Paint

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I am so frustrated with paints and clears. I just tried out Revells Aqua paint. It comes so thick it is like paste. It’s doesn’t thin well with lacquer, nor water. In fact, lacquer makes it clump. If sprayed using water as thinner, the paint beads up on the plastic. IPA works, but tip dry is horrid. Tamiya X20 worked the best but tip dry was bad as well. In both cases, I added flow improver and retarder even, it helped, but it didn’t get rid of the malady. And by then, I was getting terrible coverage. My local HT was out of Revells thinner for the paint, but I doubt I’d have done any better with it.

I also recently tried Revells enamel line. It is ok but when it dries, it settles into a orange peel surface. No matter that it looks creamy smooth and glossy before drying. It is bad enough that I would have to sand it before clear coating.

Already mentioned in another thread, I tried Mission Models Gloss and it was terrible. It sprayed bad, leveled bad, dries to a milky satin.

I feel like I have stepped into the dark ages of my modeling when nothing was working. The HT I go to is out of stock on a lot of Tamiyas colors, and that is what sent me on this crummy journey. Tamiya has been reliable for me. They have Vallejo, but I am not a fan of their paints either.

What are you guys using? What works for you?

2

I’m using MRPs lacquers almost exclusively now. They’re kinda pricey, but absolutely trouble-free…which more than makes up for the extra money spent. They go straight from the bottle to the airbrush, and have absolutely no tip dry, even in the high altitude/low humidity environment I live in. Unless they specify otherwise on the bottle, all of their colors are semi-gloss. I thought that was going to be a problem at first, since I mostly build military aircraft. But, as it turns out, its actually an advantage, because it eliminates the step of putting on a gloss clearcoat before putting decals on. It cures completely to an extremely durable finish in less than an hour. The cured product is so nice that it almost looks as if the plastic you painted with it was born that color. No screwing around with this thinner or that retarder…just straight from the bottle to the model. HUGE selection of colors that are perfect matches for military colors from all kinds of different countries…pretty much the full Federal Standard line and LOTS of Russian military colors. A really cool thing I found with it recently is that it is 100% impervious to enamel thinner. So, if you do your base color with it…such as the white landing gear on an F-16, you can then use good old Testors square bottle metallic silver for the bare metal parts, and if you screw up and get that silver paint where you don’t want it…just dampen a q-tip with enamel thinner and wipe it off. It won’t start to dissolve the MRP paint, no matter how much wiping and rubbing you do with it. That’s a first. I haven’t seen a paint yet that doesn’t incur some kind of damage from enamel thinner, but this doesn’t. Heh…as you can see…I’m definitely hooked. Its the Holy Grail of model paint as far as I’m concerned. Its almost more of an ink, in that it atomizes extremely well and lays down very nicely.

Everything on this 1/72 F-16B was painted with MRP paint (except for the bare metal parts on the landing gear and missiles which were Testors square bottle metallic silver of course).

3

Very happy with Mr Color cut with their leveling thinner 50/50.

Had some success with MRP. Still use quite a lot of Tamiya. Tried Mission and failed miserably.

4

My first paints when I started airbrushing were Humbrol acrylics, since I had used their enamels when I built models as a lad. I also tried Tamiya, based on what I read in fora like this one, and I still have quite a few of them. However, I was still experimenting with these (to me) new products, and Vallejo Model Air acrylics were next on the list. I built a Revell U-boat a while back, and bought the Revell acrylic paints the instructions specified. So, my thoughts are -

Tamiya are great, super quality and easy to work with, but require thinning with a solvent-based thinning agent. They also don’t seem to go very far & need replacing frequently.

Humbrol acrylics are also good but, again, require thinning, this time with water. I haven’t tried their new formula yet, which is sold in dropper bottles.

Revell acrylics are similar to Humbrol, but - as you point out - very thick, even sludgy. But, when thinned - with water - they work very well (the U-boat turned out fine[:D]). Trying solvent thinners with these is not a good idea - they turn into a horrible gel.

All these need thinning, and I don’t like to do that in the airbrush cup as I can’t properly judge the consistency, so I use disposable plastic cups for that, which is wasteful.

Vallejo Model Air paints spray without thinning, and perform very well (the metallics are very good). They are a bit fragile until properly cured, so care is needed in handling - I don’t find this to be a problem. And, since no thinning is needed, I’m not buying plastic cups. So, until I try the new Humbrol acrylics, Vallejo Model Air is my favourite at the moment.

Hope this helps,

Hutch.

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Hey Eaglecash, your F16 looks fantastic. I expanded the image and yeah, the paint looks REALLY tight!

Like you, I don’t mind paying more if it means I don’t have to fight the paint. I am so tired of that. Thanks for advising all this. This paint sounds awesome! I will try it!

You guys are awesome. You have been such a big help to me. From primer, to clears, to now paint. You are setting me on a new path. [Y]

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Hey John, I will try Mr color as well. I already have the thinner for it! I want to step into the land of reliable paints and you guys are getting me there.

Good to hear it is not just me about Mission fail.

I REALLY appreciate your input! Thanks again!

