What paints to start with?

[Deigs]

Hi guys,

I have a heap of new modelling tools to get me started, lighting squared away, new airbrush kit arriving, and a few scale kit boxes in a few different scales to try on the desk that I've built for this hobby.

But now I have to start buying paint. It's a damn nightmare. If you could start your collection from scratch again, what would you start with?

I have the IMPSstockholm guide, and a few downloaded paint charts to try and get as close to the real thing as possible, but what brand? Do I mix paint with the easy to use Tamiya, or jump into the Vallejo Model Air? Or another brand I'm missing? Acrylic or Enamel?

I'll be buying it online and happy to mix around between the brands, but in this early stage I would prefer to keep in to one company while I learn airbrushing. Mainly to keep my 'variable human error factors' to a minimum.

What store do you suggest buying your recommended product?

Edited October 14, 2011 by Deigs

[Flight 666]

Hi,

O.K. If I had to start again, I would go for acrylics,´cause they are a little easier to handle

( clean airbrush ) and they don´t smell that much !!

And if you did a mistake, they are easy to remove ( Isopropylalkohol )

And what you have to think about is, whats near, means easy to get.

In my case it´s revel aqua color( within 5 Min. ) or gunze Mr. hobby ( over night )

Happy modelling

[Deigs]

Not much is close to me, I'd be ordering online unfortunately as it's just easier. Acrylics are the go, cool. Thanks again Flight 666

[Neo]

It really depends on your taste

personallly i dont like the finish i see from acrylic paints im more of a enamels kind of guy. My poison is Humbrol enamels and some Model master enamels. I only use tamiya for their clear paints (smoke, orange,yellow,blue, green&red will come once i finish my humbrol pots)

[toadwbg]

I vote acrylics: Tamiya (good availability, mail order) And Gunze/Mr. Hobby Color ( compatable with Tamiya, wider matching color range).

[huntermountain]

I was in your position a while back, and I haven't regretted choosing the Vallejo Air brand. Not very easy on a newby, but I'm glad I stuck with it. If you go that way, get yourself a stash of the Vallejo airbrush cleaner and you can use that for thinning paint if necessary. Their metallic paints aren't that great to airbrush, but there you could go for the Hawkeye Tallon range.

[balls47]

I do mostly aircraft. I like MM enamels for regular colors. I like Alclad II for metallic finishes, but use MM metallic paints for small jobs like exhausts, etc. I use acrylics for clear coats (Future), but am starting to really like Krylon clear coats that you can get at Walmart very inexpensively.

[Deigs]

Well, I might go the Vallejo Model Air's. There is a giant set (100+ bottles) on eBay so I might buy that to start, a few bottles of vallejo airbrush cleaner and get stuck in.

Thank you everyone for your advice, I will try enamels soon. I need to hook up the extractor to the desk and then start exploring that.

Thanks ARC!!!!

[Miccara]

I use three types, enamels, acrylics and water colours. My problem with acrylics is they can be much more difficult to use. They start drying on the end of your airbrush while spraying, creating a wonderful yogurt concoction. Also once dry they can be very hard to remove. That’s okay on a model but not so good for the inside of an airbrush. Folks will write in to say “just add a few drops of alcohol, distilled water, thinner, stabilizer, enhancer, cleaner, etc. etc.†and “you’ll have no problemsâ€. I’ve been on the ARC website for a long time and I can tell you with confidence that if you search for all the articles about “How do I solve my acrylics and airbrushing problem†you’d be reading for a week straight, and still not really know the answer. What I do like about acrylics is the fact they tend to cover much better. I find the prep work has to be much better as well with acrylics or the possibility of the paint coming off with your masking, is pretty real.

With enamels the cleanup is easy and they dry quickly on the model - even though I can sit with a cup of paint in my airbrush, re-mask an area for 5 minutes then pick up the airbrush and continue, very difficult to do with most acrylics. Enamels smell a bit but acrylics can have a hell of an odor too, as far as I’m concerned. I have moved to Tamiya Acrylics for 95% of what I do but if your new, there are a lot of issues and things to learn. I can tackle acrylic problems because they are the only problems I have to deal with while building and painting a kit. I think you will lessen your grief factor substantially if you just start out with enamels in your airbrush. Model Master is the enamel brand I use.

[Miccara]

What did you end up deciding? (just curious).

[galileo1]

I agree with Larry on this...Acrylics definitely have a pretty steep (depending on the paint you get) learning curve. I switched to acrylics from more than a decade of using enamels (Model Master) and I'm still learning the intricacies of the paint brands I use. I started out with Tamiya as my to-go paint because it was fairly easy to use but due to Tamiya's small range I moved to other more 'complicated' brands like Vallejo and Lifecolor. If I could go back to enamels I would in a heartbeat. The smells of enamels and lacquers are what forced me to change over to acrylics.

Rob

Edited November 14, 2011 by TOPGUN

[DutyCat]

Quite simply, it is easier to get consistent, quality results with enamels. The only negative is the solvent fumes and the hassle of cleaning up with solvents vice water. However, as has been pointed out, acrylics that dry up in an airbrush require a powerful solvent to remove.

When spraying enamels, I open up a window and have a fan drawing fume laden air out. I also shut the door and put a blanket at the base to minimize the amount of fumes that spread into the rest of the house (no way to eliminate it completely). I wear a 3M respirator (about $30 at Lowes) when actually spraying and don't smell a thing. When I am ready to clean up I throw all of my dirty materials (airbrush, eye droppers, color cups) in a small tin cheap meat loaf pan and go out to the garage where I have a cleaning station set up.

Edited November 15, 2011 by DutyCat