For paining figures I use all types of acrylic paints, even including acrylic house paint. Each has its advantages. Personally, for all around versatility
I prefer craft acrylic's. They thin out well for washes and spraying and work very well for dry-brushing as well. Apple Barrel's acrylic (and most craft
acrylic's) are pretty stable and hold up well outdoors. Some pigments are more UV sensitive than others, so it will vary a bit between colors. One thing to keep
in mind is that craft acrylic's vary in quality as much as any other paint and a high quality craft paint is a world of difference from a low quality one..
"Artist's Acrylic" like Liquitex, are formulated to have a texture and thickness similar to oil paints, while many of them do not contain the same level of
pigment. They are designed to be "painting" paints. What this means is that you will often (if not always) have to thin the acrylic down to work it thinly enough on small
surfaces, but it may not cover as well.
Model acrylic's tend to cover better than craft acrylic's and some, like Polly Scale paints have a very high level of high quality pigment, Tamiya model acrylic's
are great paints to work with, but they are not designed specifically for outdoor use. Although Tamiya did change their formulation some years ago and I believe
the paints do hold up better outdoors than they used to. I've never had any problems with Tamiya outdoors, but I don't think I've left anything painted with
them outside for a full year.
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