Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and why?

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Falcon
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Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and why?

Post by Falcon »

Which type of paint do you prefer and which brand?

For me it would have to be acrylic paints.

My acrylic paints of choice are Gunze Sangyo and Tamiya. I also have a large selection of Revell Aqua colours and Xtracrylix.

Gunze and Tamiya are the best for spraying thinned down a touch with neat isopropanol. Xtracrylix are good for spraying but tend to be a bit on the glossy side.

The new Humbrol acrylics are not bad too. Not given these much of a try out through the airbrush as yet, but from what I have used so far was pretty good.

Revell Aqua Colors are good for traditional brush painting, but far too thick to be used through the airbrush. I have found that recently the paint is that thick, each new pot can be thinned down to give enough paint for 3 pots and still be a bit on the thick side.

I still have a very large selection of Humbrol enamel paints too. These do occasionally get used but as the drying time of acrylics is about 15-20 minutes compared to the enamel drying time of at least 6 hours, it is easy to see why I have switched to acrylics.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by PaulBradley »

I use Xtracrylix for general painting. They are good airbrushed, thinned sightly with IPA, and can also be hairy-sticked if necessary.

As Xtracrylix can be difficult to get a hold of here in the States, I also use ModelMaster acrylics for basic and primary colours.

I do use some enamels - again, ModelMaster as they are easily available and generally easy to use. I use them for washes and drybrushing, something that acrylics are not good for.

For metallics, I use Testors Metalizers - readily available, easy to airbrush and clean up and a durable finish.

For varnishes, I use Future/Klear for glossy and Testors Dullcote, for, er, dull coats.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by JamesPerrin »

PaulBradley wrote:I use Xtracrylix for general painting. They are good airbrushed, thinned sightly with IPA, and can also be hairy-sticked if necessary.
Does that really work?. AFAIK (and have tested myself) they won't thin with IPA at all as Xtraxrylix are ketone based ie can be thinned or cleaned with acetone or nail varnish remover - I stick with Hannant's own thinners.

I'm a big fan of Gunze Sanyo thinned with IPA but Xtracrylix have the wider choice of colours and their EDSG is a far better match. Also use a few Tamiya paints.

I've got happier with spraying Humbrol enamels recently - always useful as I have a wider choice of colours and finished to hand.

Humbrol's Clear Cotes give good finishes but I've had problems with getting them to harden when sprayed. I've since read (on Airfix's website) that cellulose thinners should be used for spraying these.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by PaulBradley »

JamesPerrin wrote:
PaulBradley wrote:I use Xtracrylix for general painting. They are good airbrushed, thinned sightly with IPA, and can also be hairy-sticked if necessary.
Does that really work?. AFAIK (and have tested myself) they won't thin with IPA at all as Xtraxrylix are ketone based ie can be thinned or cleaned with acetone or nail varnish remover - I stick with Hannant's own thinners.
Been doing it for years; that's news to me, James! I used to use their own thinnners, which admittedly do work better, but they are very expensive over here, if you can find them - and I can only get it in the small bottles rather than the bigger containers.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by BWP »

Falcon wrote:Which type of paint do you prefer and which brand?
I am an acrylics man also, because I don't want the grief of cleaning up enamels -- I used to use nothing but enamels when I was younger and it made painting an unpleasant chore. The quick and simple clean-up of acrylics is a complete pleasure in comparison.

When using acrylics priming is essential. My primer of preference is Tamiya Fine in a spraycan, but Mr Surfacer (in various grades) is also very good. Mr Surfacer 500 is of course excellent for adding a "rough" cast-metal appearance to an AFV. Mr Surfacer is available in jars or spraycans; if painting from a jar you need to clean up with lacquer thinner (I use the Gunze "Mr Color" thinner.)

My favourite paint brand is LifeColor. They have a decent range of colours, they go on well regardless of using brush or airbrush, and I am a sucker for the "theme boxes" that they make. Their historical colour matching seems very good to me (not that I'm much of an expert in that regard). Their popularity in Australia seems to be on the increase and they're no longer very hard to find, plus their jar size (22 mL) makes them very good value compared to the other brands. I thin them with their own brand thinner.

