Combo Pigment & Colour Sets - Lifecolor

[Mike]

Combo Pigment & Colour Sets
Lifecolor

Lifecolor are well known for their acrylic paint sets which provide all the colours you'll need for the subject covered. Well time moves on, and with new techniques coming to the fore, they have begun creating combination sets that contaion both the colours you'll need to paint the subject, and the pigments that you will need to complete the job. The first release of three sets is detailed below, and the new pigments have the prefix PG for ease of discrimination:

Israeli Army
This set is perfectly timed to coincide with all those Merkava kits that are coming out at present. It contains three base colours and three pigments as follows:

Golan Dark Earth (PG101), Sinai Sand (PG101), Lebanon Dust (PG103), IDF Sandgrey 1 (UA901), IDF Sandgrey 2 (UA902), UDF Green (UA903)

Tracks
Painting and weathering realistic tracks can be a difficult task, but this set contains three base colours to paint your tracks, and three pigments to weather them up after. The addition of the Rubber colour is especially welcome, as it is a very nice brown grey that gives a good representation of the real thing.

Reflecting Agent (PG110), Dry Dust (PG105), Damp Dust (PG106), Rubber Track (UA904), Intermediate Wear (UA905), Old Track (UA906)

Rust
Rust is another technique that takes some mastering, and this set is here to help. It contains the basic three shades of rust, which are then modulated by three pigment tones to break up the colour and add realism. There is no substitute for studying references to get rust effects right, and there are six photos on the boxtop that will give you a good start, although there are myriad photos available on the 'net to assist you.

Eroding Burned Rust (PG107), Oxidation State (PG108), Weathering Marks (PG109), Burned Rust (UA907), Corroded Rust (908), Streaking Rust (UA909)

Mud & Dust
Mud and dust are found in large quantities on any vehicle that has been in-theatre for some time, despite the best efforts of crew, wind and rain, showing different colours and effects depending on conditions and terrain. A four-panel pictorial instruction is included on the rear of the box, along with captions giving extra information, which helps to make the process more clear.

N.Europe Dry Mud (PG114), Red Dry Mud (PG115), S.Europe Dry Mud (PG116), N.Europe Dark Mud (UA913), Red Mud (UA914), S.Europe Mud (UA915)




N.Europe Dust (PG111), E.Europe Dust (PG112), S.Europe Dust (PG113), N.Europe Dust (UA910), E.Europe Dust (UA911), S.Europe Dust (UA912)

Lichen & Moss
A set of four pigment powders and two fixers for your dioramas that are over-grown or unkempt.

Sprout Green (POW01), Lush Plant (POW02), Fall Season (POW03), Rotten Plant (POW04), Gloss Lime Fixer (FF01), Gloss Muddy Fixer (FF02)

Algae
For wet & slimy areas of your models and dioramas.

Luxuriant Green (POW05), Full-Blown Green (POW06), Blight Plant (POW07), Dried Plant (POW08), Gloss Dirty Green Fixer (FF03), Gloss Yellow Green Fixer (FF04)

Burned
Not strictly a Combo set, but as it includes pigment, it's here. Five burned colours and one ash pigment for burned out vehicles and buildings.

Blackened Umber (UA758), Exhausted Umber (UA759), Rusted Umber (UA760), Burned Stains (UA761), Incinerated White (UA762), Ash (PG117)

Conclusion
Very helpful sets, especially for those that have yet to venture into the world of weathering and adding realism. careful painting and weathering should always be accompanied by reference to how the real items look, so study photos of the real thing before trying these techniques, and it will pay dividends.

Look out for more sets soon.

highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Dave A]

Interesting concept. I bet they'd have a lot of takers for a 'rusty Japanese planes' set.

[Mike]

A quick update with some pics of my use of the rust set recently.

You can also see the initial application of the tracks set, although those will be getting further work done to tidy them up when the main painting is finished. You can see the build of the tank in question here if you're interested

[Shar2]

I've got the track and rust sets and have found them very easy to use and look great.

[Mike]

Something I noticed about the track set is that the pigments are quite gritty, which I suppose makes sense, seeing as what it's supposed to represent

[Mike]

Updated to include Mud & Dust sets

[Mike]

Updated to add Lichen & Moss, Algae, and Burned sets