Hi guys, As some of you might know, I'll be leaving Singapore to work for a time in USA. It is fully my intention to continue pursuing my hobby (customizing toys) while I'm there. That being said, the purpose of this thread is to consolidate for my own reference information about paints available in the States (specifically Pawtucket, Rhode Island), as I am only acquainted with some of the brands in Singapore. Also, anyone who has knowledge of other paint brands in Singapore which I've missed, do contribute as well. The goal for me is to find out which paint brand is the "best" in terms of dry/cure time and hardness. Firstly because I work fast & furious, and I hate to wait for paint to dry. Second is due to the problems I have in paint chipping/rubbing, which is notorious in gunze aqueous acrylics (which I used before and I'm now growing out of). Paints in Singapore Tamiya Truthfully, I've never used 'em before... Gunze aqueous acrylic Pros: Cheap(er) Coarse pigment Cons: Long dry time Long cure time Gunze Mr. Color lacquer Pros: Dries real fast Very fine pigment, smooth finish Cons: Not as hard as I would like Paints in America Alclad Pros: Excellent chromes Cons: Where to get: Testors Acryl Pros: Cons: Where to get: Model Masters Pros: Cons: Where to get: All this information is based on personal research, and there are a lot of areas lacking. For you paint masters out there, please please pleeease share your experiences? Of course, I know there are threads/websites with the information I need. You can also point me there with a link if you like. Help is much appreciated!
Hey dude, thanks for the tip! It just so happened that this thread is nearly half a year old and you're the first person to answer, which is sad in a way. But all is not lost cuz I've been spending the last 6 months on further research and testing, and I *kinda* got a good working system going. Testors enamels I've tried, and it took a full 4 days to cure to an acceptable hardness. It seems even harder than Gunze lacquers, but the cure time really threw me off. But they are easily obtainable, though, which is a good thing. I've been shipping in G lacquers from overseas cuz their cure times are the fastest ever. I can put on 5 coats in an evening if I really want to. The only problem is that their hardness leaves much to be desired, and the future clear coats don't do much for protection. The only solution is careful sanding of potential rub areas and lots of testing. Ducky you'd probably never see this reply, but I'm typing this for my own record as well. It's funny reading back what I typed 6 months ago, cuz the problems I'm facing are still similar. Thanks again for the reply and consideration.
Yeah, I don't know how things are when it comes to imports in Rhode Island. Over here in Seattle, there's a number of places that import Tamiya and a few that import Mr. Color paints. I've been using Tamiya myself, and I like it. Though I'm still getting used to even the basics of painting figures.
