Gloss coat between steps not working?

[Grumpa]

You can use that kind of paint — if I'm not mistaken, @Grumpa does all the time, for example. However, are you sure you'll be saving if you do? Sure, they're cheaper in money, but are they also cheaper in time if you have to keep mixing the colours you need? Or if you have to go over something four times instead of once or twice to get them to cover? Or if they clog your airbrush because they have much coarser pigment than modelling paints do?

Tamiya paint is noticeably cheaper if you buy it in 23 ml bottles, BTW. Paints you know you use a lot, you probably don't want to be buying in 10 ml at a time.

Thank you Jakko for mentioning me and my use of the cheapest craft paint available. Over the many years I've been at this hobby
I've used almost every "model paint" on the market at one time or another and the results were fine I guess. I even go back far enough
when the old Testors enamels which required thinners were the only game in town.
Then came out all the other stuff which I thought rather expensive, I mean "weathering powders" come on.
Get some dirt from the garden and some Elmers glue.

Mixing, yeah gotta do some mixing to get the tones right but what else have you got to do?
I use many, many layers and washes and am not gentle about it, after all what's 'gentle' about a tank or a wreck?

Jim.

 

[Belugawrx]

my use of the cheapest craft paint available.

Jim.

Same
My assortment of CraftSmart and Americana paints from Michaels is starting to outnumber any Tamiya, Testors, Humbrol, or Floquil paints I have left.
$1.50 for 2 fl oz....Yep

 

[Jakko]

I use many, many layers and washes and am not gentle about it

In my opinion, your model finishes are much more artistic than those of most modellers: you're creating models and dioramas that look more like paintings of the real thing, than attempts to recreate the real thing in minute detail. Your choice of paints suits that style, if you ask me.

 

[Littlemarten]

This is a hobby, ergo, De gustibus non disputandem est. There is no disputing a matter of taste.

(Please do not taste the paint.)

 

[Edbert]

At our local IPMS show last quarter they guy who won best of show in the car category had one of the most amazing polishing jobs I've ever seen on a model. I chatted with him for a bit and he said he uses a cheapo clear coat from Walmart in a large rattle can. I was blown away.

Now, this material might not work on aircraft, I could see it filling in rivets and panel detail. But as far as being crystal clear and polishable (?) the results stood for themselves.