Hi
What paints do you reccomend to paint a ship model? I know of Humbrol and Tamiya? Any other good brands? What would you say is the best? Which is the easiest?
Thanks for all of your suggestions.
What sort of ship are you painting? Some companies have colors matched to specific countries naval colors. And do you prefer acrylics or enamels? Or does in not matter?
You can use any brand you want. Choice of paint is mostly a personal preference. I’ve used both Humbrol and Tamiya. Both are good paints. Tamiya is better used through an airbrush. I’ve also used Testors and Vallejo. The Vallejo acrylics are what I’m using mostly right now. They work well in an airbrush and they brush on by hand very well. Everyone has their favorites so it is next to impossible to say which is the best.
This question is like asking, “Who’s the best looking woman?” Everyone has his own preference.
As far as I’m concerned:
Base coats and camo patterns: Tamiya
Detail paint-brushing: MM enamels and Vallejo
Priming and top coats: Vallejo
If you aren’t set in stone on a paint brand for your ship models, give these guys a look
they are based on this ship color research, www.shipcamouflage.com/paint_chips.htm , that site is also a ColourCoats dealer
one of the people involved in the production of ColourCoats was also half of the S&S team that translated Alan Raven’s color info into paint chip sets
Rex
Yea,What Tarnship said,if you want specific naval colors WEM can’t be beat
I use Testors enamel on my ships. Their British Crimson is nice for hull below waterline on modern (20th century) ships.
Testors had a line of Acrylic Marine Colors that was discontinued. It had some serious adhesion issues. But they are re introducing many of those same colors in their acrylic and enamel Model Master lines according to their website. Tamiya makes some IJN and RN colors, and if you can find them Polly Scale made some of the US WWII USN colors. So there is plenty out there to choose from and depending upon your subject matter you can choose in enamel or acrylics from many of your favorite companies.
Hi
Thanks for all of your answers. What are the major differences between acrylic and enamel? Should you be more experienced to use enamel?
Thanks
Acrylics: can be cleaned with water or Windex, no terrible smell, dries very fast unless you add a retarder
Enamels: use a solvent to dilute or clean, terrible smell, dries slowly, have finer pigments.
That’s why I use enamels for detail paint brushing. If I make a mistake, I can easily correct it with mineral spirits without ruining an acrylic base coat. I use enamels for dry-brushing. Finer pigments in enamels give me a better result.
I agree with all of the above, except about the smell. I dont find the smell of enamels terrible at all.
And depending upon your painting surface and the brand of acrylics, with some acrylics priming is a must. Just the opposite for enamels. Far less necessity for the additional step of priming. Enamels are also more robust and resistant to scratching.
I guess none of you guys who complain about the smell of paint ever worked as a painter, huh? Well, if you had, you’d probably think it smelled like money. To paraphrase Robert Duvall as the mad Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, “I love the smell of enamel in the morning…it smells like quality!” [:D]
Gary
Gary, one of the things I miss in my dotage is the smell of hobby enamels.
Acrylics are a necessity here at the Hangar Deck,but, building models just doesn’t quite seem the same is it did for my first 4 decades at it, haha.
Oh, and just for the record,Acrylics do have a smell to them,it is just different than good ole Model Master’s smell.
Rex
“Gary, one of the things I miss in my dotage is the smell of hobby enamels.” [:D]
“good ole Model Master’s smell.” Yeah, that’s a somewhat comforting smell to me too. It probably triggers some memory response from waaaaay back. Think little square bottles of Testor’s enamel with a .15 cent price printed on the cap, or ancient little tins of Humbrol. Did someone mention dotage? Yep, I’m there, lol!
sneaking Dad’s Ronsonol lighter fluid to thin with, to save a few pennies by not buying those tiny bottles of thinner
now I am grown up ,and more mature,so, instead of Dad’s Ronsonol, I steal Swmbo’s non-acetone nail polish remover,I get the same “thrill of doing wrong” as before, lol
Yeah and I catch my other half at my work bench using my sanding sticks and needle files on her nails… Don’t be surprised if yours don’t do the same when you’re out and about…
hmmm, I have noticed my bench grinder’s wheel has a grove in the center,I better confront Anne about that (shaping her toe nails, I’d bet)
geesh, after hitting enter on that one, I got a mental image,hair up in rollers, long nightgown, standing on one leg with a floppy pink slipper, holding her big toe up to the grinder wheel,with a SSGT’s ballcap on top of the rollers