"Enamels or acrylics" Topic

I'm used to using acrylics for my 15mm plastic tanks/infantry, but would enamels be a more suitable paint for 1/285 pewter/metal aircraft?

Apples or Pears!

Properly primed, painting models with acrylics is altogether suitable. I used enamels exclusively, back in the ancient times when one had no other alternative, back when one had to worry about evading saber toothed tigers on the way to the brick and mortar hobby store.

Acrylics offer considerably more flexibility and less aggravation than enamels. The only enamels I still bother with are a handful of metallics. Those are still superior.

I'm sure there are purists who will disagree. The best army I ever saw painted was done using oils.

Stick with acrylics.

No, there is no reason why enamels would be more suitable, unless perhaps you wanted to use an airbrush when the slow drying time of enamels can help keep the airbrush super clean as you have plenty of time to strip and soak parts in thinners. Acrylics can also literally dry in the air as you spray them leaving a rough finish on the model.

There is a wide variety of acrylic colours made specifically to match historic aircraft paint schemes.

I use acrylics.

I use acrylics for nearly everything. I abandoned enamels decades ago, though I recently reacquired some Testors red, yellow and white because Testors enamels turn out to be *perfect* for painting airplane prop spinners with a very thin layer of paint.

- Ix

I use acrylics but you can use either. I use my airbrush on 1/300 planes and 1/2400 ships, using acrylics.

Acrylics for me. Just finished my 500th 1/300 & 1/285 aircraft and have had no reason to go to enamels.

I shifted from enamel to acrylic when Humbrol started their range many years ago. It was a good change for me as the fumes from enamel and brush cleaners would give me terrible headaches if I worked for too long

Opened our shop in 1995. Half enamels, half acrylics. 2019 we are 100% acrylics. Customers say the quality is as good and they appreciate the easy clean up and lack of odor. And if things dry too fast they add drying retardant.