Jump to content

Humbrol discontinuing 32 colours


Truro Model Builder

Recommended Posts

I was completing a Humbrol order last week and noticed that 32 separate colours appear to have been dropped from the range, both enamel and acrylic. Essentially they are all the colours that were introduced about three years ago, including all the RLM colours, but there are one or two surprises in there:

36 Matt pastel green
42 Matt violet
44 Matt pastel blue
58 Matt magenta
111 Matt field grey
112 Matt field blue
156 Satin dark camouflage grey
157 Matt azure blue
167 Satin RAF Barley grey
168 Satin hemp
187 Matt dark stone
195 Satin dark green
225 Matt middle stone
230 Matt PRU blue
234 Matt dark flesh
237 Matt desert tan
239 Gloss British racing green
240 Matt RLM 02 grau
241 Matt RLM 70 schwartzgrun
242 Matt RLM 71 dunkelgrun
243 Matt RLM 72 grun
244 Matt RLM 73 grun
245 Matt RLM 74 graugrun
246 Matt RLM 75 grauviolett
247 Matt RLM 76 lichtblau
248 Matt RLM 78 himmelblau
249 Matt RLM 79 sandbraun
250 Matt desert sand
251 Matt RLM 81 dunkelbraun
252 Matt RLM 82 olivgrun
253 Matt RLM 83 dunkelgrun
1325 Clear green
So if you want any, grab them while you can.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ummm, I just checked and all those are still there, and in stock.

No mention anywhere that they are being withdrawn or being done away with.

Where did you get this information?

Were you trying to buy on or after Wednesday? Airfix were doing a warehouse stock taking from Wednesday until today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ummm, I just checked and all those are still there, and in stock.

No mention anywhere that they are being withdrawn or being done away with.

Where did you get this information?

Were you trying to buy on or after Wednesday? Airfix were doing a warehouse stock taking from Wednesday until today.

The 2016 issue trade order forms, as supplied by Hornby Hobbies. Good enough?

Stock will be around for a while; I still have most of them available in the shop, but I would not expect to see any being replenished once they've gone.

Edited by T7 Models
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps they're being corrected rather than withdrawn never to reappear?

I would like to think so but I suspect not. One of the RAF blues was recently corrected if I remember rightly -I seem to recall a lengthy thread on the subject.

The impression I get is that the management at Hornby take a very sales-orientated line; if it don't sell it gets dropped. Seeing that quite a few kits have been removed from the Airfix line up I can well believe it.

Though who is buying enough no.200 gloss pink for it to stay?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can understand the point of view, and it kinda makes sense.

Some modellers pickup whatever they need in dribs and drabs as and when they want it. Brand loyality is not really an issue. I guess a lot of Humbrols sales are from that sort of customers. Having holes in the range is not really an issue.

The other type of customer identifies what works reliably for them, and invests heavily in a particular brand. To get that sort of customer I believe you need to have a comprehensive range with near enough everything your target customer is going to need. The strong sellers subsidise the weaker ones but the discerning modeller will come to you because you have that obscure colour. If your product is technically strong, these customers seem to just get everything they need from that brand thereafter until they're forced to go looking for an obscure colour again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 2016 issue trade order forms, as supplied by Hornby Hobbies. Good enough?

Yup, fair enough.

T'wud be good if H let customers know too.

If it hadn't been for you bringing it to our attention we wouldn't know until it was too late

My LMS chap knew nothing of this yesterday. The paints are still on his order forms or whatever.

I shall have to stock up on some of those paints.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never understand all this Humbrol bashing I think there are a lot of snobbery out there who don't want to buy it because it's a house hold name. Sure Humbrol went through a bad patch about 15 years ago but ive used it all my life enamel and acrylic with no problem at all and seems no different to WEM, Pheonix, xtracolour , revell, etc each paint is different you just got to learn a brands quirks.

I find lighter fluid in Humbrol works a treat :)

Edited by robvulcan
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find lighter fluid in Humbrol works a treat :)

And a match? :wicked:

Sorry, I'll get my :coat: and :handbag:

Christian, exiled to the dark continent, a land without paint

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't have thought that the bad patch was as long as 15 years ago, as it seems to have continued into the era of the RLM colours listed above. However, if you find them much the same as the others you mention, then to me that implies a drop in standards. They used to be better, more pigmented, better for brushing, quicker drying. It was just their choice of colours, and consistency, that let them down when taking a longer view.

