Testor's is No More

[Bainford]

3 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Their msrp is 5.95 for 1 oz bottle...maybe someone has a less expensive price for us "cheap-skates".

I would say that $5.95 for 1 oz. is cheap.

[kurth]

On 2/21/2021 at 3:38 PM, keyser said:

So what does FSM have to say about this? Big hit to railroaders, wing nuts, and everyone else. Ongoing for years but MM finally gone and the new lacquers a hit. Humbrol Revell etc just can’t do it. 
Other threads never mentioned rest of hobby needs, now that hobbies are back to some degree. 

I mostly build aircraft, so I guess you can consider me part of the FSM crowd. Back in 2012-2013 when it was pretty clear MM was no longer going to be a reliable source of colors, I started using lacquers.  Specifically Mr. Color Lacquers, as well as MRP lacquers. These two brands have all the aircraft, armour and basic colors covered, but  not things like correct engine colors. MCW has most engine colors.  If you already airbrush enamels, then there is no reason not to airbrush lacquer. In fact I found it to be much easier to airbrush, the paint is more forgiving, dries faster, and is easier to clean from the airbrush.  There are many alternatives for body colors, the aforementioned MCW, Splash Paints, Scale finishes, and others. 

For metallics, AK Extreme metal, and Alclad are great alternatives to metalizer, and  they are more durable, you can mask over them. 

The only problem is that these paints are not suitable for brush painting. I still have a hoard of MM for the parts I need to brush paint, but I started to run out of flat black. The new Revell enamel seems to brush well, and in the interest of trying alternatives I also have ordered some MCW enamel, but have not had a chance to try it. 

I have to order all my paints now, the last hobby store in my area closed years ago, so I was already used to ordering paint. 

The last official word I heard from RPM when I emailed and asked, was they have no plans to discontinue the Testors line, and it seems things like glue, square bottles, dullcote, Glosscote, ELO, et cetera are still available.  But there are alternatives to most of these products as well. 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by kurth

[Dave G.]

I remember when Testors bottles went from $.10 to $.15 thinking it was highway robbery.

By the way, I don't find MCW lacquer any easier to spray than Testors enamel. I can put down Testors and see myself in the finish when done, MCW still has a few hours of buffing to do. I never liked hot automotive acrylic lacquers for model cars, nitrocellulose lacquer is much shinier out of the airbrush, if it needs buffing at all it's a simple task and it's less likely to crack due to flexing of plastic parts. Non of those issues with enamels either.

MCW can keep their lacquers at $10 or more a bottle plus shipping. Might be great for flat finishes but model cars take too much after work once dried. I gave them a shot and don't like them at all for cars. For one thing when I mix my own lacquers I use a slower thinner than they do, I posted at FB a message asking them if I could get their automotive colors with the slower thinner they use in the military paints, no reply. I might try their enamels though.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Dave G.

[keyser]

Thanks Kurt. That's what I wanted to know, very helpful. 

[Rodent]

1 hour ago, Dave G. said:

I remember when Testors bottles went from $.10 to $.15 thinking it was highway robbery.

At 50 cents per week allowance that was a big ticket item for me as well. At 79 cents a spray bomb was more than a week's income!

[Dave G.]

5 minutes ago, Rodent said:

At 50 cents per week allowance that was a big ticket item for me as well. At 79 cents a spray bomb was more than a week's income!

Steve, you were rich !! My allowance was $.35. But then I got a paper route with 108 customers and I had multi whole dollars to work with ( mostly tip money) ! 

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, Dave G. said:

I remember when Testors bottles went from $.10 to $.15 thinking it was highway robbery.

They didn't do that all at once. Took a couple years. 

They went from .10 to .11, to .12, to .13, and then to .15. They jumped .14 for some reason. If I dug in the Snakepit a little, I could probably come up with bottles with all five prices on them. 

[Dave G.]

16 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

They didn't do that all at once. Took a couple years. 

They went from .10 to .11, to .12, to .13, and then to .15. They jumped .14 for some reason. If I dug in the Snakepit a little, I could probably come up with bottles with all five prices on them. 

It's a long time ago !! But I was thinking as I typed that message I thought there was a $.12 figure. I'm pretty sure I remember Testors spray cans at $.50 too but it quickly rose.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Dave G.

[TransAmMike]

I gotta learn to keep my opinions to myself, nough said!

[Snake45]

14 minutes ago, Dave G. said:

It's a long time ago !! But I was thinking as I typed that message I thought there was a $.12 figure. I'm pretty sure I remember Testors spray cans at $.50 too but it quickly rose.

.50 spray cans were before my time. For all of my teenage model car years, spray cans--Testor, AMT, or Pactra--were 69 cents. 

[Dave G.]

11 hours ago, Snake45 said:

.50 spray cans were before my time. For all of my teenage model car years, spray cans--Testor, AMT, or Pactra--were 69 cents. 

As I recall most AMT kits as I first came on the model car scene ( was into planes and ships earlier on) were $1.25 and they rose to $1.50. I don't recall the cost of Monogram kits which is funny ( though I may have been independently wealthy by then on that paper route so didn't care lol) because I built enough of them.

I started modeling at 7- 8yo, that would have been 1957-58.........

[crazyjim]

22 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Just looked 

Just looked up Tru-color paint. Wow, they have a large selection of automotive colors.  Their msrp is 5.95 for 1 oz bottle...maybe someone has a less expensive price for us "cheap-skates".

Check out Arizona Hobbies for Tru-Color paint at a price lower then the manufacturer.

[TransAmMike]

2 hours ago, crazyjim said:

Check out Arizona Hobbies for Tru-Color paint at a price lower then the manufacturer.

