What would you do with these paints?

[MJY65]

Jakko,

Not only did we not attack LM, we had our ignorance and lack of skill thrown back at us. We are poisoning ourselves and Planet Earth due to our heavy handed sledge hammer approach to our hobby. All would be rectified if we simply developed our skills to the point where coating selection didn't matter. Kindergarten finger paints, craft paint, latex house paint, whatever. It's just a matter of devoting oneself to mastery.

I'm quickly remembering why I join a lot of forums and rarely post anything. Uggg

 

[Jim62]

My cleaners have evolved also. I mainly used lacquer and started off with Mr Hobby Tool Cleaner. Not cheap. Tried hardware store lacquer thinner next. Works pretty well, but occasionally would react poorly with the next thing through the airbrush if not flushed out with hobby thinners. Current product is big box store acetone in gallon cans. The cost is roughly 1/6 that of "official" airbrush cleaners.

I didn't do it because of cost, though it is much cheaper, I just found IPA to clean the brush much more efficiently than the stuff made to clean air brushes that I tried and no nasty smells come with it. I also don't have to order it. I can just pick it up at a local store.

 

[Littlemarten]

It's always interesting to see how people start becoming defensive after comments that the thing they like, doesn't work for someone else Not just here, I've seen this happen elsewhere too, when somebody says paint brand P doesn't work for them but brand Q does — pretty soon somebody would be defending their own use of brand P even though nobody said anything remotely resembling "people who use P paint are losers!"

Not being defensive, trying to get the point across that since the advent of acrylic hobby paint, one cannot expect one paint brand to behave just like the one they are accustomed to using. If person A gets great results from one particular brand, but person B cannot, it isn't a problem with the paint. If person B finds that two bottles of the same color and brand don't perform the same way, that is a problem with the paint and a reason to denigrate it. There is a world of difference between, "Paint brand A just doesn't work for me," and "Paint brand A is trash."

 

[Jakko]

That is pretty much exactly my point What works for you might not work for me. What works for me might work for you too but not for somebody else. But too often, you see people replying along the lines of, "But if you just give it another try, and just do this or that, you too will love this thing that works for me!"

Yes, you too can probably get the hang of it if you put in the effort. But is it worth the hassle if you already have several other things or methods that do already work for you? IMHO, not usually.

 

[Littlemarten]

I loved, and used Polly Scale for years, then they were acquired by another company which shall remain nameless. Their behavior changed. Then the line was abandoned—I had to find another. After trying several, I settled on one, and took the time to learn to use it. Would I have done so had the original Polly Scale remained available? Heck no! But if I decided, or needed, to use another brand, even for one project, I would not expect it to behave the same way as the paint I use most often. Sure, it's a hassle and bother to "learn" a new material. But to me, at least, far worse is ruining a model I've put days of work into. (That P-40K-1 I posted is a "save" from such a situation.)

 

[Jakko]

That's why I added the part about having something already that does work for you Of course, if your favourite paint or whatever else is discontinued, chances are you'll have to learn how to use another brand. OTOH, when this happened:



I asked for advice, got it, tried it, had it happen again, and said, "I don't need this paint" and gave away all of it that I had as related earlier.

This is Mr. Hobby lacquer thinned with cellulose thinners. When showing this photo on a forum, I was advised to use Mr. Levelling Thinner instead, so I bought a bottle. Nothing changed, so the problem is probably me. But I don't need to learn how to use this paint — the only reason I had it was because I had bought this kit of a Japanese Type 3 Chi-Nu second-hand together with a Mr. Hobby set of Japanese colours (also second-hand, but unopened). After wiping away the cobwebs, the model was painted well enough, but for the other two colours in the camouflage pattern, I just opened the Mr. Hobby bottles, found matches for them in my acrylic paint drawer:



… and closed the Mr, Hobby ones back up. No way was I going to put them colours though my good airbrush if this sort of stuff happens

The point being: I have a ton of other paints that I do get along with, so I have no need to learn how to use these particular ones just for painting this one kit.

FWIW, here's how the model turned out: