ICM Try Me Acrylic Paint Set (3020)

[Mike]

Try Me Acrylic Paint Set (3020)

ICM via Hannants

 

 

ICM have recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, but this one is a sample set that includes some generic colours that would be useful to someone to try the brand out before committing.  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 a variety of colours to assist you in deciding whether the brand is for you, and you will find the following colours in the box:

 

 

1001 White

1002 Black

1027 Gun Metal

1073 4BO Green

1011 Clear Red

2004 Grey Primer

 

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.

 

 

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 paint 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(ish) 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.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

 

[bootneck]

I have a few of these now and do like them, especially the price.  Thanks for your info on the airbrushing, as I haven't had chance to use them on my H&S yet, perhaps this weekend.  I do like the result I get with brush painting and it will be interesting to see how the primer goes down, as I struggle with the new Vallejo types of polyurethene primer; especially when sanding.

 

cheers,
Mike