Floquil/Polly Scale Paint

Is still listed on the Testors website under .

http://www.testors.com/categor...67/Railroad_Acrylics

not sure where u saw that post but I did spot an old one from 2010. you can get a huge selection of polly scale from Internettrains.com, hobbylink.com, micromark.com,even amazon among others. 

jerrman

I saw it on Amazon!

Paul Edgar

Paul,

What colors do you need?

Dave

I just found my local shop had discontinued Testor's and was now carrying Floquil's

again, after I had not seen it in shops for a while.  I thought it had been/is? affiliated

with Weaver.  Before that I had seen it appear again in another shop...and again..

after I had not seen it marketed for a while.  So, is it now affiliated with Testor's?

I have not looked for paint on line, as it is something I don't want to wait on or pay

shipping for.  I don't like it, for I have found that it solidifies in the bottle over time,

but maybe it has been reformulated under new owners.

Weaver's site has their Scalecoat (1 and 2) paints listed.

I bought some bottles of Floquil Steam Power Black (not Engine Black) a while back and was really pleased with the results:

It appears to be more gray (lighter) than the Engine Black.

And then I've got bottles that a month after I open them and re-seal that solidify below the solvent....

That can usually be fixed by stirring up the mud at the bottom with a toothpick or popsicle stick. Wipe the stirrer on the rim so you don't lose too much pigment. 

Floquil has been owned by Testors for quite a while.  It was reformulated about 15 years ago from a lacquer based paint to an enamel based paint.   It still uses some of the finest ground pigments I've ever encountered.  

All paint has a shelf life and will solidify/polymerize/dry out whatever if left too long.  It doesn't matter if its opened or not or how it was manufactured or what it's made from.   I don't "stockpile" paint of any type.  I but what I need, when I need it.  If there is left over from a project I will store it as best I can but I'm not going to obsess over a jar of paint going bad after it's sat on the shelf for a number of years.

Not these; stirring a stone....

I still use a lot of Floquil and I've not had very many bottles go solid regardless of opened/sealed.  Only one that's done that in recent times was a bottle of Platinum Mist that within a month of my buying & opening it went solid.  The other 2 bottles, 1 opened and 1 sealed are fine.  There's little consistency in shelf life that's apparent to me.

And, I don't worry too much about it until I need that bottle of paint and it's solid.  Getting a replacement is not easily done on short notice given the dearth of LHS.

Chuck,

I recently opened 2 bottles of paint I bought at the ACL/SAL Historical Society meeting in Richmond Va back in the early 90s.

The paints are "Pro Color" paints, #s 116 and 117 (Seaboard Air Line Mint Green and Dark Green), from Birkholz/Meisener in
Rochelle IL. 61068.  I don’t think they’re available any longer.

Both were in like new condition, I was surprised.  But now that I've opened them I feel letting the air get to them briefly will have an effect.

But I have found that other brands have dried up as you said.  I've seen all kinds of suggestions about trying to keep them from drying up, but nothing I've tried seems to work.  I'm not sure that if you pulled a vacuum on the bottle to get the air out it would solve the problem.

The problem is that when I see paints specifically for Seaboard Air Line I feel like I must buy them as the availability is rare.  The Mint Green has been the only offering I've seen for this color.

I store my opened paints lid side down.  I still have some that are 15 years old and act as good as new.

When the acrylics first came out, there was a major problem with them solidifying in the bottles - without ever being opened.  (I think the original company was Windmill or something like that.)

I really believe that glass bottles and metal lids are the BEST containers for any model paints.

Fred

Fred,

I put some MEK (I use it for gluing styrene) in a clear glass jar.  In no time at all it evaporated, even though I kept the lid on.

I decided to experiment and put some of that blue painters tape around the jar and it made a big difference!  I saw no evaporation, the only thing I can guess is the sunlight/room light was causing it to disappear.

I wonder if that would work for paint as well, although most of my small paint bottles are at least 50% covered with labels?

The quality of the seal of the metal caps even with the liners that are present, at least initially, is really not the best on the glass.  Cleaning the glass bottle top is a must. 

If anything is evaporating, it's got a bad seal. I've got bottles with compression seals that have had Tenax (methylene chloride) in them since last year - that kind of seal works! 

I've taken to testing out using a bit of Teflon tape around the threads & onto the top of the glass bottle around the edge for the various Polly Scale black paints that seem to be most problematic.  So far, that's worked well. 

Whether air (oxygen) is a variable is not one I've bothered to test - some claim it is, but I'm not bringing a nitrogen or argon tank into my shop any time soon,

Martin, you mean like pipe tape?  I have a few rolls of that collecting dust, might have to put them to use

I still have some Floquil with a price tag of $0.69 on it and have used it recently.  If you treat the seal and the rim of the bottle with care that stuff seems to last forever.  I'd love to find a local source for Floquil I prefer spraying with lacquer.

Bud

I guess so if that's the teflon tape that I use on my gas cylinder regulators.  Beats using pliers to get the bottle caps off!

It really makes those Polly Scale bottles of the various blacks a lot easier to work with....so far.

Stirring "mud" with BB's & mixers, etc - sure, works fine -- stirring rock hard stuff is a bottle heading for the disposal box.

I've still got a can of Diasol on hand, and I'm very aware of what's in it. After 30+ years as a chemist it's nothing to phase me in its handling.  Had the formula for it somewhere on one of my computers. 

But, I generally just use mineral spirits or regular laquer thinner w/o any problems.  And, the attention to ventilation should not be any less!

This is a very interesting thread, even if if has veered away from the original question.

I too fail to see any commonality in the drying up of brands of paints.  For example:

I have a "tinlet" as they are called, of Humbrol (my favorite solvent-based enamel) from 1958-59 - honest-to-goodness.  It is still fine.  Had it open to use on a project just 2 weeks ago.  On the other hand, 2 Humbrols that I just purchased were very firm at the bottom.  I stirred them up well, but they weren't satisfactory.  They left tiny grains on the work, as if the surface wasn't cleaned.  Those tinlets certainly weren't 53 years old.

I like the suggestion to use Teflon tape on Testor's bottle necks.  I'm going to try that, because I do have an occasional problem with that brand drying up even when new.

Interesting I found this thread.  I am in the process of painting a brass model and was on the search for a good local paint shop (instead of going the more convenient internet route)...  I recently found a hobby shop (non train) on google maps that stocks an entire line of Floquil enamels and Polyscale acrylics.  What a seriously great place for paint and they stock all sorts and brands of paint.  They have more railroad paint colors than dedicated model train hobby shops.  If anyone is interested its Maplewood Hobby Shop in NJ.  What luck for me they are a very short ride around the neighborhood.

Going back on topic, they are still selling new bottles.  I picked up a few bottles of floquil, a much coveted rust for weathering, engine black, primer etc. 

On another subject, with brand paints I've had two dry up and rubberize on me and certainly not floquil.  I am with others here who buy paints based on projects and don't stock them but with some paints left over, they will get used if its still viable and I do find I still have some antique bottles of Floquil tuscan, dust and grime in very good shape.  I've gravitated to floquil after using scale coat II and other enamel brands I find their paints shoot very well.  I was shooting with a double action Aztec (maybe it was not the paint but the painter or the airbrush) but regardless switched over to Iwata.