Does anyone know of a good source for Humbrol modeling paints? These are the British paints that come in the little can. By far the best modeling paint I have ever used. TIA. Ken
They are distributed in the U.S. by Hornby America, Inc. List of retailers here: https://www.hornbyamerica.com/dealers
John - Thanks. I was out in Ballwin yesterday getting my wife's car serviced, and I stopped in to Hobbytown USA. He does indeed have a rack of Humbrol tins, but most of the colors I wanted were gone. I did pick up three tins. gbnf - Thanks! You broke the code with this reference. Looks like their full line is shown, and most of them are in stock. I'll just order direct from them - the paint lasts for years. I'm still using tins I bought in Cincinnati in 1975/76, but I'm about out. The stuff is good! One problem is they don't have many colors special to railroads. Their product line is mostly general colors, plus specific colors for military models. Ken
ARGGGG just spent an hour watching their utube postings. ken, are you using the acrylics or enamels? What is the medium for thinning the enamel? Looks like fantastic paints!
Sherrel - I use the "matt colours" in general (i.e. flat finish), and I only use the enamel. I have a few "gloss colours" as well. I've never used the satin finish colors or their acrylics. The enamel paint covers better than anything else I have ever used. It is really formulated to use a brush - I've never sprayed it, as it finishes so well from a brush application I've never felt the need to spray it. It is really intended for aircraft and other military models. Those WW-1 and WW-2 airplanes I'm building were painted using Humbrol enamel (from 1976!). The violet and dark green on that WW-1 Albatros D-3 I showed you a while back were Humbrol paints. I really like the little tins - "veddy veddy British" indeed! They are about the volume size of a ModelMaster bottle. I just use normal paint thinner. It works OK for slightly thinning the paint. A few of my tins are very thick, and the thinner does not do so well then. The paint thins but has little solid particles in it. I clean the brushes with Dio-Sol (which is probably overkill). I'm going to order some more shortly to refill my Humbrol stock. I'll probably get a bottle of their official thinner as well then. I'm getting frustrated with ModelMaster Acryl. Many of their colors are wonderful, others are terrible (depends on the pigment I guess) - the problem is coverage. I do like ModelMaster enamel - that's usually what I spray now, using their thinner. I miss Polly Scale, but still have several good bottles (that's their red on the Fokker D-VII). I have a bunch of Floquil bottles, but many are pretty old and are going bad. I guess I understand why Testor's dropped Floquil, but why Polly Scale too? K
Quote meteor910 "I guess I understand why Testor's dropped Floquil, but why Polly Scale too?" According to the local press in Rockford, it's a story of consolidation, closing outdated facilities and reducing headcount. I've seen posts by former employees that talk of an aging workforce with a lot of repetitive motion injuries and a moribund union. Testors is part of RPM International, Inc. (originally Republic Powdered Metals) a multinational holding company owning brands like Zinsser, Rust-Oleum, DAP and Varathane. RPM is the sixth largest paint and coating company in the world, with 11,000 employees in 94 facilities in 24 countries. http://www.rrstar.com/x776191577/Testor-Corp-consolidating-operations-cutting-jobs In 1929, Nils F. Testor, a Swedish immigrant, purchased the assets of a failing Rockford company making an adhesive called “Karlson's Klister,” a nitrocellulose-based shoe cement also used for mending women's stockings. (klister is Swedish for glue) Testor was the office manager. When the firm failed he borrowed money and bought the assets to save his job. According to a Rockford Register Republic article published on November 29, 1955, "Even in the mid-thirties, Nils F. Testor, the owner-president, and C. Roderick Stroh, now plant manager of the woodworking division, would come down to the plant at night and mix the batch of cement for packaging the following day. They used a 50-gallon barrel which they turned by hand." By 1936, hobby enthusiasts began using Testors glues. The Hobby Industry of America was formed in 1940 and Testor Chemical Company was a founding member. By 1955 Testor was producing 100,000 bottles of enamel paint each day, and was one of the nation's largest buyers of small glass bottles and dispensing tubes. Nils Testor sold out in In 1965, two years before his death, to the Jupiter Corp., a Chicago holding company. At the time of the sale, Testor employed 450 workers, 200 of whom were based in Rockford, Illinois, and had sales of $24 million. RPM acquired Testor in 1984. I have had a personal relationship with the owners of several hobby shops, and came close enough to purchasing one to get full disclosure of the details of the business. Things like paint contribute nothing to the bottom line. It's dead inventory. To carry the brand you have to buy a full rack, but only a few colors sell in any quantity. Too many brands, too many racks taking up aisle space. All the money is made on high-ticket items like brass imports and ready-to-run. Collectors spend a lot more money than modelers.
Glad to hear about Humbrol paints. I like "brush friendly" paints, I never was much good with spray cans or an air brush. Hobby store (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) craft acrylics are also fairly brush friendly. Tom G.
