Bounce Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) Hey Team! just looking at new paints for my new airbrushing endeavors as my Model Masters and Tamiya paints are 17 years old (at least for the MM) Lifecolor, AK, Italeri, Vallejo? this one looks like a must have for my aircraft choices: I'm a little concerned my new paint mixer will not sufficiently remix my old paints and I'll clog. Should I get whatever Paints sets are available or stay with one brand in particular? thanks ETA: it looks like Lifecolor, Vallejo and AK have decent paint sets for sale on Kitlinx Edited September 9, 2020 by Bounce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 4 hours ago, Bounce said: Should I get whatever Paints sets are available or stay with one brand in particular? Working with several different paint brands will allow for building up a knowledge base of their specific quirks & will enable brand mixing to be tested. Both allow you to answer questions asked by others & allow flexibility should one or more brands not be available at some point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 I went with a couple WWII AK sets and some Bronze Green so far... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 here's another question for yas what is recommended to have on hand as far as thinners, decal spray, top coats gloss-semi-flat, Future, Iwata HP-CS cleaners etc? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Napalmakita Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 (edited) Ammo paints n sets are my go-to. Ammo enamel odorless thinner, tamiya gloss coat, Testors lacquer flat, micro sol/set for decals, future for canopies. Tamiya laquer thinner, Windex n Iwata airbrush cleaner for brush cleaning. Edited September 15, 2020 by Napalmakita Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bounce Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 Thanks for that! It will by my next purchase. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BaconRaygun Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 To each their own, but personally, I would not go all-in with any particular brand. Just speaking for myself, I use the following: -Gunze Mr. Color (acrylic lacquer) -Gunze clear colors -Gunze aqueous (water based and discontinued, but damn good if you can find them) -MRP (acrylic lacquer) -MRP metallics (acrylic lacquer) -MRP Clears (acrylic lacquer) -MRP (water based acrylic) -Tamiya (alcohol based acrylic but works like lacquer) -Alclad II -Model Master (water based, for brush) -Model Master (enamel) -AMMO by Mig (water based, for brush) -AMMO enamel pin wash -Vallejo (water based, for brush) -Vallejo wash (water based) -Clay washes -Winston & Newton oil paints I have various amounts of these... the Gunz, MRP and Alclad II are the majority, and the rest are just a few here and there. I get special colors as I go along so that I don't spend a fortune on paint that I may never end up using, with the exception of like standard primary colors, clears and "primer" colors like zinc chromate that can be found on virtually any aircraft to some tiny degree. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lesthegringo Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I have Humbrol, Revell, Model Master and Tamiya enamels, Gunze solvent based lacquers and Gunze and Tamiya water based acrylics. Each has a place on my bench, but my general order pf preference is 1st place - Gunze Lacquers. Great coverage, fast drying, generally very easy to thin and spray, and tolerant of handling, plus generally sticks well even without primer. One big advantage is that the leveling thinners can be added to the jar without adverse effects to the paint, which has the collateral benefit that assuming it is just the original colour, you can sluice out the airbrush paint cup with the thinners directly back to the jar. 2nd place - Model master, Tamiya and Revell enamels, a bit more touchy about mix and surface preparation and tend to take a bit more time to dry, but tend to dry quite tough. Like the Humbrol enamels, you have to be careful about the thinners, I never add thinners to the paint tin / jar / bottle as it can cause the paint to cure irrevocably. 3rd place - Humbrol enamels. I grew up with these and so I know them well, but they have fallen behind the competitors offerings in my opinion as they can be a bit more problematic to spray nicely, and are sensitive to the thinners used. They also (especially gloss and metallics) can take a long time to dry properly and I have had instances where even a week later I have left fingerprints in the paint surface due to it not having hardened completely. However, left long enough, the Humbrol paints end up with undoubtedly the toughest paint, to the point where I had to soak an airbrush I had forgotten to clean in really aggressive thinners in order to soften it. Lastly, the acrylics. They can spray fine, they cover reasonably well, don't stink up the house like the others, but frankly I have found them to be very fragile (other than the way they bond the tops of the jars on) and you can't spray anything other than acrylics over them so limit what you can do afterwards. I also found them to be susceptible to decal fixing solutions, and in some cases where I want to wash the surface of the model prior to decal application, even water. I also find them to be very intolerant of any mistakes in surface preparation, and have had more fails with acrylics than other types. On the plus side, they are safe to use over all the above paints if you need to change something or add a detail knowing that it can be (relatively) easily removed if you mess up My ten-penny worth, hope it helps Les Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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