Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Here's the long n short of my question, I am needing to replenish my stock of paint. I have only used Model Master enamels for the bulk of my detail painting and airbrushing. I have been thinking of switching to acrylic for all the well known reasons But I'm looking for opinions? Thanks for your advice.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I did the same thing about 10 years ago. Easy clean up, no harsh fumes.... But I found masking became trickier. To a point, it became a pain in the a$$. After having enough of that headache, I switched back to enamels and love them even more. Building model should be fun and painting them too! For me, using acrylics was not fun. It maybe for you and that's all that really matters. What works best for you.

Happy modeling,

Steven :wave:

Link to post
Share on other sites

I did the same thing about 10 years ago. Easy clean up, no harsh fumes.... But I found masking became trickier. To a point, it became a pain in the a$. After having enough of that headache, I switched back to enamels and love them even more. Building model should be fun and painting them too! For me, using acrylics was not fun. It maybe for you and that's all that really matters. What works best for you.

Happy modeling,

Steven hi2.gif

I would agree, I switched back to enamels and bought a good respirator about a year ago. Masking was always a pain with acrylics as well as clogging my airbrush (I only used MM Acryl FWIW). I have heard that applying a good coat of Tamiya Primer before acrylics can help with peeling.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I switched over to Tamiya Acrylics for 95% of my color needs and could not be happier. They don't have FS matches but matching somehting "close enough" has not been a problem most the time. Those other 5% of colors I need I'll pick up some other brand that has an exact match.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I airbrush only with acrylics; I use wide variety ... Gunze Sangyo, Tamiya, Xtraacrylix, Vallejo, LifeColor, which ever is the closest match to the FS number I'm going for. For detail painting with paintbrush, I will use enamels.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I use Tamiya usually and Gunze Aq when I can get them. Gunze has a wide range of colours. I would use Gunze AQ a lot more if it was easier to get here. I've tried and never got on with MM Acryl. I want it to work, but, I guess at this stage it must be something that I am doing.

Which airbrush are you using? Might help folks suggest a paint/psi/thinner ratio.

As for masking, yes it can be an issue. I use the blue tack for most WWII Camo jobs i.e. spitfires, Lancs etc. Not usually any issues there, and depending on how I angle the brush I can get a hard demarcation or a softer edge.

Best of luck whichever way you decide.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never used enamels, only acrylic. I use Tamiya and Gunze and between them can get pretty much any FS. I've never had any problems with AB clogging or masking. On the rare occasion that I can't get an FS match I use LifeColor. They are a little prone to clogging your AB, but with practice you learn to get around it. Also they are more delicate than Tamiya and Gunze, so they sometimes require touch ups.

Having said all this, I can't really compare with enamels in terms of finish and quality, however the fumes and clean up are enough to put me off. HTH.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I went full acrylic about 15 years ago and not looked back. At about the same time I gave up my airbrush and went back to hand brushing.

My current stock of paints is mostly Vallejo and Agama with a couple of Gunze colours in the mix and I've never had an issue with any of those brands.

Acrylics certainly don't stink up the place like enamels do and they wash out of traditional paintbrushes a lot easier than enamels ever did.

As for using acrylics for detail work, best is to go with a brand like Vallejo as they have a range of additives that you can mix in with their paint lines. Vallejo has a retarding additive that extends the working time of their paints quite nicely and I wouldn't think of painting a cockpit without the retarder in the mix.

I could never figure out why Testors Model Master acrylics were so questionable in quality. Considering that Testors owns Floquill and Pactra, two pioneering and respected names in acrylic paints for modellers, they should have gotten it right from the start.

Edited by Kevan Vogler
Link to post
Share on other sites

I use mostly acrylic (with some VERY OCCASIONAL lacquer for metallics). I predominantly use Tamiya, Gunze Aqueous, LifeColor and some Citadel. Tamiya and Gunze are very durable, never had any issue masking at all. I've masked using Tamiya tape, Blue Tac, and at one point even hardware store variety masking tape. When sprayed, these two dry to touch quite quickly, so spraying multiple thin layers can be done on the same day. LifeColor and Citadel can be very tricky to spray, and since I thin these mostly with water and Windex, takes much longer to dry, so spraying multiple thin layers (which is an absolute necessity for these two - at least 3 layers) usually takes place over 2 days or more.

The lacquer metallics that I sometimes use are the Mr Metal Color range, which I normally apply using normal brush rather than sprayed.

Edited by Mike C
Link to post
Share on other sites

What`s the longevity or shelflife of acrylics versus enamels again? I still get blown away when i open up some of my older Humbrol 14ml tinlets and find they are still "alive" and kicking after all these years (some up to 20 years old) Ofcourse some humbrol colors are less prone to deteriorate.

Maybe it`s the same with acrylics? Also, what is cheaper to buy? Maybe you have an opinion on this..

Link to post
Share on other sites

I, personally, would prefer to work with enamels simply because they're idiot proof but not having great ventilation (or a spray booth), I simply have to use acrylics. My acrylics of choice are Tamiya, Gunze Aqueous, Vallejo Model Color, and LifeColor. I find each line has it's own 'learning curve' and so I make sure I thoroughly test them so I can get them to do what I want. The only acrylic paint I will NEVER touch again is MM Acryl! No matter what I did, I simply could not get along with them.

