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Hi I just starting back panting closest store near me is a Hobby Lobby it's about 40 minutes away and all they mainly seem to have his testers what is the quality of that on glue and paint and such

 th3eviltwin wrote:
Hi I just starting back panting closest store near me is a Hobby Lobby it's about 40 minutes away and all they mainly seem to have his testers what is the quality of that on glue and paint and such

1. Testor's glue is broken down into two main types. We don't have Hobby Lobby in Soviet Cannukistan... but I would guess that Hobby Lobby is similar to Michael's and carries the orange tube glue, which is a plastic cement. The tube cement isn't as good as the liquid plastic cement. This glue bonds by melting the parts together. Testor's doesn't sell cement that is suitable for metal or resin models. You can use hardware superglue for those model types.

2. Testor's paint are ENAMELS. What this means is that you can not thin them with water, and you have to clean your brushes with thinner. Despite what others may tell you - there is nothing wrong with using enamels to paint miniatures - in fact, it is possible to get some great results with them. What is more problematic is that the majority of Testor's main range are glossy, as opposed to most acrylics which dry satin (i.e. not shiny). Clean-up and brush maintenance is also a problem, as you need to use toxic thinners to thin and clean your brushes. The thinner will also reduce your brushes lifespan. If they do not carry acrylic model paints, using artist's acrylics can also work in a pinch. I started with tube acrylics way back in the 90's, mixing all my own colors from primaries as I didn't have the budget for model paints. Just be sure to water down the tube acrylics accordingly (i.e. to a milky consistency), as they come out of the tube very thick.

I've found that the Testors Blue Tube, the Non-Toxic Plastic Cement, really does a nice job on the bond, and it doesn't have the harsh smell other glues tend to have when working with them.

 keezus wrote:

2. Testor's paint are ENAMELS. What this means is that you can not thin them with water, and you have to clean your brushes with thinner. Despite what others may tell you - there is nothing wrong with using enamels to paint miniatures - in fact, it is possible to get some great results with them. What is more problematic is that the majority of Testor's main range are glossy, as opposed to most acrylics which dry satin (i.e. not shiny). Clean-up and brush maintenance is also a problem, as you need to use toxic thinners to thin and clean your brushes. The thinner will also reduce your brushes lifespan. If they do not carry acrylic model paints, using artist's acrylics can also work in a pinch. I started with tube acrylics way back in the 90's, mixing all my own colors from primaries as I didn't have the budget for model paints. Just be sure to water down the tube acrylics accordingly (i.e. to a milky consistency), as they come out of the tube very thick.

Little misinformation here. Enamels just means the paint dries very hard. The thing about testors that makes them incompatible with water and all the other things you mention is that they are Lacquer based paints. So you need to make sure all your processes and equipment and thinners and clearners are used for Lacquers. Their are Acryclic (Water based) and oil based enamels as well.

Testor's also has a water-based acrylic PACTRA which is nice paint. But try to avoid Testor's enamel paints if you can.

The only glue you want is the kind that comes in a little black square bottle with a needle-like applicator.

The liquid glue that comes in the little clear bottle is OK but more messy since you have to paint glue on.

The Hobby Lobby in my neck of the woods carries a full line of acrylic Testors paint, as well as decent selection of Vallejo Model, and Vallejo Air. Vallejo is of course well known in modeling, and after trying some of the Testors acrylic, I can say its comparable to that. It's a pretty good, and cheaper option than Citadel.

 Lance845 wrote:

 keezus wrote:

2. Testor's paint are ENAMELS. What this means is that you can not thin them with water, and you have to clean your brushes with thinner. Despite what others may tell you - there is nothing wrong with using enamels to paint miniatures - in fact, it is possible to get some great results with them. What is more problematic is that the majority of Testor's main range are glossy, as opposed to most acrylics which dry satin (i.e. not shiny). Clean-up and brush maintenance is also a problem, as you need to use toxic thinners to thin and clean your brushes. The thinner will also reduce your brushes lifespan. If they do not carry acrylic model paints, using artist's acrylics can also work in a pinch. I started with tube acrylics way back in the 90's, mixing all my own colors from primaries as I didn't have the budget for model paints. Just be sure to water down the tube acrylics accordingly (i.e. to a milky consistency), as they come out of the tube very thick.

