Vanishing Model Masters enamel Paint

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:46 am

I recently moved to Jupiter Florida and was disappointing to find that there are no hobby stores in my immediate area. As luck would have it, I started painting up some more vehicles and soon realized that my never ending supply of Model Masters US Army/Marines Sand (Sku 2136) was dwindling. This was right in the middle of painting some vehicles. Not good. So I went on line to see if I could order them. Only place I found was Amazon and a guy was selling them at twice the price. I went to Model Masters site and could not even find the color. My pulse started racing and my chest tightened. I did a search on discontinued colors and found forum that had the following info

Thank you for contacting Rust-Oleum Product Support.
The 9580D International Military & Figure Enamel was recently discontinued due to the lack of support for it in the marketplace, however the Model Master paint line as a whole is still available:
http://www.testors.com/product-catalog/ ... del-master
If you have any additional questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Jason K.
Rust-Oleum Product Support

Rust-Oleum apears to have bought them out. In addition, my beloved color is being discontinued. I went to another site that sold paint and when I clicked on that number, it said it was discontinued. OMG.. NOOOOOO!!!!

Its not the total end of the world. However, I am in the middle of building up units and it would suck, though probably not inaccurate, to have a color that is slightly off from what I am currently using. I also need some for touch ups for the ones that already have detail work done on it. Teaches me to not completely finish a vehicle. I am also in the middle of painting British Units Using there gulf war UK stone color and Fear that is next. IT is still on the model masters site for now. I am going to start contacting people I know to Check hobby stores for these two colors.

Has anyone heard the same thing?

StarCruiser · Post by **StarCruiser** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:28 am

RPM has owned Testors for quite some years now.

They also bought out Floquil and Pactra and flushed those product lines down the toilet.

Basically, RPM is one of those idiot companies that wants to corner the entire market - and has no clues at all what that market is like or wants.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:46 am

Ugh...well, if my three bottles show up, I will finish what I have and find another brand to go with. Have used model masters since I was 16. Just about 30 years....well upward and onward, time to broaden my horizons.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:34 am

Bad news indeed.

Have you looked at Mission Models paints?

They have a pretty good line of basic military ground and air colors.

I have used their Russian armor greens and US OD with good results. You can order them directly from their web site or Micro Mark.

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:08 am

Cav Dog wrote:Bad news indeed.

Have you looked at Mission Models paints?

They have a pretty good line of basic military ground and air colors.

I have used their Russian armor greens and US OD with good results. You can order them directly from their web site or Micro Mark.

Speaking of which... Dont you HAVE to use their thinner? Will alcohol work? that is the only thing holding me back from Mission... Dont want to get into the habit of dropping cash on a thinner that is not needed.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:19 pm

PolishGI wrote:
Cav Dog wrote:Bad news indeed.

Have you looked at Mission Models paints?

They have a pretty good line of basic military ground and air colors.

I have used their Russian armor greens and US OD with good results. You can order them directly from their web site or Micro Mark.
Speaking of which... Dont you HAVE to use their thinner? Will alcohol work? that is the only thing holding me back from Mission... Dont want to get into the habit of dropping cash on a thinner that is not needed.

Q: CAN I THIN MMP PAINT WITH ALTERNATIVE THINNERS: NO

A: Yes and No. You can thin MMP with water however it must be distilled. DO NOT use tap water. Tap water contains chemicals , minerals and rust that will affect your finish.

B: DO NOT ever thin with Glass Cleaner, wiper fluid, lighter fluid, alcohol, etc. You will destroy the paint by contamination, ruin your finish and the high performance properties of the paint. This includes Windex which includes alcohol and ammonia. You will destroy the paint.

C: NO it will not mix with enamel or Lacquer thinners.

Notice they don't directly rule out other manufacturers acrylic thinners...

I may do a little experimentation since I have Vallejo, Testors and Mig acrylic thinners on my desk.

Extra Crispy · Post by **Extra Crispy** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:46 pm

Or use a less fussy acrylic like Vallejo ir Coat d'Arms.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:26 pm

Not sure which one I will start with, but I will probably soon begin the trial by fire on all the ones out there. I will definitely probably switch to Acrylics as it seems to be the preferred paint of modelers that I have talked with. Just sucks having to switch brands after so long.

Can't understand how it would make sense to kill a few paints and risk loosing a customer across there entire line. I for one will probably rarely if ever use Model Masters from this point going forward. Once I finish the paints that I current have stocked up. No reason to be hasty and throw them out.. LOL

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:40 am

Cav Dog wrote:
Q: CAN I THIN MMP PAINT WITH ALTERNATIVE THINNERS: NO

A: Yes and No. You can thin MMP with water however it must be distilled. DO NOT use tap water. Tap water contains chemicals , minerals and rust that will affect your finish.

