo doesnt have as many "car" colours as Tamiya, ie metallics, they do have some but not as many. But for things like black, flat black and silver I love the Vallejo now. I cant comment on Testor's enamels anymore as I stopped using them years ago because I was brushing them on and found they didnt lay down as flat as Tamiya's, and that was long before I got an airbrush. I do use the Testor Model Master acrylics too but not enamels. As for paint for bodies, I've been switching to Gravity Colors. Mate Mayer, has amazing service and they're adding new colours to their line almost weekly. But if you have Vallejo, use them, work great on cars. They have a flat black primer for airbrush and I use that for both spraying and brush on for things like belts and hoses, really good paints.

 

David

[LittleDrummerBoy Aka LDB]

I picked these up the other day for a dollar a piece at my secret hobby lobby outlet store. Good selection of metal colors, airbrush ready.

[berr13]

I had problems with Testors enamels, particularly flat black, but I found that the Testors line of acrylics worked MUCH better.  For a flat black I recommend the engine flat black and aircraft interior flat black.  Both, for me, cover very well, with few brush strokes, and they dry quickly.