Little misinformation here. Enamels just means the paint dries very hard. The thing about testors that makes them incompatible with water and all the other things you mention is that they are Lacquer based paints. So you need to make sure all your processes and equipment and thinners and clearners are used for Lacquers. Their are Acryclic (Water based) and oil based enamels as well.

Most Testors paints are not lacquers, the most common variety are oil based enamels. I'm not even sure they still make lacquers other than their dullcote and glosscote.

For everything else, to thin them use enamel thinners, preferably Testors brand because it works better with their paints (same with Humbrol enamels, I use Humbrol branded enamel thinner when thinning their paints). For cleanup use hardware store enamel thinner, metho or turpentine.

Also most of their enamels aren't gloss, they're satin, but it should say on the bottle (I think glosses are marked with a G or something, can't remember).

Testors do also make acrylics, they're hard to get over here but in the past Americans have mentioned they weren't hard to find in the US.

Sure. Maybe a bunch of testors are oil based now. Point being you cannot count on the word Enamel to mean much of anything. When a paint says Enamel on it all it means is it dries hard.

There's always the craft paint section. It may take 3 coats instead of 1 or 2 to get clean coverage, but at $1 per 2 oz bottle (hobby paints like GW and Vallejo run $3 for 1/2 oz) they're a lot more affordable.

And with care, you can achieve some amazing color gradients while doing the extra layers...

Sauragnmon wrote:
I've found that the Testors Blue Tube, the Non-Toxic Plastic Cement, really does a nice job on the bond, and it doesn't have the harsh smell other glues tend to have when working with them.

I've found this to be true, I only use testors blue tube...been using it on all of my GW projects for several years.

 Lance845 wrote:
Sure. Maybe a bunch of testors are oil based now. Point being...

Well my point was simply I didn't want the OP to go out and buy lacquer thinners when they didn't need to do so (unless you're painting dullcote, that stuff IS lacquer based, in which case buy some hobby specific lacquer thinner because hardware store lacquer thinner is insanely too strong, it's almost pure toulene with some MEK thrown in for good measure, the hobby varieties are a lot softer).

...you cannot count on the word Enamel to mean much of anything. When a paint says Enamel on it all it means is it dries hard.

In the context of hobby paints, "enamel" means oil based enamel. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but I can't think of any hobby paint advertised as "enamel" that is anything other than an oil based one. I have Testors, Humbrol and Tamiya enamels sitting in front of me, all simply say "enamel" and nothing else and they're all oil based, you have to hunt around the packaging to find that Testors "contains petroleum distillates", Humbrol doesn't even say that.

In fact in the absence of any other descriptors "enamel" more often than not means oil based enamel even outside of the hobby context, you get manufacturers sometimes calling their paints "acrylic enamels", but usually if it just says "enamel" it's oil based. Though yeah, worth checking the packaging to make sure.


But yeah, either way, if you're a newbie painter I suggest you start out on acrylics if you can get them. Enamels are good, but they're more of a pain in the arse to use with their long cure times and harsher chemicals required for thinning and cleanup, better off starting with acrylics and testing out some enamels later once you've got a handle on the basics of applying paint to a model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enamel_paint

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Stencils-Craft-Paints/Acrylic-Craft-Paints/FolkArt-Enamel/p/PT50210

I understand that Testors might use the term Enamel as a catch all for their oil based line. And pretty crap that it's so hard to find what their base actually is. That info should be on their bottles. (I did think most of Testors was lacquer based) But it's a bad idea to link the word Enamel with any particular base when it can be used as a descriptor for any kind of paint. If all you see on a bottle is Enamel then do some research and figure out what your actually working with.

There's always the craft paint section. It may take 3 coats instead of 1 or 2 to get clean coverage, but at $1 per 2 oz bottle (hobby paints like GW and Vallejo run $3 for 1/2 oz) they're a lot more affordable.

And with care, you can achieve some amazing color gradients while doing the extra layers...

What Vulcan said. Don't count out the craft paints. I use them a lot, with pretty good results if you properly thin and layer.

I use Reaper Paints, and just placed an order on their website, and had it in two days, and wasn't expecting them for two weeks according to the shipping they listed.

Can do the same for Vallejo or Citadel as well, order online the colors you are wanting.

Used Testors for non gaming models like tanks and aircraft when I was a kid, they make good paints, just more work then acrylics are, and its like Citadel, in a pot not a dropper. If you want a lot of military colors, Testors is a good choice.