Maybe not I’ve been testing P-B-L Star Brand, Scalecoat II, and Tru-Color.
But the Greg Komar Dry Transfers in front, will be missed!.
Back around the end of May there was a panic go through the model railroad boards and blogs. Testors announced it was ceasing production of Floquil, Pollyscale, Model Masters and other hobby related paints. Now this in itself is not great news for the hobby, but it’s just a small part of the changing of the hobby. I read on a number of other blogs that some guys ran out and bought their favorite colors out at their local hobby shops. That’s great! Only if they had been doing that all along Testors would have seen enough sales to keep the products alive.
Some blamed it on the hobby changing from kit building to buying R-T-R models, or that we have less hobby time in our busy lives. The focus of the model rail press now is towards more realistic operations and layouts. While realistic models are now not talked about how to kitbash a certain type of model, there is more talk about what proportions of different R-T-R models should be bought.
The hobby has changed since I built my first kit back in grade school. For me, building models, is still one of my favorite parts of the hobby. Part of building them is painting them. So this news should have really sent me into a panic, but it didn’t. It just means I’ll have to look for other paint alternatives. Truth is, I have a lot of Floquil and Pollyscale on hand. I don’t really like it. I end up using it more for weathering as it goes on so flat.
If you are in a panic over the loss of Floquil, Microscale has produce a page with some possible alternatives.
http://www.microscale.com/ResourceCntr_Floquil.html
My last few of projects I’ve tried Scalecoat II, P-B-L Star Brand and Tru-Color Paint. I’ve already made the switch away from Floquil anyway.
What really has bothered me is that Greg Komar announced he is only taking orders for his fantastic dry transfers until the end of the June. I really do like his dry transfers, I’ve used them on a number of projects. The hobby is loosing another quality manufacturer! I placed a final order with Greg this weekend. It was tough to look at his catalog and think what projects might I want to do in the future and how many more sets do I need for the rest of my modeling life.
Hi George,
Regarding the Model Master solvent based paints, I have been using them for years with their thinner and I like them. Sure, some of the colors we want require mixing but some are OK as is. For example, the Japanese Navy Green (JNG) is right on for a steel REA reefer from my era.
I use a gloss or flat clear over the color depending on whether I’m using decals or dry transfers and then overspray clear in the patina I want. Sometimes I’ll add a bit of weathering color in the final clear coat.
It’s intuitively obvious, but if you’re mixing, don’t short change yourself. Mix a bit more than you’ll need for the project. The paint is horribly expensive, but trying for an exact match to finish a car or engine can be frustrating.
Still love your website. Keep up the fine work.
Gary
Gary,
Thanks, I’ll give them a try.
One thing O scale uses a lot of paint. I wonder how many of those little bottles will be needed for a normal paint job.
George
George: enjoyed your thoughts. I feel the same about R-T-R vs . kits. my son buys R-T-R, in the ” modern diesel age” but when he was growing up he would watch me building kits or kitbashing things. he now is working on his first diesel kitbash project. it makes me feel proud that something has rubbed off on him ,and another generation is still building instead of R-T-R.
Butch Curll
Butch,
Thanks.
Sometimes we fear what we don’t know. The skills you have to build models were not learned overnight. I think there are a lot of very good modelers in the R-T-R crowd that just haven’t tried to build something yet.
Today, most of the kits that are being produced need a high level of skill. It’s not easy for a modeler just starting out to learn those skills on an expensive, often hard to replace kit. So that fear means the kit sits on the shelf a long time or worse yet, they might not try.
Glad to hear you son is trying. We all started with out first model at sometime. I still have my first railroad model I built, I just ran across it the other night moving some stuff around in the layout room. That might be another post soon.
George
Geo,
Good Post…
As an FYI, Testors is NOT eliminating the Model Master and the Model Master Acryl paint lines, only Floquil and PolyScale. I’ve actually used several of the colors from the Model Master collection on RR models. That series of five DL&W milk cars I built and sold were painted with Model Master Medium Green.
About a year ago, I ordered the entire paint chart from Tru-Color ($12). Some of his colors are spot-on, and others are off in left field, though it’s a start, and they can be mixed to obtain what you want.
Another option that really interests me is the Vallejo Brand (originally from Jersey), though I have not tried them yet.
http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/model-paints/division/3
MF
Matt,
Thanks!
Last March, Norm was talking about Tru-Color during the P48 meeting. He mentioned then that they were expanding their line. This appears to be happening, there are a number of new colors that were not there when I first looked into them.
I have read good things about the Vallejo Brand, but I haven’t tried them yet either.
George