Testor's paint

[Straightliner59]

I love all this old paint talk. I have a drawer full of old tins of Humbrol, most of them are about forty years old. I went through them, a couple of years ago, and discarded any that had dried, or wouldn't mix. I also have these three "big" jars of Pactra. They are all still good. They're labeled at 25 cents. I got 'em even cheaper at 5/$1.00! I'm only posting these jars of  Plasticote because the Aluminum and Brass were identical to Pactra's. The Aluminum here is still good, as is the Antique Gold. The Brass has left the building. ?

[Mr. Metallic]

I wish one of the aftermarket paint companies would offer color matched paints to the 60's Testors/Roth/Pactra/AMT paints, especially the metallics. Retro is hot right now, so they should capitalize on it as well just like Round2 and Atlantis are. Vintage paints to match vintage plastic.

[Snake45]

6 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

 I'm only posting these jars of  Plasticote because the Aluminum and Brass were identical to Pactra's. The Aluminum here is still good, as is the Antique Gold. The Brass has left the building. ?

You're so right about those. That aluminum was darn good stuff. Its only problem was that it would begin to "turn" after you opened it. I think I still have one, maybe two, bottles of the stuff I have never opened--saving them for some "special" project. (I'm now getting to the age where I should start thinking about using some of this stuff I've been hoarding for 30-40-50 years.) 

[Straightliner59]

22 hours ago, Snake45 said:

You're so right about those. That aluminum was darn good stuff. Its only problem was that it would begin to "turn" after you opened it. I think I still have one, maybe two, bottles of the stuff I have never opened--saving them for some "special" project. (I'm now getting to the age where I should start thinking about using some of this stuff I've been hoarding for 30-40-50 years.) 

Agreed about the Aluminum. I had two bottles of this stuff, one of them went bad. I've been using this one for the past five years, or so, now. There's about a third of it left. I also agree with your earlier statement about Pactra Steel. That was probably my favorite steel colored paint.

[64Comet404]

On 8/16/2022 at 9:05 PM, 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).  

I still have some of those AMT bottles in my collection, even airbrushed the Violet Fireflake about 20 years ago...

Great effect on the bottles! Reminds me of the old craft trick, where you put a penny in a pill bottle and then pop it in the oven. Instant object trapped in amber!

[rsmodels]

 I remember well the Testor's small bottles were 10 cents when I started building in 1959. When the AMT spray lacquer came out a few years later I used a lot of it but never used the AMT bottles, I don't even remember seeing them.

I  still use the Odds and Ends paint and the unopened bottles are still good. Once opened, I've had some go bad. I really liked the Pactra paints too and used a lot.

I have a bunch of old unopened bottles. There are Testor's marked 30, 35, and 40 cents (see photos.) I'm still using these old paints and very few have gone bad. I think there are a bunch of discontinued colors.

I hope the photos bring back some memories for us older guys.  -Rich

[deuces wild]

On 8/16/2022 at 12:44 PM, Mark said:

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...

I remember when the Testors bottles were 19 cents each.... Dang I'm old....?

[deuces wild]

On 8/18/2022 at 2:47 AM, Straightliner59 said:

I love all this old paint talk. I have a drawer full of old tins of Humbrol, most of them are about forty years old. I went through them, a couple of years ago, and discarded any that had dried, or wouldn't mix. I also have these three "big" jars of Pactra. They are all still good. They're labeled at 25 cents. I got 'em even cheaper at 5/$1.00! I'm only posting these jars of  Plasticote because the Aluminum and Brass were identical to Pactra's. The Aluminum here is still good, as is the Antique Gold. The Brass has left the building. ?

I also have a bottle of the brass paint..

[Straightliner59]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:12 AM, Snake45 said:

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. 

Because you raved about their Color Place Flat Black, I decided to try the gloss. I used it to undercoat the Alclad Chrome, on these wheels. It performed very well!

[GLMFAA1]

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. Great to have a nice conversation. My favorites were: Humbrol- leather (Interiors), Pactra- Aluminum (airplanes), AMT- bottle gun metal (mag wheels), Testor's- orange (chevy engines).

greg

[Snake45]

37 minutes ago, Straightliner59 said:

Because you raved about their Color Place Flat Black, I decided to try the gloss. I used it to undercoat the Alclad Chrome, on these wheels. It performed very well!

Interesting! I've never used any of the Color Place glossies. Those DID turn out nice! Model on! 

[RSchnell]

Fun thread! I have a few bottles of old Testors & Model Master that is still good after 30+. I remember using the Pactra Odds N Ends back in the early 90s, good paint for the money!

I still use old bottles of Floquil, some I've had for 35 years- the paint I miss the most from the "old days". Every now & then I'll find a bottle or two at model railroad shops or shows in the $2 bin. That's about what I paid for it when I was a kid saving my allowance for the Saturday trip to the LHS. 

 

[TonyK]

Funny how some of these paints last many years and others gum up after only a couple and thinner won't even save it.

The Model Master line of paints is a big loss for me especially the steel color.

[oldscool]

I remember painting an AMT 32 Vicky with the Pactra Leaf Green brush paint in the little plastic bottle. It dried so smooth it looked like a spray job.

Edited August 20, 2022 by oldscool

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, oldscool said:

I remember painting an AMT 32 Vicky with the Pactra Leaf Green brush paint in the little plastic bottle. It dried so smooth it looked like a spray job.

I did the same thing with a '66 Mustang GT. Couple years ago I found one on eBay that looked so much like it I HAD to buy it. It didn't require a whole lot of restoration, just a good cleanup and some freshening up. 

 

 

[oldscool]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

I did the same thing with a '66 Mustang GT. Couple years ago I found one on eBay that looked so much like it I HAD to buy it. It didn't require a whole lot of restoration, just a good cleanup and some freshening up. 

 

 

IIRC you posted a Vicky survivor awhile back that looked eerily like the one I built. Flames and all. Weird

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, oldscool said:

IIRC you posted a Vicky survivor awhile back that looked eerily like the one I built. Flames and all. Weird

I did. You must be thinking of pre-resto pics. The flame decals didn't survive the rework. 

Before: 

 

After: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oldscool]

13 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I did. You must be thinking of pre-resto pics. The flame decals didn't survive the rework. 

Before: 

 

After: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, that's the one. I swear I used the exact same flame decals but mine had slicks and no whitewalls.

[BlackSheep214]

Wow... I have never heard of Odds n Ends paints. Those round Pactra bottles cool. I’ve seen them in the square bottles but didn’t know they came in those round bottles. I do remember seeing Boyd’s Colors by Testors back in the 80s. Such a shame back then, there were a lot of choices of hobby paints to choose from. 

It would great to see someone resurrect and bring back all those colors of yesteryears again to the hobby. Let’s call them Vintage Colors. 

[carrucha]

On 8/16/2022 at 4:48 PM, Mike C. said:

Remember these?

 

I remember buying these when I was a kid at San Antonio Hobby Shop in Mountain View, CA.

[37 caddy]

Anyone else ever try and paint over the testors Silver or Gold? it seemed like it never dried,when you tried to brush a color over the top it all mushed together? also i tried to paint a wide whitewall on some tires with the testors white,it would never dry either,i think i still have some scrap tires from 40 years ago that are still tacky.At my local hobby shop all they had were testors,it was a Kmart,it had a decent supply of models then. harvey