Floquil Enamels vs Polly Scale

[Anonymous]

Hi, just found this forum and was wondering if you experts out there could lead me in the right direction.

I am getting back to building Campbell kits after many many years.  I used to use Floquil Enamels but hated the solvent and vapor issue. Not sure I want to tackle that now because of potential health harm.

To that end, can you simply substitute similar colors of Polly Scale acrylics and have the same results on Campbell kits.  These are water based right and don't have the solvent/vapor issue right?

Last since Floquil doesn't have stains anymore, what do you use as substitues.

Thanks for all your insights. 

[kstrong]

I can't speak to how the various paints work specifically on Campbell kits, as I've not built one (and it was only one) in almost 20 years. Having said that, I haven't used Floquil paints in almost the same amount of time. Most all of my painting is done with craft acrylics--the ones that come in the 99¢ tubes at Michaels, etc. They've got almost every color under the rainbow, and while not called "D&XYZ depot fuchsia," they do match 90% of the railroad colors out there.

As they come out of the bottle, the paints are quite thick and can be thinned with water even for brush painting. They go through an airbrush fairly well, though they do need a higher pressure than Floquil or other brands. Getting the right thinning takes a bit of experimentation, but it's not too difficult. (And if you get it too thin, just add a bit more paint. At 99¢/bottle, you're not going to break the bank.) They work equally well on plastic or wood. Metal really needs to be primed first, unless it's just a small detail part like a doorknob or pipe or something.

I also use exterior-grade latex paint to do most of my buildings, since they spend their lives outdoors.

Later,

K

[vsmith]

Are you sure your in the right forum?

I do not recall Campbell ever offering kits in F or G scale? as in 1/20.5 or 1/22.5 scale, they have always been HO or O scale.

What scale are these kits and are they intended for exterior or interior layout use?

Just want to make sure you get the right information for your situation.

I've always used Floquil with brushes, just plain better paint than that water based stuff, but the Polly stuff works better in an airbrush. As for stains, just use the commercial stuff.

One trick for stains, some mfrs offer little ketchup packet sized test samples of thier stain products, these are really good for smaller staining projects where you just need a little bit of stain and dont want to buy a larger jar of stain.

[altterrain]

I built a few campbell kits back in my HO days.

I would stick with the enamels for metal parts. I think they stick and cover better than the acrylics. For wood and plastic acrylics work fine. I particularly like the Badge ModelFlex line for fine work but the craft acrylics Kevin mentioned work fine for less critical painting.

For wood stains I would use the real thing. You can pick up small, cup sized cans of stain at a paint or home improvement box store. Many come as water based stains. You could pick up one dark and one light and then mix for the in between tones.

-Brian 

[Southwest Chief]

For Campbell kits I'd go with Floquil...if they have the color you're looking for. 

In my experience Floquil works better then Polly on wood kits, and unless things have changed, I'm assuming Campbell are still wood kits.  The last Campell kit I built was a wood HO trestle, man was that a long time ago.

However if you really want to use Polly, it will work fine too.  The best thing is you can paint with Polly indoors without much vapor issue.  And some colors, such as D&RGW building colors, only come in Polly.

If you are airbrushing you almost have to go with Floquil.  I hate using any acrylic in my airbrush.  They dry fairly quickly an almost always clog the brush on large projects, especially G scale structures.  And if they don't clog, the clean up is a real pain in the you know what.  The only exceptions I've made were for the Polly D&RGW building colors, and Modelflex D&RGW orange.  Oh that orange was a nightmare to clean up.  Avoid Modelflex if you can, not the best paint in my opinion.  And it can't be brush painted since it's prethinned for airbrushing.  Sorry minor Modelflex rant, back to Floquil v Polly.

So if I were you I'd choose Floquil because you're building a wood kit.  If it was plastic, or resin, Polly would be fine.  If you're airbrushing, then Floquil would definitely be my first choice.  However, Scalecoat might actually be my true #1 choice as I think they have the best overall paint be it airbrushing or hand brushing.  But you never asked about Scalecoat  

A substitute for Floquil stains?  Hmmm, I didn't know they stopped making them.  That's a real shame as I loved those stains.  Well I guess real stain super thinned would work fine too, but I haven't done any model wood staining since using Floquil stains.  Something like this, offered by Micromark, might work too:

Micromark Stain

And here are supposedly similar formulated stains to the classic Floquil ones:

Wood Stains 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for their great input.  This is my first time using this forum and I did not go to the right one. Didn't matter as I got some great information.

 Looks like I will use Floquil as I will be a bunch for nothing. Just have to be careful.

 Thanks again and appreciate all the insights and links.