SQUADRON COLORS LACQUER SERIES — HOW TO USE & PAINTING GUIDES

Great results don't come from great paint alone — understanding how to use it is just as important.

We've created the Squadron Colors How to Use & Painting Guides to help you get the most from your Squadron Colors products, whether you're picking up an airbrush for the first time or you've been building models for decades.

In the guides below, we'll walk you through everything from surface preparation and airbrush setup to application techniques, flash times, curing, cleanup, and troubleshooting. We'll also go beyond the basics with tips and techniques we've learned from years of building models ourselves — including ways to create realistic metallic finishes, achieve subtle tonal variation, produce highly reflective surfaces, and get the most from specialized finishes.

There is rarely only one way to paint a model. Different airbrushes, environments, techniques, and personal preferences can all affect the way we work. Our goal isn't to give you a rigid set of rules. Instead, these guides are designed to give you a solid starting point, explain why certain techniques work, and help you develop the methods that work best for you.

Choose a guide below to get started:

Squadron Colors Lacquer 1K Primers
Surface preparation, choosing a primer, airbrush setup, application, flash time, sanding, and preparing your model for paint.

Squadron Colors Lacquer 2K Primer
Everything you need to know about mixing and applying our activated 2K primers, including flash times, curing, accelerated curing, cleanup, and more.

Squadron Colors Lacquer Metallic Colors
Learn how surface preparation, base colors, application technique, and layering can help you create convincing metallic and natural-metal finishes.

Squadron Colors Lacquer Chrome & Polished Aluminum
A step-by-step guide to preparing the gloss-black foundation and applying our highly reflective Chrome and Polished Aluminum finishes.

Squadron Colors Lacquer Clear Coats
Learn how to apply Super Gloss and Super Matte 2K Clears, including mixing, application, flash times, curing, decals, and accelerated curing, plus how to use Hologram Special FX.

LEARN. EXPERIMENT. BUILD.

The techniques in these guides are a starting point. Test new combinations, experiment with different approaches, and don't be afraid to develop your own methods.

That's part of what makes scale modeling fun.

Now grab your airbrush, pick a guide, and let's paint something.