Testor Corp. will discontinue Polly Scale and Floquil lines of paint that were popular with model railroaders.
Testors has announced that it is ending its Floquil and Polly Scale lines of paints, including dozens of model-railroad specific colors. Testors will continue to take orders from retailers and ship paint for a limited time based on available quantities.
In addition to Floquil and Polly Scale, Testors is also ending its lines of Pactra and ColorArtz paints. Floquil paints are solvent-based, and Polly Scale acrylic paints are water-based.
Floquil has been a staple of model railroading for decades; the first advertisement for Floquil paint in Model Railroader was in 1947. Polly Scale is also popular with model train hobbyists.
Testor Corp. will continue to produce products under the Testors, Model Master, and Aztek brands. Testors told Model Railroader magazine in an email that it has no plans to move colors from the Floquil and Polly Scale lines to another line. Testors noted that colors used for weathering and scenery can be found in Testors’ CreateFX line of paints.
In addition to Floquil and Polly Scale, Testors is also ending its lines of Pactra and ColorArtz paints. Floquil paints are solvent-based, and Polly Scale acrylic paints are water-based.
Floquil has been a staple of model railroading for decades; the first advertisement for Floquil paint in Model Railroader was in 1947. Polly Scale is also popular with model train hobbyists.
Testor Corp. will continue to produce products under the Testors, Model Master, and Aztek brands. Testors told Model Railroader magazine in an email that it has no plans to move colors from the Floquil and Polly Scale lines to another line. Testors noted that colors used for weathering and scenery can be found in Testors’ CreateFX line of paints.
This paint will not be missed, there are other paints which far exceed Testors. I did use some of Testers but one could see ahead what was going to take place. Thanks Testers for getting out of RR paints.
I wonder how long it is going to take Testors to realize what a stupid thing they just did. Although I suspect the decision was made at RPM the parent company. Some bean counter doesn't understand that military colors are not interchangeable with railroad colors which are not interchangeable with automotive colors. All greens are not the same.
Tom
Thank you for stepping up and filling the void left by Testors.
I will be purchasing paint from Micro-Mark
Mark
I'm moving to Humbrol Acrylics. Humbrol has a railroad line as well as a military, aircraft, and basic line of colors. Paints are available from Hornby America. Their website has it all with a color chart. Check it out.
I have used modelflex with great results. This paint is good enough to stick to the slippery plastic used for the handrails on locomotives. Here is their RR color chart web page.
http://www.badgerairbrush.com/modelflex_3.asp
picked up several of the floquil markers used to paint the track . some are carded with a createx logo. do not give up, testors may just be changing things and dropping some colors . time will tell, we still have a lot of choices, such as scalecoat.
As a neopohyte in model railroading, I hope and expect to see an emphasis on what the new "preferred" brands and colors are that work well. This should be much fodder for MR articles and columns.
Bill
I hope some other company will come forward with a line of railroad paint like Floquil and PolyScale. I knew when Testors took over this was going to happen. Testors has lost my business ! (like they really care for us model railroaders business) My problem at the moment is to surf the web for anyone who has the full line still in stock.
I admit, I'm resistant to change, especially when I have about 80 jars of the stuff. I am 68 and have been using Folquil for over55 years. I remember reading the term Tuscan Red, not having a clue as to what that was. Remember no Internet, no modeling father, and no hobby shop except when my dad took me to downtown Chicago to this cave of a shop where a little man, and all the smells that went with him, had 410M paints and told me about RR colors. We lived 30miles away and I was ten so I didn't get there too often. Well, I couldn't afford more than one bottle and with that I butchered a craftsman kit (probably Red Ball) but it was the right color.
Well spool forward to 1960 when we had moved over to Portland,
Or when I, now in high school and still an ardent model railroader, had a real hobby shop close by with, not 410M, but Floquil at only $ .45 per color. I loved building wood craftsman kits and Floquil was vastly superior to Pactra, Testors, and any other other paint.
