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Encyclopaedia Acrylica


John

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It's the best part of 30 years since acrylic paints arrived on the scale model-making scene. Magazines like Scale Models had published articles on using artist’s acrylic colours but it was the arrival of the Tamiya range that signaled the start of the acrylic revolution, in the UK at least.

Since then many manufacturers have had a go at an acrylic range. Some, like Tamiya, have endured while others, like Aeromaster, have come and gone. Some, like Humbrol, have gone through several distinct formulations over the years. Acrylics have many benefits to the modeller but each of them has their own idiosyncrasies. For example some spray well while others are better for hand brushing. Some will happily thin with water, others need alcohol.

Bearing this in mind I thought it might be a good idea to establish a resource of our experiences of each range so that we will know what to expect if we pick up a colour from a range we haven’t used before, or to give us a place to store information and knowledge of new ranges as they become available.

What do you think?

John

Edited by John
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Sounds like a good idea, I recently started making notes on how my various acrylic reacted to other paints, solvents etc, it would be really useful to see a table compiled of whats work how and with what

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I'm just starting over with acrylics and airbrush. I tried the brands that are locally available, Humbrol, Tamyia and Revell.

I found some of the Humbrol ones a little weak (soft) once cured, and Tamyia needs to be thinned with alcohol... I don't mind spraying with a thinner, but prefer something I could brush with water.

So I went with Revell and thus far have had no problems.

But I have noticed that in discussion here, Revell seldom gets mentioned? Am I missing something?

*Honestly, I have not really had any problems with Tamyia or Humbrol either! I have also got some Agama acrylics which seem okay too.

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OK it's vallejo for me very easy to mix and spray with a fine smooth satin finish , they can be delicate though . The primer is excellent if a bit dark , the brand I had trouble with was lifecolour seamed to mix to thick or like water with no middle ground

Edited by Fisk
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This is a good idea. I would like to suggest that somebody would make something like a conversion list for acrylics. I have tried to stop using enamels as far as I can, but some stuff is really hard. As an example, all "authentic" colours like the WEM line of navy colours are in enamel only. It makes my live difficult.

I have tried a few different brands.

Vallejo - Very good, especially since the are decent to brush as well as excellent to airbrush.

Tamiya - Good for airbrushing. Worthless for brushing, IMHO.

Gunze - Wonderful to airbrush. Worthless for brushing.

Agama - Good for airbrushing. Not worth brushing.

Citadel - Not as good as Gunze or Tamiya to airbrush, but a lot better for brushing.

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In my experience the Humbrol/Revell/Citadel are good for brushing

they all have similar properties in terms of consistency, flow on finish

they all thin well with water. I would guess that the type of medium the pigments are mixed with are very similar

i have found these brands very compatible

Tamiya as mentioned is tricky to brush on

sadly i have no experience with Vallejo and have no desire to start another paint range collection

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just throwing in my 2p worth...

Citadel..great for brushing

Tamiya..depends on the colour...never got a very good finish with their Sky or Whites..but all the rest seem ok by brush

Revell..FANTASTIC...their silver is the only one that looks good, brushed from the pot!

not tried any others, nor do i airbrush (yet!..but thats gonna change real soon!!)

hope that helps someone.

steve

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My experiences

Xtracrylix - Excellent Range - Brush well - can clog AB frequently especially in hotter conditions, thin with water or their own thinner (preferred)

Vallejo Model Color - Good Range - Brush extremely well - thin with water

Vallejo Model Air - Good Range - Brush well - AB well - already come pre thinned- Metallics are especially good

Tamiya - Aircraft colours need some mixing - AB a treat - thin with own thinners or cellulose thinner - dry matt which is good for very laying on a very thin post shade

Gunze - Good Range - AB a treat - thin with own levelling thinners or cellulose thinner - dry satin, have to be careful to avoid runs when post shading on top of base coat

mr surfacer 1200 thinned with levelling thinner is the best primer I have used. Alclad primer straight from the tin is almost as good.

Alclad - excellent metallics - AB well straight from bottle - follow instructions on bottle for how to spray and you can't go wrong.

Edited by gcn
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I must agree about the Vallejo acrylics;

Model Air, very good for airbrushing, they can be used straight out of the bottle with no thinning.

Model Colour, for A/B work they need to be thinned with water, brush well, for the best results when brushing it is recomended that you thin them with water and apply 3 or 4 thin coats.

The place where I get mine from, good price, very good postal rates and very quick delivery is SnM Stuff.

SnM stuff linkie

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Lifecolor range - thin with tap water, none toxic, beautiful matt finish - quite durable compared to Vallejo Air. Brush paint beautifully too.

I agree about Lifecolor, but they really don't like alcohol-based thinners!

John

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I agree about Lifecolor, but they really don't like alcohol-based thinners!

