ICM American Civil War Union Infantry Set #2 (35023) 1:35 & Acrylic Paint Set (3013)

[Mike]

American Civil War Union Infantry Set #2 (35023) & Paint Set (3013)

1:35 ICM via Hannants Ltd

 

 

The American Civil War was triggered partly by slavery, and the fact that the Northern or Union states had abolished it, while the South or Confederate states wanted to retain the status quo and keep their slaves by seceding from the union.  It started in April 1861 and lasted for four years, at the end of which General Lee signed the surrender almost exactly on the four-year anniversary.  By that time much of the infrastructure of the Southern US was in ruins, although some Confederate soldiers carried on fighting until later that year.  Some four million slaves were released, with their rights established during the following Reconstruction era, although progress is still ongoing.

 

 

 

This set depicts a squad of four soldiers in action, during what appears to be a close-combat engagement, with weapons drawn and aggressive stances.  One man is using the bayonet at the end of his rifle, another is running forward with bayonet leading the way, while a third is about to use the butt of his presumably empty revolver as a cosh against some unfortunate, although he has a sword languishing against his waist.  The fourth soldier is shouting and leaning forward with his rifle raised, as if he is about to bring it up to take aim.

 

The figures on their sprues arrive in a top-opening slightly-larger-than-figure-sized box, and inside are four sprues in grey styrene, a combined sprue diagram and instruction sheet for reference during building and painting.  Paint codes refer to ICM’s new paint system, but also gives numbers for Revell and Tamiya brands, in case you don’t fancy purchasing the new set of paints for this boxing that we’re detailing below.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

 

American Civil War Union Infantry Paint Set (3013)

 

 

ICM have long been a plastic model company that is well-known to most of us, but until recently they haven’t had their own paint range, which has now changed.  There are 77 acrylic colours in the initial collection, 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 direct cross-overs in that last one.

 

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 later by the use of varnishes, and are waterproof when dry like most acrylics.  During my testing I used Ultimate Thinners, my go-to thinners for any acrylic paint, which helps keep the number of large bottles in my spray booth to a minimum.  The paint comes out of the bottle quite thick and viscous, so it’s possible you’ll have to dilute for serious brush painting use although I used it almost neat 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 followed quickly after by heavier coats until you have the coverage you require. It dries quite quickly, and is touch-dry in 5-10 minutes in those long-gone summery 20-23^oc temperatures, unless you’re in the antipodes as I write this.  I have used them to create a number of spray-out cards and spoons for other sets in the range, and they both spray and brush very well, with little issue other than my inexpert application by brush.

 

This set includes the following colours, but it would be useful to add white and black if you don’t already have them for lightening and darkening to create many other shades:

 

 

1037 Dark Grey

1026 Oily Steel

1075 Grey-Blue

1050 Saddle Brown

1017 Gold

1043 Light Flesh

 

On the rear of the box are a number of drawings of Union soldiers that are identical to the set above, with colour call-outs in ICM codes only, which requires a mix of 70/30 of the dark grey and grey-blue for their tunics.  I performed a rough mix using a paintbrush to dab out seven of one, three of the other, and if I’m honest, it came out a little greyer than I was expecting, but perhaps I didn’t add enough blue?  I tested the gold too, and while it doesn’t brush out too well on a flat unprepared larger surface, it does much better after a couple of coats on a contoured model part, as you can see from the photo below.  It’s a wheel off an aircraft (P-40 IIRC), but it had the misfortune of being nearby and unable to run/roll away.

 

 

Highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

 

Review sample courtesy of