[Phantasm88]

Hey gang.
I'm painting up a storm right now. Finishing up a Captain Marvel custom and I ran out to buy some metallic blue for her suit. I went with Testors Model Master Acryl because I kept hearing how great it is, but I got to say, I'm not impressed at all. For me, it's brushing on really poorly, poor adhesion and the paint is behaving more like an ink once it meets plastic. I'm puzzled since I kept hearing how nice it was to work with. I have a bunch of Vallejo right not that I like all right, but I'm looking for a little more. Is Tamiya at all okay? Is there a secret about Testors I don't know yet?
any advice on how to work with this stuff would be great.
Cheers.

[Optimus Neeson]

I've used Model Masters Acrylic and Model Masters Enamel. I didn't like the enamel at all, because it would rub off when lightly scratch, or even when lightly rubbed with regular printer paper.
The acrylic paint works good enough for me so far, except on flexible plastic, like 3.75 inch GI Joe webgear.
Before using Model Masters Acrylic, I always stir the contents of the bottle thoroughly for about 15 seconds. Sometimes I even water it down with between 1 to 4 drops of water. I never primer or sand any surfaces, but I do wash them with soap and water between 2 to 4 times to ensure that all grease has been removed. And I never clear-coat my work either, because I don't like putting solvents on top of finished paint work; nor do I trust that the surfaces will retain the texture I want; and I don't want the clear-coat to form a seal on articulated areas that, when moved, will chip the paint off.
And just so you get more than a lot of talk out of me, here's a raptor I painted with Model Masters Acrylics:
Every single surface was painted, except the teeth and the inside of the mouth.

[jimsloth]

The washing is the key (imho) to any and all toy painting. I use dawn dish soap, but I'm sure other dish soaps work as well. Afterward make sure it is fully dry. Use a hair dryer to speed things along if you want. (I always run into their still being water trapped in the unsplit torsos I'm painting, and it f-s me up when I randomly get a drip of water through my fresh paint)

The type of plastic/toy does influence which paint I use. I started out painting transformers, and the Model Masters enamels actually worked for me on the hardest/most brittle type of plastic they use. Not on the new Joes or anything more rubbery.

As for M.M. acryl metalic blue, if you don't mix it thoroughly you are basically only getting the clear blue part of the paint. It separates out into a silvery paint at the bottom of the jar and a clear blue above (most of the jar). If you run out of the silver part at the bottom (which I've done with the gun metal), you can either mix in more silver, or paint silver on the figure first, then go back over it with the blue. It will stick much better over a previous layer of paint than just straight on the fig.

[lalo]

Excellent. I like dinosaur figures. Congrats. Thanks for showing.
Jorge.

[scarbs]

I use the MM Testors but im swithcing to Vallejo model colors. But in any case you should prime any plastic with an adhesion promtor. It use to be called Bumper primer. Its a Dupli color spray you pick up at any auto parts store. Its clear works great to help paint stick to plastic.