WHATS THE DIFFERENCE between Acrylics - Lacquers - Enamels? Beginners guide to paint 

Great tutorial. Thanks. 🏁

I built my first plastic model airplane 63 years ago, and built more until my early 20s. I picked it up again in my 40s and built until my 50s. I've been on a bit of a hiatus for the past ten years or so, and now, I can't find the enamel paints locally (or even online) that I am accustomed to. I am going to try building a simple kit and paint with acrylics soon. Thanks for a very informative video!

I've been getting confused with the paint side of things, but this video just made it all a bit clearer. Thank you

This is excellent for beginners and exactly what I needed as introduction to the types of paints available and basics of uses.I myself am coming back to model making after decades off.(Things seemed simpler then but far less exciting!)

Very helpful breakdown!

Great informative insides and tips for the confusing model paint systems . Coming from the inexpensive Humbrol 14ml turps based enamel paint offerings of mat, semi and gloss tin days. Is all we needed . Never used water , no special thinners, no special cleaners , just plain old cheap turps a quick stir and all good. The Humbrol paint would last for decades in that little tin and it achieved amazing results , that's lasted for decades . Even used this Humbrol as a realistic weathering medium by utilising dry brushing techniques . No need for the plethora of weathering on offer today. All achieved by manipulating the paint consistencies ,opacities , mixed with just simple turps and using various brushing methods . Paint choice can be a nightmare today and equally is amazing with the many offerings today . I think what is a bit confusing is the naming , the double naming on bottles.EG: 100% Acrylic water based, Acrylic lacquer , Mr Hobby Aqueous and has a picture of flame on back of bottle or the great Tamiya Acrylic XF range but also has flame picture on label that indicates flammable solvent not water based , but confusingly you can add water as you say . It's also probably got a lot to do with the companies attempt for translations into the English language. In Australia , we just say turps and the word Lacquer is a general term that's minimally used when describing the word varnish, but in Australia Both words Varnish and Lacquer are understood to be a clear coat, either mat, satin, or gloss turps based coating and what you buy at Bunnings and paint your natural wooden coffee table with. In USA and UK they say in the model world , " white spirit" frequently. The other word we hear a lot on Tube tutorials the use of the word, "isopropyl alcohol ". Isn't that just a term of a solvent , a flammable base thinner or cleaner and is just much cheaper than buying the big brand name thinner /cleaners. Do we need a universal vernacular information sheet or chart from the model paint brands for paint chemistry descriptors of their paint systems to stop confusion when you go and buy? EG: "Isopropyl alcohol" should = the Mr hobby range " Mr. Color Leveling thinner 400 " . On the Mr bottle notice the word " color " . UK and AUS English word is Colour. Tamiya has five seperate thinners including two retarders all different , X-20 for enamels , X-20A for acrylics and "Lacquer Thinner" for Tamiya LP range . It's confusing , You have be very carful and remember what you are using , like you say you can't mix them up and can be tricky .

Top advice and information for many starting out in the hobby. 😄👍

Thanks, Clay, that is really well explained. I was so confused until I came across your video, which was explained in plain English. Love it. Just subscribed. Thanks for all the great work. Cheers

Great video Clay. Very informative for us newbies and easy to follow. Loved the smooth jazz too. Looking forward to the vid on airbrush techniques. Seeing those little tins of Humbrol takes me back to sitting in the kitchen working on (perish the thought) lead figures. 😱! Gotta love the early 80s. Keep up the great work and the passion. 👊

Useful vid. My thoughts. KISS for beginners. TAMIYA acrylics. Start here. Can't go wrong. So affordable now, the bulk of adult re-beginners today will be doing so equipped with an airbrush/compressor, so Tamiya acrylics are the no brainer go to for a multitude of reasons. Most importantly, they spray beautifully, adhere without primer are hardy, long lasting, AVAILABLE and well supported everywhere. Tamiya acrylics are a solvent based hybrid. They are NOT water based. Isopropyl alcohol or Tamiya's own proprietary X20A thinners should be used, not water. In fact in the distant past, I've used everything from hardware store turpentine through GP thinners and they work with, but Tamiya thinners (all types) definitely work best. Pros. No set marketing gimmicks. Widely distributed and available, particularly important in Australia. Inexpensive (relatively). Decent range of colours, albeit not as exhaustive as GSI Creos and many of the water based acrylic manufacturers. Supported by several specific compatible types of thinners. Tamiya X20A & Lacquer Thinners available with or without retarder -the equivalent of GSI Creos leveling thinners when used with this paint. Can be mixed with Tamiya Acrylic Retarder for brush friendly painting and friendlier spraying in hot humid climates. Toxicity and vapour stench level is far lesser than genuine lacquer paints made by both GSI Creos and now Tamiya. Con. Now that Tamiya Acrylic Retarder is available to facilitate brush painting, the singular con I can think is limited range of military specific label shades of colours as their primary competitor GSI CREOS -comparatively. This requires mixing of Tamiya colours to achieve 100% historically accurate shades in many instances. The beginner or average modeler won't generally be concerned with this however as the available shades will be close enough. e.g. XF-11 J.N. Green & XF-70 Dark Green 2 (IJN) will be close enough to WWII IJN aircraft external Nakajima or Mitsubishi green for total suspense of disbelief pragmatic purposes finish 90% of modellers will be happy with. Knowledgeable obsessives can tint shades to as close as possible to accurately replicate in miniature. This has to be done generally with the other brands too, as seldom are the actual label claimed colours 100% accurate shades. As a bonus, Tamiya is increasingly albeit slowly expanding its range to include more authentic colours of popular subject shades straight out of the bottle. e.g. XF-92 & XF-93 DAK '41 & '42 colours. Started with a hairy stick and Humbrol enamels like most of us in the British Commonwealth when that was all that was available, accessible and affordable. Discovered Tamiya acrylics when I returned after a decade's hiatus in 1983 and have never lost the love. Also have a large range of Vallejo Model Air and Model Color dropper bottle acrylics acquired after another interim hiatus and subsequent return in 2013 when water based were all the rage, -with some MIG and AK in that range mix -all inter-compatible. Not really a water based acrylics fan. Won't be restocking when they are exhausted. Love GSI Creos solvent acrylics too, but distro & price in AU is an issue for me, so erstwhile Tamiya acrylics it is. I am currently gradually re-standardising on Tamiya, as with everything they do par state of the art excellence, their paints are no exception AFAIC. As you say, each to their own. That's my preference.

