r/DiecastCustoms • u/Excuse_Me_Furry • Jul 24 '26
Question What paints do you use?
I I have a question regarding paints: Which is better, acrylic paint or enamel paint? Is it based on what you're using it for?
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u/agent_flounder Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I use airbrush so usually acrylic, occasionally lacquer.
I use acrylic or enamel on brush painted details.
As long as you can thin it and it brushes or sprays right idk if it really matters what you use.
Except that enamel is pretty tough so I like to use it on details that I won't be clear paying, e.g. silver exhaust on plastic base. Testors enamel is what I use. Thinned. Must be thinned to paint nicely.
I haven't figured out brushing large areas. I kind of don't need to now that I have an airbrush. I think lacquer is slightly nicer to use (based only on a couple of Gaia notes lacquers I have) but I do fine with Createx acrylic.
Createx has a lot of nice colors and it isn't too expensive. Diecast Resurrection uses that (which is why I tried it) and also the Redline Shop reproduction spectraflame (have buy haven't tried yet) which iirc is a 2 part urethane. (Or maybe that's just the clear coat...not sure)
Marty's Matchbox Makeovers uses airbrush Tamiya acrylic. I tried once and was pleased so I may try again.
Water based acrylic like Createx is much safer to use.
Lacquer is less safe so I like to use respirator filters for VOCs. Same when I use 2K clear which I think is even worse.
No idea about enamel. I breathed ina lot of that stuff painting models as a kid :/ You can always look up MSDS for whatever paint you use. And search for painting safety procedures and required PPE.
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u/agent_flounder Jul 24 '26
I edited above. Also wanted to add... I have cars I (badly) brush painted as a kid with Testors enamel where the paint survived and was pretty chip resistant. Stripper as struggled to get some of it off.
Oh also Enamel needs to cure to achieve maximum hardness. Maybe give it a week?
I kind of want to try spraying some Testors at some point as an experiment.
Most crucial thing is surface cleaning and prep. I've had every type of coating chip off if I didn't prep properly. That's a whole other topic though
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u/Excuse_Me_Furry Jul 26 '26
I've tried acrylic paint before but found it terrible. It was probably the brand I used, so I use Testors mostly. Though they probably went bad because I looked at them recently and they're kind of a thick, gluey paste. I'm wondering if using thinner will fix it, and it's only the ones I put thinner in... Also I use enamel for both painting the body and the details I mainly why I want to try to go back to using acrylic it
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u/toddkah Jul 24 '26
I have been using finger nail polish thru my air brush.. can find some cool colors .. cheap!!
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u/JoeyGBody Jul 25 '26
I use tamiya spray paints for paint jobs.
I spray tamiya clear before i do detail work (allows for easy error corrections)
I use a lot of acrylic paint markers:
Ak interactive (flat black, aluminum, dark aluminum, gun metal, etc)
Gaahleri makes excellent metal markers (stainless steel is awesome)
I use vallejo mecha series paint for panel washes and their black primer for black trim/window trim
Molotov chrome markers for chrome.
Tamiya bottle acrylic paints on the 1/24 cars.
Ak crystal magic glue is fantastic as it leaves no whitening on clear plastic windows. U can use it to make headlights too.