B: DO NOT ever thin with Glass Cleaner, wiper fluid, lighter fluid, alcohol, etc. You will destroy the paint by contamination, ruin your finish and the high performance properties of the paint. This includes Windex which includes alcohol and ammonia. You will destroy the paint.

C: NO it will not mix with enamel or Lacquer thinners.

Notice they don't directly rule out other manufacturers acrylic thinners...

I may do a little experimentation since I have Vallejo, Testors and Mig acrylic thinners on my desk.

Ok, cool. Thanks!

Our local hobby guy really pushes them. But that is why I wanted to get out of enamelâ€¦ Lacquer thinner was annoying to pick up every so often and $10 a shot. Moving over to acrylics seemed like the logical thing to do.

But then MMP popped up.

Agreed, they do not directly rule out other acrylic thinnersâ€¦

Hoth_902 wrote:Not sure which one I will start with, but I will probably soon begin the trial by fire on all the ones out there. I will definitely probably switch to Acrylics as it seems to be the preferred paint of modelers that I have talked with. Just sucks having to switch brands after so long.
Can't understand how it would make sense to kill a few paints and risk loosing a customer across there entire line. I for one will probably rarely if ever use Model Masters from this point going forward. Once I finish the paints that I current have stocked up. No reason to be hasty and throw them out.. LOL

Agreedâ€¦ once you lose a favorite color, it is time to find an alternative to that colorâ€¦ which may lead you to leave the manufacturer all together. Not terribly smart on their end.

dragon6 · Post by **dragon6** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:50 am

Hoth_902 wrote:I recently moved to Jupiter Florida and was disappointing to find that there are no hobby stores in my immediate area.

Lake Park has a Hobby Lobby and they carry a, small, selection of Testors enamel and acrylic paints. Testors lists an acrylic version
U.S. Army/Marines Gulf Armor Sand Flat 4812 1/2 ounce bottle

Doesn't look far from Jupiter, just a half inch

StarCruiser · Post by **StarCruiser** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:55 am

Yep - there are many alternatives out there now. 15 years ago, you still had Tamiya - Gunze Sangyo - Humbrol - and, oh yeah - Pactra/Floquil (blasted RPM).

There are many newer paint lines out there now, Andreas Color, MiG, and many more...

Don't forget that GHQ has some paints as well:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/ghq-pain ... scale.html

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:27 pm

@Dragon6

Lake Park has a Hobby Lobby and they carry a, small, selection of Testors enamel and acrylic paints. Testors lists an acrylic version
U.S. Army/Marines Gulf Armor Sand Flat 4812 1/2 ounce bottle

Doesn't look far from Jupiter, just a half inch
Laughing Laughing

I did see that Hobby Lobby was only a couple of inches away.. However, I figured that the selection would be so small, based on the ones I visited, that it would not be worth checking. I never really looked at there Acrylic version. I may have to check it out, but it also might be the kick in the pants I need to venture out to other brands.

@StarCruiser

Yep - there are many alternatives out there now. 15 years ago, you still had Tamiya - Gunze Sangyo - Humbrol - and, oh yeah - Pactra/Floquil (blasted RPM).

There are many newer paint lines out there now, Andreas Color, MiG, and many more...

Don't forget that GHQ has some paints as well:

http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/ghq-pain ... scale.html

I have dabbled with a few of those for one off things but never went all in like I did with model masters. Like I stated above, probably time to venture out of my comfort zone.

On a side note, I had my buddy go check where I use to live, at a hobby store, and he found 4 bottles of the sku 2136. Interestingly enough it seems like they changed the name to US Gulf War Armor Sand. From the picture he sent, it appears its the same color. However, I know that I can not be sure till I actually see it and use it. fingers crossed, between what I got on line and what he is sending, I may have enough for a year or two. LOL. That should be enough time to experiment to get the right color.. LOL.

paul · Post by **paul** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:17 am

Hobby Lobby carries more than I thought on paints. I use Vallejo and they carry some and was overly surprised. What colors are you looking for? I have some Testor's enamel which I would not use.

Hoth_902 · Post by **Hoth_902** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:40 am

Paul,.
I will have to give hobby lobby a second try. The ones in Washington always seemed like they had a very small model paint section.

As for what paint I need, I will wait till I get my shipments in and take stock of what I have. I will definitely let you know.

StarCruiser · Post by **StarCruiser** » Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:45 pm

Not sure if you know about it yet but, there is one -real- hobby shop down in the Lake Worth area. Depot:

http://www.depothobbyshop.com/

They appear to have a fairly versatile mix of trains, plastics etc... Not sure about their selection of paints...

Vanishing Model Masters enamel Paint

Vanishing Model Masters enamel Paint

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