Archimedes Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Hi All, I have an aversion to using acrylics following painting a Jaguar XJR-9 back in the mid nineties and ending up with an horrific streaky finish. As a result I went back to enamels and never looked back. They are smelly, take a while to dry and one has to deal with all kinds of nasty substances to clean them up. Despite this, I find they create a tough surface finish and go down pretty consistently when thinned correctly. Am I in the minority these days? I see tons of threads on acrylic finishes but much fewer on enamels. Kind regards, Paul Out2gtcha and Stew Dapple 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Hi Paul, Yes, I still use enamels for everything except the smallest detail painting and yes, I think we are in a minority by a significant margin Cheers, Stew Archimedes and Maxim61 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 Thanks for coming back to me Stew. Oh goodness… Kind regards, Paul Stew Dapple 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Don't let it worry you Paul, as modellers we're all already a minority, no matter what paints we use Cheers, Stew Daniel Leduc and Archimedes 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 P.S. Stew….Along with ‘Duncan Doenitz’ you jointly hold the prize for the best LSP name Kind regards, Paul Stew Dapple 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I use them occasionally, but ironically mostly for brush painting! However, my one bottle of old-school Model Master Olive Drab has seen me through two 1/35 truck builds and a Hasegawa 1/32 Mustang so far! Must get back to that one... Kev Archimedes and Stew Dapple 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 4 hours ago, Archimedes said: Hi All, I have an aversion to using acrylics following painting a Jaguar XJR-9 back in the mid nineties and ending up with an horrific streaky finish. As a result I went back to enamels and never looked back. They are smelly, take a while to dry and one has to deal with all kinds of nasty substances to clean them up. Despite this, I find they create a tough surface finish and go down pretty consistently when thinned correctly. Am I in the minority these days? I see tons of threads on acrylic finishes but much fewer on enamels. Kind regards, Paul 4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said: Hi Paul, Yes, I still use enamels for everything except the smallest detail painting and yes, I think we are in a minority by a significant margin Cheers, Stew I’m in your club, chaps! I exclusively use Xtracolor enamels for all my builds. Fantastic through the airbrush and dry beautifully glossy for hassle-free decal application. Superb paints. I have the odd few acrylics for detail painting, but even then I prefer enamels to be honest. Drying time is longer, granted, but I find a 50/50 mix with white spirit means they’re usually rock hard in 24hrs. Especially if they have a stint in the airing cupboard… Tom Stew Dapple and Archimedes 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I'm also firmly in the enamel club, mainly Humbrol for detail painting (brush), Sovereign Colourcoats and Xtracolor for main finishing as they both are great for airbrushing and give a very nice decal ready finish rather tham mess about with a gloss coat. I also use Testor Model Master enamels as I can still get hold of these and there are colours types that are not in the above ranges, and for some more common colours I use Revell enamels, recently for the blue black cowlings and under canopy areas of Japanese subjects #9 anthracite. I did try Xtracrylix once and although I was happy with the end result the messing about to achieve it was not good, so now I stick to what I know. Plus my stock of paints is really extensive so switching would be silly, I have a dedicated model room with an 8" extractor so smells are not a problem. Cheers Dennis Archimedes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryWilliams Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 But it’s not just a matter of enamels vs acrylics! For one thing there are vastly different ‘flavours’ of acrylics. The best performers through an airbrush are the acrylic lacquers and these are as different to water based acrylics as enamels are. My choice, lacquers through the airbrush (primer, paint and varnishes), water based to paint fine detail over the lacquers, enamels as pin washes. Maxim61 and Archimedes 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmayhew Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 If you go onto the Airfix groups on Facebook you would think it’s 1980 - a huge number of people on there still use enamel paints. Outside of the UK (because that’s 99% of the Airfix group’s membership by the look of it), the Vallejo acrylic tide appears to have washed nearly all before it, with only the barnicle-like enamel users clinging to the rock! but my feeble metaphors aside (or was it a simile?), there is a significant minority - an enlightened one I like to think - that has discovered the sun-lit uplands of lacquer land if you can ventilate appropriately, lacquers such as MRP (my paint of choice) are superior in every respect where air brushing is concerned to any acrylic out there, as well as enamels if you haven’t tried lacquers you are missing out Archimedes and BarryWilliams 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelboy Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Well…I worked with chemicals all my life (brakleen anyone?) and just cant go back to spraying enamel for fun. Water based acrylic is so easy now and I can paint additional stuff on the same part almost like that. Of course I had to teach myself how to use them but now I dont even think about it. I use enamel for little teeny tiny detail, just the opposite from you guys. Valley Joe. Archimedes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 9 hours ago, nmayhew said: If you go onto the Airfix groups on Facebook you would think it’s 1980 - a huge number of people on there still use enamel paints. Outside of the UK (because that’s 99% of the Airfix group’s membership by the look of it), the Vallejo acrylic tide appears to have washed nearly all before it, with only the barnicle-like enamel users clinging to the rock! but my feeble metaphors aside (or was it a simile?), there is a significant minority - an enlightened one I like to think - that has discovered the sun-lit uplands of lacquer land if you can ventilate appropriately, lacquers such as MRP (my paint of choice) are superior in every respect where air brushing is concerned to any acrylic out there, as well as enamels if you haven’t tried lacquers you are missing out Hi Nick, Thank you for that. I may just give lacquer a go. My aversion to acrylic also stems from the LEA rule: As far as I know, one can put enamel over lacquer and one can then put acrylic over enamel but if one starts with an acrylic one cannot put either lacquer or enamel over that. Someone correct me if I am wrong please! 11 hours ago, BarryWilliams said: But it’s not just a matter of enamels vs acrylics! For one thing there are vastly different ‘flavours’ of acrylics. The best performers through an airbrush are the acrylic lacquers and these are as different to water based acrylics as enamels are. My choice, lacquers through the airbrush (primer, paint and varnishes), water based to paint fine detail over the lacquers, enamels as pin washes. Thanks Barry Indeed it is true there are many varieties of even a single paint type. I must investigate further. Thanks for all of the responses gentlemen and good to know I am not all alone in still using enamels! Kind regards, Paul dennismcc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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