I also regularly use Tamiya and Gunze "Hobby Aqueous". They are both readily available in this part of the world and have been for years and years. I don't really understand why Tamiya maintain such a limited range of colours (although they are slowly expanding) but the Gunze range makes up for that. Their biggest drawback is that they are very difficult to paint with a brush, but both are excellent with an airbrush. I thin them either with Tamiya brand thinner (X20A) or with Gunze "Mr Color" thinner. The latter is lacquer-based and thus adds some "bite" to the paint, which improves their flow with a brush somewhat.

Other brands I have some pots of, but only use occasionally, are firstly the "old" Humbrol acrylics -- I have a few pots that I purchased over 20 years ago but are still going strong. I've not sprayed them, but they go well with a brush -- I generally only use them for "small area" coverage, not big jobs. I thin them with distilled water. However it's my understanding that these paints are a different formula to the current range, which I have no experience with. (Nor do I plan to gain any -- their range of colours is so limited, and the cost per jar is not favourable in comparison to the LifeColor range. Why do Humbrol not make their acrylic range comparable to their enamel range? Makes no sense to me ....)

I also have some jars of Citadel Acrylics, left over from more 20-year old purchases, which I make use of in much the same way as the Humbrols, and are excellent in that role. Some of the jars are drying up though, although they can be rescued with some distilled water. I'm not likely to purchase any more though because, quite frankly, they are ludicrously expensive.

Straying slightly outside the acrylic range, I've had some minor experience with Alclad and I liked it, although of course they have quite limited applicability, especially for my preferred choice of subjects (armour kits)! However if I find a need for them in a future build I'll certainly make use of them.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by flakmonkey »

Almost exclusively I work with acrylics, their fast drying times are a major bonus. Wherever possible these days I will use Tamiya acrylics, the colour range appears limited at first glance but you can get a respectable match for a surprising variety of real world colours straight from the jar. They're reliable, good quality paints, clean up easily, dry quickly and are tough enough to take a lot of handling on the workbench. Like BWP, I use a good quality lacquer thinner with these for airbrushing. Not only does this work, it works better than anything else in my view. Gunze acrylics, of which I also have quite a few, can also be thinned this way having similar chemistry to the Tamiya acrylics.

I also have a very wide range of Lifecolor acrylics which really are excellent paints. I know one or two UAMF members have tried them and not got on at all well with them, so maybe they're not for everybody. For airbrush use, Lifecolor's own thinner is a must. They also make a very good range of premixed washes called Tensacrom which can be bought individually or in sets. You can't beat them for serious amounts of dirt. Their matt varnish is a real gem, one coat and it's perfectly flat. The only drawback is that it can be a little fragile and doesn't take well to excessive handling.

For metallics I will mostly turn to Alclad lacquers but for small brush painted areas (for which Alclad is unsuitable) you would go a very long way to beat the Citadel acrylics. They have a very fine grain, brush exceptionally well and dry to just the right sheen. The Citadel burnished gold is the most convincing colour I have ever seen for gold anodised parts, on motorcycles for example. A spot of acrylic flow improver makes them much nicer to work with.

Amongst the waifs and strays in the paint boxes are some Revell enamels, which I prefer to the Humbrol ones as I find them more predictable and faster drying. Much of this preference stems from Humbrol's "iffy" period a little while back when their quality control seemed to disappear. Having said that, I wouldn't be without my H78 acrylic from their new range. Some time ago I bought a range of Vallejo Model Air acrylics which initially were quite impressive but turned out to be very fussy and unpredictable with respect to thinner ratios and also were the most difficult to clean of all the acrylics I have tried.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by Motley »

Personally i use Revell aqua color acrylics at the moment as they are the easiest paints for me to get quickly without buying online and i like the way they are packaged to in the little pots, prefer acrylics over enamels as you dont get the smell, they are easy to clean up and they dry alot quicker, but ive tried other brands of acrylics and will use them from time to time when i need other colors that revell dont do

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Post by Beowulf Shaeffer »

for me its acrylics..........the cleaning process is just so much easier

revell aquas are the prefered choice...can get them any where so that is a bonus...easy to thin correctly, spray nice too
never liked tamiya for air brushing......never managed to get on with it for some reason....but i like it for detail brushing
tried a few of the new humbrol acrylics......not impressed at all, but i think its me doing something wrong :lol:
also use automotive rattlecans every now and then when doing cars and bikes......especially for chassis/engine bits thats mostly matt black/grey/aluminium etc.....quick and easy....but have used for body shells, especially when its a white one!
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by IrishAir »

I'm an acrylics man myself, I just don't like enamels for all the reasons I'm sure have been said above.
Humbrol acrylics are my paints of choice but I have also used Tamiya and am intending to buy some Revell aqua colours.

