Anyone who started building from an instruction sheet full of shade numbers knows these 14 ml tinlets. That is their practical advantage: the instructions give a number, you find the number in the list, and nothing has to be cross-referenced between colour charts. The range covers matt, satin and gloss tones and is supplemented by starter sets of basic colours.
The wide flat-bottomed tinlet also suits the way enamel behaves, since the pigment settles and has to be stirred up from the base before every session. Notes on that, and on brushing versus spraying, are below.
Shades are listed under sequential numbers that kit instructions refer to directly, which removes the step most newcomers stumble on: turning a colour name into a product. The wide tinlet is also easy to load a brush from and easy to stir properly, and enamel demands both.
Pigment sinks, and without a thorough stir you apply mostly binder. Work the stirrer along the bottom for a full minute until the colour is uniform all the way down. Stirrers, palettes and mixing jars are in modelling tools.
Enamel rewards brushwork because it levels itself. Two thin coats with proper drying between them beat one loaded coat, and the second one should go on across the first rather than along it. Sizes to suit are in model paint brushes, and a flat shape covers a fuselage side more evenly than a round one.
Thin until the paint runs freely, then build coverage in passes. Suitable solvents and a cleaner for flushing airbrush equipment are in thinners and cleaners.
A wide tinlet dries out faster than a narrow bottle if the rim is left dirty, because the lid no longer seals. Wipe the rim before closing it, and store tinlets upright rather than stacked on their sides. A skin on the surface can be lifted out with tweezers and the paint below it is usually fine, but a tinlet that has gone stringy throughout is past rescuing and no amount of thinner brings it back.
To compare other solvent-borne series and bottle sizes, open the parent category enamel model paints or the full model paints overview.
