Paint prices

[Mike_G]

I've been buying old cans of Orr-Lac spraypaint at the local automotive paint store for $2.50 for a big can.

According to the lady at the paint store there's a warehouse in Tangent, Oregon (about 30 miles from me) that has a whole bunch of the stuff. It comes in some old-timey colors that are real hard to find nowadays, like seafoam.

[VRM]

I buy lacquer also - I have about 400 or so pints I think, and a stockpile of thinner, flattening agent, and bottles. I mix a lot of my own paint, but still also use MCW. I also buy the 12oz spray cans for certain car interiors. It ends up being cheaper to buy all of that than the hobby shop paint.

[CJ1971]

Wow... Seriously... I think some guys here aren't hobbyists at all... They're hoarders ;-)

I have approximately 3 dozen cans/bottles of paint, from various manufacturers. Most have been used in 1 way or another or will be in the short future. I can't understand why someone would need hundreds of cans/bottles, whether they have 2-3 dozen kits awaiting building or thousands... Having sooo much paint, IMO is totally unnecessary. It's way beyond what would be needed or used.

I don't mean any of this in a bad way, just an opinion on what constitutes a hoarder rather than a hobbyist :-)

[Dinky]

I've been thinking the little tamiya sprays are getting expensive too,about $7.

Price here is 10 euro = 13,5 dollar.... Absurd amount for usch a small bottle

[niteowl7710]

Wow... Seriously... I think some guys here aren't hobbyists at all... They're hoarders ;-)

I have approximately 3 dozen cans/bottles of paint, from various manufacturers. Most have been used in 1 way or another or will be in the short future. I can't understand why someone would need hundreds of cans/bottles, whether they have 2-3 dozen kits awaiting building or thousands... Having sooo much paint, IMO is totally unnecessary. It's way beyond what would be needed or used.

I don't mean any of this in a bad way, just an opinion on what constitutes a hoarder rather than a hobbyist :-)

Well speaking for myself, I have that many cans of paint because they're on sale. For the $65 or so I have invested in all of it, I'd only be able to get about 6 cans of Tamiya/Testors paint. But only having 36 or so cans AND bottles seems to me likewise silly. That means every time you need a specific color you need to stop the build and go find it. I have more than 3 dozen jars of Tamiya paint because I hate nothing more than realizing that I don't have something, and I need to careen something I was enjoying the build on to a stop until I have enough time to schedule time to hit the LHS (which isn't the easiest thing to do with 3 kids and a wife who works). At least Tamiya paint seems to last forever, I have jars that I saved from when I was building as teenager that are nearly 20 years old that are still perfectly serviceable.

[Hard_2_Handle_454]

For me I just buy the small paint bottles and they're abou $3 at the shops now!

[VRM]

I like to paint bodies. I dont finish a lot of models, but I do have a lot of painted and polished bodies done. I also sell some paint at the NNL East every year. Its just part of my hobby.

[Tom Geiger]

The price of paint is relative. In another thread someone pointed out the 98 cent sticker on a 1964 issue kit. I let them know the minimum wage back then was $1.05 so that kit represented about an hour's work.

I like to use automotive paint and I don't like to use an air brush, but like to spray everything. So I buy mainly spray cans, mostly Duplicolor with a wee bit of Testors and Tamiya. One thing I always do is put the date on each can so I know how old they are. There are paints I blow through on a regular basis like Testor Flat Black and DullCote, and Duplicolor primer gray.

[Skip]

Wow, you guys with all the paint, do you realize the incendiary capabilities of all that paint if there were a fire? They don't call those things spray bombs for nothing!

If you were a business OSHA, Fire Marshall and all the other regulatory agencies would make you get a fire safe cabinet for all that volatile material.

I have one for all my sign / striping paint, all my spray model paint goes in there too. I know a lot of Fire Departments that if you have exploding stuff in a structure fire such as ammunition, spray cans or other explosives going off they move from a put the fire out mode to a stand back and keep it from burning other nearby structures. The other major issue is homeowner's insurance, if they find out ahead of time they can cancel your policy; if they find out after the fact... Well let's say one of two options for them reduce the payout or not payout because you had a whole bunch of paint cans exploding!

Do yourself a favor, talk to your insurance agent about what you are storing and how to mitigate the liability. (Ours is a good friend, I came right out and asked.) Things like fire safe paint storage. Disposal of rags with enamel, lacquer or even oily rags mix the three together and you've got the recipe for fire, containment in this case is as easy as keeping the air out. A one gallon glass jar with a tight fitting lid works great and costs nothing. Not sure how or what cheap storage methods there might be for spray bombs, there are enough smart people here on this board to come up with something.

Sorry to be a downer, when I saw how much paint some people are storing things sorta clicked, it stinks to hear somebody had a fire.

[mrindy77]

The price of paint is relative. In another thread someone pointed out the 98 cent sticker on a 1964 issue kit. I let them know the minimum wage back then was $1.05 so that kit represented about an hour's work.

I like to use automotive paint and I don't like to use an air brush, but like to spray everything. So I buy mainly spray cans, mostly Duplicolor with a wee bit of Testors and Tamiya. One thing I always do is put the date on each can so I know how old they are. There are paints I blow through on a regular basis like Testor Flat Black and DullCote, and Duplicolor primer gray.

