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German AFV WWII Marder I Acrylic Paint Set (3003)


Mike

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German AFV WWII Marder I Acrylic Paint Set (3003)

ICM via Hannants

 

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ICM have been a plastic model company that is well-known to most of us for quite a few years now, and until today(ish) they haven’t had their own paint range, which is now changing.  There are 77 acrylic colours in the initial range, plus three varnishes in matt, satin and gloss, all in the same 12ml plastic bottles.  A conversion chart is available that will give you equivalents in AK, Tamiya, Humbrol, Gunze, Testors, RLM, RAL, FS, Revell, AK Real Color, and even Citadel paints, although there aren’t many cross-overs in that last one.

 

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This set arrives in a card box with a header tab at one end, and inside are six 12ml plastic bottle with white plastic lids and a one-time tear-off safety ring.  While they bear a passing resemblance to another brand of paint from ICM’s neighbourhood, they have stated categorically on Facebook that it is not a collaboration, and having now used both brands, they are indeed substantially different in look and use. 

 

The paint is undiluted, so will need thinning by between 40-60% with water or acrylic thinner for use with an airbrush, and they naturally have a semi-gloss finish that can be adjusted by the use of varnishes, and are waterproof when dry. During testing, I used Ultimate Thinners, my go-to thinners for any acrylic paint, which really keeps down the number of bottles in my spray booth.  The paint comes out of the bottle quite thickly, so it’s possible you’ll have to dilute for good brush painting use although I didn’t during testing, so a small bottle will go a long way in either case. It sprays well when diluted, and like a lot of acrylics a light coat is best initially, then lay down heavier coats until you have the coverage you require. It dries quite quickly, and is touch-dry in 5-10 minutes in 20-23oc temperatures.  All the solid colours went down without a hitch, while the metallic shade was a little more tricky initially.  I had to start again a couple of times as I had inadvertently applied the initial coat too thickly, which had led to beading.  Eventually, lighter coats with a rest between them did the trick.  I suspect that could have been down to my inexpert thinning.

 

 

Airbrush

I sprayed out a patch of each colour on some blank credit card sized plastic sheets, taking up half for each colour except Gun Metal.  As there are only five actual colours, I sprayed the full card with that, and over-sprayed a coat of Matt Varnish on one half of the gun metal to demonstrate the matting effect of the varnish.  You can see the finished cards below.

 

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From a novice’s point of view with this brand, I’m pleased with the results, especially the Gun metal, which gave a good finish after my original bumblings.  They are very densely packed with pigment, and the paint is almost of the consistency of custard from some of the pots, so a little will go a long way.  I’m not a fastidious user of specific ratios of thinner to paint, so I usually splash in the Ultimate Thinners until it’s the consistency of semi-skimmed milk, then crack on.  It might occasionally need adjustment, but it sure beats standing there for hours counting drops.  I’m getting old!

 

As always, I primed the cards to obtain a good consistent surface, for which I used a rattle can of Tamiya grey, as it was close to hand and convenient.  Primers give a surface a microscopic key that helps acrylic paint stick, as well as providing an even colour over which to paint, and show-up any blemishes before you put the final coats on your models.  It’s an accepted fact that acrylic paint is less robust than enamel or lacquer paint, so building up your colour coats on a firm foundation is a must if you are endeavouring to produce a good, professional, or at least half-way decent finish.  Even for brush painting, it’s still a good idea, which was demonstrated when I scraped vigorously at the paint with my fingernail.  Although the paint was damaged, very little of the primer was exposed, even on the Gun Metal, which had been wet 30 minutes earlier, where there was no primer visible, and absolutely zero lifting of the paint occurred when I burnished some Tamiya tape onto the surface and tore it off later in a careless and flamboyant manner.

 

The airbrush I used for the test was a Gunze PS-770 with a 0.18mm needle, and it suffered zero blockages and no paint drying on the tip even though it was a warm day, so if your airbrush has a nozzle larger than that, and most are between 0.2 and 0.35mm, it should give you no trouble at all in that respect.

 

 

Paint Brush

I’m not a brush painter, so let’s get that out of the way firstly.  I primed another card and brushed out a stripe of paint with an AMMO No.6 Synthetic Filbert brush, which is a flat tipped brush that has gently rounded edges.  We reviewed them some time back if you’re interested here.  I paused after one coat and took a picture to show the level of coverage you can expect.  It was pretty good, perhaps slightly thinned due to the dampness of the brush after all but the first Middle Stone stripe, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to lay off the paint to reduce the appearance of brush strokes.  The paint is very nice to use, and it spreads around well on all but the driest of surfaces, but I think the curved edges of the brush may also have helped.

 

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After the second coat there was no primer visible through the paint, and again there was very little in the way of brush marks.  This is among the nicest paint I’ve brushed out, although I’m no expert due to my consistent use of an airbrush for anything but the smallest areas.  If I had the full set, I’d still be tempted to use them for detail painting and dry-brushing, as the are so good.  The performance of the varnish seems to have been the only drawback with a paint brush, as it has left a streaky satiny finish even after two coats from a pot that has been electronically stirred and had a glass stirring ball dropped into the pot beforehand.  I’m still prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt however, as it worked well enough with the airbrush.

 

Conclusion

For a company that hasn’t been in the paint game before, ICM have hit the ground running with the quality of the paints.  Some people have wondered at 12ml being a little small, but you’re not paying for any extra water to be delivered to you, so it should balance out when you’ve thinned them sufficiently.  They’re excellent for airbrush and paint brush work, and if I can figure out where I went wrong brushing out the matt varnish, I’ll alter the review accordingly.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

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Review sample courtesy of

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Guessing based on the pictures leads me to positive mood towards the grey (it is dark enough to be promising) yet negative towards the yelllow, green and brown.
The brown is a light red brown and the green reminds me of interior (zinc chromate) green. The yellow is ... quite yellow.

What do you say looking at them in real life?

Edited by Steben
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1 hour ago, Steben said:

Guessing based on the pictures leads me to positive mood towards the grey (it is dark enough to be promising)...

 

Yes I thought that. I'm always surprised how dark the real colour was, something rarely seen on models - including mine. 🙂

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  • 4 weeks later...

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