Selecting acrylics

[Pollitt]

Hi all,

 

So I'm just getting back in to the world of painting model kits but I've come across from the world of table top miniatures. I'm very used to using acrylics because of this and for now would prefer to stay using what I know (acrylics) while I start getting my head around what seems like the apparent minefield of colour accuracy, colour codes, colour matching etc.

 

In the short term however I do want to paint some of the kits I'm working on and have them look acceptable. For my minis I generally use army painter and I'm familiar with Vallejo but for aircraft my current paints are all the wrong tones and colours. I'm looking at both the Vallejo and AK interactive RAF WW2 sets to start with, but I'm mostly painting RAF cold war jets like the Victor and Jaguars at the moment. If I go down this route which would be the better set to go for, both in terms of accuracy and being a better brand to potentially build up with over time as my knowledge and skill improve?

 

Oh, should probably mention that I do also airbrush.

 

Any advice is really appreciated.

[Mike]

There are so many good brands out there, and you've mentioned a few of them.  If you're familiar with Vallejo, see how you get on with them, and AK do some very specific colours, as do AMMO.  Lifecolor have a good range of box sets, Xtracrylix have a fairly wide if stagnant range (no new colours for years).  Gunze are very good, but not a range you can just pop to the shops for because of distribution via the 'net for the most part.  Speak to Martin at air-craft.net if you fancy giving Gunze a go.

 

Paint choice is a fairly personal thing, and you'll get as many saying "I hate XXXXX paints because...." as you get "I love XXXXX because....". A bad experience with a range can colour people's judgement, but it's seldom that a whole range can be written off like that.  Put your feelers out, grab a few tins/bottles of a brand for your next project and see how you go

[Giorgio N]

If you already use acrylics at least you know their quirks, so I'll focus on accuracy here, at least of the ones I know.

I personally don't like Vallejo sets ! Or better, I love Vallejo paints, they are fantastic to use, both the model colour and the model air. Their accuracy however is IMHO not really the best. Some paints are good, some are less so and others are very suspect. Mind, I don't like sets in general, I much prefer buying individual paints. Best way to know if a certain vallejo colour is right ? Ask here ! Some standard colours are actually good matches for RAF colours, even if they are not mentioned as such in their catalogue.

Xtracrylics are maybe the best when it comes to RAF paints, most of their line is made of accurately matched paints. Most, not all unfortunately. Their Medium Sea Grey and IIRC the Barley Grey too have been criticised, so maybe better use alternatives here. Their Sky on the other hand is IMHO great and their Ocean Grey is the one I like the most.

Lifecolor has a wide range of colours and I find them among the easiest acrylics to use. As my local hobby shop carry them I tend to use them quite a lot. All their colours are supposed to be matched, however not all matches are of course accurate. Nothing new here, and as said above for the Vallejo paints, some paints are actually better at reproducing a certain colour than the paint that is supposed to do so... They also have sets, that I never tried (did I mention I don't like sets?). IMHO the RAF colours they offer are not the best, I only use their Dark Earth and their Medium Sea Grey.

Italeri also have a range of acrylics. Now none of their paints is IIRC matched to RAF paints, they are all matched to FS paints. Matches don't look bad to be honest and some of these paints can be useful for RAF types too.

I've heard good things of Hataka paints but I've yet to try them.

I'm leaving Gunze paints for last because they are not the same type of acrylics we've discussed til now. They don't thin well with water and water sure can't be used to clean brushes, they are more like Tamiya's. They have a few RAF colours, some may not be perfect but overall they are quite good. They spray beautifully but I can't use them with a brush, others may have had more success. Nice paints, more forgiving than standard acrylics with an airbrush but need different thinners.

[Ventura11]

Hi Pollit,

I am a brush painter and so I focused on some brands that seemed to me more friendly to my use.

 

Last year I returned to the old passion of RAF/FAA aircrafts of the fifties and sixties and for many reasons I decided to change paints simply switching

from Humbrol enamels to acrylics.

I mainly use Humbrol RAF colours from 163 to 166 and 123 for EDSG and they seems to me a fairly good match.

Using them I have discovered that Humbrols may be not so user friendly  and that  they need flow improver, their proper thinner and some experiments.

Now I am quite happy with them.

 

About other brands

I completely agree with Giorgio about Italeri acrylics.

 

A wide range of paints is available from Agama; they are good paints but I found that their Dark earth and Azure blue are too dark.

I have heard that Agama may be the manufacturer of Xtracrylics.

 

Revell Aqua are easy to use by brush but for me is a nightmare to mix their colours and matching them to the british ones.

I have no experience of alcohol based acrilycs  like Gunze or Tamiya.

 

This is not a great contribution but I hope it may helps.

 

Paolo