We keep reading about modelers having issues with various manufacturer's enamel and/or acrylic paints. Either with clogging the air brush, having to dilute the paint substantially, going bad in the bottle, getting a rough finish, having to make several light passes, etc.

Tru-Color Paint is the easiest paint to use for the model market - as shown by the fact that we supply at least 4 model railroad manufacturers with our paint, 50+ custom painters and numerous modelers for locomotives, passenger and freight cars, structures and other applications. Now we are serving the model automobile, ship, plane and armor markets with the same easy to use paint.

Since it is a single component solvent based paint it NEVER cures and will not "go bad" in the bottle. Even after opening, if some of the solvents should evaporate, you can add some thinner and/or retarder and reconstitute the paint without affecting the finish or performance. And to back that up - we GUARANTEE that our paint will perform as intended.

Tru-Color Paint may be thinned using our thinner or retarder, but most of the colors are intended to be sprayed directly from the bottle without the need for thinning st 28-35 PSI using a fine or medium tip. You will ALWAYS get a smooth coating and the paint will cover your model in one pass !

We have nearly 200 colors now available in the military paint product lines - nearly every U.S. Naval color from WWII to date, all modern U.S. Air Force colors, nearly all of the U.S. Armor colors from WWII to date and we produce another 75+ colors for detailing your model or diorama. Inter-war years and WWI colors are being considered to be added to the product line.

Other countries military colors are being matched in our modern laboratory and we will have them on display at the IMPS National Convention (August 1-4, 2018) in Phoenix, AZ.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply to this thread, contact us by phone or email.

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint
P.O. Box 74524
Phoenix, AZ 85087-4524

714-488-9779
email: [email protected]

I like someone with confidence!
My two bains as a modeler are paints and glues. Both go bad so I try to buy the smallest amount knowing it might go bad and I am paying the most expensive paint per ounce because of it. I have quite a collection of thinners due to the variety of paint brands. It would be great if I could reduce my loss due to age and reduce the number of thinners.

Martin, you state that ‘most’ colors are intended to be applied using an airbrush without the need for thinning. Does this mean that some colors are expected to need some thinning? Can you explain this, and can you identify which of your paints will benefit from thinning? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Greg:

Thank you for your reply. We are very confident that all modelers will like Tru-Color Paint, once they try it.

Because the paint has a very complex blend of solvents (more than 8 in most cases) designed to give the paint the ability to dry within 20-45 minutes after application, not produce runs, adhere extremely well to plastic models without harming the plastic the thinner is the same blend of solvents so none of the aforementioned properties are affected. That is why we strongly recommend our thinner.

Another big advantage to Tru-Color paint is that we have taken the time to research and match every color we produce to make the MOST ACCURATE model paint available on the market. AND, we have such a large product offering, that the modeler does not have to blend colors to get the right colors for the model(s) they are doing.

Looking forward to hearing from you and other modelers on what you think of Tru-Color Paint !

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint

Curt:

Thank you for your reply. The vast majority of the Tru-Color Paint Railroad, Automobile and Military colors are designed to be sprayed directly from the bottle without thinning when using a fairly "modern" air brush at 28-35 PSI using a medium tip. However, older paint brushes and those using fine tips may need to thin the paint to achieve good paint flow.

Also, some modelers are reluctant to spray at high pressures and our paint would probably have to be thinned to spray at 25 PSI. Do NOT be afraid to spray as high as 35 PSI (and even more) as it is virtually impossible to get runs with Tru-Color Paint.

Depending on the age of the bottle sitting at the dealer or on the modelers shelves, some solvents may evaporate. Just add some thinner to bring the level up to the neck of the bottle and you will have a paint that will function as intended without any ill affects !

Our Brushable (800 series) paints MUST be thinned if a modeler wishes to use those paints through an air brush. This series was designed for use with a paint brush only because of the flattening agent used to make a flat paint for figures, dioramas, touch up, detailing, etc.

We are so confidant that the modeler will find Tru-Color Paint so very easy to work with that we will replace any bottle that the user has issues with. Just send back the bottle with proof or purchase !

By the way - EVERY color and our masking paper is made in Phoenix, AZ !!

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint

Being in an area that I can not get Tru-Color paint my question is how does it work with weathering and blending. Is it like an acrylic that dries rapidly and can not be moved or blended. More like an enamel that has some working time. I am going to guess that it is not like an oil that has a long working life if you say it dries in 20 to 45 mins. Also how does it respond to being heavily thinned and used as a filter or wash?

