Hi all I received kind of a "smarter set" of an air brush for Christmas this morning. I got some basic Testors paint from Hobby Lobby to get me started, but once I figure out how to use this thing, I would like some more RR specific colors to use. Doing some reading online, it looks like Testors Model Master is the way to go these days. The problem is, I can't find where to buy it. I looked through most of the sites that Testors lists as dealers, but none of them seemed to offer the model master acrylic line. Anyone have a good source for acrylic model paint these days?
Ethan, One local vendor is Midwest Model Railroad in Independence, Missouri. This is a large shop specializing in model railroad items. Most items are discounted off of suggested retail prices. They do a huge amount of mail order business also. Please see their web site. This link is searched by the term "acrylic" - https://midwestmodelrr.com/?product_cat=&s=acrylic&post_type=product Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
Might also try Tru-Color. Here's a link to their website (and don't let the "Narrow Gauge" in their header fool you. http://www.narrowgaugemodeling.com/tru-color-paint/ GS
Ethan, I also highly recommend Midwest Model Railroad. If you go there, the inventory is fantastic. By mail order, I get my stuff here in Springfield on the 3rd day.
Model Master is/ has been discontinued since Rustoleum bought Testors a couple years back. They announced last year it was being eliminated. If you ever want it but what you find now. I really like it but there are plenty of others. Tru- color is great, Badger Model flex is good too. Vallejo is not my favorite to use but they have a huge variety and is good paint for sure and easy to find. If you need more info I’ll help any way I can. I paint a lot and not just trains.
Steve - What are your recommended sources for the paints you list? There is a hobby shop here in Naples, but he has a very limited selection. I think Walthers has some of what you mention. K
Hey Ken, around here at least Hobby Lobby sells a decent Vallejo line. We also have a train hobby shop still that has some of the Badger and Tru-color. What they don’t offer or have in stock I buy online. Either eBay, Amazon etc…. Micro Mark has a large selection of Vallejo. No hobby shop I ever go to seems to be very well stocked on paint. We have a small private hobby shop not too far from my house. It is mainly war gamer and magic cards but he stocks paint for those guys. Brands I don’t know at all, more military type colors but sometimes I need those too.
Dang, I wish they would have mentioned that on their site. At this point, I'm not committed to any one brand. I just need to find a good source that I can reliably find RR colors to pick up when I need them. So any brand at all, if anyone has a reliable online source for paint, let me know.
Ethan, I typically look through something like this guide: https://www.testors.com/-/media/Dig...hash=A55D20518FF90D67DC26273BABC0336CC1DD72E4 and try to find equivalents. I have had good luck ordering from Midwest Model Railroad (quick delivery). We also have Dibbles here in San Antonio that has a reasonable selection. Let me know if something you are having trouble finding. -Bob T.
Yeah I've been looking at that guide the past few days. I finally had a chance to go check midwest website, and found most of what I was looking for and got an order placed. Now I just gotta learn how to use the airbrush.
Ethan, If you want to custom paint your own Frisco diesels, Zero Paints manufactures a Chevy engine red paint that is color-matched to Testors Model Master. You can purchase it online through one of their dealers. Gabriel G.
Steve, Unfortunately, I have not. I sold off my airbrush and my model trains before I moved to Ohio and have yet to replace them. Gabriel G.
I will post pictures (possibly in a new thread) once I have some test subjects painted up. I bought some of the badger "Frisco orange", so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out. I also bought some SP daylight red and BNSF orange incase I need to adjust it to be more red or more orange.
I have some of the Badger but have not used it. When I heard about the model master being discontinued I bought quite a bit of it, I always thought it is a pretty close to the prototype. Most of what I paint I fade anyway so it doesn’t matter a whole lot.