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Best Acrylic Paint for Brushing

Hammerhead hobbies

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Testing six popular acrylic paints that are hand brushed onto a clean plastic sprue. I will see which one applies the best and which one is the most durable. I use the yellow color because I find it to be the most difficult color to cover a dark sprue. All the paints are mixed to about a 1:1 ratio. I also perform a durability test, a tape peel test, and give my final results to which one I think is best. Remember that this is ONLY for hand brushing, airbrushing may give you different results. I hope you enjoy it.

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Video is edited using DaVinci Resolve 18.5 by Blackmagicdesign
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Sound and music used from Freesound
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00:00 - Start
00:12 - Introduction
01:35 - The Paint Booth
02:11 - 1st Coat - Revell Aqua Color
03:23 - 1st Coat - Vallejo Model Air
04:17 - 1st Coat - Ammo by MiG
05:13 - 1st Coat - Tamiya XF series
05:56 - 1st Coat - AK 3rd Gen Ineractive
06:46 - 1st Coat - Mr.Hobby Aqueous
07:35 - 2nd Coat
09:37 - 3rd Coat
10:50 - 36 hours later
11:36 - Durability Test
13:14 - Tape Peel Test
14:03 - Final Results

20 Comments

@percentmax 1 year ago

You dilute Mr. Hobby paint with X-20 thinner, of course the new layer will rub off the previous one! After the paint polymerises, the solvent will react and erode the previous layer.
Since this paint is visibly alcohol based, it can be diluted with thinner as well as with water!
If you use the hand brush method, dilute Mr.Hobby paint with distilled water. In this case, after polymerisation of the paint, the new layer will not react with the previous layer, because after complete drying - the paint is not washed off with water.

@oldgeezer3324 1 year ago

Best demo video I have ever seen. I did see some things to discuss here, of course if you use a primer that's closer to the color you are using you will get better color coverage but this video clearly shows which you'll get the best with. I mean light gray primer would color coat easier. You helped me pick my favorite brand to get back into model building with, thanks.

@c123bthunderpig 3 years ago

Excellent demo, with so many paints on the market today it really help tremendously. Thanks

@joeleal4138 1 year ago

Great video, glad I found it! Thanks.

@raginggamer2109 1 year ago (edited)

I believe the Vallejo bottles are airbrush ready and does not need thinning. Also, Tamiya you will need to add a drop of paint retardant

@garryrefati5896 1 year ago

hey, nice video, something I see nobody pointed out here is that you don't need to thin the mr hobby aqueous paint at all. it was meant to be for direct application, hope this helps! best

@toygenic2778 1 year ago

Thank you for the hard work making this comparison video. Now I know why my hand brush leaves brush mark and hard to achieve smooth even finish 😭. Keep inspiring bro, new subs here (+1)

@tint661 3 months ago

I've never thinned Tamiya Acrylic paint. After stirring the paint in the bottle, I apply it just as it is. I have found out that you need to cover the part your painting, the first coat. If you try to repaint the part with Tamiya Acrylic, you will get streaks in the paint. I know this is about Acrylic Paint but I have never thinned Testors Enamel paint either. I find it coats in one coat but takes some extra time to dry. I can understand thinning paint if your air brushing, because the paint needs to be thin to flow better. Call me crazy.

@actarkus9031 11 months ago

thanks a lot for this very usefull and interesting test ! I'm happy to see your test, because i have no air brush, and was wondering wich paint i could use for my Gundam model kit, and get a nice result. Do you know the Valejo Mecha Color paints ? it seems that's a good paint for Gundam model, but i was wondering how the result could be without air brush. Thanks again for your video 👍🙏

@southpaw1836 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing, appreciated.

@InvisibleAvenger 1 year ago

Cool! Another scale modeling channel. Great comparison video on these readily avsilable acrylics. Have you considered doing a follow up video checking out Mig's new ATOM and maybe the IONIC lines?

@natalebabbo-gunplaanddioramas 3 years ago

Very interesting comparison. Vallejo are very good colors, but the Air paints, as you pointed out, are primarily for airbrushing and thus need many coats if applied with a brush. You may want to try the Game Color paints, formulated for brush application.

@stevecoops8025 1 year ago

I had durability problems with Vallejo and their primer

@theaussienurseflipper.8113 11 months ago

I would like to see you use it without thinning cheers Graham

@emsmakesart 6 months ago

Confused as to why these are all thinned with a solvent/alcohol (I get it for airbrush), that will of course dissolve the previous layer.

@lgmnowkondo938 1 year ago

why didnt you use valejo model color?

@RicardoDawkins 1 year ago

AK 3rd Gen should be higher

@user-di2lu3lu2i 7 months ago

You need to leave Tamiya paint 24 hours for it to cure properly before doing a second coat.

@user-mc4sq3fk5d 11 months ago

Unfair comparison as your Vallejo is air not regular

@MalissaMarchovik 1 year ago

Thanks for the comparisons and there are some interesting results. I like the tests and your rating at the end. There are better paint for brushing than what you tested though.