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Alternative To Flo-Quil Paint


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Since Flo-Quil railroad colors is no longer made, thank's Testors, I'm looking for another source of a similar primer and colors, especially their concrete and blacks. The primer was one of the best I ever used as it covered well but didn't clog details no matter how fine they were and the concrete and old concrete had the look and texture of cement, including the 'sparkle' from the silica in the sand. You had to see it in person to understand what I mean on those points. As for their line of black paints, they had Engine Black which was a very glossy deep black finish as on a steam loco, Oily Black which looked just like that, a greenish black with an oily sheen. Weathered black was a very dark grey that looked like a black surface that had been left out in the sun for a few months or years, it was perfect for tires and other exposed rubber items like the de-icing boots on aircraft, anti-glare panels or the tops of helo rotor blades. 

 

Their other paints were great as well as I used them on buildings since that was what a good part of the line was made for and as they were thinned with Xylene lacquer thinner or lacquer wash could be used instead when using an airbrush. If you set the air pressure just right you could get the paint almost dry before it hit the model's surface getting a grainy texture that was perfect for pavement or masonry. Aside from all that the paint was priced the same as a jar of Madel Master but you got more, same with the thinners. The factory thinner was four to five times as much as lacquer thinner but the lacquer thinner can was three to four time larger. 

 

Anyway, it was a shock to find out that that line of paint was now gone and the local hobby shop only had Model Master and a line of acrylics that only can be thinned with their own brand, anything else makes a messy glob that useless. If anyone knows of a good replacement please let me know. I still prefer solvent-based paints as I've never had good luck spraying acrylics in my airbrush. It seems that the choices for paints locally are poor. I miss the days where even the toy store carried Humbrol paints and everyone carried both Pactra and Testors.  

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I was pretty sad when Floquil was discontinued.  I hoarded many bottled of my favorite colors.  I really like the different shades of silver they used to offer.

 

You might look into mr finishing surfacer 1500 as a new primer. 

 

As far as the other colors, Tru Color  paint emerged as Floquil went away, and they have many of the railroad colors.  I have not tried them yet.  They call it a solvent based paint. 

 

Hope it helps.

 

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There is a company called Archive-X Paint that is making enamel colors that exactly duplicate many, if not most, of the paints made by Floquil. They are basically for use by modelers build full scale replicas of Star Wars ships and other props. Industrial Light used original Floquil paints on most of the models done for Star Wars. Archive-X makes duplicates of the original colors. They are sold out of Britain only and come in rather large bottles (3 oz?). They are not cheap but if you are looking for accurate duplicates of Floquil colors, these are the best you can get. Here a link to their facebook page.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1696820240623353/?fref=nf

 

Here a link to a Google drive pdf file listing all the colors they make, costs and how to order.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d-mgh5_No6o7b3b8ROeSnQtqBbLTh9II/view?usp=sharing&fbclid=IwAR1j-tyLtZmn_3FrlsrH4XxfOhba_A8i17ZldMZpX7q8BfuGK80o-cmKIRI

 

 

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On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 2:59 PM, Kurt H. said:

I hoarded many bottled of my favorite colors. 

 

Kurt!

About hoarding paint bottles; how do you go about stirring them? Do you shake them in the bottle or do you take the lid/cap off and stir them with a stick so as paint doesn't get to the inside of the lid/cap.

How about shelf life of all those hoarded bottles? Doesn't the paint harden with time? Is Dio-Sol still being produced these days?

 

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 2:59 PM, Kurt H. said:

You might look into mr finishing surfacer 1500 as a new primer. 

 

This is a different product from Mr Surfacer, isn't it?

Cheers,

 

Onigiri

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AFAIK, the Mr Surfacer versions only differ in thickness and color. I have bottles of 500, 1000, and 1200. With proper thinning--to the same consistency--they've all sprayed identically.

 

It's also been my observation that despite my best efforts (keeping jar threads and lids clean), Mr Color tends to thicken over time (years). Since I always thin to a specific consistency (like 1% milk), this hasn't made any difference at all beyond how much thinner I need. Towards the end of a jar of paint, it's more of a gel at the bottom, yet I still get wonderfully smooth and thin coats.


I wish I could say the same for Alclad...

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44 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

It's also been my observation that despite my best efforts (keeping jar threads and lids clean), Mr Color tends to thicken over time (years).

 

Have you tried their replenisher agent?  It will restore thickened or even completely dried out Mr Color paints. Contains the resins and other stuff that plain thinner is missing. I've used it, it works.

https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/gunt115xxx.htm

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3 hours ago, Doppelgänger said:

 

Kurt!

About hoarding paint bottles; how do you go about stirring them? Do you shake them in the bottle or do you take the lid/cap off and stir them with a stick so as paint doesn't get to the inside of the lid/cap.

How about shelf life of all those hoarded bottles? Doesn't the paint harden with time? Is Dio-Sol still being produced these days?

 

 

This is a different product from Mr Surfacer, isn't it?

Cheers,

 

Onigiri


I use a Badger paint mixer just about any time I use a bottle of paint. It works very well.  I also use eye droppers to remove paint from bottles for airbrushing, so I rarely get paint on the threads of the bottles.  I think I went nuts buying floquil in 2013 when word got out they were going to be discontinued. The paint is not opened, and Tower hobbies shipped the paint in the boxes from floquil, so it has never even seen light. so Hopefully it will still be fresh If I ever end up using it.  They still offered Dio Sol at the time. 

 

Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 is a thinner version of Mr. Surfacer, hence the higher number. It applies easily, and when thinned with MR Leveling Thinner levels beautifully, it is sandable and just generally everything I like in a primer. 

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2 hours ago, Mstor said:

 

Have you tried their replenisher agent?  It will restore thickened or even completely dried out Mr Color paints. Contains the resins and other stuff that plain thinner is missing. I've used it, it works.

https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/gunt115xxx.htm

Did not know about that. At least it's not something in my usage that's causing the thickening.

 

Ordered some from Sprue, so we both thank you! 😉 

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