I mainly use AK and Vallejo with occasional Tamiya but saw these in Hobbycraft in the UK. Anyone tried them? Any thoughts? Not planning on switching to them but the shop has good opening hours so could be useful in an emergency to avoid delivery times.
The older Humbrol paints are pretty poor so hopefully these are an improvement!
I have to say that old, old, old Humbrol paints are still excellent!
I’m sure this makes me a real modelling Luddite but I have some Humbrol paints which must be 30 years old - still (just about) usable.
It’s funny you mention that Brian, I had probably close to one hundred Humbrol paints since I started serious modeling as a teenager back in the early 80s, but soon after I bought Tamiya and have stuck with them since. I only got rid of my Humbrol paints a few years ago! I hated those tins because I was too lazy to properly clean them after use each time. I see they’ve gone the way of the dropper bottle now. Interesting
I find it’s the smell of the old paints that take me back to those far, far-off days of modelling, say when I was around 9 or 10 years old; hit town on a Saturday, buy a kit; make it, paint it, all before the evening meal and Dr Who at 1815!
I suspect they were proper paints back then, with a decent amount of lead content, but they covered well, although my emerging Wehrmacht small scale fleet were then never in anything like an authentic finish. I just made the camouflage up!
30 years … mid 1990’ies?
I am fairly certain that some of my tins are from the mid 70’ies.
Just make sure to use the correct thinner.
I still use Humbrol Matt coat through the airbrush however, still my fav.
I was just trying to hide my age Robin - which is vast!
And to get back on track re JG’s question - I haven’t used the new paints save the Dark Brown Wash (which has been around some time I think) which I sometimes use as a wash on AFVs, but also on figures; it does pop some detail and is quite useful. I could probably make my own using Burnt Siena and Black but it is readily made therefore convenient.
Would I be totally wrong to guess that these bottles of acrylics contain more or less the same acrylics as in Humbrols earlier jars?
I saw these too in the same store. This marks a welcome return of Humbrol to local shops, for a while Hobbycraft stopped stocking them completely. They blamed it on Hornby’s poor supply chain during Covid. I’m still using Humbrol enamel for all my models, spraying vehicles and hand painting figures. I’ve never switched to water based paints, although I remember doing some 54mm metal figures usin Pelikan Plaka in the 70s. Anyone remember them? I use a lot of washes, both commercial and home mixed and a lot of dry brushing. Having got used to the medium (I’ve been modelling on and off since the 1960s), I’m loath to change. What bothers me most is that some of the colours necessary for WW2 German stuff keep disappearing, so if I find them I have to stock up. An example is Matt 74 Linen. This is the basis of a convincing Elfenbein, mixed 4-1 with Gloss 41 Ivory.
Absolutely. Humbrols are still my “go-to” paints for brush painting… never switched to acrylics. I guess that makes me a dinosaur as well. 
Mario
Still have a few Humbrol paints from the 1970’s. They are still good, used a tin last year.
I got rid of them several years ago, as many jars were not in good shape. Probably my poor closing technique had something to do… In any case I still find amazing how smooth I could brush paint with them when I was 12.
I have used some on aircraft, didn’t have any issues, went on smoothly thinned ok.
I still have about seven tins that are about thirty years old; I in fact Brass #54 is on the shelf near me. I haven’t opened them in over a decade but they are still liquid inside.
Bar code but no web addresses or anything.
*contains soluble lead
The good stuff!
