Which model paint type or brand brush paints the best?

[Just4kiks]

I'v e been wondering; I've heard good things about Testors and Polly S.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Just4kiks

[Triarius]

Polly S is no longer available in military colors, having been acquired and ruined by RPM, Testors' parent company. Testors enamels are well established and functional if you use enamels. I cannot say, nor have I heard, anything good about Testors acrylic other than wide availability. Tamiya and Gunze Sangyo are excellent acrylic paints.

Your best bet is to buy small amounts of various brands and try them. Bear in mind that acrylics are entirely different in their behavior than enamels, and sometimes between one brand and another.

[RichardL]

I find Tamiya acrylics difficult to brush paint as they tend to skin over too quickly. In my experience, MM Acryl, Vallejo Model Color, and LifeColor are easy to brush paint as they don't dry as quickly.

[volzj]

If you don't care if it sticks to the plastic, MM acrylics brush nicely... Barring that, and with the best brushing paint, Polly Scale gone, I would say Vallejo is a decent choice. As Richard said above Tamiya and Gunze are just too fast to level properly, and tend to clump on the brush. They of course airbrush beautifully.

[Triarius]

I've heard wonderful things about Citadel Paints and brushing, but haven't tried them yet. Pricey though.

[RichardL]

On the other hand, MM acrylics stick very well to primed surfaces. They are also great for any areas that don't require masking, such as cockpit, seat, pilot figure, wheel wells.

[SERNAK]

For brush paint Vallejo Model Color and Citadel are the best.

[Old Blind Dog]

Citadel paints from Games Workshop are among the best for hand-brushing. They thin with distilled water, and if one is patient, spread so evenly and beautifully that it's difficult to tell they've not been airbrushed.

I've had good results with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics as well.

My all-time favorite acrylic paint, Polly Scale, is, alas, no more, though, as I understand, Micro Mark is still selling the Railroad colors line under its own house label. I'm glad now in retrospect that I stocked up on it before the axe finally fell. I picked up something like 150 1/2 oz bottles of various military colors and clear coats about three years ago, and am being fairly stingy with it.

I'm looking to try Valejo as an alternative to the most in-demand PS colors.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

[nerdling]

Vallejo is very nice for brush painting. I've used Citadel a few times and it works well also. I've tried Tamiya in the past but it seems to dry to fast. You might be able to thin it down and add a retarder to it though. I know that PollyScale is no longer made but I've had some good luck finding it in the secondary market. There is usually some on Ebay.

[Triarius]

Citadel paints from Games Workshop are among the best for hand-brushing. They thin with distilled water, and if one is patient, spread so evenly and beautifully that it's difficult to tell they've not been airbrushed.

I've had good results with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics as well.

My all-time favorite acrylic paint, Polly Scale, is, alas, no more, though, as I understand, Micro Mark is still selling the Railroad colors line under its own house label. I'm glad now in retrospect that I stocked up on it before the axe finally fell. I picked up something like 150 1/2 oz bottles of various military colors and clear coats about three years ago, and am being fairly stingy with it.

I'm looking to try Valejo as an alternative to the most in-demand PS colors.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

I resemble these remarks. :thumbsup:/>

[Just4kiks]

Thanks guys. I've heard many good things about citadel paints, but i haven't got my hands on any just yet. As Triarius said, they are expensive. You guys seem to like vallejo alot, too. I've seen that MM enamels are actually pretty good to, as long as yo thin it. Has anybody dealt with lifecolor paints

[Joel_W]

I still prefer to bush paint small parts and areas with Model Master enamels. Tamiya Acrylics just don't flow smoothly without having to really thin them, and a 2nd coat applied too quickly just pulls up the 1st coat. The issue for me is that many times I don't always have the color I need in enamels, but have them in Tamiya Acrylics, so I've learned to deal with, and live with them. It just takes a longer time to get there, but eventually I do.

