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stuart.c.82
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Pro's and cons please sirs. Before I go and buy a load of acrylic paint.... I'm gonna do airbrushing on big areas and brush paint the details so was planning/thinking I'd get a load of the Vallejo air paints??
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Tin hats on everyone!.............Incoming!
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Fenlander
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Ooooo, can of worms time. First advice don't buy a load of anything. Paints are very subjective and some people swear by one brand while others swear at them. I would suggest just a couple of pots of whatever colour you need and see how they suit you.
If you are going acrylic then Vallejo are decent for air and hair brush some can do wonders with them, some cannot use them at all.
I appreciate that this doesn't directly help you but it is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. I am a huge acrylic fan but I know that enamel paints are superior in so many ways. But, I hate the smell of them in the house and the cleaning up but they are still the best.
Some acrylics I have used for ages, I am now struggling to get a good finish with but I don't know why. Could be me getting lazy with my thinning and cleaning or it could be that the paint formula has been changed slightly over the years and they now don't work with the thinners I have used before, I just don't know.
Getting it right is a big trial and error thing so don't invest too much in one brand until you know you are going to get the finish you want.
If you are going acrylic then Vallejo are decent for air and hair brush some can do wonders with them, some cannot use them at all.
I appreciate that this doesn't directly help you but it is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. I am a huge acrylic fan but I know that enamel paints are superior in so many ways. But, I hate the smell of them in the house and the cleaning up but they are still the best.
Some acrylics I have used for ages, I am now struggling to get a good finish with but I don't know why. Could be me getting lazy with my thinning and cleaning or it could be that the paint formula has been changed slightly over the years and they now don't work with the thinners I have used before, I just don't know.
Getting it right is a big trial and error thing so don't invest too much in one brand until you know you are going to get the finish you want.
Graham's right. Don't buy large quantities of one particular brand. Try and get an assortment of both acrylics and enamels and try them all. You'll almost certainly find one that suits you better than the others. Get lots of practise with the one you like best and if it works well for you, that's the one to go for.
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stuart.c.82
Guest
Ok brilliant... I think I'll start with acrylic purely on the smell factor and see if I like the finish. Not been to the local model shop yet so will see what brands they keep.
grumpa
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I personally think that dwelling on brands and technical stuff is getting away from the art of modeling itself. Use whatever you're comfortable with and concentrate on trying to capture the utmost realism in your projects. I personally use cheapo craft paints because they are easily {and cheaply} available. If it takes me a year to finish my current project then so be it {won't take that long} I just want everything I do to be by leaps and bounds better than my last offering................Jim
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Fenlander
Guest
See what I mean about differences. I have heard many times that acrylic comes off if you handle it. In all the models I have painted in acrylic over the years, I have never had this happen. One of the problems is that it dries to a certain stage very quickly but it isn't really cured. Handle a lot at this early stage and it will stain with oils from the skin etc but, although many report it coming off, I personally have never experienced this.\ said:
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stuart.c.82
Guest
How many in the set? I'll stick a score in the post now if you want rid of them :P :D\ said:
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Deleted member 3568
Guest
Don't know off hand at work now, can't sell them would seem ungrateful were a prize for Modeler of the year, I think there's 70 odd and they are £250+ for the full set
my two pennuth
back in the day i used enamels cos thats all there was so when i got back into this lark i automatically started buying enamels again
due to my health problems i dont like the smell.....neither does the memsahib......when i got into airbrushing it became even worse
thats when i tried acrylics.....first revell aquas then vallejo......never looked back...no smell, easy cleaning
still have some enamels but its just for things like washes or detail painting
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stuart.c.82
Guest
70 colours! Cor blimey! If you really don't get on with them tho drop me a mail!\ said:
Maybe I could pay the shop here to send you a gift voucher/put you in credit ,in exchange for some enamels. Don't think a score would cut it tho might have to up the offer! Hahaha
Some good advice about trying in small quantities. I used to use enamel tins in the 'old days' and tried out Humbrol acrylics when they were first released and loved the easy clean up but I did not really take to the Humbrol acrylics as they seemed 'watery'.
30 year later, returned to the hobby, bought my airbrush and initially bought some Humbrol acrylic and enamels. I was not really very happy with the rsults on my initial test subjects and on a whim I tried out Vallejo Model Air - after my first experience immediately I dropped Humbrol completely and switched wholesale to VMA.
Advantages of acrylics (Vallejo MA in particular)
1/ Easy to use eye dropper bottles. They make it so easy and clean to dispense the right amount of colour into a colour cup or pallet.
2/ Easy clean up in water of brushes.
3/ I have turned to the use of enamel weathering washes and using acrylic as the paint and/or varnish is ideal when using these. I have not seen a range of acrylic based weathering washes good as the enamel ones that are available. That said of course, you could use an acrylic varnish over an enamel paint to prep for weathering with enamels.
4/ Colour range of VMA and now with the excellent AKI range as well, not to mention Hataka and MIG all with the eye dropper bottles the choice of colours cannot be beaten.
5/ Non-toxic and a lack of odour.
Disadvantages of acrylics
1/ They are more fragile than enamels. You need to use a good primer to give them something to grip. Not everyone, as per the posts abopve, has a problem with this and it is manageable. As for primer, there are other good reasons for it and I would use it anway even if using enamels as part of surface prep.