Clayton great video thanks for what you bring to the hobby . Maybe one day I will get to shake your hand .

Okay, this one got not just the 👍 but the 🔔 too. Great explanation for the basics. Looking forward to more videos for sure. ☕🐢

I started this hobby recently and I painted a model with acrylics via an airbrush and I encountered so many issues it was frustrating. But as soon as I just used an MRP lacquer today ... It was effortless! I'm relegating my acrylics for detail painting now, gonna spray main coats with lacquer from now on xD

Thank you for explaining so well the difference and how they all work . I'm mainly researching for airbrushing Gunpla models and, as you said, there's a lot of conflicting information out there. Would love to see a video from you on the best way to stay safe when painting with lacquers as that's the part I'm researching now. Especially for me as I live in an apartment and won't have a dedicated paint area.

Thanks mate, well explained and helpful for an ameture like me. Cheers.

Thanks for that Clayton, very useful and informative. Have only used acrylics so far but I think I will laquers a try.

Definetly a useful guide.I’ve used Ammo acrylics and Vallejo acrylics for most of the time and thinned with Tamiya X-20a.I will definetly think about your tips when painting in the future! :)

I work with acrilics a lot. With proper thinning and air pressure I can obtain really nice job done. The only serious problem is imho poor acrilic's adhesion, so from time to time I switch to Mr Color C paints. They are really durable, but as you mentioned, smelly and toxic, giving a bit headache after long day of modeling. As begginer I have tested many diffetent paints and brands finally to understand which one work for me best and I like (or hate). Excelent tutorial! Regards, Greg

7:14 that brought back memories! 😂

Hi Clayton! This was a great guide on the different paints we use, and as a somewhat nervous airbrush user, it is very useful when deciding which type of paint suits my skill level. After your last video about painting camo and weathering the Meng Leopard, I asked you about the use of lacquer paint in the comments section, and your answer motivated me to try them out. I have to say that I have found them to be a joy to airbrush, even though they do have a strong odour that takes getting used to, even with a lot of ventilation. And yes I wear a mask when using them. So thanks again for the advice mate. Another guide on thinning the different paint types correctly, and best air pressures, etc., would be very welcome I’m sure. Love the channel mate, so keep the content coming! Cheers for now!

A well rounded starter video Clayton with the three basic rules covered in an easy to understand manner. One very important thing to note though, is that some paints do not play well with others and I am not referring to mixing paint types to achieve different colour tones more laying paint types, but that topic is beyond the scope of this video. Maybe another video about the layering of different types and the potentially disastrous effects that CAN happen. And it was nice to see the Toecutter put in an appearance.

Great tips THANKYOU. I've like and subscribed

Great work

The wargamming miniatures community really needs to see this. I came from a scale model background, so had already learned a lot of this.. and I've been trying to explain it to them. Like the concept of a primer vs base paint, and how a primer kind of needs to be a lacquer or other 'hot' paint, and even the most well known artists just give me blank looks. And then they go paint normal acrylics on metal and resin and wonder why it flakes off. They said 'I used a primer! I don't know why it didn't work!', but they use the acrylic 'primers', which have no solvents, so can't bite into the material.

do you have any other channels you would recomend to learn from for military kits? love the content and great information.

Great video! Thanks for keeping it simple. When are you going to be on On The Bench again? I cant count the number of times if made a little mistake from listening to them then burst out laughing. Once again i love your videos.

Thanks Clayton awsome work, I learned the hard way that tamyia lacquer acrylic is more lacquer than acrylic, and if mixed with a vallejo acrylic thinned with lacquer retarder, you really mess up an air brush. Interesting point with air brushing acrylics not being the easiest, as a beginner I thought acrylics being water based would be the easiest to use. Have been unhappy with my attempts at fine shading at edges ect.

I'd really recommend using retarder with vallejo paints, or perhaps with any true acrylic? I had real trouble with vallejo before adding "flow improver" (their retarder).

Where would Mr. Aqueous paints fit in? Some say they are acrylics, but can't be thinned with water, some say they are more like the Tamiya 'acrylics' and sort of a hybrid etc. I'm quite lost on them.

Hi Clayton long time watcher first time caller😂 where do you see the the Tamiya LP range coming in to play compared to their normal range

it is a good guide for beginners , but you forged to point out that Acrylics are not as healthy as you might think, because while most Acrylics water based and have no or very little smell doesn't‘ mean there are non toxic. If I have to choose wich type of paint I want inhale( of course you shouldn't do it) than it is Laquer and Enamel paints rather than Acrylics , even they are more toxic , at least I can get them out of my lungs, where as Acrylics stay in your lungs forever by clogging your lungs , simply or better sadly they will dry in your lungs and never come out so the use of a FFP 3 Mask or respirator is advised for all type of paint.especially while Sprayig them,

How much of the problem arises by the initial question not being reasonably researched by the initiator to begin with? Seems that research - and genuine learning - are all too hard and unnecessary in the age of instant gratification.