sapperastro

Hi all, I was browsing through Hobbylink Japan online, when I ran across these https://www.hlj.com/vic-acrylic-colors-scc-15-olive-green-vihvicma102 https://www.hlj.com/search/?q=vic+acrylic First time I have seen them. Has anyone tried these Japanese paints before?

If you get lazy, I have used JSDF Olive Drab from the Tamiya range, and after dusty weathering it looks ok. Humbrol 253 is another one of my "close enough" picks for SCC15.

Hello all, I have been busily searching for decently priced kits of the "lost" Matchbox 1/76 army kits/dioramas, and they are getting very scarce. I of course refer to those kits that either didn't make the leap to Revell, or did, but have since been lost (1 kit). Those kits are the Panzer III, sdkfz 232 radio car, Panther, and finally the Stuart Honey, which was released by Revell in a kit stamped as 1/72 scale that also included a set of Matchbox soldiers. This Stuart has not been seen since, and my attempts at emailing and asking Revell directly (on more than one occasion) have met with silence, and other modellers from around the world have told me the tooling is kaput, so I assume the tooling is lost (if anybody knows different, I am all ears). Now this might seem like a far out suggestion, but does anyone here think it is possible, using sprues from unused kits, that these lost treasures could be re constituted? I know there might be legal issues (from who I don't know. I guess some entity owns the "idea" of them somewhere), but just treating this as a thought exercise, could this be a possibility? Has anyone looked into 3D printing of polystyrene for modelling yet?

I have used Humbrol 116, Humbrol 163, Revell 68, Model Master RAF dark green, and Tamiya 81. All of them have been good enough for me.

For standard paints, Revell Aqua have the best metallic paints in my experience.

They are still available in Asia. The way the modelling business works (probably worldwide) is that there are one or two importers in each country. Those importers decide what will be available for hobby shops to stock. The excuses for no 23ml bottles in Aus has been usually "they were too expensive, and nobody wanted to buy them". I used to be able to still get them from Hong Kong model shops, but they have started refusing to ship them since the pandemic hit. If you want to see the range, go and have a look at the Tamiya online catalogue. It shows the complete range of paints included in the 23ml range, which does not include many of the new colours.

I stumbled across this news post, and the first picture got my attention straight away. https://asiatimes.com/2021/03/myanmar-military-flexes-and-preens-amid-a-bloodbath/ Lloyd carriers, Comet tanks, Dingoes, Humber armoured cars...all with white walled tyres! I was wondering, are these part of a 'historical walkthrough'? or is their military actually this outdated?

I mainly use enamels. I don't understand what some people are doing to the Revell enamel, because I get a very nice finish with it (it does dry too quickly, so needs a touch more thinner when working with it). Same with Colourcoats. Same with Tamiya enamel. Same with old Humbrol, and New new Humbrol after their bad period. As someone said here earlier, experiences vary. I see others using paint I hate and getting wonderful finishes, and vice versa. Yes, enamel takes a while to dry, but the results I get are worth it, to me. On top of this, the new enamels smell much less than the old, and because I use water based turps to wash my gear out with, I don't have to worry about the stench of mineral turps either! Enamel is an oldie, but a goldie. Out of the acrylics, I can use Tamiya with a brush, though I find it dries a LOT quicker than the old tubs I have from the early 80s. Nothing a little retarder doesn't fix. Same goes for GSI Creos (Gunze aqueous, or whatever they call it over there). Revell Aqua is pretty good, as is the new new Humbrol acrylic. But the only acrylic I found that could possibly take the crown from enamels for me was Pollyscale. That stuff was incredible paint to use, so easy to get a good finish it was ridiculous. Too bad they discontinued it....

Talk about jealous. There was one acrylic paint I almost gave up enamel for, and it was Polly scale. What a paint, and what a pack of idiots for canceling it. I second the motion that the formula has to be out there somewhere, nothing water based ever came close. Enjoy it while you have it mate.

We have Xtracolor here in Aus? I remember they were being imported years ago, and then vanished. Same with the Xtracrylix. Who is getting them these days?

I still find it hilarious that Airfix bring out new models that have Humbrol 157 Azure blue in the painting instructions...Someone didn't let them know they discontinued that paint? (after Humbrol actually made a pretty spot on version at the end). Good thing Colourcoats still reaches these shores.

Thanks Gav, What balls do you use in them? I have never really gotten many dropper bottle paints before, so what type and size do you normally get?

Is the top easy to get off for stirring?

