Humbrol paints

[Frazmataz]

Hi guys, I need some advice regarding the Humbrol acrylic paints range (Now owned by Hornby, but I don't know when this happened). I saw some in my local model shop which were advertised as 'authentic railway colours', with an image of the front of a Hornby A4 on the can, and with such colour labels as 'Garter Blue', 'Bufferbeam Red' and 'Coach Roof Off-white'.

Has anyone on the forum used these paints, and can anyone comment on their accuracy? I bought about 6 different colours, but it's not a big loss to me if they don't have accurate hues, I can always use them for other things

[Atlantic 3279]

Although I can't answer your question I too would like to know whether the claimed colours at least accurately match Hornby's own current factory finishes.

(Regrettably, other than for possible touch-ins or very limited patch painting these products will be of no use to me anyway simply because they are acrylic, and I'm much happier to continue to use the skills and techniques that I've patiently built up over the years with "proper paint", i.e. enamels, as opposed to "powder paint in glue, goes off before you can brush it out to perfection" acrylics! I don't think the small scale of manufacture of paints for model making creates a level of environmental harm that justifies abandonment of enamel formulations)

[Atlantic 3279]

It's a shame about the complete lack of further replies so far to this topic.

I really would like to know about the colour match accuracy, especially versus Hornby factory finish colours. I might want to "patch paint" to match the modern Hornby factory version of "BR steam loco green" which certainly doesn't match Bachmann's or Phoenix or Railmatch.

[Frazmataz]

It's a shame about the complete lack of further replies so far to this topic.

I really would like to know about the colour match accuracy, especially versus Hornby factory finish colours. I might want to "patch paint" to match the modern Hornby factory version of "BR steam loco green" which certainly doesn't match Bachmann's or Phoenix or Railmatch.

The lack of replies is probably due to nobody having tried these paints, prefering to play it safe with Pheonix and Railmatch enamels

As for patching up, I will make an educated guess and say it's unlikely to match, considering that (a) Factory paints are alltogether different beasts to modellers paint, and are touch-dry within seconds, and (b) Humbrol was bought up by Hornby, so Hornby probably had no hand in the development of these 'authentic railway colours'.