Best Paints for Miniatures and Models. Airbrush paint for models and miniatures contains information about the many different types of paint used in airbrush models, and the advantages and disadvantages of using each – Written by Hulk
Greetings fellow Airheads!
As a model, I will go over the basic model paints and build on it a little.
Model makers tend to be strange parties…
We will try like crazy, try to understand other ways of doing things, and look for cheaper things, clean tools like airbrushes for miniature and model painting, and parts of everything you need a model.
Still, oddly enough, we tend not to be very dreamy about our paints.
I want to get out of this mold and deal with new paints. These experiments will leave for other articles. For this article, I will approach paints from the perspective of traditional model makers.
One advantage that all “model paints” have is that their pigments match the paints used to paint the real thing you are trying to model. With this, if you want to make a Russian tank model from the cold war, you can get the right green color to do it. You don’t need to mix a variety of colors to try to match the right color.
I divide the model paints into three categories.
Oil Based (or enamel).
Water-based (or acrylic). These names are not entirely correct, but this is not really important, essentially keeping things organized.
The third category is the “specialty”, this is a weak name for everything else and those I haven’t dealt with yet.
Best Model and Miniature Paints
I use all of the following things without any real preference. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, but to the subject and available colors, etc.
First Oil-based or enamel paints
Testors Model Master Paint
Testors Model Master is perfect for FS-595 colors for military things and car modelers. They have other colors than FS colors. They cover some foreign military colors and a few things, but they mainly target military builders.
When thinned, the airbrush is quite easy and you can brush it directly from the bottle. The downside is the limited variety of Bright colors. In addition, they all appear to serve specific purposes; Like “Blue Angel Blue”, which is very useful if you are building a Blue Angel plane, but not so useful if you really want something a little brighter and more vivid.
MS595 (aka AMS-STD-595) is the US Military Specification for color. Some colors are widely used for camouflage in US military vehicles and have widely adopted names such as Gunship Gray, Armor Sand, Light Ghost Gray, Aircraft Gray, Sea Blue, Forest Green, etc. you may need to get reference material to understand which colors to paint your subject. MS colors are also adopted by many NATO countries.
Humbrol Model Paint
Very nice paintbrushes are very good. I think they are hard to find in England and the states. Very-of-the colors! The little tin they come in is a bit uncomfortable. This is because it is a small lip that makes it very difficult to remove any amount of paint without clutter.
Another thing about Humbrol is that in some paints, the color of the cap is color and not name, only Humbrol reference color. Other cans have the name and color on a sticker on the lid, which likes to fall, leaving no clue what’s inside unless you open it before and pour it to the side. This can be really frustrating.
Another thing and I will reduce this to conspiracy theories, is that some model manufacturers will use Humbrol color numbers for paint schemes in their instructions. This is really fun! Since the Humbrol numbers have no rhyme or reason, you have no idea what color to paint unless you paint; A) Buy Humbrol paints or B) Get reference books and pictures. I usually go to B because finding Humbrol paints can be difficult sometimes.
Now “water-based”….
Tamiya Paint
Tamiya and Gunze Sanyo (also marketed as Bay Color) Both behave almost the same. Both of Gunze’s Mr. I thinned it with Thinner. There are a few problems with these paints. They are not as durable as “oil-based” things. They are slightly healthier than “oil-based”, but they are not “Non-Toxic”.
A few advantages.
- There are things I call “Reactivate”….I realized that if I took a fingerprint or some dry spray, I could spray the pure Mr. Thinner into the area and make it flow and smooth again. out. This can be done even after drying for weeks.
- Also, if you really screw up, Windex will get things done right away. Very useful for beginners. “Oil-based” things are a pain to peel off.
- Finally, the circles turn out semi-gloss, so you can put stickers without sticker silver.
Vallejo Model Paint
High pigment 223 color range. All colors are completely light and opaque. They are extremely smooth and brush strokes do not leave marks.
Now “special” paints:
ALCLAD II
THIS STAFF is the bomb to simulate bare metal coatings… bare metal coatings were the shortage of modelers until these things appeared. There was nothing in the right balance between realistic appearance/mask capability/durability/coverage. Using ALCLAD is not difficult, but boring and expensive, but it works and that’s what matters!
You need a flawless base coat in a solid bright color. Black seems to be the best. Then you put two of the powder paints of this airbrush miracle paint, and you have a beautiful metallic polish that looks like it was machined from a metal block. Moreover, you can mask it.
There are about a dozen colors, such as Chrome, Bright Aluminum, Light Aluminum, Dark Aluminum, Duralem, Pale Gold, Burnt Metal, White Aluminum, Copper … etc. This is perfect for removing a bare metal airplane with a very metallic shade that gives the set reality and depth.
Other Best Paints for Miniatures and Models
Some niches, Luftwaffe, Formula One, etc. Some brands that are very esoteric are also hard to find and destroy quickly! I will give a few examples, but I will not dwell on them.
Aeromaster was a great paint for WWII Luftwaffe builders. The keyword is “became”, unfortunately, they stopped producing paint.
MisterKit is a new one for me, they also appeal to Luftwaffe colors. Finisher is a paint company that covers F1 colors. I have not drawn the paint yet, I heard that they are very good. But if you want the right shade of blue because of 1978 Tyrell, or if you’re trying to catch the subtle changes in red that Ferrari has used over the years … these are these.
Thinning
I use polish thinner for all this. It’s all a pain to thin it right. The batch variation is found collectively, different colors behave differently, and the weather also plays a role… no quick answer, I always have a junk or styrene piece to test before taking the model.
Anything else:
As I said, most model makers are proud to be experimenters and scroungers, but for some reason, we tend to go to the hobby shop for our paints, so things like Createx, Kolor House, all names and miraculous things that airbrush artists know so well are really unknown to us. I am very guilty here, I have produced models for 33 years, and until about a year ago I tried to find “other things” that I could put in my airbrush.
Another thing common to most paints marketed to modelers is; They are not ready for airbrushes (Alclad II is an exception). This is because you need to do some brushwork. Most paints make both an airbrush medium and a brush paint. However, some are inevitable to do one better than another.
As a result, when you paint a model, the goal is to get a surface that in any way makes a model look real. Quick test, if you are going to take a picture with the right background and environment, would it be difficult to say the picture from the picture of the real thing?
But there is a catch, the only thing that creates this illusion is not paint. You have a very small surface detail in the model, sometimes not bigger than a hair that can be hidden with too much paint. Also, beyond the primary color (s), you will probably have at least two transparent layers. These are a clear gloss before the labels and a final clear on the labels (flat, semi, or gloss depending on the subject). Sometimes this last deficit can be skipped (future article).
So the catch, the paint should be as thin as possible and still cover.