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WWII Royal Air Force Acrylic Paint Set (3018)


Mike

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WWII Royal Air Force Acrylic Paint Set (3018)

ICM via Hannants

 

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ICM have fairly recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, of which this is one.  The set arrives in a cardboard box with six screw-capped bottles inside, each containing 12ml of paint.  The bottles are clear Polypropylene, and are capped with cylindrical tops with knurled sides, and a one-time security seal that you break on first opening.  A label on the side gives you basic information about the colour and code, a little information regarding application in English and Ukrainian and a bar-code.

 

This set provides the major colours to assist you in painting your brand-new Bristol Beaufort Mk.I in 1:48 from ICM themselves, and you will find the following colours in the box:

 

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1054 Chocolate

1069 Extra Dark Green

1037 Dark Grey

1032 Blue Grey

1027 Gun Metal

2002 Satin Varnish

 

The paint is thick in the bottle, with plenty of headroom between the surface of the paint and the lip of the neck.  I dropped a glass stirring ball into each bottle, and they took a few seconds to disappear beneath the surface, indicating their viscosity. If you look closely at some of the colours in the range (not necessarily this set), you'll notice that the colour of the paint seems lighter in places.  That's not a reflection on the actual colour inside the pot though, so don't be put off, as it’s just some pigments seem to be drawn to the container wall.  Lifting the lid shows the true colour, which is a much better representation of the colours, and that’s the shade that can be seen in the darker areas.  What causes the lighter pigments to adhere to the bottle sides is a mystery, but it's cosmetic only so not something to worry about.

 

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During testing, I used Ultimate Acrylic Thinners to dilute the paint to spray through my Gunze PS770 airbrush, which has a 0.18 needle chucked in.  The paint dilutes well once it has been mixed thoroughly, and sprays well through my airbrush, which has a smaller than usual needle that is a good test of the finesse of the pigment grind of any brand, as some brands don’t spray very well though anything less than a 0.3mm needle if they’re coarsely (cheaper) ground.  There were no problems with blockages at all, and the coverage was excellent after my usual ad hoc dilution method, which was probably nowhere near the 40-60% thinners or water that’s suggested on the pack.  Apart from the varnish, the other paints all dry to a matt finish.

 

In past tests, the Satin Varnish worked very well diluted with water, sprayed over the spoons that were also partially taped up to perform two functions at once.  The satin patina that resulted is exactly what was expected, and the tape lifted no paint at all, despite my best efforts to do so.  Bear in mind that the spoons were prepped by a buff with a very fine sanding sponge to give them the best chance of adhesion.  Using a brush, the colours cover well two coats with minimal brush marks visible.

 

 

Conclusion

The paints are an excellent new brand, and whilst there is a little less paint in the bottles than some brands, they’re about average on balance.  That is more than offset by the very reasonable price they’re asking for the set, even at RRP.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd.

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Review sample courtesy of

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Good review Mike and thanks for explaining the colour differences.  I have just started my first WW2 aircraft, a 1:32 scale Spitfire Mk.IIa,  would these colours be correct for this as well as the Blenheim you mention?  The paints are certainly cheap enough to tempt me in getting them.

 

cheers,
Mike

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