So most people are making $25 an hour?

Average minimum wage is $7.40 per hour. Avg kit price for an AMT/Revell/Monogram 1/24 scale....$20-$25. If your buying from your local hobby shop and not off ebay or mail order.

3 hours or so minimum wage if my math brain still works correctly.

Edited February 2, 2014 by mrindy77

[cobraman]

I liked the spray paint that Wallyworld stocked a few years back. Remember the Black Gold paint ? It was kind of a lesser quality HOK paint. I thought it was very good and I think 3.97 for a can.

[niteowl7710]

[Roadkill2525]

Thanks, Fire Marshall Bill!

Edited February 2, 2014 by Roadkill2525

[slusher]

I liked the spray paint that Wallyworld stocked a few years back. Remember the Black Gold paint ? It was kind of a lesser quality HOK paint. I thought it was very good and I think 3.97 for a can.

Ray I wish I had bought some of that and stashed it with the rest of my paint..

[High octane]

Model kit prices are on the rise as well as paint prices, so what else is new? It the same old, same old. Money trickles in, and FLOWS out.

[berr13]

Yeah, I agree that paint prices are a scandal. But I'd willingly pay a premium price if Pactra would re-release their old line of candy colors (I'm going way back, here). Anybody remember Candy Root Beer? Candy Parisian Green? Candy Wild Cherry? Candy Indian Turquoise? Candy Sapphire Blue? Candy Strawberry? Candy Lime Green? Candy Apple Red? Beautiful colors...I've still got models painted with those paints, and I'd love to see 'em come back (fat chance). Anyway, micro rant over.

[Guest]

The price of paint is relative. In another thread someone pointed out the 98 cent sticker on a 1964 issue kit. I let them know the minimum wage back then was $1.05 so that kit represented about an hour's work.

It would have been less than that I think. In high school in 1977 it was $1.25, no way would it have only gone up 20 cents in 13 or 14 years.

[Tom Geiger]

It would have been less than that I think. In high school in 1977 it was $1.25, no way would it have only gone up 20 cents in 13 or 14 years.

I had looked it up. Federal minimum wage was set at $1.15 an hour in 1961 and raised to $1.25 in Sept '64. It was $2.30 in 1977.

See the chart: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

[ApexSpeed]

Minimum wage is a terrible benchmark, as it has not adjusted properly over time with inflation or the cost of living. It also assumes a majority of the population is making minimum wage, which they were not. When comparing the costs of things between today and many years ago, you're better off comparing to average hourly wage or the cost of certain consumables like food, and even then it's not tremendously accurate.

In December of 2013, the average hourly wage for Americans was $24.17/hour. In 1961, the average hourly working rate of Americans was $2.55/hour.

Today, I just bought a 1/2oz jar of Testor's paint and it was $1.59. Based on that price, and the wages previously listed here, that would make a jar of paint about 16¢ in 1961.

Fairly close? I would say the cost of models, model paint, cars, houses, food and everything else has risen fairly accurately with the cost of living and the wages of average Americans.

And yes, $1.59 for a 1/2 oz of paint is absolutely ridiculous. Totally different discussion.

Edited February 3, 2014 by ApexSpeed

[Tom Geiger]

So most people are making $25 an hour?

In December, the average hourly wage for Americans was $24.17/hour

Apparently so!

[lordairgtar]

I make $11.15 an hour, plus I sell art and have a car show DJ service which helps. The hobby is fairly cheap compared to G scale trains or RC and slot racing. If I want something, I save for it. That is why I'm on a forum such as this because of the kit release news. I hear of something I want, then I save. When it's released, I go and buy. Wisconsin is a fairly inexpensive place to live (unless you are paying for propane right now to heat your home). Costs way more to live in a place like California, which I have in the past.

[Art Anderson]

I wonder if the biggest "fly in the ointment" re: model paint prices isn't the bottle rather than the paint itself? Consider what a glass color jar for an airbrush costs to buy--almost as much as a comparably sized bottle of any model paint (and thats for a jar with lid, not the airbrush material delivery tube installation).

Art

[Guest]

I had looked it up. Federal minimum wage was set at $1.15 an hour in 1961 and raised to $1.25 in Sept '64. It was $2.30 in 1977.

See the chart: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

Boy, my memory is worse than I thought. Sorry Tom.

[ZTony8]

I recall the fuss made back in the early 70s when Testor raised the price on the bottle paint from 15 cents to,I think 25 cents.A kid noticed that,wrote to President Nixon complaining that the increase exceeded the rate of inflation by a wide margin and the press got wind of it and publicized the story.Due my aging brain I don't recall if Testor backed down on the increase or not.

[Art Anderson]

I recall the fuss made back in the early 70s when Testor raised the price on the bottle paint from 15 cents to,I think 25 cents.A kid noticed that,wrote to President Nixon complaining that the increase exceeded the rate of inflation by a wide margin and the press got wind of it and publicized the story.Due my aging brain I don't recall if Testor backed down on the increase or not.

I remember that pretty well too. Testors simply took a look at their lineup of the then only line of bottled paint they sold, which was a rack of 75 different colors. They "discontinued" the entire line for perhaps 6 weeks, brought back only the better-selling colors as "new products" and went forward.

Art