One of my first jobs was working for my Grandfather’s painting company. At 13 years old I did a ton of high ladder work and was at times was hung in a bosun’s chair (three stories up) cutting window sash on my old elementary school windows.
Having survived some harrowing and funny incidents I traded my paint brushes for golf bags and became a pro/am caddie for 11+ years. Safer on the ground.

But, back to the main subject…I’m rambling…
As mentioned earlier, I cover all my latex paint especially used on hulls with an exterior spar varnish. On the flip side the best thing about oil based paints is that they dry hard and waterproof.

It’s sad that oil based paints are going the way of the dodo. The absolute best (imho), Benjamin Moore’s Satin Impervo, is over $90 a gallon now! yikes!

A good substitute, Rust-oleum oil based brush paints are great, but take days to dry, but they dry extra hard.

For my Kopy Kommander I used an oil based “non-drip” gloss paint for the red, white and blue colours and mixed the blue and white to make the lighter blue deck colour.

Non-drip paint is thixothermic, so when it is stirred it works like a standard oil based gloss paint and can be thinned or mixed.

……and it is oil based and has proven to be very durable on my Rapier.

I also used it on my Remora….

If the technical rep for the paint manufacturer wouldn’t use it (water based outdoor gloss paint) on his own front door ….it can’t be much good for our model boats can it ?

Thanks Alessandro, it's amazing that it was from 1962 and still looks modern!

Bob, whilst it's said that water is only the carrier for the paint and once dry it shouldn't be affected I think we can deduce that isn't the case and I've always had my doubts. Oil resists water!

Wonderful, outstanding Chris!

I bought a tin of a modern water based gloss paint that was recommended for outdoor use on doors and was even “suitable for use on metal”

My test was to use it on the stand for the Rapier.

It took several coats to cover, and when I took the boat out of the water following its test run a few weeks later, the paint showed spots where some droplets of the fresh water had dripped onto it.

Pathetic !

I called the technical helpline for the paint manufacturer concerned and reminded him of the paints claimed function (as printed on the tin) and he actually said “ I wouldn’t use it on my door”. 😱

Just had a look and Craftmaster Paints do some smaller tins (not as small as Humbrol though) and a sign writing enamel which is designed to cover in one coat. So if I need colours other than my Fairey blues and white I will be looking at them.

Sorry, off-topic, but photo for Alessandro!

Chris

You are bang on as regards water based paints and varnishes for that matter.

I built some decking many years ago and coated it with an oil based finish and it looked good for many years. When I came to recoat it I used a water based finish which despite manufacturers claims didn't last very long and I had problems with it going green in places. So useless infact that some planks have rotted and I need to replace them. When I do I will be returning to oil based but quite a bit more expensive but much better and worth the extra cost. As regards external water based gloss I've seen darker colours show water spots if rain sits on it.

I've used water based gloss inside the house but having used oil based previously it's a disappointment as it doesn't brush as well and is nowhere as glossy. I've got the bathroom door and architrave to paint white at some point and I'm going to use my International paint!

It's telling that the trade still prefer to use oil based if the finish is all important. Whilst it's getting increasingly difficult to find in DIY stores, Dulux, for instance have trade stores which the general public can use. Again expensive and relatively large tins though.

Chris

Most model boats that were made in the 1950’s and 1960’s were painted with regular spirit based household paints or thin model enamels such as those made by Humbrol or Japlac.

Buying model enamels in any size other than the miniature tinlets is not as easy as it used to be.

The traditional hardware shops that stocked the paints and glues that we all used back then have all but disappeared and the giant superstores that have replaced them just don’t stock any of these model enamel paints anymore.

Most of the household paints that are stocked are now environmentally friendly water based products that are simply not suitable for painting model boats that are to be regularly used in water.

Many hours of testing and disappointment has proven this to be the case - even with paints that are sold for exterior use - some even claiming to be suitable for outdoor metalwork too !

Finding spirit based household paints here in the U.K. is getting harder all the time, and so the available choice is much reduced too.

I will soon have to start looking for suppliers of coach paints - definitely a superior product, but a more expensive option and one that (due to its intended use on vehicles and marine craft) is usually only available in much bigger tins than I would ideally want to buy and stock.

Maybe some fellow local model boat makers would like to consider buying a stock of smaller sized new and unused empty tins so that the purchase of the more common colours could be shared and divided between them?

This would save cost and storage as well as reducing the risk of the paint “going-off “ before it could all be used?

Thanks for reminding me of the choice of paint that you made to hand paint your various Fairy models with Chris.

As I restore and build classic model power boats from the 1960’s period I like to build and paint them in a way and with materials and techniques that are as true to the time period as possible- and hand painting them is very much the way almost all of them were coloured.

Spray painting them would be very much faster and easier, but hand painting is more traditional and allows the use of different types of paints.