Thanks Jim, Tru-color sure has a large variety of paints and colors. Has anyone used them.

[Sledsel]

22 hours ago, ranma said:

If it's true that would also mean that their glues ect are going away as well????

Yea, what about glue? That being phased out? 

[kurth]

1 hour ago, Sledsel said:

Yea, what about glue? That being phased out? 

I have not seen an  official statement about any more products. 

RPM responds to questions,  here is where you can contact them:

 

https://www.rpminc.com/contact-rpm/

[Bainford]

33 minutes ago, kurth said:

I have not seen an  official statement about any more products. 

RPM responds to questions,  here is where you can contact them:

 

https://www.rpminc.com/contact-rpm/

Thanks for the link. I've emailed through the Testors site, but have not received a reply. I tried the link from my work computer but but alarm bells and warning lights went wild when I clicked on it. Likely due to corporate net nanny. I'll try again from my home computer when I get home.

[crazyjim]

4 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Thanks Jim, Tru-color sure has a large variety of paints and colors. Has anyone used them.

I've used them quite a bit and love them.  The train colors are flat but a coat of clear shines them right up.  The 1964 Ford Thunderbolt I recently posted "under glass" is a prime example.

[retroguy]

soooo,who else offers factory engine colours...

[peteski]

1 hour ago, crazyjim said:

I've used them quite a bit and love them.  The train colors are flat but a coat of clear shines them right up.  The 1964 Ford Thunderbolt I recently posted "under glass" is a prime example.

I have used Tru-Corlor paints since they came out, and before that I have for decades used (now discontinued) Accu-Paint, which was very similar type pf paint.  I mostly used those for model railroad hobby and detail paints for automotive models.  Mostly airbrushing them (they are IMO not really very good for hand-brushing).

Just to clarify things, the weathering colors are flat.  Model RR colors are semi-gloss, so they are ready for decaling, but not as a top coat for a glossy car body finish.  I have not yet used any automotive colors, so I  can't comment on those.

[kurth]

10 hours ago, retroguy said:

soooo,who else offers factory engine colours...

MCW, and Scale Finishes  have engine colors. You can also find spray cans of actual engine paint.

https://mcwfinishes.com/shop/ols/search?keywords=engine&sortOption=descend_by_match 

http://www.scalefinishes.com/Engine.html

https://www.amazon.com/VHT-SP119-Engine-Enamel-Orange/dp/B0028V6SI2

Hope it helps. I know it is not as easy as buying a bottle of model master at the hobby store, but there are plenty of alternatives.

Edited February 24, 2021 by kurth

[charlie8575]

On 2/22/2021 at 11:36 AM, TransAmMike said:

Just looked 

Just looked up Tru-color paint. Wow, they have a large selection of automotive colors.  Their msrp is 5.95 for 1 oz bottle...maybe someone has a less expensive price for us "cheap-skates".

Comparatively, that is actually pretty cheap.

Model Master: about $4-5, depending, for 1/2 ounce.

5/8 ounce of MCW enamel: $6.50 (but it's VERY, VERY nice paint, and well worth it).

1 ounce of lacquer from MCW: $7.50+shipping.

2 ounces from ScaleFinishes: $9.99-10.49, depending on whether it's single or two-stage.

2 ounce touch-up bottle from a paint jobber in single-stage enamel: $8-12.

Charlie Larkin

[peteski]

1 hour ago, charlie8575 said:

Comparatively, that is actually pretty cheap.

I think he wants to be like those Dollar Store craft acrylic paints. A buck per bottle.

[charlie8575]

54 minutes ago, peteski said:

I think he wants to be like those Dollar Store craft acrylic paints. A buck per bottle.

For certain things, they work pretty nicely.

I was having trouble mixing the correct shade of aqua for my Nova interior. Lo and behold, for 50 cents/bottle, I could get get a couple of shades of aqua that were about right.

With a coat of primer, they cover fairly nicely, too.

Charlie Larkin

[crazyjim]

I buy Tru-Color paint from Arizona Hobbies.  It's cheaper there.

[Dave G.]

7 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

For certain things, they work pretty nicely.

I was having trouble mixing the correct shade of aqua for my Nova interior. Lo and behold, for 50 cents/bottle, I could get get a couple of shades of aqua that were about right.

With a coat of primer, they cover fairly nicely, too.

Charlie Larkin

Just bouncing off your post here Charlie. I've done several base coats in craft paint, over the right primer and thinned with the right thinner they work great imo ( requires clear coat). Most of my interiors are craft paint or another acrylic with various combos of Liquitex varnish in them and or over them. Now and then I break out Tamiya acrylic or Vallejo. For me they ( craft paint) both spray good and brush good, they aren't expensive so that's all a win. Not to mention my recently passed on wife artist had about 100 colors in stock here, not to mention artist acrylics.  Works great for me. Expensive isn't always better if you know how to use a product needed for the chore. However if you want perfect match without mixing etc. then it's hard to beat the aftermarket scale paints for that ( though costly, dig deeper into the wallet lol). But you sometimes can't escape the thought of a fool and his money in some cases, in other words spending more isn't " always gain" especially if a fixed income leaves options slim. And then on the other hand in my case I'd have been foolish not to learn the ways of acrylic paints since so many were available to me that we already stocked in the house.. Honestly I recently painted a 1/16 scale Model A in MCW lacquer and in no way did it come out any better than craft paint and lacquer clear coat,not at all. And between the paint and shipping it was nearly $18 vs $1 for craft paint but of course the color was dead on..  I can honestly say Never Again, it simply isn't that magical !

Not to mention relatively inexpensive lacquer nail polishes from places like Walmart.