Question for the modeling historians

[Monty]

Today I got to thinking back on my childhood in a small town, which, despite its size, had a number of places that sold model paints, primarily Testors and Pactra enamels.  

Over time, I found I preferred Pactra's products over Testors, but somehow Testors ended up being the last man standing and Pactra paints became hard to find. 

I know Testors has their own line of enamels covering almost every color, but there were some Pactra paints I still miss. 

Just curious if anyone has any background on how Testors happened to come out on top.  

   

[Straightliner59]

As Pactra's time was nearing an end, it was purchased by RPM, Testors' parent company, that much I do know. I was working at a hobby distributor, at that time.

[StevenGuthmiller]

12 minutes ago, Straightliner59 said:

As Pactra's time was nearing an end, it was purchased by RPM, Testors' parent company, that much I do know. I was working at a hobby distributor, at that time.

And that's that.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Khils]

18 minutes ago, Straightliner59 said:

RPM, Testors' parent company,

Sure wish RPM,Testors.....would produce Pactra's original "Hotrod primer"     ....really miss that !!

Edited April 30, 2020 by Khils

[mk11]

...And definitely their silver brush paint !

Edited April 30, 2020 by mk11

[1930fordpickup]

I would think that testors came out on top because they were in all of the bigger stores as well as the hobby stores and hardware stores. I do not recall seeing Pactra around here at all when I was growing up. 

[1930fordpickup]

http://www.hobbylinc.com/Pactra-Hobby-and-Model-Paint Is this current? 

[Monty]

32 minutes ago, Straightliner59 said:

As Pactra's time was nearing an end, it was purchased by RPM, Testors' parent company, that much I do know. I was working at a hobby distributor, at that time.

Can you elaborate on why Pactra's time was coming to an end?  That's what I'm really curious about.  

Edited April 30, 2020 by Monty

[Monty]

2 minutes ago, 1930fordpickup said:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/Pactra-Hobby-and-Model-Paint Is this current? 

I think those are paints made specifically for RC bodies.  My question was more about the enamels (and lacquers?) made for styrene models.  

[1930fordpickup]

I had no idea they still used that name.  I was just a search to check  for dates. LOL 

[Monty]

16 minutes ago, Khils said:

Sure wish RPM,Testors.....would produce Pactra's original "Hotrod primer"     ....really miss that !!

Awesome stuff.  Also miss their Mandarin Red.

[unclescott58]

Since discovering Tamiya paint, I miss neither Pactra's or Testors' paint. Though I do find Testors' lacquer spray paint pretty good. Enamel it seems, no matter who makes it, to me is junk. Compared to using mordern acrylics and lacquers. I don't miss the brush marks enamel use to give me in my brush paint jobs. Or things like orange peel in my enamel spray jobs. I also do not miss cleaning my paint brushes with smelly brush cleaners or paint thinners when using enamels. Acrylics clean up with water. That is so much nicer. 

And I love modern hobby lacquer spray paints. I'm getting my best paint jobs ever using Tamiya and Testors lacquer paints. I remember all the hassles of trying to get good spray paint jobs from enamels. Heating up the cans. Putting the model a food dehydrator for 24 hours before painting the next coat. And still getting orange peal or other flaws. Everybody still tell you to heat up the cans of any spray paint. Including lacquer. But, over my years of using lacquer, I've even been doing that less and less. I haven't seen any real need to do it with lacquers. And I can only remember plugging in my food dehydrator once in the last year. And again that was to dry some enamel paint. Not lacquer. Lacquer dries by itself, to where you can shot a second coat if necessary in a matter of a couple hours. Rather than the 24 required with most hobby enamels. 

Also I use to buy enamel spray paint (read Testors), because it was cheaper than lacquer (read Tamiya). But in the long run it wasn't. Several times using the cheap enamel, I'd end up having to strip the paint off and start new again because of some flaw. Since switching to the modern, more expensive lacquers, I don't think I've had to strip one new paint job I've put on. So the the expensive lacquer is really saving me in the long run. And eliminating a lot of worries and frustrations. 

Nostalgia is a hobby of mine. Sometimes I have fond memories of old things that were not really all that great. Old paints is not one of those things. I have very few, if any, memories of using paint in the past that is all that good.

[Straightliner59]

9 hours ago, Monty said:

Can you elaborate on why Pactra's time was coming to an end?  That's what I'm really curious about.  

That, I don't know. Pactra and Plasti-cote were under the same umbrella, too.

I have tons of old Testors and Pactra paint. Most of it is still good, even after sitting four four years in a non-climate-controlled environment. Much of that paint is over thirty years old. I'll  use it, as long as it works!

[Snake45]

I too miss the Pactra paints, both the rattlecans and the little bottles. I also miss the old AMT rattlecan lacquers, although some colors now have usable substitutes in the Testor lacquer line. 

[Tom Geiger]

And now Testors is owned by Rustoleum who has been cutting back the line. Makes sense to me, they can use the same plant and equipment to produce the larger Rustoleum cans that they can place in every Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s... you get it.