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Got to bite the bullet ...switching to Acrylics

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dollar19

Active member
Seeing that MM is phasing out their enamels and WEM is hard to come by here in the states. I won’t even discuss Humbrol. I’m going to start the move into acrylics.
What brand would be the easiest for me to start with? I know you guys have your favorites, but on the whole I want to not have to go the route of a witches brew of thinners and reducers and flow enhancers and AB cleaners. Is there even such a paint? Oh yeah and price! 9or 10 dollars for a thimble full of paint is ridiculous .
Am I asking too much? Anyway I’d like to get your opinions.
Thanks I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts.
 
Having used many brands of various "acrylics", I have to say I like the Tamiya jar paint best. Thinned with their tan topped lacquer thinner, you can spray really tight lines, mottles and squiggles or open it up for base coats. It's a bit smelly, but not nearly as bad as enamels and dries in a flash. Clean up is easy, I use generic lacquer thinner followed by a flush of distilled water. Tamiya tends to be more readily available in the States than some of the other brands too and costs about the same as MM. B)
 
Tamiya jars is best bet (You can even now handpaint them because Tamiya has braught out some Tamiya retarder) then you can always use Valejo or so for speciality colors that you dont want to mix.
 
My go to stuff is Vallejo sometimes I use MM. I try to stay away from Tamiya because they seem to lift too easy for me. Some have tried Alkan and various other brands but the one thing that you should be wary of is some colors of a particular brand behave differently than other colors of the same brand. For example; Vallejo's surface primer, while it works, is not sandable and sometime it lifts and it also clogs the airbrush easier that others like Stynylrez primers. There are so many different paints out there like Italeri has their own, Colortex etc.etc.

I have seen where some use the craft paint from Walmart with really good results. I also know of some guys that go and buy Behr test color from Home depot or Lowe's. they buy half pints can and have a specific color added to match. That runs about $7.00. What I have been doing for about 6 years now is buying a bunch of those 17ml bottles from Ebay and putting my paints in those if they dont come in a similar bottle. That is convenient for me to use.

I try to stay away from proprietary cleaners and thinners for acrylics because they tend to be pricey but some times you just got to bite the bullet and go with what is best. Some acrylics are alcohol based like Tamiya and others are water based like Vallejo or MM.

Do a bit more research and find one that looks best to you. Something that cleans up easy and thins out well. Some say that they are ready to spray right pout of the bottle but you may want to experiment with your own brew.
 
I swear by Vallejo. Extensive color lines, great primers and metal colors, easy eye dropper bottles for $3.

I have their flow improvers, retarders, etc, but never use them except when hand brushing. I used to use water for everything but have switched to the AB thinner for thinning and a quick shot of AB cleaner after a just water cleanup. The AB cleaner has a detergent than lubes the needle too. A 200ml bottle lasts forever because you're only putting in a tiny amount for a quick blast.

Color range covers all RAL, RLM and FED shades, plus highlights/shades for their uniform colors.

I get a big bag of different sized eye dropper bottles off eBay for a few bucks, fill one half with color, half with AB thinner and never look back.

Never have tip dry or any other issue. If I need a clean, clean between colors or am getting hesitation, I dunk the whole brush and my hand in a container of water and spray. Can't do that with enamels.

The only thing by them I haven't liked is the premade washes. And their transparent colors aren't as transparent as Tamiya's out of the bottle, you need to mix them with Future or something similar to thin.

I've been using them and nothing else for the last 8-10 years or so and have no regrets. Even their poly clear coats are great. I use them on everything except RC boat/sub hulls where Testors is needed for water submersion.

Tamiya 'acrylic' is ether based, dries a lot faster than Vallejo.
 
I've been using MM acrylics or Polyscale acrylics for years and they have performed well. I am well stocked thanks to a trade a couple years ago but no one close to me carries them anymore so if I run out I have to go with either Tamiya or Vallejo. Tamiya hasn't got the colour range that MM had so that often means mixing colours. I am still trying to figure out the colors in the Vallejo paints but I like them over the Tamiya for ease of clean up (water vs alcohol) and they work better with a hairy brush when needed.

No matter what acrylics you use a good primer coat is essential to get good adhesion otherwise the paint will lift if you try to mask it. For this I use the Tamiya rattle can. I didn't like the Vallejo primer, as someone mentioned it doesn't sand well.
 
My "Go To" is Vallejo Model Air/color, I've had issues with some, but not all, model color trying to thin it for spraying so a word of caution there, as it's the best compromise between accessibility, usability, and, for the most part, "accuracy". For my soviet colors I use Akan, and for everything else I use a combination of Lifecolor Tamiya Gunze with a bit of Humbrol and Model Master.

If you go with Vallejo I would advise using their thinner, I do sometimes add some liquitex flow aid but if you do be warned it extends the drying time a fair bit. I find Akans paint to be very nice and thins with Tamiya thinner.

Akan
20170420_162739_zpsgrejxpqj by nsmekanik, on Flickr

Vallejo and Lifecolor
IMG_0188 by nsmekanik, on Flickr
 
I liked the Lifecolor stuff, what little I've worked with. The Vallejos I've had trouble keeping it wet but with their thinner it's not so much an issue (been so long since i've been on the bench, hard to remember). Hope to spray some Luftcolors this..next weekend. :pilot
 
Thanks for all your thoughts. I just had to replace my compressor. This time I call Badger directly and ordered from the home office. It got here yesterday with some sample bottles of their brand acrylic paint , and a bottle of Styrenlux (whatever it is called ) primer. So now I have black white and something else no labels. But I’m planning to check out the Vallejo stock at Hobbytown this weekend. I’m also looking at some stuff.called bombshell brew.
No decisions made yet may have to try a variety of brands and see how they work for me!
 
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