Mission Models paint (and thinner)...

[IscaSteve]

I need to buy a couple of Mission Models paints and I read here that you are only supposed to use same-brand thinner with them. 

 

Trouble is, it's £12 a bottle and for the tiny amount I'm going to need to use, it seems overkill. 

 

Is it OK to use another brand (I have some Revell) or is it essential to use the same brand?

 

Thank you

Edited January 9, 2023 by IscaSteve

[ColonelKrypton]

Yes and no ( according to their FAQ web page  - about 1/4 way down )

 

https://www.missionmodelsus.com/pages/tips-and-tricks-faq

 

They indicate that water will work but use only distilled water.

 

Mission Model Paints are a water based acrylic - do not use alcohol or anything containing alcohol i.e. Tamiya X-20A.  

 

Vallejo airbrush thinner may work but better test first. And as per the Mission Models FAQ - do not over thin.

 

cheers, Graham

 

[John Laidlaw]

I have not used it, but those I know that have used it have had success thinning it with Future/Klear. That is now becoming rare, so the whole thing gets complicated .

 

Do you have a specific need for Mission Model paints, or is it a need for specific colours?

[IscaSteve]

5 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Yes and no ( according to their FAQ web page  - about 1/4 way down )

 

https://www.missionmodelsus.com/pages/tips-and-tricks-faq

 

They indicate that water will work but use only distilled water.

 

Mission Model Paints are a water based acrylic - do not use alcohol or anything containing alcohol i.e. Tamiya X-20A.  

 

Vallejo airbrush thinner may work but better test first. And as per the Mission Models FAQ - do not over thin.

 

cheers, Graham

 

Thanks Graham. I hadn't seen that so I appreciate you sharing it. 👍

[Casey]

They make their paints as a part of trio, a pigment and medium (paint), thinner and polyurethane addon. I used those paints and I found them quite weak without the poly mix, you also need to give it a decent cure time to get into any level of resilience (think: days).

 

Their poly addon is time sensitive, it will go bad before you run out of it, and it is possible you will end up with a bottle of gloop in your mailbox.

 

It is not an entry level product and I found it it much harder to work on than making my own paints.

[IscaSteve]

33 minutes ago, John Laidlaw said:

I have not used it, but those I know that have used it have had success thinning it with Future/Klear. That is now becoming rare, so the whole thing gets complicated .

 

Do you have a specific need for Mission Model paints, or is it a need for specific colours?

Hi John. 

I need to mix up the paints for the TUI colours. I can't get the Xtracolor X555 and X556 paints anywhere... 😕

 

Another member Olly Tindall kindly posted his success by mixing a couple of the MM  blues (with white and black) and kindly provided the right colours and ratios needed. 

 

Thomson Medium blue = MMP White 20drops MMP Mecha Blue (MMP-122) 15drops 4:3 

 

Thomson Light Blue (Tailfin) = MMP White 20drops MMP Mecha Blue 4 5:1 (roughly)

 

Thomson Dark Blue = MMP Blue (MMP-048) 20drops MMP Black 10drops 2:1

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by IscaSteve
Added paint codes

[John Laidlaw]

That's a bit of a dilemma.

 

I'm wondering if @Casey might have any insight? Otherwise, I'd recommend Future/Klear if you have any.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[ColonelKrypton]

6 minutes ago, John Laidlaw said:

Otherwise, I'd recommend Future/Klear if you have any.

 

Also not recommended

 

Quote

 

https://www.missionmodelsus.com/pages/tips-and-tricks-faq

 

Q:  Will MMP thinner work with other brands? 

 

A:  Yes it will.  It will work in most all acrylic paints as will the MMP Poly Intermix. We have tested in most other popular brands however we cannot guarantee how it will work in all brands. Please proceed with caution and test before shooting your project. We cannot and will not take responsibility for modelers mistakes or user error. Always test on scrap first. 

 

A: NO it will not mix with enamels or Lacquers. DO NOT use alternative thinners. This includes Tamiya, Gunze, Vallejo, Future Floor Wax etc.  

 

That some have been using Future/Klear is just luck on their part.  

 

38 minutes ago, Casey said:

They make their paints as a part of trio, a pigment and medium (paint), thinner and polyurethane addon. I used those paints and I found them quite weak without the poly mix, you also need to give it a decent cure time to get into any level of resilience (think: days).

 

Their poly addon is time sensitive, it will go bad before you run out of it, and it is possible you will end up with a bottle of gloop in your mailbox.

 

It is not an entry level product and I found it it much harder to work on than making my own paints.

 

I would agree with Casey's points  on this. 

 

I tried Mission Model Paints and had no end of issues and I followed their instructions to the letter using Mission Models thinner and Poly.

