Source For Acrylic Paint At A Good Price (= more paint for less money)

[Jeffry Fontaine]

This is for all of you Canadian and American members since Michaels Arts and Crafts does not have a European franchise.  The Acrylic paints that are sold by this store chain cost substantially less than the the acrylic paints that are sold by Testors and other companies and you get more paint for your purchase which means fewer trips and that will save you on the cost of gas so it is a win-win situation.  You can also let your significant other wander around while you make your selections knowing that they will be happy in this type of store environment. 

Check the paint selection on this page for Craft Painting and look for the acrylic paint under the "Paint" link. 

The brands to look for are: 
FolkArt® Acrylic Paints
Craft Smart™ Paint
Americana Acrylic Paint
Apple Barrel Colors®
Delta Ceramcoat® Acrylic Paint

Sadly there is no cross reference to any FS color chart but that is where that handy dandy paint color reference that is supplied in most Testors models comes in since you can take that with you to match your colors as close as possible.  The only people that would be against this are usually the joyless modelling socialists that are actively promoting expensive purchases to boost their low self-esteem and if you are a member here on WHIF, I know that will not matter to you

[Brian da Basher]

I can vouch for the craft paints at Michael's They cover reasonably well but tend to work best over a primer. As a dedicated hand-brusher, I can use just about any kind of acrylic, but I hear these can be thinned and airbrushed too. You get about three times more paint for between $1 and $1.50, sometimes even less if they're having a sale.

Definitely worth checking out!

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

Yeah, thanks.  I'm getting tired of paying a buck per drop for those tiny little bottles of Testors Acryl.   

[Hawkeye]

As was mentioned, some paints will probably work best if applied over a primer. Not all hobby & craft paints are formulated for application directly onto plastic. Krylon found out that, so they created a special product (Fusion) for painting plastics...of course they should have figured that out a couple of decades ago but better late than never.

I've used "other" paints that though they went on spectacularly and looks outstanding, after a while they started to have issues. Paint peeling and lifting. Areas of the same model painted with model paints had no issue, so it was the paint itself.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I inquired by eMail to Testors about the location of an on-line color chart resource for their paint products and received a reply this morning from a Testors representative by the name of Misty.  She explained that the color reference chart is availalbe through the Testors web page as a pdf file of the Testors product catalog which you can view on-line or download for later review.  The color charts start on page 41 of this file. This is basically the same chart that comes in almost all Testors model kits and it will provide a color chip and cross reference to the FS Color number.  I hope that this will be of some use to anyone that is wanting to pruchase cheaper paints.

[beowulf]

as an update........the 'Americana' and the very very similar brand of 'Anita's craft paint'  are available in the u.k.

try any branch of 'Hobbycraft' or 'the Range'

i have played around with them a bit and if you get them right they airbrush very nicely.................only down side is they are quite soft..........ive tried thinning with Future/Kleer to try and harden it a little but best bet is to clear coat asap

advantages are the huge range of colours (the metallics are useful) and the ease of cleaning the AB afterwards........they dry very quickly..........and the cheapness of course