Greetings and Salutations from Utah

[Stony View]

Hello,

I have been lurking for about a week now, doing searches, reading the Workbench forums etc.

My 14yo son brought home his first model car last month: the Revell 69 Shelby GT500 kit. Hence the reason I'm here.

The last car I built was probably the AMT Galaxy 500 (the one in the 60s series boxes) 25 or more years ago; so it's been a while.

I'm eager to build again and teach my son what I remember, therein lies the problem! I don't remember half the tricks I learned when I was a kid. So I hope no one minds my newbie questions. I do search first both here and google in general, so not expecting to be spooned.

I went a little crazy on ebay last week and picked up a 49 Ford from the Cruisin USA AMT days, a AMT 55 Vette, a 47 yo AMT 49 Merc. a AMT 64 Impala SS, a 66 Chevelle Wagon (gonna do that one junkyard style) and the AMT 69 Mach 1 (My wife is going to build that one).

Here's my first question:

I grew up on Testor's Enamel paints. But it seems most of you like either the Acrylic Testors or the Lacquer paint. I am not sure I understand why, other than dry time. What are the pros and cons? I can understand using the Lacquer for body paint and polishing it, but what about smaller parts? I did a search but most of the results came back regarding thinners to use and descriptions for builds.

Thanks,

Dave

[highway]

First off, Dave, welcome to the forum.

Now, as for your question on paints, I would never give up my Testors enamels or their Model Master enamels for anything, well except for Tamiya's acrylic paints. In my opinion, the Testors Acrylics are junk and I never had any luck with the couple I tried, they quickly found their way into the garbage can. I have tried and started using Testors new lacquer paints and found they are very nice and easy to paint.

Tamiya's acrylics are the best I have ever tried, and I have also used Polly Scale railroad acrylics with nice results, too.

Overall, I use my Testors Model Master and Tamiya paints on everything, and the Testor lacquer is used mainly right now for interiors, since I only have the interior colors right now, and the Polly Scale is mostly weathering colors.

[Scalefinishes]

Dave,

Welcome. It's good to see someone else from the beehive state.

[charlie8575]

Welcome back.

Testors enamels have changed a little, probably due to enviro-Nazi regs. I've found you now must use a primer under them; I remember when I was a kid it wasn't always necessary.

For primer, I recommend using Plasti-Kote or Valspar lacquer primer, available at craft and artist's suppliers. Plasti-Kote T-series primers are sold at many auto parts stores. Dupli-Color primers tend to be a bit hot and might cause crazing, so try not to use those, or use some kind of a barrier under them. Future seems to be well-reommended for that. I find the enamels work very well for airbrushing when thinned with conventional hardware store lacquer thinner. This also helps them dry much, much faster. To help with the drying, take a hairdryer, set it to low, and hold it about a foot away and thoroughly go over the model. That will also assist in drying.

As to the other paint chemistries:

I've used Testors Model Master Acryl and I like it very much. It can be applied without primer and cover well in 1-2 coats. It also airbrushes nicely out of the jar. Testors Acryl Dried Paint Remover also works well on all acrylic paints, but follow the directions to the letter!

Testors lacquers are also nice products. I haven't used the spray as of yet, but have used the bottle paints. They're fanstastic and I highly recommend them. However, you will need to use their lacquer thinner with them, as regular lacquer thinner doesn't seem to do much to them (anyone have different experiences?), even for cleaning the brushes. I have not tried them in an airbrush.

Tamyia acrylics are also very nice. I have found, however, that thinning them with alcohol tends to knock the gloss down, so keep that in mind. I'd recommend using their thinner. It's expensive, but will work better in the gloss paints. They're just this side of too thick to airbrush out of the jar. They do, however, cover reasonably well. To clean from the airbrush, 91% alcohol is best (also true for Acryl.)

Tamyia's lacquers are nice. I tried a can of a friend's at my club, and was very impressed. And they dry almost instantly.

Other nice paints are Humbrol and Polly-S.

Mr. Color, a Gunze Sangyo product, is said to be outstanding. I haven't used it, but I know several people that have and liked it. Word to the wise: you MUST use all their products, mixing brands will result in disaster.

Charlie Larkin

[Stony View]

Great info! Thank you.

Re: Testor's enamel - yes this is exactly what I noticed; the standard colors seemed to go on real thin and after several coats was finally looking okay. So I primed some test parts with Krylon and did a coat and it was a 2 coat at most.

I think I'll give the Acryl a try.

Thanks,

Dave

[DRG]

There are only two paints I use:

Tamiya Acrylics and Model Master, I have good luck with both.

Wow, a family that models to-gether, I love it.

[Jim Gibbons]

Welcome to the board, Dave! It's great your whole family builds models. I don't have an airbrush, so I'm limited to spray cans. I'll use whatever paint has the color I need, but I usually use Testor's Model master enamels, Tamiya, or automotive paints. The primers have been covered, but I do admit to using Tamiya on bare plastic on occasion if it'll cover well on white or light colored plastic after I sand parting lines, etc. If I do paint without primer with Tamiya, I use a polishing kit to smooth out all my sanded areas. Tamiya paint seems to work very well without having a roughened surface or primer to bite into.(I'm on a really limited budget, so I have to work around it.) I did a '62 T-Bird that way with Tamiya Coral Blue, and it came out beautifully. If Tamiya had all the colors I'd ever need, it would be the only body paint I'd use. It dries very quickly and "hard" like automotive paint, and has very finely ground pigment. Enamels I will let dry for weeks before I polish them out, as they are "softer." These are just tips from my perspective; again, I have a limited budget, and use what works for me, and I've rarely been disappointed with the Tamiya line of paints, both spray and acrylic brushing bottles for detail work.

[The Modeling Hermit]

Welcome to the forum Dave. Utah is a fantastic state. My wife and I were married in Salt Lake City, and We lived in Provo and Orem for awhile back in the eighties. I have a son living in SLC now, and was also married there. I have another son in Seattle that will soon be going to SLC to get married.

My family is also into model building. My wife is into street rods from the thirties, and I've got a daughter that likes the big rigs.

We use Testors paints almost exclusively, and they've always worked well for us. The Model Masters line of enamels work best for us. Be sure to use primer as has already been mentioned. I have to admit that I still often use Testors tube glue. One thing that I do with windows, is to tack them in with Elmers school glue. The water based glue can easily be wiped off of the glass with a damp rag. Once that sets, you can then glue the window in place without it sliding around and getting glue marks on it.

Don't try to match the quality that you see on the forums while starting out. Start out slow and just enjoy the fun of building together. Do not be afraid to display your work on the forums, even if you don't think that it's as good as what you see us post. I find it a thrill to watch the improvement of others.