Rob

Link to post
Share on other sites

I switched over to Tamiya Acrylics for 95% of my color needs and could not be happier. They don't have FS matches but matching somehting "close enough" has not been a problem most the time. Those other 5% of colors I need I'll pick up some other brand that has an exact match.

Exactly. I haven't used enamel paint in the 20 years since I had cancer. Never found anything I did with enamel that I can't do with acrylic, especially Tamiya.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I subscribe to both....enamel (MM and Mr. Color) and acrylics (Tamiya). Enamel for overall and acrylics for detail (for ex: ejection seats enamel on overall seat and acrylics to do detail on seat belts buckles and other small items). 91% alcohol will remove the acry overspray or slop from brush strokes without damaging or removing the enamel. However what is used will vary from one modeler to another and it all depends on individual tastes and/or requirements.

Edited by #1 Greywolf
Link to post
Share on other sites

I tried switching to acrylics a couple times in the past and hated them. I tried them again recently and instead of bringing my enamel experience to the party, I had a friend who is a long term acrylics guy come over and give me a little tutorial. For me the key was to not treat them like MM thinned with LT.

I like the fact that they dry quickly. I don't like how they dry on the needle when you are tying to paint small lines or detail.

So far I have had no masking issues and I use pretty aggressive masking mediums.

I plan to use acrylics as much as possible but MM metalizers and Alclad will remain in my arsenal.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Everyone has their preferences, but the simple answer is that enamels offer greater performance than acrylics with less workarounds. To me, that easily trumps smell, toxicity, and clean up issues.

Just take reasonable precautions with enamels and don't use them if you are especially sensitive to their hazards.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I use my remaining Polly scale, and the much-maligned MM Acryl paints for about 90% of my paintwork now. I have, and still use Testors MM enamels, and enjoy using them, too. My preference for the Testors acrylic brands is merely their low odor, which keeps me out of trouble with those I live with.

In conversations with modelers over age 35, I've noticed acrylics take a beating, and I think there's two reasons. One is nostalgia: we grew up with enamels, and the smell makes us feel like we're modeling instead of doing something less fun. The second is that many of us tried acrylics for the first time back in the twentieth century, when many of the lines available were genuinely not very good, especially for airbrushing. Acrylics have since gotten much better, I think.

Now, I find that with Acryl I can do anything I did with MM enamels, including masking. For me, the single exception is washes and drybrushing. As with all paints, do not make assumptions that they work just like other brands.

Link to post
Share on other sites

In conversations with modelers over age 35, ......../quote]

Isn't that all of them? lol

Also, you say you can do anything with acrylics that you can with enamels? How about hand painting? Do they have sufficient open time and will they lay down like enamels? How about tip drying for fine line airbrush use, or cleaning our your airbrush afterwards? These are the shortcomings I have experienced in my limited attempts to use acrylics.

One of the things I like about solvent based paint is even a mild solvent like mineral spirits, always works on them. With acrylics, once they dry, you have to resort to lacquer thinner. As others have said, I know enamels as well as my own wife, and in fact have been living with them far longer! There is no mystery as to what they will do in a given situation.

For me, switching to acrylics would be like getting a divorce and remarrying someone completely different. I guess if you start out with acrylics and learn all of their properties, then you can get good results. People do all of the time.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Also, you say you can do anything with acrylics that you can with enamels? How about hand painting? Do they have sufficient open time and will they lay down like enamels? How about tip drying for fine line airbrush use, or cleaning our your airbrush afterwards? These are the shortcomings I have experienced in my limited attempts to use acrylics.

In brushpainting, I prefer Polly Scale's acrylics over enamels, to the extent that I've returned to brush painting details (such as bombs and ejection seat frames) that I previously airbrushed. Polly Scale's demise does present a complication, here, however. MM says that most (not all) of their Acryl paints are thinned for airbrush. I get great brushpainting results from the basic Acryl colors included in their paint sets (little square jars, akin to their enamels). I let the thinnest of the MM Acryl paints have a few minutes to dry on a palette before brushing them. Like enamels, their results vary by color.

I don't mind Acryl's resistance to solvents, because I usually get the paint out of my airbrush before it sets up, and even with enamels I usually cleaned my brush with lacquer thinner once ever couple of sessions anyway. I had trouble with paint drying in the tip of my airbrush, until I started consistently using MM's proprietary acrylic thinner. This sounds expensive, compared to hardware/DIY mineral spirits, but Acryls require only a very few drops to airbrush. My bottle is years-old. My father has had great results with acrylics and Liquitex brand flow enhancer.

As others have said, I know enamels as well as my own wife, and in fact have been living with them far longer! There is no mystery as to what they will do in a given situation.

For me, switching to acrylics would be like getting a divorce and remarrying someone completely different. I guess if you start out with acrylics and learn all of their properties, then you can get good results. People do all of the time.

Seeing other people's results, reported on the web, is what finally got me to seriously experiment with them. So long as they're manufactured, I'll probably never totally stop using enamels. If I ever build a big, aggressive spray booth system, I might return to using them more often.

I have yet to try Vallejo, although a few weeks back I picked up a few colors, thinner, and varnishes at Hobby Lobby. I'll have to pick a test subject out of my stash, to try 'em out.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...