Hello everybody, I have one of those questions with no right or wrong answer. WHICH BRAND OF PAINTS ARE YOUR FAVORITES FOR WWII GERMAN AFV?.

I have been building AFV now for almost 3 years. Previously devoted to building german WWII aircraft, using mostly Model Master Enamels, which were very good and accurate in my opinion.

The transition to AFV was quite interesting. I started using TAMIYA ACRYLICS which I have to say are very easy to handle and clean, although after a while I have noticed that the colors are quite inaccurate and boring, sometimes requiring some "tweaking" by means of adding other colors to achieve good results.

I have been thinking to start using either Gunze, Revell or Vallejo, as I would like to avoid the fumes of enamels...=)

Any advice and experiences with those or any other brands are welcomed. Also, if somebody can provide the "most used" colors on each would be awesome.

Thanks all, have a nice day.


Mirko

First off, Gunze acrylic is no more. It has all switched to an enamel or lacquer based.

Vallejo has many, many, many colors for German armor (among other things), and has no smell what so ever. As little as Tamiya paint smells, Vallejo has even less smell. The Vallejo Model Color line has over 200 colors, Air Line 100 pre-thinned for airbrushing colors, and Panzer Aces another 48 colors.

Can't comment on the Revell paint, as I have never seen or used it.

What about Mr. Hobby or Mr. Color, aren't those been produced anymore??? Dragon kits usually reccomend those right??

Mr Hobby, aka Gunze Aqueous Hobby Color (water/alcohol based acrylics) are no longer available in the US market, though they are still available in theJapanese home market and some other countries (still available here in Australia too)

Mr Color is the "lacquer" based version, which I believe is slowly being introduced to the US.

My understanding is that though the two lines have run side by side for many years, the Mr Hobby (aqueous) line is to be drawn down in favour of the Mr Color line. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the "Mr Hobby" paints in the 300+ number range were to be phased out, replaced by the equivalent colours in the Mr Color range. So far as I am aware, we are yet to see widespread introduction of the "Mr Color" range here in Australia, most hobby stores still carrying large-ish stocks of the "aqueous" paints.

I have the mr. hobby german WWII color set (2) which is very nice. you get h403 which is dark yellow or dunkelgelb, h403 olive green or olivegrun and h406 chocolate brown or shokoladenbraun.

To my eye, H403 is too dark and too bown, moreso than Tamiya XF-60. It's interesting to note that despite H403 being available for some years now, Dragon continues to list H71 Middlestone (actually a RAF camouflage colour) for "dark yellow" based paint schemes on German armour.

well, I wouldn't know about it, but I have yet to come across middlestone in German armor. have seen it quite a lot in allies vehicles though.

Very useful info so far. =0

Any hints on which Vallejo Model Air colors to get????? ANy experience with Floquil paintS??

found this article, maybe it can help you:
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=157&page=1
cheers

I understand that the LifeColor range have excellent matches for German WWII paints, based on the RAL designation. For example, for Panzergrau use UA207 "Panzergrau RAL 7021" and for Dunkelgelb use UA204 "Dunkelgelb RAL 7028".

Cheers,
Ian

Thanks everybody for the good advice!!

I'm a bit late with a reply, but I'd confirm the Lifecolor Camouflage sets for german armour are pretty good. I can't vouch how accurate the shades are but they look good, particularly the Dunklgelb RAL 7028. The paints are labelled by name and RAL number and the back of the box gives more information for year, and sometimes specific region, such as Africa

However I've found these dont make a good coat when spraying or brushing on bare plastic (maybe thats just me )

I've found an undercoat or base coat of enamel on the bare plastic before spraying or brushing these paints is the way to go.

cheers
Neil