Converting to Acrylics from Model Master, What’s the best acrylic brand?

[Expat Tomcat]

I took an extended break from the hobby and after realizing that my eye sight isn’t getting any better, I decided to not sell or waste my investment. But Testors decided to quit and my effort to be more planet friendly, I decided to switch to acrylics. So what’s your favorite brand? Who has the best availability in the states? Who has the best color selection? What is your choice, Vallejo? Gunze? ??

[Fishwelding]

I've used Testors products since the 1980s, when I learned to build models as a kid.  Anticipating Testors' demise, I spent the last decade sampling different paint formulae.  At this point I use two acrylic lines for most work: Tamiya and Vallejo Model Color.

 

In my experience Tamiya acrylic is fantastic when airbrushed, especially with its own thinner.  It's unlikely to clog the brush, has great opacity, and when set up is tough in the face of sanding or masking.  I mostly use their proprietary thinners, acrylic or lacquer, although I sometimes use isopropyl alcohol for very tight spray applications.  However I cannot get it to flow from a bristle-brush very well, unless I mix a large quantity with its proprietary thinner and retarder.  So small touchups with a fine-tipped brush are OK, but for anything larger I turn to Vallejo.

 

Vallejo Model Color is an excellent paint for both bristle-brush and airbrush application.  For the latter I use their proprietary thinner, but for a bristle-brush I invariably mix Model Color with distilled water.  (Tap water will probably do, but distilled is cheap here.)  I've never seen it's equal for bristle-brush painting: it flows like ink, resists streaking, is very opaque, and due to it's eyedropper bottle, lasts quite a long time.  Model Color airbrushes well enough that I don't bother buying a lot of Model Air, which is formulated for airbrushing. I just don't need an additional paint line, and prefer to mix paints for airbrushing myself, for finer control. Vallejo Model Color doesn't stick as well to bare plastic.  I either use a primer or apply it atop Tamiya acrylic.  

 

A few details with the above regime: I prime almost everything, either with lacquer primer or increasingly Stynylrez.  However, in the case of Tamiya this probably isn't necessary.  While it can be a nuisance using two paint lines that don't match, I find it doesn't often cause a problem; I can do very small touchups with Tamiya, and seldom need to match airbrushed colors to large-surface brush-painting.  One reason I settled on this regime is that both paint lines are widely available, and I rarely encounter supply-chain problems, even during the pandemic, getting Tamiya or Vallejo Model Color.  

 

If ever I deviate from the above, it's using up old paint from other brands, or Gunze Lacquers for very specific applications.  But unless I discover a new line of paints that I really like, I'll probably end up in a few years with these two lines exclusively.  

[habu2]

Okay I don't know what's going on here but:

 

1) when clicking on username Guest Yasmin it does not link to the user profile.

 

2) I didn't know guests could post without creating an account. 

 

3) Google can't translate whatever this is. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[habu2]

Interesting, the Guest Yasmin post has been removed (by mods?) and now a new post appears by "Guest Lin", again the username does not link to a profile. This smells like some kind of a forum hack...

[Dave Williams]

Stupid spammer reported.  Seriously, how is anyone supposed to fall for your scam without a link or anything to your scam site?

[Dave Williams]

Another spammer who doesn’t know how spam works.

[Dave Williams]

Spammer reported

[phantom]

Weird how they posted. Had to try something new to erase them.