I’ve been working out all of the Akan colors I need to build my various WWII and pre-war Soviet aircraft, and also the specific paints I need for various modern schemes. I know Linden Hill are the official US distributor, but I’ve been buying the 6-pack paint sets from an eBay vendor in Hong Kong for a lot less (this is after my Ukrainian vendor, who was even cheaper, was no longer able to reliably get them).
I figured out what I needed using a rather horribly complicated system - set up systems of equations so that, for example, i was the amount of paint for a fighter, j was the amount for a “medium sized” plane, k was the amount for a bomber, then figured out that meant that something like a late war Il-2 needed j/2 of the underside color, and j/6 for each of the three topside camouflage colors, and built up similar equations for everything I had to build, until I had something like “I need enough A-21m to paint k/2 + j/4 planes, enough AMT-4 for 2i plus k/3 planes” then dropped in what I thought were reasonable values for I, j and k, then ended up with a list along the lines of “I need 6 bottles of AMT-7, 2 bottles of the pre-war khaki protective color” and so forth. Then I looked at the various six packs, and saw what sets would best fit those (which took into account the fact that the HK vendor I went to sold a 6-pack for a bit less than Linden Hill sold four individual bottles).
So with all the sets ordered, I’ve got about 20 miscellaneous bottles that I need to buy. I can get them from Linden Hill, but $4 for 10ml is kinda steep, and I’ve also noticed that they don’t have some colors (either sold out, or have never been listed). Is there a reliable Russian source of Akan (the water-based acrylic paints, not the lacquer)? I signed up for one Russian store, but while their price was great (sub-$2 a bottle) they had holes in what they stocked, and I was never able to establish what the shipping was going to be. Worst case scenario is that I order as many of the colors as I can from Linden Hill, then try to find the remaining others elsewhere.
While I’m writing about Akan, can anybody tell me the best thinner to use for their acrylics? I’ve got a 40ml bottle of their own thinner, but 40ml isn’t much, and if they thin well with another acrylic thinner, that’d be great. Most of my acrylics paints right now are a mixture of MiG, AK Interactive, Vallejo and Tamiya, so I’ve got quite a few different thinners and retarders and so forth kicking around, and something that comes in big bottles at reasonable prices and also cleans up the airbrush afterwards would be great.
Recommendations, anyone? For where to get the paints, and what thinner to adopt for these. It’ll probably be sometime into September before I can order anything - between what’s arrived and what’s still en route, I’ve got thirteen of those 6-pack sets on the way, so I’m on a spending money on models freeze for a month or two.