Just tried out some Revell enamel paint.

[sapperastro]

I recently bought 8 tins of Revell enamel, of various colours, from a hobby shop that had some on sale. The last time I tried this paint was in the 80s, and all I remember at the time was that it was ok, but not as good as Humbrol, and didn't bother buying any more. All of those old tins dried up over the years.

 

First of all, all of the tins I bought recently are of a good consistency. Not too thick or thin, and coverage is generally good. Wow. Not one duff tin. Not used to that with enamels these days, except when I buy colourcoats. They have a mild smell for an enamel too. I will also add that I tried spraying them, and they spray well, very well...how about that?

 

There are a few bad points though.The tin lids are weak, and bend very easily when prying off the lid. I get this occasionally with Humbrol, and never with colourcoats, so lets hope this doesn't lead to a lack of longevity in the tin. I would not recommend keeping the lid off these paints for long periods. Stir, and decant what you need then clean and replace the lid, as they seem to also dry very quickly for an enamel. So, if you are painting very small details, then unthinned should be fine, but don't try to paint even slightly larger areas unthinned, otherwise you will get brush mark city. This stuff reminds of Tamiya enamel in that way; you can get a great result, but don't think you are using old Humbrol here. Thin it or weep.

 

Of course, the Revell Colour chart also comes into play. 88 colours, including Matt, satin (silk as Revell calls it), and Gloss, Metals, and a few transparent colours. They are named in a literal fashion, apart from a few like Sky and RAF Dark Earth and RAF Dark Green, all of which are quite passable for the subjects they are named for. Plenty of utility colours, near matches, and surprising great matches. Finding them is the pain, and you will find that asking other users, pilfering from the instruction download section on Revell Germanys website, and experience will be the factors to mixes and finding the perfect matches among the pedestrian named paints. I know this because i have quite a stable of Revell Aqua paints, which are very, very good acrylic paints.

 

I thinned mine successfully with Humbrol enamel thinner, Colourcoats enamel thinner and Tamiya X-20 enamel thinner. They seem to be pretty easygoing in this area. I haven't used the Revell 'Color Mix' enamel thinner though.

 

What has surprised me is just how good they are. Everywhere I look, people seem to be bagging them out, but all of the 8 tins I purchased, which seem to come from different batches looking at the two different label styles, are all consistent, and all work quite well. If you work in enamels, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend picking them up, and it is nice to come across another enamel paint that is decent to use. The only complaint I have seen leveled at them which I am unable to comment on is longevity in the tin. Some seem to complain that they dry out within a year. Whether this is user sloppiness in not cleaning the tin lids/necks, or painting direct from the tin and letting the thinner evaporate while doing so, an issue with the Revell paints/tins themselves or a combination, I am yet to see.

 

Anyway, I won't bore you further. I was just quite happy after trying this old dark horse that everyone seemed to write off, and finding it a quite pleasant experience. Finding a new (to me since the last few decades) addition to the enamel stable, that (so far) works really well, is for sale locally, is a rare event these days. Just thought I would share my thoughts with you.

 

 

Update: Okay, it has been a couple of years now since I posted this. A few more points on Revell Enamel.

 

They still work great overall, so long as they are thinned. They can dry very quickly though so keep an eye on your paint! Don't let them become too thick while using them

 

None have dried out in the tin. All are fine, even those that have been more than half used.

 

Metallic colours. Have I gotten a bad batch? The two Revell metal paints I have tried (99 and 91) are both TERRIBLE. The pigment doesn't seem to be mixing with the base, and it is very strange. The labels seem to be the latest type on the tins, so they are new. I am not used to enamel metal paints being bad, but it seems there is a first time. If anyone has experience with the Revell metallic paints let me know if I somehow just bought two bad tins (of different colours?....). Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by sapperastro

[Caerbannog]

Living in Germany Revell paints are the ones you easily get. Any other brand is only mail order or proper hobby stores (of which are only a few left). Most of the enamels are really good for spraying and brush painting but there are some which can be a PITA when it comes to drying times - usually the gloss colours. I started to use only the thinner of the paint brand to avoid trouble. You can mix-match when you use the paint up within the day or maybe week. But I found some paints became iffy after mixing them with other thinners after a month or so.

What I absolutely stopped to use is the Revell sprays. They are just awful in my eyes: The moment to press the "trigger" the entire content is blown on what ever is in front of the nozzle. The other option is that nothing happens at all.

As you say the Aqua paints are quiet good as well. I use them for detail painting cockpits and such, as they are odorless and the used brushes are easy to clean - perfect for working in the living room and other non-man-cave-areas in the house.

The main downside is the colour range which is strongly related to the RAL colours, so a lot of mixing is required if you are interested in anything FS, RLM and of course BS...

Rene

[malpaso]

Ironically in this part of Hampshire Revell Enamels are the only hobby paint easily available.  It’s in local toy shops (never acrylic!) and even at the hardware shop which is five minutes walk.  Anything acrylic involves a drive or public transport, except if I have a rush of blood to the wallet and walk over to Games Workshop from work, on the odd day they deign to open!

i found Revell enamels excellent, I just have moved over to acrylic now I’m airbrushing.  I tried  spraying enamels once, but it was made abundantly clear I was never going to do so again if I wished to carry on building models anywhere other than the naughty step at the very far end of the garden.

cheers

Will

[sapperastro]

Only one of the paints I got was gloss, and it dried faster than many a (latter) Humbrol enamel matt. There are many easy mixes for various colours, and I write them down as I discover them (or steal them from the revell instruction download section, and find them decent after experimenting), so they do require effort sometimes in this area.

[mirageiv]

I agree, on the whole nice enamels, especially for German RAL painted subjects and they dry fast too! Their own thinners work very well and are excellent for Model Master enamels also.

 

I have found 1-2 downsides however to add to the thread:

 

1- When spraying a gloss layer for decal prep over some matt enamels they darken as with most paints, however they do not seem to lighten up again with the final matt varnish. In other words, the colour you think you have after initial painting can be very different to what you finally end up with after various varnish layers, the darkness and hue can irreversibly change quite a lot and is rather annoying for those fussy about colour matches, weathering/pigments aside. 

 

2- Not really a downside but thinning the enamels with Mr.Color thinner sprays fine, however it never seems to fully cure and can rub off easily even with the hot thinner. Revell's own colormix thinner, after 24 hours (it makes a difference to 3-4 hrs), makes the paint absolutely bullet proof, very very hard to chip etc..I use the colormix thinner with all my enamels.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[sapperastro]

I will have to pick some color mix up then. Has anyone tried the gloss and matt varnish? No yellowing? No white clouding? etc?

[degsye39]

Interesting that you mention these sapper.. Since getting back into the hobby i've been accumulating odds and sods of paint! Many a lot of old humbrol has had a few revell enamels lobbed in..

 

What can i say in a toss up between these and new humbrols i would likely use the revell, It is perfectly acceptable for a brush painter  IMHO as long as it is thinned with white spirit, It IS like molasses  😮 (well most of the ones i have), Painting an me 109 interior with some thinned grey was a breeze lazily brush painting a matchbox M16 halftrack straight from the tin was a different story.. Though i did paint a corsair gloss blue with revells as a kid and that was OK.

And this is where the older marfleet wonders shine for me i can just lazily slap it on from the tin every time! (i know its poor and i admit to being a sloth!) And i am not trying to make you aussie lads envious (you've got the V8's and the weather!) but there seems to be an unlimited supply of slightly rusted up of old humbrols on uk ebay! So at the minute im flogging all of my revell enamels and disposing of my newer humbrols (the iffy ones).

Regarding the clear matt varnish i picked up a tin of that a few months back i keep meaning to try it as its supposed be a non yellowing enamel varnish! 😮 

Oh and im keeping the clear yellow as humbrol only used to do green,red and orange!

Im planning to try the clear matt soon enough as i still cant get a grip on the galeria matt! This is one of my jellied old tins (most of them like this stirred up okay).

 

https://ibb.co/gsrpST

 

Regards Bud!

Edited July 12, 2018 by degsye39

[sapperastro]

Agreed. While I can get excellent performing new Humbrols, many are also utter crap, with no knowledge of what is awaiting you until you open the tin. I have picked a few more Revells since, and again, all of them were of the same consistency as the first lot, and these were from a different shop.

 

Just as an aside, a friend of mine that used to use Revell back in the day (80's/90's) had a few leftover tins that he gave me last wednesday. One was dried up, but the other two are fine and had never been opened. Virtually the same as the new stuff! So I conclude that Revell hasn't really changed. Never thought I would say Revell beats Humbrol....so much for things improving.

Edited July 14, 2018 by sapperastro

[sapperastro]

Just a quick update on some colour use;

 

I tried the dreaded triumvirate with a brush; Matt White, Matt Yellow and Carmine Red (Revells name for matt red), you know, those colours that are usually total dogs to brush?

 

Well, not anymore. With all three colours, two thinned coats over bare plastic had total coverage. Smooth, total coverage. With a brush. I am impressed to say the least. I have to repeat though; don't brush this paint from the tin unthinned. It dries too quickly.

 

As an aside, I thought I would also try cheating, and waited only an hour before applying the second coats. No problem at all. While I would perhaps suggest waiting longer for, say, a wing, smaller areas are perfectly fine to do this dodge with. I will update further if I find anything else.