AK 3rd Gen Acrylics.

[Guest]

50/50 is a hefty thin but if it works then great especially as I prefer doing thin coats. I haven't seen the video yet.

Not really as it's thick paint, more like a gel than a liquid. Thixotropic though so liquifies as you work it. I'd almost certainly thin it much more for detail airbrushing.

[topgazza]

Interesting. I bought some Revel Aqua colour to try and that does NOT thin when you stir it. Its so thick I'm scared to even try it in an airbrush no matter how thin. I'm sure there is a way and I've seen videos but they looked a bit hit and miss. But as I said before if it's too much faffing about I'll by something else and good colour though it is the Revel looks like too much hard work.

[Dave Ward]

I have a real range of paints, Vallejo, MiG Ammo, AK, Hataka, Revell & Humbrol - all acrylics - I did try Life Color, but couldn't get on with them - Tamiya - I only have their clear paints - that I use by brush!
Some of the brands are very good, some not so good, and some variable - Hataka seem to suffer like this with quality differences between bottles in the same colour ( Night Black springs to mind ).
I have no difficulty in switching brands, I buy paints as I need them, I'm certainly not emptying, and refilling my paintbox so I only use one brand exclusively.
I have had problems with compatibility in the past, but I solved that by using plastic shot glasses, when thinning paint, and a long suffering 1/48 109 which is my guinea pig for anything new!
Dave

[topgazza]

I like concept of a long suffering 109 Dave. I have a tiny 1/72 Hurricane but its too small really for experimenting. I'll keep an eye out for a cheap1/48 for testing. I don't mind a mix of manufacturers. But I like to be consistent with the make/type for the bulk of my painting. Just for some continuity.

But I do welcome new products like the AK3. They will make the others sit up and notice and dispell any complacency when they have to up their game

[Dave Ward]

The Bf-109 is on old Airfix model, which I lost interest in. It had a vivid harlequin camo pattern at one time, red, yellow and white, but now it's a drab grey/green - with a metallic red wing!
I have a 1/72 Zhengdefu YF-22 which will replace the 109 - it's a truly horrible model - only fit to be used for experimentation! I'll just make the basic airframe & prime it ready for trials
Dave

[topgazza]

I'll keep using my Hurri then. It will have so many coats of primer it will weigh several pounds

[John]

Before anyone says anything, I know Harriers were never that blue, but I wanted to try a nice bright colour, I thinned it 50/50 with mission model thinners and the finish is really nice

[topgazza]

Harriers were never that Blue John :nerd::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:

But having said that unexpected critique that really is a stunning colour. I guess Dave will try it but a hope water is as effective. The choice would be ideal. Airbrush issues ? Any ?

[John]

Airbrushed with no problem, didn’t clog or splutter

[topgazza]

Looks more than promising then. I've ordered a couple of bottles for my next build so really looking forward to it.

[JR]

Well having watched the video it seems to answer most peoples prayers, certainly mine.
Ok if its dearer than say Vallejo , but if your not forever cleaning out the ab it will proves its self to be cost effective.

I have quite a few Vallejo and Amig Ammo but when reordering I will change over to these.

[John]

It’s also very quick to dry.

[Guest]

I was impressed by the drying time too. Plus the day after it was pretty hard. I tried scratching it with my nail and took the primer off instead!

Will hopefully have time for more trials tomorrow, busy afternoon at the hospital with yet more tests :rolling:

[Guest]

So I've been doing a bit of spraying this morning. If you just want the quick and dirty; there's no way these will lure me away from lacquer paints for spraying but if you are stuck with acrylics then they aren't half bad.

My results might not be too realistic as the temperature in the shed was a little over 10°C. The paints had been kept in the house overnight but by the time I started testing they were ~14°C, tested with an IR pyrometer. Because of this the paints were probably thicker than they should be, and they needed a little coaxing with a hairdryer (low temperature at arms length) to get them to dry.

I started out with a bit of styrene card, cleaned well with IPA, then applied stripes of white, grey and black Mr Surfacer primer, leaving bare plastic areas for up-coming adhesion test. The paints were thinned as near as I could to 50/50 using AK's own thinner since that's what they recommended in the above video as a starting point. Airbrush was H&S Infinity, 0.4mm. My gauge was reading around 18-20 PSI, I tried lower but it just wasn't atomising at all, maybe due to the temperature.

[ATTACH]373469[/ATTACH]

First off was AK11001 White, from their Intense range. It came out a bit splattery compared to the fine atomisation you'd get with a lacquer paint, but flowed out and settled down nicely. Here's one coat

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And two coats

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It hasn't hidden the primer 100%, but I'd be happy enough to call that white. So far so good.

AK11088 Deep Red was next, another in the Intense range. A similar story after 2 coats, the primer can just be seem grinning through if you look carefully, but nothing you'd notice on a unified colour substrate.

[ATTACH]373472[/ATTACH]

I'll not run through every one, but AK11185 Deep Blue (Intense) and AK11052 Basic Skin Tone came next. The skin tone wasn't from their intense range so it needed 3 coats until I was happy. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was trying not to use too much light and bleach out the colours.

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Up to now I'd had no tip dry. Cleaning out between colours was a faff as it is with acrylics, but all colours were spraying ok, bearing in mind the caveat mentioned above of being nowhere near as fine as lacquers, but if you're used to acrylics then I can't see you having any issues here.

Then we get to the joker in the pack. Labelled as AK11207 Aluminium, from their Metallic range. Maybe it's me but I've never seen aluminium look like this, unless it's heavily corroded. I'd call that more of a pearlescent white than aluminium, but there you go.

[ATTACH]373474[/ATTACH]

I thought maybe it would dry differently, but nope. I got bored after 5 coats and this is what we got. I can still clearly see the primer showing through, and the surface is starting to get very grainy from too much paint build up.

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Just for comparison I got some Vallejo Model Air aluminium out. Just a single light coat was needed to bury the primer (straight from the bottle, lumps and all) and it looks much more like the colour I'd expect.

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And another shot of all the colours. From this angle the transitions between the different primer colours is all but unnoticeable on most of them.

[ATTACH]373477[/ATTACH]

So all in all they sprayed reasonably well, didn't give me any tip dry issues, and apart from the metallic they covered pretty well, especially the intense ones.


Next thing will be trying them thinned down even more to see if I can get better atomisation to allow thin translucent layers that can be built up into shading effects etc, and after they've cured for a day or two I'll see how they've adhered.

[Bortig the Viking]

Good information in your test, from what you say I dont think I'll be rushing out to get these, will stick with my Vallejo, Tamiya and Zero paints. :thumb2: