dhdove Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Hi All I'm just coming to the end of a pot of Vallejo 70.989 Sky Grey which I have been using on my Cold War US Navy jet builds. I initially researched this as the best match? However I find this paint tends to spit and blotch from my spray gun and is not as easy to work with as Tamiya (brilliant) and Revell Aqua Color (very impressed). NB the blotching is probably due to my ignorance re thinning (too little?) and spray pressure (I'm a novice airbrush user) but..... ....I'm keen to find an alternative. My short list is:- Revell 76 light grey Matt Revell 371 light grey silk Tamiya XF20 medium grey (too dark?) Tamiya XF19 sky grey I really don't want to mix colours, just decant, thin and spray! I was so impressed with my first pot of Revell Aqua Color I hope one of these may do the job? Any advice please? Thanks in advance guys. TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Personally, I swear by Xtracolour from Hannants (X137). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 Hi Graham Xtracolour is enamel isn't it? I spray indoors and only spray acrylics......thanks anyway :-) TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 IPMS Stockholm guide says 1 part XF-2 and 1 part XF-20. I use Gunze H325, sprays as well (might even be better IMHO) as Tamiya.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 No problem, Xtracrylix X1137! (Why won't it let me post the link? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Graham I've reviewed Xtracolour acrylics on line and there seem to be complaints about "geological" drying times? Have you had any problems? Bonhoff Gunze sangyo sounds good......sprays better than Tamiya.....really? I'm impressed. Any further thoughts anyone? Thanks so much TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Graham I've reviewed Xtracolour acrylics on line and there seem to be complaints about "geological" drying times? Have you had any problems? Bonhoff Gunze sangyo sounds good......sprays better than Tamiya.....really? I'm impressed. Any further thoughts anyone? Thanks so much TonyS I'm really an enamels user (mainly Xtracolour, hence my earlier post). however I have tried Xtracrylix on a few occasions & not noticed this issue; possibly you're thinking of Xtracolour which is almost "legendary" when it comes to drying time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 With regard to Xtracrylix, their problem is drying too fast, specifically as build-up on the needle tip. However, if you thin with either their thinner, or Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner (not the thinner), they spray like a dream. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 My favourites are the already mentioned Gunze H325 (yes, they do spray beautifully !) and Lifecolor's UA25. The lifecolor paint is maybe the lightest of the various interpretations of this colour by hobby paint companies, personally I find it very good for 1/72 models Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Thanks everyone. I've ordered a couple of bottles of the Gunze Sangyo 325. TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 One thing I found with the Gunze is that when it's first laid down it looks a little bit on the brown side, but dries grey so don't panic if it looks odd at first. I also used tamiya thinner as that's what I had to hand. Think my Humbrol Authentic I used 30 years ago exhibited similar behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 (edited) One thing I found with the Gunze is that when it's first laid down it looks a little bit on the brown side, but dries grey so don't panic if it looks odd at first. I also used tamiya thinner as that's what I had to hand. Think my Humbrol Authentic I used 30 years ago exhibited similar behaviour. FS 36440 actually has a slight brownish tinge, IMHO the gunze paint reproduces this well Edited September 29, 2014 by Giorgio N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 (edited) UPDATE - Swatch...... Hi all Well my Mr colour 325 arrived and just for fun I thought I'd do a comparison, of course it's impossible for me to show you the colours accurately as white balance problems will prevent me from showing you any true colours and who knows what colour balance your screen is set to! My own pictures varied a lot dependent upon whether they were taken indoors/outdoors, overcast sunny artificial light etc. etc. etc (no I don't intend to take any grey card balanced, kelvin calibrated DSLR pics, these were shot on the IPad......) So, just for fun, of the pics I took here's the one which seems to represent the colours most accurately as I see them, taken outdoors in warm sunshine, all hand painted onto Tamiya Fine surface grey primer on the back of my palette, the surface curves (convex) give an idea of colour change as the light falls on them. Whilst I realise they won't be true colours on your screen I think there are clear differences in light/dark and shading which should be