Testors reaction to grumbling MRR's

[dnhouston]

4 - Oh so close

[PAL_Houston]

Mike,
color blindness and lack of taste are unrelated afflictions. 

Thank you for pointing this out.
As one who is admittedly Red-Green colorblind, I have long since learned my lesson:  I just ask 'the boss' when I want to know what color something is!
(In my house, the labor is divided according to each person's skills  )
(And in this nearly perfect world I get to relax a lot!!  )

[Pete Steinmetz]

Why do some of the people on this thread continue to lament the demise of PolyScale and Floquil?

I'm not surprised that nobody bought them.  What is there to buy?  The paint is not that good.  Testors didn't keep up with the times. There are many better brands out there.

For those that "need" PolyScale, Micro Mark's new Microlux line is a direct color match to PolyScale.  It is a lot better paint.  It can be airbrushed without thinning and also brushes well.

True Color, which is solvent based, has many more colors than Floquil ever had.

Many modelers don't use Model Masters anymore.  They use Tamiya, Vallejo, Humbrol, AK Interactive, Mig Productions, and the new Ammo line.

Let Floquil and PolyScale R.I.P.

Pete Steinmetz

[randgust]

Hadn't caught the Microlux announcement.   I 'suspect', like all other things Micro-Mark, they are repackaging somebody else's stuff.

Has anybody used this yet?    I think I'm pretty glad to see it as alternatives are hard to come by around here and I'm already ordering from Micro-Mark about every three months anyway.

[peteski]

Why do some of the people on this thread continue to lament the demise of PolyScale and Floquil?

I'm not surprised that nobody bought them.  What is there to buy?  The paint is not that good.  Testors didn't keep up with the times. There are many better brands out there.

For those that "need" PolyScale, Micro Mark's new Microlux line is a direct color match to PolyScale.  It is a lot better paint.  It can be airbrushed without thinning and also brushes well.

True Color, which is solvent based, has many more colors than Floquil ever had.

Many modelers don't use Model Masters anymore.  They use Tamiya, Vallejo, Humbrol, AK Interactive, Mig Productions, and the new Ammo line.

Let Floquil and PolyScale R.I.P.

Pete Steinmetz

Continue?
Pete, this thread (and all the lamenting) was buried deep in the old threads of the Railwire. But it was brought back from the dead in response to the visual color accuracy test off-topic subject to which this thread has morphed.  None of the current replies are laments of any kind.  It is people simply responding to the the color test subject.  Relax!

However, since you brought it up, I will again state that those discontinued  paint lines were an important part of my hobby paints arsenal. There are no good substitutes (especially for the Floquil line) and it will be be sorely missed by me. 

[peteski]

Hadn't caught the Microlux announcement.   I 'suspect', like all other things Micro-Mark, they are repackaging somebody else's stuff.

Has anybody used this yet?    I think I'm pretty glad to see it as alternatives are hard to come by around here and I'm already ordering from Micro-Mark about every three months anyway.

There is nothing to suspect. The announcement I've seen clearly stated that the new line of those custom mixed model RR colors are produced by Vallejo.

[Dave V]

I liked PolyScale primarily because it was thick enough to brush-paint for jobs which didn't require airbrushing.

That said, over the last decade PolyScale colors drifted all over the map to where no two jars of the same name had the same color.  This was frustrating because I'd had a good combo worked out for PRR's building schemes and PolyScale changed them without warning.

[Pete Steinmetz]

There is nothing to suspect. The announcement I've seen clearly stated that the new line of those custom mixed model RR colors are produced by Vallejo.

I quit with Floquil and Polyscale about 2 years ago.  I switched to Vallejo.  For me, it is a much better paint than PolyScale.

Micro-Mark is having Vallejo formulate some of their paint (2oz bottles) and re-branding the 1oz bottles with the correct PolyScale color names. 

I have used the Micro-Mark paint and it is very good.

Pete Steinmetz

[Pete Steinmetz]

Continue?
Pete, this thread (and all the lamenting) was buried deep in the old threads of the Railwire. But it was brought back from the dead in response to the visual color accuracy test off-topic subject to which this thread has morphed.  None of the current replies are laments of any kind.  It is people simply responding to the the color test subject.  Relax!

