Is this paint enamel or lacquer?





It's been quite a long time since I bought it and I can't remember.

Thanks

Should be enamel. If in doubt, take a drop and mix it with a bit of enamel thinner. If it thins properly then it's enamel. If it turns chunky, or into little bits of pigment than it's something else.

I tend to agree with Pat- Be careful if you're going to use it; The OLD formulation of FLOQUIL had a tendency to craze plastic sometimes, which makes me suspect that it may have been a lacquer. But that was back in the 1970s. Test it on scrap plastic. You'll probably want to prime beforehand, just as a "safeguard".

The POLLY-SCALE "By FLOQUIL" was an acrylic paint, so that's self-explanatory, regarding Thinners, ease of use, etc. TESTORS has owned POLY-SCALE for quite a few years now, and in the past year or so, has been selling POLY-SCALE Railroad Colors under the TESTORS name, with new labeling and marketing. Possibly, TESTORS may even be using the POLY-SCALE color line, with new TESTORS MODEL MASTER II Acrylic formulation, to keep things simpler, but that's conjecture on my part. It would make sense to do so, dollar-wise. I say this because it seems to me that the TESTORS Acrylic Railroad Colors seem to be not quite as bright in color as the POLY-SCALE railroad Colors were...

Depends on the vintage. The original Floquil was great paint. It was the only paint I used and I never had problems with it crazing plastic when airbrushed properly ... and it actually stuck to stuff. They did sell a barrier if you were timid. Floquil was not a typical lacquer in that the thinner was mostly toluene ... so it had a distinct odor that is the dead giveaway of the vintage. You could thin it with lacquer thinner, but once you did, it would go bad if it was stored so the best thinning was done with their own thinner known as Diosol. It was also quite toxic and anyone airbrushing the paint should definitely wear a respirator.

Once Testors got hold of it, they basically turned it into their usual enamel paint and at wasn't much different than Model Master. Judging from the label, that's what your bottle looks like. In which case, it should smell more like paint thinner.

Paul

Hi, Paul! If memory serves, the old Floquil formulation DID craze plastic... If it was BRUSHED-on straight out of the bottle, that is... Probably because it went on too thick. I never had any problems after they changed their paint formula, long about in the 1972-'74 neighborhood. I remember airbrushing a couple of 1/48 MONOGRAM P-51Bs with FLOQUIL Medium Gray and Olive Drab during that time-frame, and they turned out quite nicely. FLOQUIL DID have a "problem" in that they would dry too quickly, and sometimes clog the airbrush tips, which really wasn't a big deal. I liked using the FLOQUIL Paints, but it was better to prime beforehand, IMO. I used them in my Figure Painting efforts early on, as well...

Dennis

Floquil was never meant to airbrush or be applied to plastic. It was meant for model railroaders back-in-the-day. Airbrushes were few and far between and the models were made from metal and wood (like the old Walthers craftsmen kits that I built a ton of, along with the brass locomotives) So you flowed on the paint ... hence the name Floquil. You didn't brush it. And no you weren't supposed to brush-paint plastic like you would enamel, but if you flowed it on, it still generally worked OK on plastic ... which I did a lot ... one pass, no back and forth. And yes it dried quickly which is why they sold a retarder to add to the paint when airbrushing, or you could add a bit of their gloss agent. And they specifically told you not to add either if you were painting plastic. It was all in their little red book.

As far as difficulty airbrushing. I think that still applies to this day when trying to spray any sort of real lacquer or acrylic paint through an airbrush with too fine a tip. Especially difficulty with achieving a super smooth surface and no overspray in corners etc. I get these email questions every day as follow-ups on my airbrushing videos. But using the right airbrush with the right technique, Floquil went right over plastic with no problem and adhered like no other paint could. And that was the point because railroad models are handled a lot. But it also gave you a lot of finishing options that the current, "delicate", paints don't allow now.

The non-Diosol formula was just an enamel paint with the Floquil name on it so I'm sure it was easier to handle for your figures etc., as well as being benign to plastic surfaces.

For those of us that were devotees of the original Floquil, its' passing took a number of unique options off the modeling table.

Paul

Thanks for the info. It smells a lot like Testors enamel so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I think I may have bought it because model builder who put out an Osprey book used it on his Stug B as a primer/base coat.