apparent....... Here's the colour code..... US Navy Light Gull Grey 1 Vellejo 154 (70.989) Sky grey (the colour I have been using to date) 2 Mr colour 325 gray FS26440 3 Revell Aqua colour 76 light grey Matt 4 Revell Aqua colour 371 light grey Silk 5 Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey 6 Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey The differences are very apparent. The Vallejo is a grey colour, ie black plus white, the Mr colour 325 has a very distinct green/brown tint - almost looking duck egg green in some lights, the Revell 76 light grey is very similar to the Vallejo but certainly a couple of shades darker and is LOVELY paint, TBH I might go with that! The two Tamiyas are in there for reference, XF-19 is'nt too far off? Though XF-20 isn't close, way too brown? but you may recognise them and be able to get an idea of the tint on your screen? I'm very surprised at the huge difference between the Vallejo and the Mr colour which I thought were both thought to represent US Navy Light Gull Grey. .....without having an aeroplane in front of me painted in the genuine US colour who knows??? And that not accounting for weathering, paint production variations etc. etc. etc........ Anyway I hope you enjoyed that bit of fun, any thoughts? TonyS Edited October 6, 2014 by dhdove 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Thanks for sharing, interesting comparison ! If I may comment, of all the paints you've tested only the Gunze is actually meant to represent grey FS 36440. The Vallejo paint is listed as the closest match in a number of conversion charts, but when it was introduced it was just meant as a generic light grey. This is true of most Vallejo paints, very few of them are matched to paints actually used on aircrafts. Revell paints are either generic or matched to the RAL colour system. Revell 371 is matched to RAL 7035 (useful for postwar luftwaffe and other european users!), not sure if 76 is matched to RAL or a generic one. Tamiya has only relatively recently produced properly matched paints and most of their older ones were just generic. The two you tested fall into this cathegory. For the reasons above, it's not a surprise that the paints you compared showed such differences: only one of them is made to represent the colour you need, the others may be similar but are meant to be something else. Which is best to use ? Depends on how close you feel they are to the real paint, including any scale effect if you believe in this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 Thanks Giorgio Interesting info. I'll go with the Gunze/Mr Color on my next kit and well see how it turns out. I do have MrColor levelling thinners and apparently it works beautifully together thru an airbrush, so we'll see. (Next up 1/48 Italeri Skyhawk.) TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 With regard to Xtracrylix, their problem is drying too fast, specifically as build-up on the needle tip. However, if you thin with either their thinner, or Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner (not the thinner), they spray like a dream.Yes thin with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and they spray well and don't dry too quickly. Julien 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 You say you only spray acrylics, Mr Color level thinners is lacquer based, so if your using this to thin the Gunze be aware that's just as bad as using enamel paints really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 You say you only spray acrylics, Mr colour level thinners is lacquer based, so if your using this to thin the Gunze be aware that's just as bad as using enamel paints really. That's a good point. I bought the levelling thinners to remove Tamiya filler immediately after application to save on rubbing down. It does smell quite "high". Time to buy a 3M vapour mask I think..... ....good advice, well taken, thank you. TonyS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 UPDATE I went with the Mr Colour and here is my first effort..... http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234971009-italeri-148-douglas-a-4efg-skyhawk/ Thanks to all for your advice TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Nice one ! And the paint scheme IMHO looks totally right 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhdove Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Thanks for that Giorgio, much appreciated. BTW everyone I bought one of these..... http://www.3mdirect.co.uk/06941-3m-maintenance-free-reusable-respirator-1-respirator-1.html To spray the Mr Color, never even got as much of a hint of a whiff! Highly Reccomended.. TonyS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyel Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Anyway I hope you enjoyed that bit of fun, any thoughts? I enjoyed that bit of fun. I am going to use vallejo sky grey for my tomcat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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