Looking for a Seattle hobby shop that sells Modelflex (badger) paint

[OldEastRR]

Please don't say "check the internet". I got Sherwin-williams paint dealers in that search.

[learmoia]

Try searching 'Hobby Shops' in Seattle.. and try calling them..

[Chris333]

"-Sherwin-williams"

[OldEastRR]

If I'd found any shops that list Modelflex paint I wouldn't be asking. I find it incredible that a metro area as big as Seattle has so few RR-related hobby shops. It comes down to paying $10 shipping from elsewhere for a $5 bottle of paint. Great.

[peteski]

I find it incredible that a metro area as big as Seattle has so few RR-related hobby shops.

Really?!  Where have you been for the last few decades?

For many years the number of Brick&Mortar hobby shops have been dwindling, with precious few remaining.  Not just model RR shops. Consider yourself lucky there at least are few left in your area. Many of us have none left.  Online retail has basically killed old-school hobby shops and also the owners aged out with nobody else to take over those business with very little profit to be had.

You might as well look for an online source.

[learmoia]

Do you have Amazon prime? order it on Amazon?

Or call Eastside Trains (who probably orders from a distributor like Walthers) and ask them to order some for you..
(Your in Seattle so you'll probably spend $10 in gas and time going to pick it up. )

[tehachapifan]

I was, for a time, purchasing Modelflex directly from Badger, as I was finding it hard to find anywhere else. Now I don't see it there either.

[StarCruiser]

Badger's website is under (overdue) reconstruction...

[packers#1]

If I'd found any shops that list Modelflex paint I wouldn't be asking. I find it incredible that a metro area as big as Seattle has so few RR-related hobby shops. It comes down to paying $10 shipping from elsewhere for a $5 bottle of paint. Great.

I think everyone meant you should call them and ask if they carry it, not that you should see if it’s listed

[OldEastRR]

peteski got it right ... there are no RR hobby shops around anymore (except for Lionel). Instead we have stores that sell craft paint, art paint, wargame miniatures paint, military models and dioramas paint, replica ship paint, RC car and plane paint, fantasy figurines paint* -- easy a half dozen of those in my small city of 100K. Model RRing is dead, doncha know. For me, everything has to be shipped direct. If I need anything RRish, I have to accumulate a few item to buy from one place so I don't wind up paying three times shipping for what the item costs.

And right -- to shop at any store in Seattle from where I live takes a lot of gas and lot of travel time (bad traffic). The far-sighted model rails are already buying the equipment and supplies to 3D print and etch and cast all the parts they need for trains, probably only a matter of time before they start concocting and batching up their own paint. I'm just an old obsolete guy ...

*none of these correspond to or match RR colors. Well, black ...

[nkalanaga]

West Virginia Hobby and Crafts in Teays Valley, WV, just off I-64, still has a fairly good model railroad section.  Given that few manufacturers keep anything in stock for dealers to order, they do have HO, N, and O locomotives, rolling stock, and track, as well as scenery and scratchbuilding supplies, and a few Bachmann starter sets.  Little if any model railroad specific paint, but a very good selection of "general" model paints, including Tamiya.

[learmoia]

Caboose Stop doesn't carry paint because they don't sell enough of it to justify stocking it.. If someone wants some we can order it but it's not going to sit on the shelf..

Same with decals..

BTW.. @OldEastRR  What color are you looking for.. and what are you painting.. ?

[Dave V]

These days I'm using Vallejo from Amazon or craft paints from Michael's. For explicitly railroad colors I do have to order from eBay sometimes. Recently bought some Tru-Color PRR Brunswick Green that way and I'm a little ashamed of how much I paid both for the paint and shipping. Plus Colorado taxes out-of-state online purchases. Ugh.

So, while I didn't answer @OldEastRR 's question, here's a rhetorical one for the group... As 3D printing very quickly gobbles up a healthy piece of the hobby--perhaps almost completely replacing traditional scratchbuilding--will the demand for railroad-specific colors return? Or has that ship sailed beyond the horizon for good?

[Mark5]

here's a rhetorical one for the group... As 3D printing very quickly gobbles up a healthy piece of the hobby--perhaps almost completely replacing traditional scratchbuilding

Good lord, I hope not.    I am getting annoyed with folks telling me to "just 3D print it".  I am in no hurry to add another set of toxic chemicals in my own home for 3d printing (though if I can find a way to have them printed for me I will certainly consider 3D).

--will the demand for railroad-specific colors return? Or has that ship sailed beyond the horizon for good?

Seems doubtful but who knows? For the time being, I look for the best equivalents. This chart is already out of date: https://www.microscale.com/Floquil%20Color%20Chart.pdf (Model Master was also killed off by Rustoleum)

[delamaize]

I've had good luck with the paint that the Warhammer 40K guys use for their miniatures. It's nice paint, Takes a little effort to get some of it thin enough to airbrush, But seems to always leave nice results, at least for me.