Who’s painting trains?

Hobby lobby , Walmart , Michaels  all carry the $1 acrylic craft paint used by some of the best painters , they got every shade in the rainbow , and for the price and right in town , I have painted a lot of trains with them , Use future floor car acrylic for the gloss coat , they alsohave the acrylics in gloss . On specific hard colors I get something real close then add some other color , put adab on a trial spot and let dry to see color match , so cheap but awesome , thin them with windshield washer fluid from auto parts store  $3 a gallon , cleans airbrushes fantastic too .

I’ve used Pollyscale with much success, but it seems to be difficult to find these days. For me at least. 

Has anyone tried Vallejo paints? I see more and more of these paints in hobby stores. They seem to be real popular with military modelers.

https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/categoria/hobby/

Ken

I've used several brands over the past few years. Model Masters, Tamaya, Vallejo, etc. They all seem to be very close, just preference for the most part.

Scratchbuilder1-48 posted:

Hobby lobby , Walmart , Michaels  all carry the $1 acrylic craft paint used by some of the best painters , they got every shade in the rainbow , and for the price and right in town , I have painted a lot of trains with them , Use future floor car acrylic for the gloss coat , they alsohave the acrylics in gloss . On specific hard colors I get something real close then add some other color , put adab on a trial spot and let dry to see color match , so cheap but awesome , thin them with windshield washer fluid from auto parts store  $3 a gallon , cleans airbrushes fantastic too .

Yup, me too.  If airbrushing, be sure to strain the paints thru a filter screen and thin them slightly before using them in your brush.  Clean out the airbrush immediately when you're done painting, or else you'll have trouble later on trying to get it cleaned out good.

I am Raddle Can Fred .

BH

Rapido sells railroad specific colors

http://trainenamels.com/

Scalecoats paints formerly sold by Weaver is handled/sold by MinuteMan Scale Models . WWWminutemanscalemodels.com. Claim to be the same paint produced by Weaver. 

Tru-Color Paints produces an extensive line of railroad colors. They're acrylic solvent paints.

trucolorpaint.com/products/

Good luck.

Since l build a lot of rolling stock and some large O scale structures: stamp mills, grain elevators,  etc. , I used a lot of 98c rattlecans from the Wally Wasteland.  They have dried up and been replaced by $4.00 gold-plated overpriced brands, or the orher choice is tiny model specific paints in  N scale spray cans, and l don't like it!  I am not going to fool with cleaning an airbrush.  Glue, point, and press is my modeling method.  Is this an import duty problem?

I thank those of you that helped me find acrylics I can use to airbrush rolling stock and locomotives. That was the only purpose for this thread. If you like painting a different way, that’s not my concern. 

Don't shy away from the Model Masters acrylics if you liked shooting Polly Scale. I think the MM stuff is more consistent and not in need of thinning right out of the bottle. I am running a Paasche VL at around 20-25PSI using the size 5 tip (I think). The PS weathering colors and some basics (Reefer White, Engine Black, etc.) transferred to MM at least. These were my most commonly used colors anyway. Specific RR colors are long gone of course but I found some decent substitutes in their regular line.

Des Plaines Hobbies has a good selection of Scalecoat II paints for plastics, some which have been discontinued. Polyscale paint is good for plastics as well, but some colors seem different shades than Scalecoat. 

Not much of the traditional railroad colors left out there. I get by using the acrylic craft paints found at the art supply store, even the dollar stores!   Each of these recent cars I painted for my Mexicali Grande layout, were air brushed using thinned acrylic craft paint. Colors closely matched with photos.  Weathering was done the same way.     

Recently I've switched to Vallejo from my LHS. Been satisfied so far. MRH mag has a color cross index for picking colors.

"Acrylics" alone isn't necessarily enough info anymore. It could be a solvent or water based; enamel; latex, etc.

Water based craft paints, Apple Barrel has a tuscan at WallyWorld (matte or just maybe satin I think; so for a higher gloss would need a clear over it)

Mixing customs is pretty cheap and easy with the water based craft paints too. Mistakes? Whole paint jobs wash away with hot water, soap and a stiff brush. But not so easy that a color let set up for a week cant have a fresh topcoat removed from it without wrecking the base.

They aren't as durable and scratch pretty easy though;; clear coating helps.

Check out MODELflex paints from Badger Air-Brush Co. A whole line of RR colors.