I have a couple of acrylics that I use for just base coating but I tend to stick to paints that I can use for more than base coats so that I do not have to buy so many different paints.

Tru-Color Paint can be easily weathered using chalks, or air brush application of our weathering colors (TCP-171 to 176 series). You can even use a paint brush with our TCP-800 series paints.

If you thin the paint with up to 50% TCP-015 thinner and use it as a wash, it may redissolve some of the underlying Tru-Color Paint as our paint does not cure. Some modelers like this effect - where the paint will blend into the wash.

Trust this helps.

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint

Martin,

One more question for you. I would like to respectfully suggest that your Tru Color website may benefit from a revised method to display your color charts. Having a dozen or so individual pdf files with no indication of what paint colors might be contained therein makes looking at the charts exceedingly cumbersome. I hope you don't find this critique harsh, but I'd sure like a better organized way to find available colors in your paint line.

That said, can you tell me what specific colors you may have which are modern U.S. Sand color (for current U.S. vehicles) and circa 2003 U.S. vehicles (as for Operation Iraqi Freedom), if different. I have yet to see any 'out of the bottle' color that is both accurate and works well in an airbrush. Only the Model Master Acryl 4720 appears to be accurate in color, but I HATE that paint; it simply does not work for me, in that it does not consistently flow well, despite proper dilution and flow enhancer. I have custom made a Tamiya mix, which flows beautifully, but the mix is complex. Perhaps, if you have a British Sand color from circa 2003, and current as well (if different). I'd appreciate info about these colors if available. Again, they are exceedingly difficult to reproduce, but I have made up my own version in Tamiya mixes, which are by far, my favorite spray paint, with respect to consistency in the application If your product works as well as Tamiya in an airbrush, and has much better 'out of the bottle' colors for common modern vehicles, I would bow down to you and purchase your paints all day long, sir!

One last criterion for your paint. I hope it is easily cleanable from an airbrush with common materials, and does not require specific proprietary materials. I find, for example, that Windex, or similar generic ammonia based window cleaner, works outstandingly well to clean my airbrush after use of Tamiya paints. I hope your paints are similarly cleanable.

Curt, I have to agree with the color charts display. Needs some help.

I am thinking about trying some though. If they making painting a better experience for me, I'm willing to try.

Curt:

There is well over 450 colors in the railroad, matte and brushable paint lines that would be impossible to list on 1 page due to the size of the display. That is why we broke those segments out and show them as sections.

The paint colors are actually the scans of paint rack inserts we supply hobby shops so they are in number order according to our stock #, so with a brochure showing the lines it is easy to find the color chip.

The Military color chips will be ready by early next week and once we scan them, will upload them to the website for everyone to see. Same way though - in stock # order and in sections so it is easy to find on the chart.

As for Sand Colors we have:

TCP-286 Armor Sand (a generic color)
TCP-829 Flat Sand (paint brush only)
TCP-1405 FS 30277 Sand
TCP-1408 FS 30257 Earth Yellow
TCP-1413 FS 33531 OIF Desert Sand
TCP-1414 FS 33446 Tan
TCP-1417 Matte Earth
TCP-1419 Desert Yellow
TCP-1420 Desert Dark Yellow

All (except TCP-829) are designed to be sprayed with an air brush at 28-35 PSI without thinning. If thinning is wanted, use TCP-015 Thinner as it is made with the same blend of solvents (6 diff.) used in the manufacture of the paint so it will NOT affect the performance of the paint. Use less than 15% thinner (most use 10 % or less). We have thousands of railroad modelers using our paint across North America, Europe & Australia.

Clean up of ALL equipment is easily accomplished with acetone (unscented nail polish remover) and it dries very quickly so you can paint a 2nd color within an 1 hour or less. Tru-Color Paint dries in 30-45 minutes depending on ambient temp. and humidity. Do NOT use acetone to thin our paint - it dries too quickly so it may blush the paint or get a rough finish.

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to post to this thread.

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint

Cory:

Give our paint a try. If you are living in OK both Challenger-N-Scale and HobbyTown in Tulsa carry our paint lines. The HobbyTown has the railroad line, while Challenger-N-Scale carries both the railroad and a good many of the military line - particularly armor and aircraft colors. Richard Fisher is the contact at Challenger, Ellen Moore at HobbyTown. Tell them Martin sent you.

Richard is a member of IPMS and is very knowledgeable about armor and aircraft colors.

You also may buy direct from us or from any of the many hobby shops or online stores that carry our paint.

Martin Cohen, PhD
Tru-Color Paint
P.O. Box 74524
Phoenix, AZ 85087-4524

714-488-9779