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Best Paint 2 Buy 4 My Modeling ?


schooner

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Hi Gang ( Newbie here ) :)

I will be painting my P-51D Mustang in the near future and would like to know

what is the BEST PAINT 2 buy ?

 

I guess I'll be using GLOSSY PAINT, isn't that most you guys use ?

 

Please if you would be so kind ar to recommend the BEST PAINT MANUFACTORS.

 

Thanks 4 helping this brand newcomer.

 

 

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Are you planning to paint by hand, use an airbrush or spray cans? I like using Testors Model Masters for my armor models, but doing a natural metal aircraft is something outside of my area of expertise.

 

A lot depends on what you can get locally.

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Are you planning to paint by hand, use an airbrush or spray cans? I like using Testors Model Masters for my armor models, but doing a natural metal aircraft is something outside of my area of expertise.

 

A lot depends on what you can get locally

 

THANK YOU RGronovius

4 your reply. Right now I'll probably paint with a good sabel brush. I'm thinking about buy an air brush.

I'm a new comer as you can tell. Just wanted to know the BEST PAINT a manufractor has on the market.

 

GOD BLESS YOU

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Harbor Freight sells some very cheap airbrushes that are decent enough for a beginner to learn to airbrush with. Learn to paint on what we often refer to as a "paint bomb" or "test kit". This is an old kit that you use to practice airbrushing on or buy some toy from a second hand shop. Don't try to learn on your recently constructed masterpiece or else it might take the wind out of your sails and deter you from continuing to build models.

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A few points Ray...

 

1) You first need to decide whether using petroleum based paints (enamels and lacquers) are what you want, or whether acrylic based paints fit your needs. If you have a well ventilated work space and no real problems with paint fumes, then enamels will work well. However, if your work space isn't well ventilated, or perhaps you will be painting in the house where fumes will be a problem, then acrylics may suit you better.

 

2) Enamels and lacquer model paints are very common and pretty easy to find. They use petroleum based thinners, so they are flammable and have the normal fumes associated with paints. There are many companies that make them with a wide variety of colors in both flat and gloss types.

 

3) Acrylics use either water or alcohol (or a similar non petroleum) thinner. The advantage here is (generally) water clean up and little to no paint fumes compared to petroleum based paints. Their downside (occasionally) is they may not adhere as well to bare plastic surfaces, and so a primer is needed more for them. However, with proper use, they work just as well as enamels and lacquers, and there's nearly just as wide of varieties of these made by model paint companies. Another advantage is that you can sometimes find acrylics easier as "craft paints" in places like Walmart and craft stores even though they don't carry "model paints".

 

4) In general, if you have a large surface to paint, spraying it is better than brushing it. It applies the paint more evenly and also dries faster. You can use a spray can or airbrush for this.

 

5) Small detail parts are easier to paint with a brush. You need to be sure have have 3-4 good quality paint brushes that range in size from a broad, flat shape to a fine pointed tip shape. They will allow you to cover larger areas faster (broad, flat one) and then pick out fine details (fine pointed tip).

 

6) Most military models are painted using FLAT paint. It usually applies easier with fewer brush strokes showing and also dries faster. Gloss paints can certainly be used, and some people prefer them because it can save a step later. But, they can be more difficult to apply and usually take longer to dry. Also, MOST of the military model paints you buy, enamel or acrylic, come as flats; so that's were your biggest choice in colors is.

 

7) Most model paints can be applied straight from the bottle with a brush. However, most of them need to be thinned further to be sprayed through an airbrush. There's lot's of recommendations about "how much" to thin (ratio of paint to thinner); but the best general idea is to get the paint to where it handles and pours like 2% milk. Some model paints come marked "ready to airbrush" (already thinned), which is an advantage, However, these don't lend themselves to brush painting because the paint is so thin.

 

8) The best model paint maker? Ask 20 modelers and you'll probably get 15 or more different answers! Much of it depends on the things I mentioned above, and the rest is personal preference based on individual experiences. If you have a hobby shop nearby, any paint you buy in the PLASTIC MODEL area will be good. Be careful not to buy paints designed for use on RC model car bodies or RC model "dope" type paints. Model Master, Tamiya, Testors, Mr. Color, Gunze-Sanyo, Humbrol, Vallejo, Alclad, Floquil, AK Interactive are all just a few of the paints you may run across, depending on whether you're buying locally, by mail, or at a model show. Some specialize in metallic finishes and some are imported paints; so they may not be a common brand you'd find on your local shelf.

 

9) I mentioned U-tube in another post to you. I strongly advise you go there and start looking at the videos there. If you want to learn brush painting, type "beginning brush painting for plastic models" in the search bar and then watch a few of them. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and a video will give you more practical instruction than can be written here. The same goes for spray painting with cans, and especially for picking, and then using an airbrush. This applies to almost any and every technique you may have questions on. It's not that we can't answer your questions here. We just can't answer them as completely and in the entirety needed here.

 

Hope this sets you on the right path! Don't feel abashed or over whelmed. We were ALL where you are at one time! The only difference between us and you is years of experience. The advantage you have today is all the help available on the internet that wasn't there for we "old guys" back in the day. You'll start catching on and catching up fast!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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  • 4 weeks later...

Welcome to the hobby.

Honesty I don't use gloss paint. I find it too hard to get an even coat. So I will spray or apply my regular coat of paint (I use Vallejo) and then later I give it a coat with the clear gloss.

 

That works better for me. HTH.

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Harbor Freight sells some very cheap airbrushes that are decent enough for a beginner to learn to airbrush with. Learn to paint on what we often refer to as a "paint bomb" or "test kit". This is an old kit that you use to practice airbrushing on or buy some toy from a second hand shop. Don't try to learn on your recently constructed masterpiece or else it might take the wind out of your sails and deter you from continuing to build models.

Hi Acrylic Addict

Sorry I've not replied earlier. Tell me being a newbie to airbrushing, can you tell me if you ever used COM-ART ACRYLIC airbrush paint ?

If so, what do you think of it ?

I just bought a single action IWATA airbrush. If figured its easier for me to learn being that I'm not going to do any real detailed work. Just spraying wings, fuselages, etc, etc.

 

Happy Holidays to you and yours

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