What paints?

Ghostphoenix01

Jr Hunter
hey guys!! I've asked about what airbrush's are good and that you use but I didn't ask about paints. Since I'm a beginner and this is my first helmet which paints should I get or which should I stay away from? And what's a good primer? Thanks!!
 
Most name brand paints should be OK for working on a Fett helmet. Tamiya, Humbrol, Testors Model Master, Vallejo. Those are all quality brands.
Are you planning to work in acrylic or enamel? Some lines make both.
It also depends where you live. For example, Humbrols are widely available in the UK, but trickier to find in some parts of the US.

Tamiya makes an excellent primer, although it's a little more expensive. But I've used Duplicolor primer with great results. That's usually available at most auto supply stores.

I'm sure more folks will chime in with their advice, too. Good luck with your paint up!
 
I'm on the east coast of the U.S. and as far as acrylic or enamel I'm not sure hahaha. That's kinda why I started the thread. Wasn't sure which is easier for a beginner with an airbrush or if there is even any difference.
 
I think working with acrylics is easier. Enamels have a pretty strong smell and produce more fumes.
If you have the space to airbrush indoors, like with a ventilated hobby room or use a paint booth, that's a big plus.
 
I use Krylon rattlecan for the primer, and the silver. Technically the production helmets were made with white gelcoat, so you could prime white, otherwise grey is usually what ive used on the black cast helmets.

For all the other colors i use humbrol and Model Master standard enamels. i get them at megahobby.com here in the US. they usually have good stock of all the humbrols. Lately they have been out of the 154 yellow though. Alot of folks use the acrylic enamels. I havent switched over mostly because i still have alot of the old enamel floquils, humrols, and model master paints on hand, plus a lot of my colors are custom mixed and ive been to lazy to try and figure them out again with acrylics lol (not all colors i use in enamels are available in acrylics, and sometimes they looks a little different) Both will give you a nice completed helmet. Razio, Superjedi and Fett4real use acrylic enamels, so you can see that you still get a great quality finish. Try to avoid using both. Putting regular enamel over the acrylic enamel, it remains tacky and never cures up properly. Learned that the hard way on a model car years ago lol. However you CAN put acrylic over standard enamels if need be. Terminal Fettler has a pinned post for a paint-up that has a step by step and an enamel humbrol paint list that is an excellent start. I think its called "one last wafer thin ESB paint up...or something along those lines. I think its in the Boba Fett Helmet section. That should be a good start, and if you want to go with acrylics, you can at least get a color list..most of the humbrols are available in both reg enamel and acrylic enamel.
 
Tamiya and Vallejo are the better imo. I've had very poor experiences with humbrol. The healthiest thing for your airbrush is to use alcohol based paints, or water based as 2nd option. Enamel paints tend to clog the airbrush and also are more toxic for you to breath. Tamiya would be the best way to go.
 
A quick note: my previous experience with airbrush painting was on scale modeling (1:35 scale vehicles) and that's why I was more demanding with paint quality. I just started airbrushing my gaunts and considering the price of Tamiya alcohol based paints I started testing Testors acrylics, which have worked good enough so far.
I recomend watching as many airbrushing teaching videos on youtube as possible to do a fair job on it.
Best of luck!
 
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