(UPDATE RESULTS)Info on Tru-color paints

This is a good question for guys like SIRT, Corsair, or DavidJFRO.

Have you tried Scalecoat II paints from Weaver. I use their bottled paint through an airbrush and it is quite exceptional. I do not care for the spray cans as they tend to take quite a while to dry. This paint come in a myriad of railroad specific colors. Highly recommended if you are using an airbrush.

Tru Color thins with acetone. From what they say, it's OK for plastics. That may relate to spraying with an airbrush as the paint particles are nearly dry when they hit the plastic. I'm still looking for a color to replace Floquil "Dust" and "Earth" for weathering. There was a serious run on the paint after the cancellation was announced.

Matt,

I believe Tru Color is going to make all the railroad colors that were discontinued. Recall reading an announcement in a magazine that they released quite a few colors and then were going to release a couple of colors a month until they have them all. Maybe yours will be coming up soon?

I have never tried their paint, just remembered reading the announcement.

I like the scale coat 2 paints as well. I have heard you can use scale coat 1 thinner with scale coat 2 paint and it will dry much faster. They recommend using only their thinners.

Rob

Tru-Color paints are the best! I've shot many a large scale plastic locomotive shells with it and have had absolutely no problems. First coat is lite and seals any masking tape followed by full heavy wet coats. Dries glossy and I've done multi-color schemes in 1 day. Decal and shoot with Tru-Color flat and all is well. The "Satin" clear is still glossy that's why I use flat. Paint dries so fast that it's very tough to get the paint to bleed under masking tape.

Tru-Color paint to me smells & sprays almost like DuPont Centari Acrylic enamel for cars.  

I might also recommend for weathering going to an art store and looking at acrylic and/or oil based artists paints in the tube. Most oils blend with easily with paint thinners or other mild solvents, the acrylics with water, and windshield washer fluid (the blue color has never tainted paint for me.

Raw and burnt umber, raw and burnt sienna, yellow ochre and red oxide are all excellent starting points with white and black to adjust intensity. I've started to use these on static plastic models - ships and tanks - and been very satisfied.

A little goes a long way, the stuff is very thick in the tubes and thinning ratios solvent to paint can be high. Plus with the acrylics in particular that are a number of artsy type things to mix with the paints for different effects.

If anyone remembers the old Accu-Paint line, Tru-Color applies exactly the same.  It is also plastic compatible.  It does take a little getting used to but is superior to the old Floquil line.(My opinion)  The lighter colors work best with a light gray primer coat underneath.

Tru-color paint dies to the touch within 15-20 minutes with a fairly glossy finish suitable for applying decals.

Rusty

Floquil used to make a sealer to protect plastic from their paint. They quit making it long before they dropped the line. Now I use Scalecoat sealer.

Thanks for the replies. I received some good information and I appreciate everyone's feedback.

Mike,

I am so glad you asked that question and thanks to the members who responded.  I haven't been in the painting mode for a while and was thinking of getting started again when I realized that Floquil was disappearing.

We definitely need a decent replacement.

AF

What ratio of paint to thinner are you shooting it with? I'm using an external-mix Pasche.

I use a Pasche VL internal mix.  New bottles of Tru-color I can usually use without thinning. 

I don't use an exact formula for thinner/paint, it depends on how thin the paint looks when I open the bottle.

Rusty

Floquil Barrier was required before applying the original lacquer based formula on plastic.  Even with an airbrush the lacquer based version could melt plastic if applied too wet.  When the product line was reformulated as an enamel the Barrier product was dropped as the solvents involved were much, much less aggressive.

Has anyone tried using a thinner other than Tru Color's? Having to use a proprietary thinner would be a non starter for me. I was getting good results using naptha with Floquil. Inexpensive and easy to find.

Pete

Microscale provided this conversion chart. 

Weaver has a very good solvent based Railroad paint line. Scalecoat 

Badger Modelflex is another choice for Railroad Acrylic paints, water clean-up. 

I'd love to, but - from the Weaver website:

Sorry - We Cannot Ship Paint and Paint Related Products (thinners, etc.) Outside Of The Continental United States nor can we Honor Paint Sales To Texas!

Anybody know why this is?

A while back Texas tourism was touted with the slogan, "Texas!  It's like a whole 'nother country!", and our mentally defective governor wants to secede, but golly gee.

Pete

Chuck, I learned about this the hard way many years ago.

Thanks for posting these links. I didn't notice the 'resource' link on the Microscale web-site the last few times I was there. I am glad someone took the time to compile the list. It looks like the alternate paints are enamels, so those of us that prefer enamels have other options than to go to acrylic. I will try the Tru-color anyhow on an upcoming project. Who knows, I might just like them as much as Floquil. I will post an update when I get the project finished for those that are interested in the results.

From the smell of their thinner, it's pretty much pure acetone, but maybe not quite as volatile (says "contains" acetone) right on the bottle). Tru Color even says you can thin it with acetone (available in the paint department at your local home improvement center). When I was "patching out" my GP35's for new numbers, I was actually able to clean the paint with generic nail polish remover, though it took more work.

BTW, Rusty, thanks for the tip.

Texas Pete

The state of Texas has a fee/tax that producers of toxic/flammable products must pay in order to ship into the state...has something to do with insurance. You can purchase Scalecoat from out-of-state hobby dealers or on the -bay with no problem.

I live in Houston (unfortunately)

Thanks for the info on Microlux and Vallejo paints, KD.

The reply Testors sent me in regards to my question about the Floquil line indicated that they were going to release some Model Master paints in railroad colors, but they didn't give me any indication of what colors or when this might happen. I haven't seen any added to the line yet. I think it would be great, because I like the MM line and all non-railroad color paints I have are MM.

Texas Pete I tried ordering paint from Weaver and they won't ship to Hawaii. I have a small supply of Floquil but don't know what I will do when I run out. No hobby shops on this island. Don

updated. See first post.