I’m pretty new to the model making stuff, and I’ve mainly been using acrylics for hand brushing as I had a number of those bottles left over from when I did Warhammer models. I’ve subsequently picked up a number of Tamiya bottles (and a handful of others) to supplement by old Reaper paints.
However, lately I’ve been using a lot of enamels to “prime” parts. I’ve found it gives me a lot better control over what gets primed and is easier to paint pre-assembly. (And the little testor bottles are way cheaper than the spray cans.) I’ve been finding the “primer” emanel coats are going on very nicely. Without much work I get a nice solid coat on the parts with little to no brush marks. I’ve read Tamiya is not very nice for brush painting (something I discover after buying a number of bottles) but it feels the Testors enamels go on even nicer than my old Reaper bottles, or even some of the Vallejo or PolyScale. The testors goes right on without any need to mess around with adjusting consistency like the acrylics.
What are your experiences with enamel vs acrylic for brush painting? Not planning on getting an airbrush any time soon (small apartment) so I’m really trying to improve my brush painting.
Tamiya brushes fine, just thin it a little with retarder ( Tamiyas recommended method). I don’t use their retarder as I use Liquitex in acrylics anyway,no need to buy yet another product and it works fine.
Enamel vs acrylic is personal choice. I can live with either one. Most all paints brush better with one sort or another of thinner.
I’ve used Tamiya acrylics for 99 percent of my painting for decades…but for priming and detail-painting, I still mostly use Testors ‘square bottle’ enamels. (If I could buy their 1163 ‘Military Gray’ by the quart, it would be much handier for my priming. [:D])
As the OP pointed out, they’re convenient and easy to use, with great coverage and little worry about brush-strokes. And for those with concerns about spraying volatile (and smelly) thinners into their immediate environment – my original reason for switching to acrylics, while living in an apartment – rinsing out a brush in a little jar of thinner/cleaner presents no real problem.
One thing I like about enamels is that it both brushes and sprays very well. The only drawback to me was the slow drying time with gloss enamels. I solved that problem with a homebuilt drying box.
I have always, 72 years now, thinned Testors by a small degree, Say 25-75 in favor of paint of course. It has worked as well for me as the now Gone PACTRA-No Brushmarks-Gauranteed!! I never have liked Acrylics because of the Lousy Brushability UNLESS you add something to them!
I started out buidling models and painting them with hand brushed enamels long ago. Acrylics did not come along until years later, so that was a learning curve there. But in the long run, for hand brushing, in the majority of cases in my experience, enamels are better performing, with the exception of drying time as stated above. And yes, those little Testors square bottle are still pretty economical. Even if they do cost quite a bit more than the old ones that had $.29 on the lid from back in the day.
Back in 1958, 1959 and 60 Testors enamels is pretty much what we had and they always have worked fine and still do.Pactra was like a shot of Geritol though, fantastic enamels, a few different color options from Testors etc. I had a 108 customer paper route so I always had money enough to feed my model and bicycle needs etc. I remember Testors bottles at $.15 but I’m thinking I recall it being less than that, like $.12,maybe even $.10 at a local hardware store at the time. It’s kind of a long time ago so I could be wrong lol !
For brush painting it’s mostly Vallejo model color mixed with a little water. I’ve had great results with those paints. I do like those Testors enamels when painting gold and silver. The rare times I use Tamiya it’s always used with their retarder.
And later, when the paper route paid off you could graduate to one of Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roths colors
Gee, Testor’s deals with custom car designers pre-dated their [much] later ‘Colors by Boyd’ Coddington. Perhaps someone can deal with Dave Kindig/AKZO Nobel for some of their colors. It won’t be Testors
That was the first liquid cement I ever used, and it was a major improvement over any brand of tube glue. It was still produced as of a year or two ago, but the label changed a long time back.
The clear lacquer was a dime. Splurge on the Battleship Gray – it was all of 19 cents
