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Two more I am working on


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I have Testor's bottles with 10 cents and 19 cents on the lids. I bought some of the new paints and they dried up within a year. I  have some that are almost 50 years old that I'm still using!

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I picked up two bottles at the hardware store. Of course no price on them. At the checkout when they rang up at $3.99 plus 6% sales tax I almost fainted!  I sure hope their is an explanation besides old fashioned greed.

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No, these prices were this bad before that. Being a former hobby shop manager I'm "sensitive" to these things. I don't know why anybody stocks them.  Ironically, Art Supply shops offer a greater range of colors, in the slightly larger bottles, for a better price! You pick up a Spray can of clear gloss, and your good to go!

 

The only problem is finding art supply shops.

 

Long story is that it's my fault! I take way too long to finish a model, and these stores only survive if they can keep up a high rate of turnover! Low turnover = lower perceived demand, lower profit per square inch of shelf space, adjust the price up to make it worth carrying?  -like I said, I don't know why anyone stocks them!

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Is Tamiya paint better, Don?  The hobby shop scene is poor where I live so the hardware store and the craft stores are my suppliers.  I’m doing a real amateur attempt at dioramas so the Plaid brands of craft paint are my go to these days.  They are less than $2 for 2oz for the basic paints.

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1 hour ago, Jim Skelly said:

plaid brands ... 3M?

Plaid is the corporate name, sold as Folk Art, Homestead, Apple Barrel.  I saw a guy at our library train layout display using it.  I get mine at ACE hardware and a local store called Good’s in Ephrata PA.

https://plaidonline.com/products

Edited by TerryB (see edit history)
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Hello, TAMIYA is an excellent brand of paint. -and I don't know what to say further?  If you are going for a "Hard" gloss look, that's one thing, and if you are talking about "Scenic work", that again is a whole different set of considerations. Lame answer first? Buy what's convenient AND affordable AND has a good range of colors. Period.

 

Chasing down the "Better" paint can be an endless pursuit. Learn how to mix colors, (it's easy), And learn what paint is.

 

Practice! Play! Have fun!

 

For scenic work, diorama, RR layouts, and such, check out the discount tables at H Depot Paint departments. the returned paints, -you can sometimes get more than you might want, but you know, with RED, YELLOW, and BLUE, you can actually make almost anything!  Add Black and White, a Clear flat, and you're working like a pro!

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My $1.89 2 oz bottles of Folk Art brand paint are great for scenery and some plastic parts.  Plastic has worked best with a little light sanding before applying the paint. Folk Art is mostly matte finish but other finishes are available they just cost a little more.  Funny when you look at the natural environment most things are matte finish rather than gloss.

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I've started using some of the acrylic paints with my airbrush with good results. The finish resembles a faded or unbuffed appearance which works well on some commercial vehicles. Works well for interiors too, so you don't have that real glossy appearance to the fabric. I've just started to complete or restore several old models that I've had lying around for at least 30-50 years. Odd how those old "rubber" or vinyl tires shrink down and get really hard over the years and the "chrome" disappears from the plastic over time! I've also noticed how many of the  AMT kits were  basically broken down promotional models in their construction with little fine detail and not perfectly scaled, but they did build into a pretty nice model. Todays offerings are better detailed and more intricate in their assembly but cost about 15 times more than in the '60's. 

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