Humbrol Enamels

[Nick]

There are no Humbrol Enamels on the Airfix site, only the new acrylic range. This might also be why so many shops have removed their large Humbrol paint stands.

Revell enamels are still available which suggests they have already got to grips with a new formula that doesn't fall foul of the law. (It says Email paints which I have been told means Enamel).

[kitnut617]

Humbrol enamels disappeared from my LMS last year, I snapped up as many as I could buy before they ran out. So with Testors/ModelMaster enamels also disappearing there's not a lot anyone can do if they prefer enamels. XtraColor didn't even make it to Canada as far as I can tell.

[kitbasher]

News to me.  Was the change prenotified? 

Never been impressed with Revell enamels and the very small number of Humbrol acrylic pots where underwhelming.

[PR19_Kit]

News to me.  Was the change prenotified? 

Don't be silly Dave, why would anyone at Hornby want to tell their customers ANYthing about what they're doing? We're only there to pay their bonuses.

What about Xtracolor though? There are ten pages of their tins still for sale? Maybe they don't use this 'Meko' stuff? Ah, that could be why they don't dry of course.....

[kitnut617]

News to me.  Was the change prenotified? 

Don't be silly Dave, why would anyone at Hornby want to tell their customers ANYthing about what they're doing? We're only there to pay their bonuses.

What about Xtracolor though? There are ten pages of their tins still for sale? Maybe they don't use this 'Meko' stuff? Ah, that could be why they don't dry of course.....

The XtraColor enamels that I do have all came direct from Hannants, but I can't get any of it these days, can't be sent by mail apparently.

[Gondor]

The XtraColor enamels that I do have all came direct from Hannants, but I can't get any of it these days, can't be sent by mail apparently.

I always buy their paint with a kit, not done that recently but it worked for me the last time I did that.

Gondor

[kitbasher]

News to me.  Was the change prenotified? 

Don't be silly Dave, why would anyone at Hornby want to tell their customers ANYthing about what they're doing? We're only there to pay their bonuses.

What about Xtracolor though? There are ten pages of their tins still for sale? Maybe they don't use this 'Meko' stuff? Ah, that could be why they don't dry of course.....

My bad, Kit 

For years I've been using Humbrol matt enamels as bases for Xtracolor/Xtracrylix top coats and have been happy with the results.  No issues with Xtracolors to date.

[kitnut617]

The XtraColor enamels that I do have all came direct from Hannants, but I can't get any of it these days, can't be sent by mail apparently.

I always buy their paint with a kit, not done that recently but it worked for me the last time I did that.

Gondor

They used to do that with my orders too, but for the last couple of years, nothing comes overseas, postal services have banned it -----

[Gondor]

The XtraColor enamels that I do have all came direct from Hannants, but I can't get any of it these days, can't be sent by mail apparently.

I always buy their paint with a kit, not done that recently but it worked for me the last time I did that.

Gondor

They used to do that with my orders too, but for the last couple of years, nothing comes overseas, postal services have banned it -----

Not Good 

Gondor

[Dizzyfugu]

Disturbing news, because the Revell enamels are horrible (at least for me) to work with - and Humbrol was the last local alternative after Testors/ModelMaster disappeared a couple of yeras ago from the EU market. 

[PR19_Kit]

It amazes me how the human race has survived these last 100 years so considering how long we've been living with all these DANGEROUS substances surrounding us..............

[Sarcasm mode off]

[NARSES2]

Must admit the only Humbrol enamels I regularly use are from the old Metalcoats range which are brilliant. I still use some Xtracolor where I can't get the equivalent colour in their Xtracrylic range (the Mediterranean Blues I recently used for example) but it's 90% acrylic nowadays.

I don't think you've legally been able to post enamels in the UK for a couple of years, even if hidden in kit boxes, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately this is something that's been on the cards for a good few years and if I'm honest I'm surprised it's taken this long to come to a head.

[kitnut617]

Must admit the only Humbrol enamels I regularly use are from the old Metalcoats range which are brilliant. I still use some Xtracolor where I can't get the equivalent colour in their Xtracrylic range (the Mediterranean Blues I recently used for example) but it's 90% acrylic nowadays.

I don't think you've legally been able to post enamels in the UK for a couple of years, even if hidden in kit boxes, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately this is something that's been on the cards for a good few years and if I'm honest I'm surprised it's taken this long to come to a head.

It's an EU thing Chris, some legislation they brought out banning certain elements that are used in enamels.  As for the ModelMaster paint, some paint company in the EU bought the rights to it so it could be more obtainable in the EU, then, suddenly found they couldn't sell it in the EU. So instead of finding a buyer for it, they just closed the whole operation down, everywhere in the world too.

[Howard of Effingham]

I am really in the mire then. 

My entire stash of paints is built on enamels and humbrol especially.

Still as Kit has said of himself that he'd been using them for years, so have I without much trouble.

[kitbasher]

Checked out but (at a bazillion pages) not read the applicable EU legislation and it looks as though (as is so often with EU legislation) it was introduced into law with a pretty hefty transition period to full implementation. 

So, rather surprising then that inevitable termination of enamel hobby paint production hasn't been flagged up by the manufacturers.  And odd that Revell and Xtracolor so far seem unaffected.

The 'REACH' regulation (Reg 1907/2006 of 18 December 2006) is one of the EU laws carried over into UK law as part of the Brexit agreement.  Not that that makes a difference, I can't imagine Humbrol, etc, catering for separate EU and non-EU markets (too costly).