acrylic paint is water-based,enamel is oil-based,and gloss leaves a
shiny finish.I always use a variety of paints on my tanks.Practice is what makes them look realistic, so, keep at it.

Model paints come in a variety of ‘glosses’ or sheens.

High gloss are generally used for the body, semi flat is just that, neither glossy nor flat. Flat is NO sheen at all. Like primer paint, that gray color you see on some real cars just before a glossy or shiny, paint job is applied.

Semi flat colors would be for the interior of the model representing the interior vinyl. Simply checkout a real car.

The flat colors would be used underneath the model and under the hood in some case) depending on the year of the model you’re building. Newer ones require the same as the body color, sometimes.

what is the difference if any between these paints used for model kit cars:
acrylic paint>>>>>>>>>Water base, water cleanup. Usually quite thin and requires primer underneath matching the topcaot.

gloss/glossy>>>>>>High gloss sheen, can be either acrylic or enamel.

enamel>>>>Chemical based paint the requires paint thinner for clean up and requires 5 days to fully ‘gas out’. That means to dry. Smell the car body or painted part everyday for 5 days after painting and the chemical smell will get less and less until the 5th day when it should be nearly gone. Though the smell will not be gone for quite awhile after that, it is dry and hard enough to handle without leaving fingerprints in it.

You should always primer a part or body before painting, with a nearly matching primer color, it helps the paint stick to the glossy body.

If you use lacquer, (an extremely high gloss paint) another type of model paint, (in spray cans only) no primer is required and the paint dries in minutes instead of days but it is a very brittle paint and can chip off the body or part easily, is some, though very rare cases.

Testor’s and Tamiya are some of the paint lines you can look up on the internet by way of google.com tey come in bottle and spray cans.

Information on the subject can also be found by typing in the key words of the subject matter at google.com also.

I would suggest starting out with the thicker enamel paints, (not a variety, stick with it. Try the others later on) less aggravating than the more watery, thinner acrylic paints.

Oh ya, get a GOOD quality brush, and don’t try the ‘rattle cans’, spray cans, until later or for much larger surface areas.

Practice, practice practice, three rules to go by. Try on a piece of scrap first, or some part that doesn’t really matter. Not too thick and don’t stoke it too much. The paint will level out if not applied too thick so those brush marks should disappear as the paint dries.

There, I think I’m done

Plastic model car kits I would use enamel paint. You can paint the motor before assembling, If you use a gloss it will have a reflective shine to it. Looks great and you can deffinately use different colors like for interior do a 2 tone,(white) letter the tires,(Orange)motor,(Silver)exhaust etc.The enamel paint is going to last the best on these models. Acrylic will come off if scratched or water drop even on it will effect the look. You will need paint thinner to clean your brush between using colors though. Always keep your brush clean!
Good Luck, Embroidery Technician

Their just based on different things, for example enamel paints are based on chemicals (I don’t know which).

To be honest I would go for acrylic paints as they can be washed off your brushes with water, whereas gloss and enamel paints require chemicals like white spirit which while useful are nasty to keep around the house.