"General" Paints

[jnick]

I'm ready to order some paints, and I'm gonna order them basically all at once so I don't get nailed wagin with $10USD shipping charge for 2 bottles of paint.

In your opinions, which are colors I should get that are the most general, that may be used on many planes.

Ex:

Flat Black

Flat White

etc.

Whie = wheel wells, black = the wires. I don't want to go out there buying 1/2 Oz of Blue Grren, or randome tan, when only 1 plane is going to use it.

Also, which greys are the general greys? I have Testors Grey, thinking it was flat, but it looks more glossy. Though it's just called grey.

Flat Grey, Light grey, dull grey dark grey? Which would you reccommend I get for starters?

Lastly, which site would you suggest me to get them from. I was going with Hobbylink.com

P.S - I know it depends on the colors the plane needs, but I'm talking about the cokcpits, dials, wheel wells, missiles, bombs etc. In MM Enamels.

Thanks

John

[Old72s]

It would be helpful to know what you build (props? jets? German? British?).

My personal take on paints in that if you get the approximate shade (e.g. dark green or olive green or light blue-grey), it'll work for every aircraft that uses that color. IMO people who are obsessively mixing paints to match a 60-year-old color photo or a restored warbird (many warbird restorers admit to using modeling references for their colors... the modeling references, in turn, are often based on restored warbirds) need better things to do, like actually building models.

So, focus on getting the "correct" colors for the aircraft you build the most (e.g. all the ghost greys if you build moden USAF birds). These can be extrapolated to other models if need be (e.g. light ghost grey to underside neutral grey or RLM 63). Then get some generic greens and browns, like RAF Dark Green and RAF Earth Brown which will work for most things. Don't forget to get whatever you use for metalics, be it silvers (get a couple of shades, MM makes a bunch of them) or metalizers.

Shop around and look for the best combination of price and shipping cost. Roll Models and Cheapest Hobbies often have the best prices but not always the cheapest shipping, Squadron can be very good and their shipping is cheaper.

[jnick]

Thanks for the help.

Sorry, I build mostly modern birds.

Everything in my sig - lol.

I just get confused.

O mean, they have:

Grey, Dark Grey, Neutral Grey, Light Grey, Dark Gull Grey, Light Gull Grey, Gull Grey.

I doubt I nned ALL of them.

I don't know the differences between Gull grey, and grey. Or which I need for modern birds.

Just like you mentioned with the brwns.

I have NO clue what shade RAF brown is, or Russian Green.

Would it be best to go by the paints the instruc's say? I really don't tweak my planes that much. so far I built 4, then again that was before I saw this site, OOB. I usually use OOB decals as well, being I'm not very good with squadrons and what not.

I want to build mostly OIF birds, or DS birds.

Thanks. More opinions are welcome.

John

[Paul T]

As Old72s said,it pretty well depends on what you build.

Silver or aluminum is good to have for drybrushing cockpits & painting landing gear,gear doors etc. Many older jets used chromate green primer in the gear wells,airbrakes etc. Gloss black/flat blk , a red & yellow is good to have for little details and stuff, and as old72 said , grays if you build modern jets.You may try Alclad if you plan on doing NMF at all.

I`ve been modeling for almost a year now,and I bet I have almost 100 paint colors as well as ones that I custom mixed.

HTH

Paul T

[Old72s]

Look at IPMS Stockholm color charts -- it'll give you some idea of what colors are used by different air forces. http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/helpdesk.asp#color_charts

I build primarily interwar stuff and early jet so I can't help you on the greys but I've seen enough Hornets and Vipers on this board to know that there are people here who can help.

If the instructions make sense, then by all means follow them. I like to exaggerate contrasts a bit for visual interest but I don't enter contests so the color police leave me alone.

[Khan]

Yeah, red and yellow are key. I'd get olive drab too; you can use that for seat cushions. I use model masters for these. A single 1/2 Oz. jar will last you for a long time.

Also, with the Testors gray you were talking about, they do have both flat and gloss gray. A couple of years ago they changed the jar labels so it's tough to tell whether or not a given bottle is flat or gloss. Could you read on the bottle whether it was flat or gloss?

[jnick]

Nope.

It just says "Gray" and it's not MM. It's Testors.

[MickeyThickey]

Red, yellow, blue, white, black, silver.

Barring that rather simplistic approach, have a look through the instructions for all the kits you plan to build in the reasonably near future and see what the common colours are. It's impossible for anyone else to tell you what to get if they don't know what you need.

[Khan]

Nope.

It just says "Gray" and it's not MM. It's Testors.

Yeah, the little 1/4 Oz. bottles, right?

It came out a little glossy, you say? That's weird. They used to say whether or not a paint was gloss or enamel. Perhaps they're getting cheap and don't make any differentiation any more.