Best place to get paints

[supraboy]

I bought a plastic model kit ages ago, (r33 great if interested!) but never started building because I didn't buy the paint when I bought it and wanted to do it properly.
I want to start it now, I need red for the body, and then black and silver for underneath interior etc. where's the best place to get these?

I went in to modelzone and don't fancy paying them prices! The silver and black can be hand paint but would like the red of the body to be spray for a better finish.

Thanks

[dr_gn]

£5.99 for a 100ml can of Red Tamiya Spray & £3.20 combined for tins of Revell Black and Silver?

Is less than £10 really so bad?

[Eric Mc]

Modelzone prices are pretty standard for model paints. An alternative source of suitable paints is Halfords - but their prices are even higher. However, their spray cans tend to be larger - so they work out about equal value.

[supraboy]

Sorry I should k probably explained I am incredibly tight lol.

Is this the eat way to do it, spray for the body and hand paint for things like underneath, interior engine bay etc?

[Eric Mc]

It's totally your choice how you want to do things. Large areas are usually best sprayed. Fine detail is usually best brush painted.

Having said that, there are still quite a few modellers who prefer to brush paint large areas too - but most of us are happier to spray.

There are some other spray paints which may be cheaper than Halfords or model shops. I've come across a range called "Colour Cote" which you find in those cheapo hardware shops. You do have to be really careful using unusual spray paint brands because some of them may attack the polystyrene plastic of the kit ( I know this from bitter experience).

At the very least you should buy a can of either Halfords or Tamiya spray grey plastic primer because that should protect the plastic no matter what other brands you may use.

[dave stew]

I remember buying small tins of Humbrol paint from the model shop in the 70s with my pocket money...

[Eric Mc]

You can still get them - although enamels are being supplanted by acrylics.

[dave stew]

Wash your brushes out in water...

[Eric Mc]

And dilutable by water and largely odourless - so lots of advantages.

I find they don't always cover as well as enamels when brush painting large areas - which is why I am now a total convert to airbrushing.

[steveo3002]

acrylic car paints from halfords are maybe better value as you get more per £

nothings really cheap these days unless you find some random colour in the bargain bin , autojumbles sometimes have the aersols for £3 or so

[dr_gn]

supraboy said:

Sorry I should k probably explained I am incredibly tight lol.

Is this the eat way to do it, spray for the body and hand paint for things like underneath, interior engine bay etc?

The body definitely needs spraying, as does the underside if it's body colour. If the interior is a 'bathtub' then that too.

If you want the best possible results, in my experience you are better off spraying pretty much everything but the very smallest parts (this invariably results in needing a lot of masking). Keep hand painting to the absolute minimum.

As a rule, enamels are best for brush painting, but many acrylics (Citadel for example) are OK too. If the details are very small, then you can brush paint pretty much any type of paint.