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Hey Hutch, you mentioned Vallejo Model Air. I DO need to give Vallejo more attention. I have had some sucess with it but there are two main things that I didn’t like about it. That being, tip dry, and the slow cure time. Usually though, I was able to lay a nice smooth finish.

I happened to watch a YouTube video tonight about Vallejo paint and the guy said he struggled with it too until he did three things. The first was to use a larger needle. The second was to increase the air pressure through the gun. The third was to add two drops of flow improver. He said by doing that, he did not need to thin the paint out of the bottle. Which we shouldn’t have to since it’s supposed to be formulated for ABing. I do recall my AB struggling sometimes to push it through and I thinned using their thinner. It was usually only a few drops. Maybe if I boost the air pressure I won’t need to.

8

Surprised about the problems with Mission Models,they have worked well for me using their prescribed ratio of 10-2-2 paint to thinner to their polymer.It dries to a slight satin finish.

If you like Tamiya, I also recommend the AK-Real line,behaves exactly like Tamiya thinned with any lacquer thinner.

I also use Vallejo Model Color thinned with their thinner and flow improver,no problem.

I still use my stock of Tamiya and Model Master Enamels and Metalizers.

Those are my problem free,go to paints.I will try something different if it is a rare color not available in what I’m used to.

9

Speaking of MRP and the subject of your other thread, their clearcoats are also awesome if you ever want to go the lacquer clearcoat route. They have a 2K clearcoat, which I haven’t tried yet. But their non-2K clearcoats are my go-to now. 4 different sheens…their Semi Matt is perfect for cockpits, because real cockpits definitely aren’t matt…but they’re not really semi-gloss either. The non-2K clears just won’t give you that 2K level of gloss, but are excellent for everything else.

I actually repaired and refinished a switch housing on a 1:1 aircraft with CA to fix the broken spots and fill the cracks, and MRP Super Matt Black. Then we silk-screened the white placards on it, and I did a final coat of the MRP Semi Matt Clear. The customer thought we had a new part made for him (not possible, since they don’t make them anymore)…he was in disbelief when I told him it was the same, 40 year old switch housing.

10

I agree with everything Eagle said about MRP. It’s absolutely trouble free. I guess the only (minor) downside is that relatively few suppliers carry it, so you need to manage your inventory a bit more carefully. I’ve struggled with Mission and Vallejo along with all their proprietary additives, incantations and secret handshakes. Dozens of bottles are now relegated to tiny spots of brush painting. Most will probably end up drying out and being tossed before they get used. Tamiya is still decent for brush painting or an occasional small part, but that’s about it for me.

Please don’t judge the paint by my amateur building and photography skills![:)]

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Oh…forgot to mention the supplier part of it. Sprue Brothers is an MRP dealer, and so is HobbyWorld USA. Can’t really recommend HobbyWorld though. Their customer service is non-existent. But, Sprue Brothers has always been fantastic.

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That is a great testimony of the product and I am excited to try the stuff. I will look into their clearcoats as well!

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Hey MJY65, thanks for your testimony on MRP as well. This sounds like the bomb.

This made me laugh because it is so true. And that is what frustrates me most about many of the paints out there… you have to find a formula to make them work. Then, when you do, it almost never remains constant across their offering. One day it works, the next time, not so much.

Sorry, but I WILL judge because I think your F16 looks fantastic! I love your guys work. Your paint looks smooth and nicely applied. Not to mention the subtle shading that you did is really nice. You should be proud of this model. And there is nothing wrong with your photography skills. That looks good too. It has good lighting, it’s nicely exposed, and the image is sharp. What more can you ask for. [Y]

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I was nosing around yesterday at Sprue Brothers and their MRP offering. Good to know these are the guys to buy through. [Y]

15

So, for the model I am working on, Mr Color offered me the best option in terms of color choice. So, my first order is for Mr Color. MRP will surely follow as I test their paints too.

I found a video testing Mr Color paints and I pasted the link below for anyone interested. He confirms the ease of use and he seems to really like it.

https://youtu.be/dh0XND6KwmQ

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PS: I ordered these from Spraygunner late yesterday. I just received an email that they are shipped. Amazing service.

17

Hey Eaglecash… are these the MRP clears that you use in the link?

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mrp-mrp-048-gloss-varnish--1328405

Are these Acrylic lacquers?

18

Hey Bakster,

Those are the ones. They’re just plain lacquer paint and require no thinning. Here is a full list of their clears. Have a look around on their site. They have a pretty extensive selection. You should be able to use their paint numbers to search on SprueBrothers.

https://mrpaint.sk/index.php?route=product/search&search=super%20clear

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^^^^^

Same ones I’ve used. They also make a special matte varnish to simulate Have Glass V. (MRP-278)

20

My go-to’s are Tamiya, Mr Color laquers, and mission models paints. A good amount of people seem to bash mission models paints and I dont know why. It’s probably the best spraying acrylic paint out there IMO. If I do use MMP I rarely use the poly additive and I have found it sprays best at 15-20 psi. Priming is also a must with MMP!