SPA Modeler

jkim wrote:Gawd it’s never going to get here. Same status since Monday.

I hear the little kid inside you here...

That's exactly how I feel. Christmas has come and gone... WHERE IS MY PRESENT???

Yep. Hope you're luckier than me, waiting 10 months for my Albatros to arrive.

Well I did see a LOT of cargo container ships sitting off the breakwater at Long Beach/L.A. Harbor yesterday...

I know the feeling. I ordered several ACE kits from Ivan through Dave O'Barr and so far he has not delivered them. I've also been waiting four or five months....

At least I have a few kits to work on before they get here.

Pssshh... I'm not going to let the lack of a model keep me from moving on with this!

I picked up some AK Real Color paints from my LHS to play with. Their selection was limited and I could only pick up the RAL armor colors. I gave them a list of Luftwaffe and US Navy camo colors to order so I should have some interesting RLM color tests very soon.


The main purpose of this test was to see how the paints behave. I've read that they are similar to Tamiya and Mr Hobby (Gunze) acrylics so I wanted to see if they could be thinned in the same way. I've had good success thinning my acrylics with iso alcohol, Tamiya Lacquer Thinner and Mr Leveling Thinner, as well Tamiya Acrylic Thinner.


I shot my usual engine nacelle testbed (haven't named them yet) with the interior red primer color and the three-tone camo colors. There were two types of Dunkelgelb (Dark Yellow) which were tested. The paints behaved very similar to the Tamiya and Mr Hobby acrylics that I've been shooting and I had no problem thinning with the usual thinners. With the notable exception of Tamiya Acrylic Thinner... Real Colors does not LIKE Tamiya Acrylic Thinner!


Dunkelgelb RAL7028 with Olivegrun RAL6003 and Rotbraun RAL8013


Dunkelgelb RAL7028 Ausgabe 44 version with Olivegrun 6003 and Rotbraun 8013


Not sure I like the green (should be a little darker?) but I have no reference point to stand on. The Real Color paints seem to work fine. As others have mentioned, they are more pigment-rich than either Tamiya or Mr Hobby. I can tell because it takes twice as long for me clear out each color from my airbrush cup.

John that looks good. I have only used AK Real colors on one of my builds, and with the Tamiya acrylic thinner at that time. It airbrushed on the gritty side, but came out ok. Next time I’ll try Gunze or my generic Lacquer thinner.
Here’s a good bit of info for you on the RAL Olivgrun (and the Rotbraun), there is a lot of wiggle room with this color, from the base shade. Until late 1944 when it was applied at the factory on some vehicles, it was all over the place from the basic RAL6003 standard. Why? Because when the vehicles were painted Dunkelgelb at the factory, crews and units applied the other camo colors to best match their situation. In those cases, the paint was issued in a paste form like a shoe polish, and thinner with what was on hand (water, thinner, fuel, etc.) for spraying on, or even applied directly by brush, sponge, etc. with or without thinning, depending upon the situation. It could be thinned to near translucence, or applied as the paste in its darkest form.

Thanks for the info on the AK paints, I'm at the point where I'm not really happy with my life color paint once opened it seems to turn bad in the bottle quick. So the main idea was to replace with mission model paints, I've tried them out at a friends and really liked how they sprayed but they are a bit of a headache to mix. I'm glad I waited after hearing so many good things about this new AK paint and it behaving just like my favorite Tamiya, I will be giving their Luftwaffe line a try. What thinning ratio worked best for you?

Very good to know, Carlos! And I imagine the weathering on top of the paint gives us even more leeway? AK Real Color thins very nicely with iso alchohol too. Less toxic than other thinners, which is nice.

Floki... I haven't dialed in the mix ratios for the Real Colorsyet but for this test, I was using 3:1 thinner to paint ratio which seemed to provide smooth application and decent coverage. Working on top of any pre-shading, I can see myself going to 4:1 but we'll have to see.