best paint to use when painting MTH houses?

heymaloney,

Most MTH, Atlas, Lionel, Plasticville etc...buildings have that certain plastic, toy train look to them. Not good or bad, just the way they are. Several manufactures produce good paints for plastic. And of course you can choose from flat, gloss, water based, solvent based. Are you planning on brushing it on, airbrushing?

So we need to have a bit  more information,

Do you just want to keep the overall toy train hi rail appearance and just change the color?

Do you want it to have a a little bit of a more realistic look, perhaps take off any shine and have a lightly weathered look?

Do you want to perhaps dull the shiny aspect of it with the new painting?

If you have a local hobby shop in your area, one that specializes in HO trains, maybe even planes and plastic model kits, I'd perhaps suggest taking the item with you to the shop and get their opinion on what they would use. 

Hope this helps

David

I painted a Model Power farmhouse (very similar to one of the MTH ones) from pastel blue and yellow, to white with dark red trim.    I used Krylon spray paint and it came out pretty well.  Could have masked parts a bit better and gone a little slower, but it came out all right.

Just recently completed my 12th Ameritown building. I know it is not MTH but the paints from HObby LObby and some from WalMart work fine. The best I've found was Americana ( 2oz bottle for .99 ). I also use FolkArt also 2oz. These are acrylic and clean up with easy. I've also used several spray paints (Krylon) was mentioned earlier. I even dabbled with a spray that goes on with the rustic stone look for the walls. A different look. You can then seal with the dull or gloss look. Thats just one way. Enjoy

Wipe it down with alcohol to get any grease or finger prints off them spray it with red or gray primer (your choice) Then you can use most rattle can stuff or acrylics.

David

I like to use any good acrylic artist paint.

Thomas

Wow, thats nice Rustyrail

Nice job, Thomas. Did you prime as suggested by David (DPC) above and then apply the acrylics? I plan on doing a similar project and was going to use that method? Also, I thought his suggestion to clean with alcohol was a good idea as well. 

Jerrman

Hi Jerr, Yes I prime with light grey automotive sandable primer. I do this only because it makes what ever color you are using to come out as the true color if that makes sense. Cleaning with alcohol doesnt do well for me because the plastic is still glossy slick even after the alcohol bath. I rub the whole model down with #00 steel wool prior to painting. This not only gives the paint "tooth" to grab hold of but it also gives the model a slight texture look for realism.

Thomas

Thanks for the complement Bluegill, The MTH houses are my favorite to do and IMO the best looking houses you can buy off the shelf.

Thomas