Joel

[Just4kiks]

I still prefer to bush paint small parts and areas with Model Master enamels. Tamiya Acrylics just don't flow smoothly without having to really thin them, and a 2nd coat applied too quickly just pulls up the 1st coat. The issue for me is that many times I don't always have the color I need in enamels, but have them in Tamiya Acrylics, so I've learned to deal with, and live with them. It just takes a longer time to get there, but eventually I do.

Joel

Do you usually add retarder to it?

[Just4kiks]

Acrylics and enamels behave differently, do you guys just stick to one type? I use both acrylics and enamels.

[Triarius]

I can use either with equal facility, but I prefer acrylics.

[Just4kiks]

Polly S is still being sold here...

http://www.hobbylinc.com/floquil_hobby_and_model_acrylic_paint

[sharkmouth]

Thanks to seeing first hand the work by a close friend (Polish Modeler Dewertus) I tried and am very happy with Agama paints as they come in small bottles and are therefore affordable. While not as good as Citadel, they are on par with Vallejo. Supposedly Vallejo is the company making the Italeri paints I bought but they sure didn't perform like Vallejo!

Regards,

[Mike C]

In my experience, LifeColor and Citadel brush paint quite well. Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous, not so much.

[Just4kiks]

Is Tamiya Enamel better than Tamiya Acrylics in your opinion?

[Joel_W]

Do you usually add retarder to it?

No I don't. The reason is that I don't add retarder to Tamiya Acrylics for airbrushing, so there is really no realistic way to add it to a small amount needed for brush painting,. unless I put some in a small tin, then add X20-A & retarder. Then mix, then paint, then clean up the tin. Just not worth all that effort.

Joel

[Just4kiks]

No I don't. The reason is that I don't add retarder to Tamiya Acrylics for airbrushing, so there is really no realistic way to add it to a small amount needed for brush painting,. unless I put some in a small tin, then add X20-A & retarder. Then mix, then paint, then clean up the tin. Just not worth all that effort.

Joel

True

[Triarius]

No I don't. The reason is that I don't add retarder to Tamiya Acrylics for airbrushing, so there is really no realistic way to add it to a small amount needed for brush painting,. unless I put some in a small tin, then add X20-A & retarder. Then mix, then paint, then clean up the tin. Just not worth all that effort.

Joel

There is another way: Premix your retarder with 90% isopropyl alcohol (which you should be doing, anyway). Put a small amount of this solvent blend in a small container. Dip the brush in this before loading it with paint, and periodically as you paint. The technique requires a little practice, but it works.

[Mike C]

Is Tamiya Enamel better than Tamiya Acrylics in your opinion?

I don't use enamels, so unfortunately I can't compare the two. Well... I do use Tamiya enamel occasionally for panel washes, which doesn't really count, does it?

[Old Blind Dog]

Strictly speaking, Tamiya does not make "enamels". (And don't get me started on all the things I hate about enamels!)

Tamiya does offer an absolutely superb line of synthetic lacquer (acrylic pigment) paints in their AS and TS series of rattle cans. These paints are somewhat expensive but second to none, and IMHO, well worth the cost, especially when decanted for use in an airbrush. However, they do not hand-brush very well.

In any case, Tamiya synthetic lacquers should never be used without proper ventilation and safety gear, including a high-quality multi-part respirator. (Frankly, the same goes for spraying acrylics, too.)

cheers

Old Blind Dog

Edited April 17, 2014 by Old Blind Dog

[DutyCat]

MM enamels are probably the best paints overall, that are manufactured today. You can spray them or brush them well if you know what you are doing. They have to be properly thinned.

Back in the "old days" before MM and even after MM1 was introduced, Humbrol was the gold standard for hand brushing as it had very fine pigment. Some of their flats would not spray so well, however, going on very flat and rough. Then MM2 was introduced, which was a big improvement over MM1, and Humbrol reformulated and production moved to China. Quality went down and they did not measure up to MM.. Their most recent formula, the "SuperEnamel" line, seems to be very much like MM, with a few exceptions.

Can't say anything positive about acrylics. Sorry. I think they are inferior in almost every way. Some people learn to work around their shortcomings and get good results.

Edited April 17, 2014 by DutyCat