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Post by Mikeew »

I use almost exclusively acrylics. Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous being my main weapons of choice, thinned with Iso Alc.
I just cannot get on with Xtracrylix for love nor money, I have a few, but rarely use them.
Enamels are also used in my work on occasion, if , for example, the colours are right eg:Xtracolor/WEM.
Metallics are Alclad all the way for me. If I am brush painting smaller pieces and details them Revell or Humbrol enamels will suffice, though I have been known to mask up stupidly small pieces and spray Alclad Chrome, for oleos for example. :shock:
Varnish wise, its Xtracolor Flat Varnish or Vallejo Satin varnish depending on what I want for the end result.

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Post by Ernie »

I must switch to acrylics as my work area is now in the main part of the house instead of the basement. Though as a matter of economics I have to work through my supply of enamels first. Only problem is I have a bunch of enamels, and a friend gave me a box of enamels as well that he no longer wanted, so I have a large supply of Model Master, Humbrol, and Xtracolor to go through yet. I do use Tamyia acrylics, and Polly Scale, which I like but since it is now phased out by the Mfr. I thinkl I will try Life Color and see how that works.
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Post by Stupot »

Humbrol enamels for me. Good for brush painting and I have no trouble cleaning brushes. Xtracolor aren't bad too but in my experience sometimes a little trickier to brush paint.

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Post by MrDyzio »

I use acrylics - no odor during painting, easy cleanup, fast drying time.
Some enamels only for weathering.
I use wide range of acrylics: Tamiya, Vallejo, Model Master, PolyScale, Life Color, Citadel, Agama.
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Post by Dirkpitt289 »

After reading all this I think I need to switch over to acrylics. I use Model Master enamels because they are so readily available at my LHS. They do have Tamiya Acrylics but in limited quantity and colors. They also have Poly Scale Acrylics but again in limited colors and quantity to the Model Master Enamels. I have to admit I like the drying time on the acrylics and most of all the lack of oder when spraying. As for cleanup I haven't seen a difference.
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Re: Acrylic or Enamel? Which paint/brand do you prefer and w

Post by m1ks »

Wow, a definite liking for acrylics.
I have to say, for the paint and finish i would always choose Humbrols enamels, i'm a bit biased in that they're the paints I started with years ago and were all that were available then.

They certainly have their downsides.

My personal preference lays somewhere between
Tamiya Acrylic
Citadel Metallics acrylic
(Mithril silver=alu, Chainmail=Steel, Boltgun metal=gunmetal, Burnished gold=Bronze, Shining Gold=super shiny gold)
Humbrol Enamel
It really depends on the subject being modelled, I ALWAYS prime with humbrol flat enamel, either Trainer yellow, Grey, White or Black regardless of the top coat paint type

If i'm modellinng a civiliam model, Car, motorbike etc i will always choose enamel gloss over any acrylic, they give a rich deep shine that i've yet to see an acrylic achieve

I use Tamiya Acrylics for two reasons
1. They're the only other paint readily shop available to me in my local model shop, 85 miles away! (yes really)
2. They airbrush well and dry very very quickly and their Matte range is really quite good

They also clean up quickly and easily and the whole process is not too smelly.
I love the finish you get from Humbrol matte enamels but do like to allow at least 48 hours for them to cure before extensive handling and masking hence the reason for building up a stock of Tamiya acrylics

So in essence I like Tamiya acrylics for spraying, (they don't brush well but thinned very slightly with IPA they're not as bad for brushing) because of the cleanup and drying but Humbrol just for the quality of the paint.

I was guided to Citadels metallics by a guy on another forum, and they're great, very fine pigment, brush well.
The only downside is the toyshop in my local town, (85 miles away), has closed so no more Citadel paints, if I want replacements will have to order them online
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