2/ You do need to adapt to them and cannot expect them to work like enamels.
3/ While they have a short drying time that can be considered in one way as an advantage this can be a problem with tip drying on the airbrush but flow enhancer helps with this.
4/ When they are 'touch dry' they are not fully cured and need to be left to properly cure before masking over.
I consider the disadvantages of acrylics to be outweighed by the advantages.
30 year later, returned to the hobby, bought my airbrush and initially bought some Humbrol acrylic and enamels. I was not really very happy with the rsults on my initial test subjects and on a whim I tried out Vallejo Model Air - after my first experience immediately I dropped Humbrol completely and switched wholesale to VMA.
Advantages of acrylics (Vallejo MA in particular)
1/ Easy to use eye dropper bottles. They make it so easy and clean to dispense the right amount of colour into a colour cup or pallet.
2/ Easy clean up in water of brushes.
3/ I have turned to the use of enamel weathering washes and using acrylic as the paint and/or varnish is ideal when using these. I have not seen a range of acrylic based weathering washes good as the enamel ones that are available. That said of course, you could use an acrylic varnish over an enamel paint to prep for weathering with enamels.
4/ Colour range of VMA and now with the excellent AKI range as well, not to mention Hataka and MIG all with the eye dropper bottles the choice of colours cannot be beaten.
5/ Non-toxic and a lack of odour.
Disadvantages of acrylics
1/ They are more fragile than enamels. You need to use a good primer to give them something to grip. Not everyone, as per the posts abopve, has a problem with this and it is manageable. As for primer, there are other good reasons for it and I would use it anway even if using enamels as part of surface prep.
2/ You do need to adapt to them and cannot expect them to work like enamels.
3/ While they have a short drying time that can be considered in one way as an advantage this can be a problem with tip drying on the airbrush but flow enhancer helps with this.
4/ When they are 'touch dry' they are not fully cured and need to be left to properly cure before masking over.
I consider the disadvantages of acrylics to be outweighed by the advantages.
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stuart.c.82
Guest
Thank you Barry.. great advice details! I've decided I am gonna defo look at the Vallejo model air range... And then just buy the odd bright enamel for highlights. Decided almost immediately that I'm priming everything and have done a light mist coat on the still attatched spruce pieces and loving the texture it has added strait away! Airbrush is a must I think for the finish I want so the easy clean up of acrylic paint for me (as a noob) is a no brainer!!
I did not include one obvious advantage of VMA and AKI acrylics and that is their 'airbrush ready' status. You do not have to fiddle around trying to get thinning ratios right unless you are doing effects like post or pre-shading or filter coats. Even then you are starting from the basis of a paint ready to a/b making thing just that bit easier. I should add that they work best unthinned with a needle 0.3 or larger.
stona
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It is obvious from all the above that everyone finds the system that best works for them and sticks with it. You will have to give a few different brands a go and see how you get on. Acrylic brands vary more than enamel brands, so it might be worth investigating several of them.
I was a long term enamel user, but switched to acrylics some years ago. I persevered with them and managed to make several brands work well enough, but I always had some problems with the fast drying of acrylics, drying at the nozzle etc. After about two years I switched back to enamels and have never looked back, nor will I! I discovered and then re-discovered, what works best for me, but others will have different experiences and different preferences.
We can all give all the advice you want, but in the end you will just have to try a few things for yourself. Definitely don't go out and splurge a load of cash on paints you might later discover you don't like
Cheers
Steve
I was a long term enamel user, but switched to acrylics some years ago. I persevered with them and managed to make several brands work well enough, but I always had some problems with the fast drying of acrylics, drying at the nozzle etc. After about two years I switched back to enamels and have never looked back, nor will I! I discovered and then re-discovered, what works best for me, but others will have different experiences and different preferences.
We can all give all the advice you want, but in the end you will just have to try a few things for yourself. Definitely don't go out and splurge a load of cash on paints you might later discover you don't like
Cheers
Steve
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stuart.c.82
Guest
Cool... Gonna get the ones I need for this model and see what I like... Just used some red car body paint (from the body shop opposite) and stippled the engine to keep the cast look and must say I like it alot!
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It's prob already been mentioned somewhere along the line but there are nice sets that Vallejo/ model air etc do for certain subjects, see Scale Model Shop and if in doubt ask John.I have purchased several that deal with what I'm working on and they also give you details on how to paint ( like Wehrmacht ss uniforms, or German armour ( these paints are good for majority of AFV through the war years 39-45 ) you will in time find some shades of some paints are differant IE Tamiya acrylics shades to Revell shades/ Vallejo etc etc
Over the years I have amassed all three types of paints and still use other types of acrylics.
Some modellers swear by enamels and I used to use the humbrol range but I decided acrylics were better IMOO
It's a big can of worms out there on paints and types including primers but start small and build up slowly
Kindest regards
Robert
Over the years I have amassed all three types of paints and still use other types of acrylics.
Some modellers swear by enamels and I used to use the humbrol range but I decided acrylics were better IMOO
It's a big can of worms out there on paints and types including primers but start small and build up slowly
Kindest regards
Robert