As for who is buying gloss pink, I wouldn't know, but Humbrol have a large hobbies/craft market that extends well beyond us plastic-sniffers.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't have thought that the bad patch was as long as 15 years ago, as it seems to have continued into the era of the RLM colours listed above. However, if you find them much the same as the others you mention, then to me that implies a drop in standards. They used to be better, more pigmented, better for brushing, quicker drying. It was just their choice of colours, and consistency, that let them down when taking a longer view.

As for who is buying gloss pink, I wouldn't know, but Humbrol have a large hobbies/craft market that extends well beyond us plastic-sniffers.

I see what you mean. I always noticed a difference in gloss matt and metallics with some pigments being weaker like red yellow white etc but that seems normal across any paint to me.

I tried the new Humbrol RAF Green and some other colours for US Vietnam scheme and they were back how they used to be 20 years ago nice colours well pigmented and brushing beautifully I love em :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never understand all this Humbrol bashing I think there are a lot of snobbery out there who don't want to buy it because it's a house hold name. Sure Humbrol went through a bad patch about 15 years ago but ive used it all my life enamel and acrylic with no problem at all and seems no different to WEM, Pheonix, xtracolour , revell, etc each paint is different you just got to learn a brands quirks.

I find lighter fluid in Humbrol works a treat :)

For the very reason that Humbrol is a household and it was the only model paint that I ever used for years, is perhaps sentimentally why I would prefer to use it. But when you have thoroughly stirred the enamel ,, applied it to your model, and then it just sits there for days not drying and gathering dust,then its too late to search for remedy's apart from stripping it all off with some nasty solution.,and starting again. The problem I have found is that I never know what tin this is going to happen with until its too late. So therefore I find Humbrol an unreliable paint and regrettably dont use it any more.

Its all about useing a product you feel confident with, for me that is Tamiya , and Vallejo model color for brushing.,.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

T7 : some of the paints you've listed are also available in spray cans. eg. 237 & 239. Are these being deleted as well?

I'll not presume anything but ask you who has the list to hand to read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of those colours didn't make it across the Channel to stockists where I live, so I suppose I cannot miss what I never had. Even so, I am surprised to see several RAF colours go, as well as the Luftwaffe ones.

The colour callouts for the Airfix Victor at the end of the year should be interesting.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for who is buying gloss pink, I wouldn't know, but Humbrol have a large hobbies/craft market that extends well beyond us plastic-sniffers.

Katie Price?

Sean

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't have thought that the bad patch was as long as 15 years ago, as it seems to have continued into the era of the RLM colours listed above. However, if you find them much the same as the others you mention, then to me that implies a drop in standards. They used to be better, more pigmented, better for brushing, quicker drying. It was just their choice of colours, and consistency, that let them down when taking a longer view.

As for who is buying gloss pink, I wouldn't know, but Humbrol have a large hobbies/craft market that extends well beyond us plastic-sniffers.

FAB I's paint mechanic.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

111 & 112 are supposed to be for WW1 uniforms. Odd they're deleting those when Airfix are issuing a special Somme Battle gift set in the summer.

237 is for the Operation Herrick equipment. I suppose as Airfix are deleting those there is no longer a need to keep producing that paint - now.

But a lot of kits hang around for a long time - as we all know, and to try finding discontinued paints or similar colours years later is a real pain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel quite disappointed with this. In Belgium, Humbrol and Revell are the only enamels readily available.

Still I must say that I have problems with some of their paints (all with numbers above 200) and I have been asking myself what brand to try next ( I had to sand down my first kit after a very uneven result with nr. 242 - uneven colour and gritty spots).

Also, when airbrushing at 20 psi, 2 inches far, and thinning at a ratio of 1/3 - 2/3 with white-spirit their US interior green nr. 226 is drying before it reaches the plastic (????) . I tried different thinners - to no avail. To be fair, many other colours are working real fine.

I can't see logic to their decision, as to get a full range of replacements (I don't like mixing colours) you would have to change for another brand, mostly acrylics, so they mainly weaken their strong position in the enamels market (but are we still that many to use them?) . I am thinking of giving Gunze Hobby color acrylics a try (H58 to match RLM71 I think) as they seem to be well quoted.

32 is quite a large part of the range, could it be a sign of a move towards "acrylics only" (well they bin acrylics too, but I'm not the "see no evil" type)?

Edited by PattheCat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...