Didn't Floquil Railroad colors used to be lacquer based?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Someone asked about this on the ARC Forum as Testors only makes Floquil in enamels now. Didn’t they used to be lacquer or xylene based several years back?
I remember the distinct smell when you opened a bottle that was quite different from the enamel now that only contains, “Petroleum distillates” which I think is nothing more than low-odor mineral spirits.

Thanks

Mike

2

Mike,

Can’t answer specifically on the railroad colors, but I have some old Floquil military colors that do list xylene on the label. I would guess the old RR colors used the same basic formula.

3

Back several years, the Floquil railroad colors were definitely lacquers. They were very aggressive paints that would eat styrene. Had to spray a barrier coat first, before using them on plastic, or you would get an etched surface. I think they toned down the aggressivity even before they were bought out by Testors. After the Testors buy out, the classic military colors were discontined, Aeromaster was squeezed out by pricing strategies, and the Floquil RR colors were re-formulated. They are still excellent paints, however.

4

Thanks guys.

Mike