John

Yep, mine turned to porridge in my airbrush!.. yuk, great for air work with water though and brush nicely too, need a couple of thin coats

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  • 1 year later...

I love Lifecolour....thin with tepid water, covers very well, but does not adhere too well to Tamiya extra fine primer. Seems to stick to neat, clean plastic like the proverbial to a blanket. Will mask well, and to date, I've not had any lift after masking with Tamiya tape.

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As a hand-brusher, I can't speak highly enough of Revell acrylics. They don't have all the shades one needs for RAF/RN standard colours, but boy, do they cover well. The generic colours like Black and the metallics are hard to beat. I find hand-brushing varnishes a real minefield, but the Revell "Farblos" varnishes perform nearly every time.

Honorable mention for the new Humbrol range as well; despite the fact that my LHS in Bristol steadfastly fails to stock them, I am a real convert. They generally benefit from thinning, but thin readily with water. They also cut down on the toxic fumes, which is a real boon. The years I spent mixing enamels in a poorly-ventilated bedroom have left me with chronic catarrh, and I have no desire to further damage my life expectancy!

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I must agree that the Revell aqua range seems to be overlooked quite a bit.

They brush cover very well and they airbrush pretty good to, just a shame about the lack of colours.

P.S Revell's Dark Earth and Dark Green (WW2 RAF) are very good..

But I must say that I tend to stick to either Tamiya or Gunze for airbrushing, and revell for brush painting.

Tony

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I too like the Revell range. Their metallics are very good when painted or airbrushed.

Robert

I can't get the Revell acrylic range locally but it sounds like it may be worth tracking some down.

John

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  • 1 month later...

I have around 10 revell aqua colors.

I like them a lot. They smell nice & sweet :) Dry fast! once dry they are very STRONG! In the tin they are quite thick so you need to thin them a lot. If i need SOME thinning i use water, but if i thin a lot, say 50/50 i use Klear. Klear mixes with them very well- better than water. Too much water & it will have too much surface tension and you get beading when spraying. I also thin them with the 'revel aqua clean'- it breaks down the paint really well when mixing.

When ready i clean with water & soap. Dry paint with a FEW drops of aqua clean, brush, wet the dry areas, and rub with brush and it all melts off. Leave some in the airbrush to soften dry paint then spray away. Ive been using the same bottle of cleaner for months and its not even half empty! It also removes enamel..

I usually also add a drop of artists retarder just in case.

Regards brushing i cant really say, havnt experimented much. You must thin it well. If you have too much water it will not stay where you brush it and crinkle up since plastic is water phobic. hence i use Klear or the cleaner.

The paint tins are a bit big, but stack up nice and if it topples over it doesn roll! Just once thing.. the paint in the pot gets polluted with dried paint that has dried on the cap really easily! They can be messy when closing them :confused:

:cheers:

Edited by AdriaN (MLT)
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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 years later...

Given the recent discussions on enamel vs acrylic, it might be time to move this up again. The original idea was for acrylic users to share their opinions, hints and tips on the various acrylic brands on the market - all acrylics are not created equal!

Let me weigh in with some thoughts on Humbrol acrylics, which sometimes come in for a bit of criticism. I use them extensively. They can be thinned with water, Tamiya thinner or their own proprietary thinner. Tamiya thinner can make them dry too quickly for me though.

I wouldn't brush paint them straight from the pot, what you get in there is essentially a "concentrate", but a few drops of your chosen thinning agent makes them flow and self-level nicely. The yellow on the nose of this FW190 is one coat of Humbrol acrylic yellow:
FW33_zps78eb3004.jpg
The camouflage is 2 thinned coats of the new acrylic Luftwaffe greys:
FW28_zpsa94934c4.jpg

They are also well pigmented, and when diluted with Tamia thinner they produce a nice wash which holds its colour well. The darker green on this Bedford is 116 thinned as needed with Tamiya thinner and the “dust” is well thinned 237 Light Stone:
MWD57_zpsilde5jf0.jpg

John

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John,

Good idea, here's my tuppence worth - for what it is worth.

1. Vallejo Modelcolor

- great to brush;

- can thin it with own thinners and is equally good to airbrush when thinned properly(works best with own thinners, but Ultimate Thinners good too)

- can be delicate until fully cured

- hates IPA with a vengeance as it turns to gloop.

2. Lifecolor

- great to brush

- older formulation can be brushed onto unprimed material

- more robust than Vallejo but still delicate until fully cured

- airbrushes well if thinned with own thinners or Ultimate Thinners.

3. Tamiya

- lousy to brush

- stinks

- airbrushes well when thinned with own thinners, Ultimate Thinners, IPA and just about everything else

- more robust than Vallejo or Lifecolor

4. Humbrol

- waste of time, and money.

Best Wishes,

Will

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