Also, try warming your spraycans. immerse them halfway in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 15 minutes or so. I find this also improves the experience.

Hello all, I know plenty of people in the UK didn't use it, but Testors has killed off the Model Master brand, along with all of the paint lines, etc. I am especially annoyed, because it was one of the few acrylic brands I could get an excellent finish with using a brush. Testors killed an even greater brush paint, Polly Scale, some years back, so the company hasn't impressed me in some ways, but their acrylic was almost as good when I used it. And looking back a decade or so ago, Model Master seemed to be everywhere. It has suffered a pretty savage decline recently, mostly through own goals like reformulating the enamel line, killing colour lines and generally being silly. It seemed to accelerate once Rustoleom bought Testors, so the suits were only after the almighty dollar, and it showed over time. Strangely enough, I never used the enamels all that often. They never seemed to have a colour I couldn't get from Humbrol or one of the other enamel paints, so I never bothered with them. But by all accounts, most of the tears being shed over in the US seem to be about the loss of the enamel paint. Guess Humbrol and Colourcoats will be happy campers.

Late to the party, but oh well. I have had this happen before with a few colours from the last of the Chinese Humbrol enamels. I would be surprised if you managed to get one of those in flat black only four years ago though, as 33 flat black usually are one of the first to sell out. Second, I never use the humbrol thinner in the newer UK tins. I have had too many problems with skinning, weird behaviour, etc. I have successfully thinned the UK enamels with Colourcoats thinner in the tins, and then use the humbrol enamel thinner when I am thinning them out of the tin. Weird? Yep. Works without destroying or causing problems with the paint in the tin? So far yes, and I have been doing this for a number of years now. God the crap we enamel users sometimes have to go through haha

Good to see insurance companies are the same calibre half a world away.... Needless to say, our insurance has just went through the roof (pardon the pun) even though we haven't had any fires near here for over 10 years. I feel sorry for all the other people though. There is talk that quite a few homes will be essentially uninsurable for anyone that doesn't have a top income in many areas.

Just out of interest, is there a full list of aircraft type and theatre of where they operated, that this colour was applied to?

To be fair, the Humbrol acrylic paint in the new 18 ml bottles is not grainy. Those in the smaller, round bottles was grainy rubbish. you just have to make sure it is the new stuff you are getting, which means asking for it if you buy online.

This is interesting. I didn't know they existed. I know whenever I search for Airfix enamel on ebay these days, all I get is masses of Humbrol 'Airfix' paint coming up. Annoying to say the least.

Thanks chaps, Tamiya just throws their spray can codes at you and moves on. My first preference of paint is Enamel, followed by acrylic. I don't use lacquers as the thinning agent for them seems to destroy my brain and give me a migraine from hell, even with mask, extractor, etc. I also like to have a paint I can brush with as well. I will hassle out the local Colourcoats seller here and see whats cooking regarding restocks, and after I get an answer I will see what happens after that. Regarding the Model master paints; I actually have better results with their acrylic than enamel (though this wasn't the case years ago before they changed their enamel formula). If worst comes to worst, I will see if I can mix up some paints from my current enamel stocks and go for tone rather than exact colours. I have done that before, and weathering usually hides the sins well. Thanks again everyone.

Hello all, I was afraid it would come to this. While I love using Colourcoats paint, sometimes the wait for new paints to come in stock here is unbearable. I am still waiting for a couple of colours that have been on order for 4 months...haha. The information regarding the 4th tone is a godsend though. Does anyone know what the outer undersides of the corsair wings were painted? Was it the intermediate? Or the '4th' blue? Thanks again guys. This place is always a goldmine of information and helpfulness.

Hello all and merry christmas, I have been given a Tamiya 1/48 corsair as a present. Looks like a nice kit. Now, the only problem being that I have never covered this scheme before, so am slightly baffled by which colours to use. I usually use Humbrol as a backstop, with Revell and Model master available too. I am guessing white is the main underside colour, with a H 144 intermediate blue in the middle, but what about that very dark blue colour on top? Oxford blue looks a little too red? 77 Navy blue? 112 field blue? Model master has colours labelled as the correct blues, so that is a possibility, but I would have to order them... Revell is pretty weak in the blue department, and there doesn't seem to be anything worthy there. So, if anyone has suggestions, preferably using the above ranges, but I am willing to listen to others so long as they are not lacquer paints. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

It is lacquer in a spray can that has been decanted, so it requires lacquer thinner for thinning.

It would be ts spray. Methylated spirits, or denatured alcohol will do it.