However, since you brought it up, I will again state that those discontinued  paint lines were an important part of my hobby paints arsenal. There are no good substitutes (especially for the Floquil line) and it will be be sorely missed by me. 

I saw and was part of those old threads.  Floquil and to a certain extent Polyscale were important to me in most of my modeling since I was young.  Then I started looking around and found other brands that performed better for me.  Paint is pretty subjective.  What one modeler likes, another may not.

I noticed in what's left of our local train shops, the Floquil and PolyScale racks are still pretty full.  I figured there would be a run, but not so.

Oh, by the way, I am pretty relaxed.  I figured my post would be contrary to someones view of the world.

Pete Steinmetz

[nkalanaga]

I liked it specifically because it WASN'T solvent based.  When brush painting inside a small house one doesn't need the smelly fumes.

[up1950s]

However, since you brought it up, I will again state that those discontinued  paint lines were an important part of my hobby paints arsenal. There are no good substitutes (especially for the Floquil line) and it will be be sorely missed by me. 

And me too ! To my likin' sometimes a dead horse deserves to be an eternal piñata . Who knows , maybe if we cry loud enough and often enough somebody will make a clone of Floquil . As long as they refuse to sell to Canada and that other foreign country California their nads ought to stay un-broken . Ahhhh , then there will be peace in the valley once again .

[SkipGear]

I will miss it when I run out. We have started carrying TruColor in place of it but most won't buy it  because of the strong odor of the solvent. TruColor is some potent stuff.  Some of the MM versions of the scenery colors have started to arrive so there is relief for some.

[VonRyan]

I liked what little exposure to polyscale that I got. I loads well into brushes and the pigment is extremely fine, the finest I've seen. For me, who does not own an airbrush nor have facilities for using solvent based paints, I find there was more good than bad to polyscale.
If MicroMark's new line is just the exact same colors, and hopefully pigment quality, then I shall be allocating my money there. I get all my brushes free from the leftover inventory from my grandmother's small ceramics shop. An airbrush costs a lot of money and requires an expensive compressor.
With that money I could buy an Atlas 0-4-0 and a nice bunch of rolling stock.


-Cody F.

[peteski]

An airbrush costs a lot of money and requires an expensive compressor.
With that money I could buy an Atlas 0-4-0 and a nice bunch of rolling stock.


-Cody F.

Requires air compressor? Not so.
Yes, compressors can be expensive and noisy, but there are alternatives to a compressor. A portable air tank can be filled to about 100psi at a gas station and will provide enough air for the airbrushing session.  Even an old car wheel (or an inner tube) woudl work in a pinch as a "tank" for compressed air.

My first airbrush (which is still, after over 20 years of use, my main airbrush) came with an aerosol  can of compressed gas.  That setup really sucked, so the next step was to buy that portable air tank I mentioned. I used that setup for a while.  I was lucky enough to scrounge a free air pressure regulator and pressure gauge, but even if you have to buy those, you should be able to find them for a really good price.

[VonRyan]

Requires air compressor? Not so.
Yes, compressors can be expensive and noisy, but there are alternatives to a compressor. A portable air tank can be filled to about 100psi at a gas station and will provide enough air for the airbrushing session.  Even an old car wheel (or an inner tube) woudl work in a pinch as a "tank" for compressed air.

My first airbrush (which is still, after over 20 years of use, my main airbrush) came with an aerosol  can of compressed gas.  That setup really sucked, so the next step was to buy that portable air tank I mentioned. I used that setup for a while.  I was lucky enough to scrounge a free air pressure regulator and pressure gauge, but even if you have to buy those, you should be able to find them for a really good price.

The airbrush itself is still expensive, at 10¢ above minimum wage, and fluctuating hours, a paycheck only goes so far. Especially when setting aside most of it to cover the cost of my operating experience at the Talyllyn Railway.
That is not to say one is not in the cards in the future, but I could spend a lifetime planning for the future... So I try to keep focused on today. 


-Cody F.