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Made in us
Angry Blood Angel Assault marine






So, my friend bought a bunch of Testors enamel paints on a whim, and wants to try painting some models with it, but before that, we need to know a few things. I use acrylic exclusively, so I'm not sure about this, but do you need to thin enamel paint, and if you do, how would you go about doing that? Do you need paint thinner, or would water work in small amounts?

Gray Crusaders - 1500 points strong 
   
Made in fi
Been Around the Block





Finland

Depending on the manufacturer, you might need to thin down the paint and yes, paint thinner is ideal.
I never tried Testor (dont even know the brand, mostly used humbroll and revell enamels) but one thing is good to remember : enamel paints are OIL based (afaik all of them), meaning water will not mix in at all, do not try to clean your brushes with water either, only use stuff that is a solvent for oilbased paints.
   
Made in ca
Charging Wild Rider





Canada

Oh I hope he hasent started with them. Ive seen countless models painted with the testors and they never look good (even if there thinned). The best use I have seen for them is to use them for gemming as their shiny and ideal for this (though I prefer to paint the shiny on mine).

Never say die! Never surrender!

LunaHound wrote:Woo thats a good looking Pedo

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Made in us
Most Glorious Grey Seer





Everett, WA

The bad looking models are ones where the paint has not been properly thinned. You need a good amount of paint thinner to use enamels properly. The advantage of enamels is that it's amazingly easier to blend colors on a model than it is with acrylics. Enamel metallics are also vastly superior to acrylics. The disadvantages are more involved cleanup as you need to soak your brushes in thinner, takes longer for the paint to dry properly, your model can easily turn out looking like garbage if you don't know what you're doing as enamels are much less forgiving than acrylics. Enamels also tend to be much shinier and require Dull Coat to prevent everything from looking like plastic.

 
   
Made in us
Battleship Captain





Perth

I originally came to the hobby from painting model airplanes and model cars using Testors paints, so the first minis I painted used those. They are not my pride and joy. If there was a secret to thinning enamels, I never learned it. :(

Man, I wish there was a real Black Library where I could get a Black Library Card and take out Black Library Books without having to buy them. Of course, late fees would be your soul. But it would be worth it. - InquisitorMack 
   
 
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