Yeah, just had a painter's mask come in, and I built a small ventilator (...basically a bathroom fan inside a plastic box with a filter stuck to the front) that feeds out my window.
Good, because paint fumes are not something you want to mess with. You can seriously damage your lungs without the right protective equipment, so it's better to be safe than sorry.
Anyway, paints are interesting. As somebody who has been painting for a few years, I recommend lacquer, which can also be labelled 'acrylic lacquer'. Lacquer is the strongest kind of easily-available paint solvent, which means it bonds much more strongly to the plastic and creates a tougher finish overall. A lot of people claim it's not beginner-friendly, but I'd disagree; it's only beginner-unfriendly if you aren't prepared. Good lacquer gets you an objectively stronger finish than any other kind of paint, and is the only paint I'd ever use for joints and internal parts that are subject to frequent friction. Lacquer paints are also finer than acrylic paints, with higher pigment density. That means you're putting down less paint for the same result, which is another reason they're great for internal parts; you aren't adding extra layers that tighten everything up as much.
My favorite brand by far is
Gaia Notes. Their paint is
amazing, especially their metallic lines.
. But it's A) very rare outside Japan, B) quite expensive. I also like
E7 Model Paint, Modo Colors, MRP and
Splash brands.
A small step down in quality but a
huge step up in general accessibility is Mr Hobby, which produces very good acrylic, enamel and lacquer paint lines. The benefit of Mr Hobby is that they make everything; paint, thinners, tools, etc. Their paints aren't
as durable as the 'premium' brands above, but I've painted whole kits with them and have no complaints. I also use their Mr Surfacer products on everything. If you just want to paint something a very durable matte grey, black or white, just put down a layer of Mr Surfacer and you just don't need anything else, except maybe a topcoat. For thinners I use Mr Color Leveling Thinner, which adds a bit of drying time to give the paint longer to even out over the part.
Another option is Tamiya. Tamiya does great entry-level acrylics, which is what I started out with. I recommend them for a beginner if you aren't doing internal parts, because they're still reasonably tough and you can thin their acrylic products with lacquer thinner as well as their standard isopropyl alcohol thinners. If you got some Mr Surfacer Grey/Black and used it on frames and then Tamiya acrylics for external parts, you'd still be able to get fantastic results. The only thing I hate about isopropyl alcohol and acrylic is that it's much more 'temperamental' than lacquer. The thinner is extremely hydro-cephalic, so if you're painting anywhere that has any real level of ambient moisture in the air, that moisture is constantly diluting your thinner and affecting how the paint dries. Lacquer is harder to work with, but produces much more consistent results regardless of external conditions, and dries a lot faster as well. Lacquer is touch-dry within 30 minutes. Acrylic can still be delicate after four hours. Tamiya has also started producing bottled versions of their spray-can lacquers recently, which are quite good.
