Why no flat orange?

[stillp]

The usual suspects all have clear orange and gloss orange acrylic, but it seems no flat orange. Why might this be?
Not the end of the world as I can put a flat coat over gloss orange, but it seems strange that Humbrol, Tamiya and Revell miss flat orange out of their range.

Pete

[Guest]

A vibrant and opaque orange paint is a rare thing period! Both pigments required to form a great orange are, themselves, really transparent, so some form of white is gonna have to be used to add opacity (I know that many modellers see white as a tricky pigment to get good coverage, but this isn't the case in the broader spectrum of paints. Of course, the best white was lead based, and not popular with the H&S brigade). As you rightly say, you can add a flat coat to a satin orange - model air 71.083 is a cracking hue - so all is not lost! The bottom line is that manufacturers are squeezing a little pigment quotient into their paints as they can get away with, it is, after all, the most expensive element in paint. I've been using the stuff for 45 years, and its unrecognisable from the same stuff I used to use decades ago.

[stillp]

Yes, that all makes sense John, and also I know that the use of some pigments (e.g. cadmium) is now restricted, but why then can they make gloss, but not matt? Just tried some Tamiya gloss orange, and it isn't much different from their clear orange! Ah well, several coats to get the coverage, then a matt varnish.
I've got some 45+ year-old Humbrol here, but the only orange is a metallic "Daytona Orange"!

Pete

[Ian M]

Vallejo do a good orange, oh and it's as Matt as any of their paints, if not flat enough, Matt varnish mixed in a second coat does the trick.

[stillp]

Thanks both, I'd overlooked Vallejo.

Pete

[Guest]

The Vallejo orange I spoke of above, is still pretty translucent, but, as with most yellows, a base coat of white makes it a lot easier to get a great saturation!