Hi, Sammy, I second the tips you got here, and will say that we each of us have our favorites, as far as paint manufacturers go, and you'll probably want to experiment, to see how various brands work for you.
As far as painting the pieces goes, I would:
1. Wash the parts before assembly, using warm water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid, or my preference, a few drops of SuperClean, which is a de-greaser. I use an old glass baking dish for this, and scrub gently with an old, worn-out toothbrush. Object is to remove any mold release compounds and other oils from the surface. This will allow the primer coat to get its best adhesion.
2. Assemble as necessary, clean up seam and mold lines.
3. Prime. I'm with Mitch, I use automotive primer (Walmart's house brand du jour). I've found over the years that I get the best bang for my buck with automotive primers. Tamiya's and the other modeling paint manufacturers' primers are too expensive for the volume, but that's just my Dutchy sense. If the finished piece is going to be a darker shade, I use a medium to dark gray primer, and if it's to be light (like white trouser legs, for example), I use a light gray or a flat white. Primer provides "tooth" for the finish, ie, top coat, colors
4. Paint with whichever paints you choose to use. You mentioned that you have Tamiya paints, and I use them, too, along with Model Master (owned by Testor), Testor's gloss enamels and their acrylics, plus a couple of bottles of Andrea acrylics, craft store acrylics, and oils. Each has its own characteristics, and acrylic, enamel and oils all use different thinners. To the Tamiya paints--I had been painting them right out of the jar, but remember that they are formulated for airbrushing, and they all will tend to get gloopy on the brush during a session, some colors more than others. In a recent scale modeling project, I decided to get a bottle of Tamiya's acrylic thinner and use it exclusively with the Tamiya paints, both in my airbrush, and when hand-brushing. I found a marked improvement in both methods, and I can recommend it to you. Previously I had used isopropyl to thin the Tamiya paints, but I found, again, that some of their colors responded better than others to that thinner, while using the proprietary thinner gave consistent results (which is what I expected).
Generally, I thin acrylics with water or isopropyl alcohol, and also clean up the brushes with the same. I thin and clean enamels with lacquer thinner (also from the automotive supply store) or with mineral spirits. I thin and clean oils with mineral spirits, turpentine or turpenoid.
5. Seal your work with a matte or gloss coat, as appropriate. I use Testor's DulCote for my matte sealer, I've always had it dry to an absolute dull finish. For gloss finishes, and for gloss-coating before putting down any decals, I use Future floor polish, which is a liquid gloss acrylic, and a bottle will last forever. Even on a subject painted realistically, with a matte finish, you might be able to use Future for things like lenses or other glass, or polished metal.
Hope that helps, prosit!
Brad