I now have about 80 colors and actually use some up. My main concern is thinner. Not all thinners work so I would appreciate anyone's suggest about substituting thinner (brush cleaner) that will work. Anyone, please…
It's good to see that RPM/Testors is now going to add some of the railroad colors to their Modelmaster acrylic line. I tend to go through a lot of Oxide and Steam Power Black myself. Too bad nothing prototype specific like Santa Fe Red or UP Armour Yellow. And I see that Micro-Mark will be also be releasing an acrylic line of paints.
Jim
I assume Testors is discontinuing these paint lines because they are no longer profitable to the company. However, Testors has not, to my knowledge, explained the reasons for their actions. I believe that their loyal customers, who have used their products for decades, deserve and answer.
YES THIS SUCKS BUT WE'RE FIND A WAY TO DO IT.
Badger MODELflex which is a water base acrylic has had the most extensive, complete and correct railroad color palette out there. The railroad colors are semi gloss. There are clear coats in flat, matte and gloss. They have gloss colors. They have not one but three flesh tones. They have accurate (and I do mean accurate) John Deere yellow and green and a great weathering set. MODELflex does not require primer unless you are trying to cover dark with red, yellow, etc. It does not require a gloss coat prior to applying decals. MODELflex dries to the touch in minutes, especially if accelerated with a hand-held hair drier. Soap and water cleanup, or use ModelFlex cleaner (designed to break down ModelFlex for cleaning – I highly recommend it). MODELflex is the only paint to be matched to Dupont high performance rail coating standards and is the most accurate paint on the market today. Most of the major manufactures have matched to our paint because their colors are dead on,
Everyone please sit tight.
Micro-Mark is working on it, and shortly (by early Fall 2013) we'll have a superior-quality water-based ready-to-spray acrylic in at least the more-popular generic colors, such as Rail Brown, Grimy Black, Aged Concrete, Clear Flat, etc.
This paint can also be applied on wood with a paint brush.
We are a distributor, so your dealer can contact us, as well.
Tom Piccirillo
President
Micro-Mark
There is still Scale Coat paints available in model railroad colors. Scale Coat is much better than Floquil because it really sticks to brass and other metals without using primer. And there is Scale Coat II waterbased paints in railroad colors for plastic models. Oner problem with floquil paints was their color matching between batches was never consistant.
OK, so where do we go now for railroad-appropriate colors? Military paints, I guess. Anyone have any brand suggestions?
Now that we are loosing the Floquil and Polly Scale paints, it is going to be difficult to paint, touch up rolling stock and motive power units. I do hope someone comes up with a decent alternative to this fine mess we modelers now are faced with.
Testors did not innovate and this caught up with them. Their paint was no longer the best paint. The only things they had going was the premixed railroad colors and the fact they were available in most trains shops.
Brands like True Color make a much wider variety of railroad paint than testors.
Brands catering to the military and plastic kit modelers have excellent paint in Vallejo, Tamiya, and other brands.
Testors has given us railroad modelers a great opportunity to try other brands.
Modelers that say, "That's the way we have always don it" will be in trouble.
Modelers with their eyes open will look back on this and thank Testors for forcing them to find other paint brands.
This is really messed up! Thanks for thinking about all your clients and users over the years. How about a suggestion of replacement paints. I've used both for years and prefer polyscale paints.
It's all about the money! Thank's TESTOR'S
All I can say is why?
Unfortunately corporations all to often worry about one thing, the bottom line. It's sad but true, take care of the stock holders first and the customers second…..
I hate to see a really great product go away just because it's a niche market.
I can not add anymore or differend to Larry Utt's statement.
Modern times do take out the magic out of modelling.
Hey everyone,
I put together a preliminary of close(ish) color matches for Floquil paints. Microscale is hosting the downloadable PDF:
http://www.microscale.com/Floquil%20Color%20Chart.pdf
If you want to leave comments regarding the chart, jump over to the MR forum and drop me your thoughts:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/218231.aspx
The world is inevitably a changing place, but the continuing loss of brick and mortar hobby shops, the virtual disappearance of Athearn and Roundhouse kits, the loss of Champ Decals, and now the impending loss of Floquil / Polyscale radically alters the face of the hobby as I grew up and grew older with it. Of necessity, one adapts, but in a way, some of old the "magic" has disappeared, even with the fabulous hi-tec now available in the hobby as well as the availability of near museum quality, off the shelf, ready to run models.