I know this is a subjective subject but after many years of building ship models in all veriety of materials And used every paint system i know of both with brush and airbrush I feel these give the best results.

Note I am only refering to model ship building my list of paints would absolutely change for other subjects

So this is my top four paint systems

In forth places is the Admiralty paint range. Only really for use on Nelson period wooden ship kits, the colour match is excellent. paint goes on well adhers well drys quickly and is easily thined. But the range is limited and shelf life is not as good as other brands as well as not realy extend beyond Nelson,s Royal Navy. Available from a number of ship kit retailers

In third place is Humbrol enamel. This paint system is infanetly flexable, easy to thin and mix easy to store with a long shelf life. The paint can be used on all material types and is widly available. Humbrol takes the third spot because the colours are genral and there is no paint sets offerd for specific subjects or periods. Available from most hobby retaily

In second place is the excellent COLOURCOATS range of enamel paints specificly aimed at ship builders. This paint range was formaly the White Ensen Models paint range. The paint is matched to paint chips, and has all the specific colours you would need for ships that most ranges of paint just dont cater for. Like Humbrol paints they are easy to work with store well easy to mix and thin. COLOURCOATS Are exclusively available from Sovrin Hobbies who purchased the rights when WEM stopped trading and their products got devided between three businesses.
https://www.sovereignhob...s-royal-navy-narn-range

In first place is the oustanging range of paints by lifecolor, and I include billings boats paints in this as thay are manufactured bly life colour too. This range of acrylic paints is outstanding in so many ways, Primeraly a range of paints for post ironclad ships the finish is satin which sets of the model to it’s best it is easily thined with water and gives outstanding results under brush and even better airbrushed. Lifecolur doe sets aimed at specific navys and periods which give you everything you need for a project in one hit. These paints are always my first choice and available from most good online retailers and and eBay.

As for primer I generally use Halfords grey for wood and multimedia kits and Tamiya fine white for plastic if ussing a rattcan, in my airbrushes I am getting outstanding results with ultimate primer
https://www.umpretail.co...imate-primer-120ml-grey

Jase

Totaly agree with you on admiralty paint, would love them to extend the range of coulors beyond a single period and single navy.

Vallejo model Air or Tamiya or Meng or AK or alclad paints all the way for me too on anything other than ships but genrally your going to have to mix paint to get the correct colour match with these brands who have largly developed colours for game, militry and figure modeling.

AK have some great washes aimed at ships which i do us

Like I said subjective subject and the modeler has access to a huge range of general and specalist paint these days it can become a bit of a daunting task to chose a paint for your project