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AKAN paints?


Paul Wagner

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According to Airfix Model World the importer is Linden Hill - www.lindenhillimports.com

That's exactly where I got onto them. Have been browsing the website - there's a LOT of colours on there, so it'll take time to sort through exactly what I need. But I was hoping someone had given them a go....

Paul

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For the European based modellers there's another reliable as cheap AKAN paint source: Armory in the Ukraine.

http://armory.in.ua/index.php?cPath=41_259

http://armory.in.ua/index.php?language=en&...40a94f9e7fd0023

You create your account and send your order. A few hours or days later your receive a Paypal payment request. Delivery time: +/- 7 days.

Also a delight for stamps collectors. :lol:

akanarmorypack.jpg

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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I have used them. Armory didn't have the set I wanted so I went to Linden Hill, they weren't cheap.... TBH I have placed two 'orders' from Armory and they have just been sitting in limbo every since, so I won't be using them again.

Anyhow, they spray quite nicely, but do dry on the tip more than Tamiya, from memory more like Lifecolour, I thinned mine slightly with water. My understanding is they aren't as accurate a set of colours as they try to make out, the SU-33 set especially would appear to be not particularly accurate, which is annoying as I have bought some.... I used their Mig-29 colours for this:

P1020589.jpg

P1020593.jpg

P1020594.jpg

Cheers

Ian

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My understanding is they aren't as accurate a set of colours as they try to make out, the SU-33 set especially would appear to be not particularly accurate, which is annoying as I have bought some

Ian

I have just finished the Hasegawa Su-33 using the AKAN paint set for it - see my post under Ready for Inspection... here

They spray on beautifully - I used Isopropanol to thin them, but water works just as well.

The Su-33 AKAN paints have been matched to an actual Su-33, so they are a perfect match - the trouble is, the Su-33 has recently been upgraded and has had a re-paint, so the AKAN colours don't match the new scheme - as I found to my cost on the Sea Flanker.

Use them with confidence - just don't use the Su-33 set on a current version.

I used a combination of AKAN Su-27 Medium Grey - with two of the other colours from the AKAN Su-33 set - and then I had to darken it with Tamiya Smoke - with disastrous results...... :wall:

Nothing wrong with paints - just the Su-33 colours.

Ken

Edited by Flankerman
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The Su-33 AKAN paints have been matched to an actual Su-33, so they are a perfect match - the trouble is, the Su-33 has recently been upgraded and has had a re-paint, so the AKAN colours don't match the new scheme - as I found to my cost on the Sea Flanker.

Ah, excellent, I misread your build as the colours weren't accurate at all. That's a relief. :)

Cheers

ian

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Ah, excellent, I misread your build as the colours weren't accurate at all. That's a relief. :)

Cheers

ian

I think they match the Su-33 on some of the earlier Kuznetsov cruises - when they were quite dark.

Check out photos before you use is all I would say.

Ken

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  • 3 weeks later...

When we speak about AKAN paints, I am not sure about non-Russian colors... but Russian colors are almost dead match.All Rusian paints were produced by sampling the original parts or color chips with spectrometer and then reproduced. You will see that, in case when they couldn't get the "fresh" paint they have sampled the old color from aircraft parts and they have them in their line as "faded" colors, but they don't have it as the original freshly painted color. In their Russian line, they have only paints they have managed to sample directly from the part or they managed to get original paint or paint chip.

Edited by bungynik
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  • 9 months later...

Be careful what you're buying from Akan. Many of the colors are "pre faded" - or in other words, they don't match the original. Aeromaster's attempt at that was an utter failure almost 20 years ago, and I wish Akan wouldn't do it now. If I want my colors faded I'll do it myself. Their paints remove the ability to do a freshly applied factory paint scheme.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a number of their acrylics, and they definitely do the "pre-faded" thing, i.e., some colors are matched to samples of faded paint. Their radiotransparent green is one that immediately comes to mind.

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I defiantly agree with you "Procopius" but where faded effect exist it is mentioned in color description.

Most of their colors don't have the faded effect (also not mentioned in color description).

I don't really know why they produce colors with "faded" but I will try to find out from the Russian forums.

We need always to check correctly the color description and this is my advice (I speak and read Russian and it is easy for me in a way)

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I'm not getting into a debate about whether they should or should not have faded colours - but to be strictly accurate, if you are building a model of an operational MiG-23/MiG-29/Su-27 etc, you should have both versions - faded and unfaded.

That's because at most operational airfield dispersals, the aircraft were 'put to bed' with a 'bag' over the front fuselage and canopy - so the front half tended to have brighter colours than the rest of the airframe, being less faded.

day02_01.jpg

day02_05.jpg

day02_08.jpg

day02_10.jpg

Even the Tu-95MS had individual bags for each engine - including the props.....

day02_15.jpg

It's a minor point - but one worth making.

Ken

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I suppose a canvas cover is cheaper than building a hangar!

From what I have seen, most Soviet/Russian airfields are vast areas hidden from lateral view by forrestation with acres of dispersed revetments linked by taxiways.

The aircraft are all exposed to the elements - and are built accordingly.

In some videos you can see the groundcrew sweeping snow off the aircraft before the days flying starts!! - that's the way they operate.

Ken

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I've seen this same sort of thing done with GPW Shturmoviks. Sometimes they didn't paint the noses in the winter camouflage because they were covered on the ground anyway with the tarpaulins. For the Shturmoviks, it protected the engines somewhat from the ravages of the Russian winter.

Regards,

Jason

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No issue for any debate, and the optimum is to have both versions (faded and un-faded) as you said.

I will check the Russian forums to find more info and if possible will ask AKAH directly why they are producing faded colors.

Thomas

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