 

I would apply paint to a plain un-primed piece of styrene and a well prepared primed piece of styrene and the paint just did not cure as expected. After 1 day, 2 days, a week, two weeks; the paint would be dry and should have cured but a simple swipe with a cotton bud dipped in distilled water would cause the paint the just wash/wipe off. Acrylic paints should never do this. 

 

Missions Models never did answer my queries on this. I suspect that the paint I was using had one time been frozen or nearly so causing some sort of breakdown in it's chemistry.  There are many warnings from acrylic paint makers to prevent freezing.  

 

cheers, Graham

[Casey]

20 minutes ago, IscaSteve said:

I need to mix up the paints for the TUI colours

It could be easier to mix the same colors using paints that are more available in your area. I will do the math if I get better color references.

 

Anyone having any details about what those colors should be? Pantone references? L*a*b* readouts? Spectrophotometer data?

[John Laidlaw]

5 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

I tried Mission Model Paints and had no end of issues and I followed their instructions to the letter using Mission Models thinner and Poly.

I had heard similar things - this, plus dubious colour matching for my chosen subjects caused me to not try them. It all seemed a bit of a faff and required a fair investment in what is essentially a new paint system.

 

As for Future/Klear, I have heard directly from some who have used it and swear it works very well. But, this is just hearsay.

[IscaSteve]

36 minutes ago, Casey said:

It could be easier to mix the same colors using paints that are more available in your area. I will do the math if I get better color references.

 

Anyone having any details about what those colors should be? Pantone references? L*a*b* readouts? Spectrophotometer data?

Thanks Casey 

 

TUI publish their colours here: https://www.design.tui/brand/colors/

 

• Light blue - "TUI Blue 50%" - HEX #C2E6FA / RGB 194, 230, 250
• Medium blue - "TUI Blue"   - HEX #70CBF4 / RGB  112, 203, 244
• Additionally there's a third, really dark blue which is normally supplied as a decal, but if easy might be worth mixing too: "TUI Dark Blue" - HEX #092A5E / RGB 9, 42, 94

I also believe the dark blue can be matched to "Revell Night Blue 54 Aqua colour" as seen here.

 

Do those help?

 

This is the plane: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10807392

 

If it helps, easily available paints to me (locally) are Humbrol, Revell and Tamiya.

 

Thank you for your help

Edited January 9, 2023 by IscaSteve

[Casey]

42 minutes ago, IscaSteve said:

TUI publish their colours here: https://www.design.tui/brand/colors/

They publish RGB only which is as bad as you can go with paint matching

 

I can try it with Tamiya. Let me do some math, it will take me a while.

 

[Casey]

Ok here are some (initially dissapointing) results with Tamiya.

 

I know this paint is probably a mixture of pure titanium white with some very cheap pigment or two in very small quantity.

 

My personal suspicion is, it is a Titanium White plus a pigment from probably a Phthalo family, like Phthalo Blue Red Shade, with the ratio around 99:1 since it should give the resulting color of #BEE1F2.

 

Target color | 99:1 Titanium White + Phthalo Blue (RS)

 

I have precise data of Tamiya XF1 to XF16 only, and here is the best you could get using those paints:

 

 

It is 199:1 ratio of white XF2 to Flat Blue XF8. Yes. 199:1. Pretty useless for practical mixing, and the result is disappointing due to the fact that Tamiya does not give you pure pigments but some mixture of them with black and white (as it is case of XF8 - mixture of Titanium White, Tin(II) Phthalocyanine (purple), C.I.Pigment Blue15 (phthalo blue), and C.I.Pigment Red 170 (Naphtol Red))

 

So so far I can assume that mixing this color from XF1 to XF16 will not give you a good match.

 

Having said that, I've prepared Tamiya samples to measure X14 properties, the paint is drying maybe it will give better results. I know that X-14 is a mixture of Phthalocyanine Blue and Titanium White (as per their SDS), so the ratio should be less crazy.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Casey

[Casey]

Ok I think I got pretty reasonable one:

 

Try:

Light Blue

29 parts XF-2 Flat White

1 parts X-14 Sky Blue

 

I measured those parts by MASS not volume. Easier to use small scale than pipettor.

 

Target color | Tamiya mix above

 

This is around 3.18DE color difference which is not the best one but I saw a lot of commercial paints that claim this is 100% match

 

Medium Blue

9 parts XF-2 Flat White

2 parts X-14 Sky Blue

 

Again by MASS.

 

Target Color | Tamiya mix

Color difference: 2.60DE.

 

Thats the best I could with Tamiya for those two colors.

 

For the dark blue, I do not have X3 measured which I suspect can be a good starting point, XF-8 is too bright and not saturated enough.

 

[IscaSteve]

Wow thank you very much for this! 

Given the actual colours are not available, I'd say you've done a fantastic job of getting so close. 

 

Thank you for going to the trouble of doing this. Hopefully it will help not just me but others who may need the TUI colours in future.

Edited January 10, 2023 by IscaSteve