Acrylic Paints

For my model buildings, I mainly use acrylic paints. No nasty smell, water based, they clean up easily and mix together well, drying with a  slight satiny sheen when applied thick, but matt when watered down or airbrushed.

The cheap stuff in tubes is perfectly adequate for modelling buildings and weathering and you can often find really good bargains in Lidl stores when they have one of their 'arty' special offer days.

A good source of very cheap acrylic paints are 'tester pots' 75ml for less than a couple of quid  in DIYs stores. Solid black and white are not normally available in testers but Wickes 'Licorice' is a nice - not quite black, not really grey -  whilst 'Powder grey' is near enough white to not matter.

As we all know, once acrylic paint has dried, it becomes fairly waterproof (at least it doesn't wash off with water). My little tip for keeping small amounts of paint moist for a few days is to make a small palette from an Altoids tin as in the photograph. A folded up tissue in the bottom, moistened with tap water is enough to keep the paint from drying, beer bottle tops act as containers for the paint and a bottle top for the clean water. When it all gets too grunged up, you throw it away and make a new one.
Don't forget to label the lid "This Way Up"

You can buy fancy artists versions of these ready made, they are twelve quid! My method is more or less free and you get to eat mints and drink some beer.

The (unfinished) cottages are Das on foamboard with black card tiled roofs. More on these at a later date.