What is the general consensus on MM paints, more specifically, their Olive Drab paints? What colors represent the other colors (i.e. sand, etc.) used in the ETO? TIA,
Colin
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I’ve used Mission Models paints and I’ve found them no better than Vallejo AIR, meaning that they clog my airbrush.
The seller said that one can’t store MM paints below a certain temperature or else they gunk up. I stored them in my unheated basement and yes, they coagulated after months down there and somehow don’t thin well with acrylic thinner. A modeling friend told me that “keep at room temperature” advice was probably just a sales gimmick to get me to buy more paint from the seller…but I don’t know.
When they work, they work fine, but after storing them in cold temperatures, MM paints might have a tendency to have limited shelf lives and not flow or airbrush as smoothly as when new.
When they airbrush well, the colors are very nice and the spray is very smooth and fine. I find MM paints’ airbrush coverage to be thinner and flatter than Tamiya or Gunze Sanyo paints.
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Okay, thank you! I shouldn’t really have to worry about them getting too cold, I’m in central Florida and it didn’t get very cold here. Thanks for the info though! Good to know.
Mission Models paints are almost like colored milk…very watery and thin when new. They’re toted as being able to airbrush straight from the bottle, just like Vallejo AIR.
So imagine my surprise when I opened a few months later and they have the consistency of solid condensed soup with hardly any liquid. I guess the “keep at room temperature” advice has merit. Thus, each and every bottle of MM paint coagulates at a different rate and that’s frustrating!
However, their color choices are very nice…and I just bought Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver so perhaps MM paints will airbrush a lot better once thinned down and Flow Improver is added…or at least I hope so. MM paint bottles are large…larger than an eyedropper bottle of Vallejo AIR. So if you want more paint, MM might be the way to go. They’re the size of (cheap) artist acrylic bottles you see in the art store.
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I have enjoyed Mission Model Paint,in fact my go to OD is their faded OD,no clogging for me following their dirctions,using their thinner and their polymer. I also hand brush their faded tire black with no problems.
I have to say that the only thing i havent mastered was the right mix and PSI for the camo patterns,but otherwise they work well for me.
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I like Mission Models paints. But I will add that they are not very good for really thinning down for marbling over a black base. Never had a problem with tip drying, and I haven’t tried it with their poly additive, only their thinner.
I used their OD 319 over a black base on this build
And their FS 33070 over a black base on this build
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May be of interest Model Paint Sol Guide Mission Models Acrylic Paints
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Me, myself, I’m marginally mixed minded about Mission Models.
First off I have no issue with how they airbrush. They behave similarly to VMA which I love, and as long as you use their thinner and the magic retarder stuff they say you need, then they thin nicely, coverage is nice and they level off nicely.
Problem I have with them is that they are still water soluble after drying, so when you use water for your chipping it literally washes the whole coat away down to the primer. Quite alarming. Elsewhere if you use masking tape over it, even after clear coating it, it will lift in great patches.
I will qualify this by saying this is my experience and others get great results from it so it could well be me not doing something or getting the thinner/additive mix wrong as I cannot imagine the adhesion is that poor as I have found it to be if you do it right, as they would never sell any bottles.
I like using it for scenery painting and it does brush nicely as well. Their colours are nice and accurate and the paint does have its uses…
…as an experiment I did the top layer of post-shade highlighting on a dunkelgelb base layer with MM to see how it worked and it was great. What I did was use a VMA dunkelgelb base layer, add in the artificial shadows and then lighten the VMA dunkelgelb base layer with deck tan for one highlight layer. I did my chipping and added a clear coat - and then used the lighter MM dunkelgelb colour to add some lighter highlights and it worked very nicely. The beauty of that is that you can just get a clean brush and tidy up any accidental overspray with tap water if you are careful. It is possible to very precise with it.
I would imagine you could use it to add highlights to the camo patches on a NATO tri-tone vehicle for example in this manner by using VMA or Tamiya for your base coats and first pass of highlights, clearcoat and then highlight the camo patches with MM using water to tidy away any overspray. Key is to clear coat after the last highlight pass you do with the non-MM base coat so you don’t damage that layer when you are taking off any overspray with water and a brush.
Colour-wise, the lighter MM dunkelgelb is almost perfect as a highlight for a darker dunkelgelb base layer. Let me know if you want me to post a pic so you can see.
It is unconventional but it works so I keep my MM and haven’t binned them.
As with so much in our hobby it is “horses for courses” and almost everything has a use. That use sometimes isn’t what we envisaged when we bought it/them, but we are nothing if not resourceful problem solvers.
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I tried 2 bottles of Mission Models Paints, the thinner and the polymer and I binned them. Way too many hoops to jump through to get it to airbrush nicely, cover correctly and adhere to resist masking. Then the polymer goes solid after 60 days, so you have to keep buying new polymer every two months for as long as you own the paint. The company even admits that the polymer has a shelf life, but they don’t tell you you’re only going to get one model out of it (unless you build extremely fast). No thank you. Mission Models Paint system is just too gimmicky and a money grab. I shoot Tamiya XF and AK Real Colors with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and it’s airbrushing nirvana.
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Life’s too short, man. I’m a huge believer in getting great at what you know and sticking with that.
I had a guy DMing me on Insta the other day trying to tell me I could take a quantum leap forward in terms of the quality of what I am doing by moving to Lacquers. I had another guy a while back telling me Hataka is the way forward and nothing else is acceptable if you really want to get good at painting.
I was super polite and thanked them both for their feedback but honestly, if acrylics are your thing then what could the possible justification be for switching your whole eco-system across and spending a year or so learning how they work/thin/spray/clean etc to a decent level?
I have some enamels (Humbrol tins and some Tamiya and AK Real hybrids) and they are useful in certain circumstances but I’m a VMA/Mig guy and that’s how I work. That’s why I think MM marketed themselves well as they understood that most of us are Tamiya by default and the move to MM would only really be for health implications. I think if you are really experienced in one paint company/ecosystem then you stick to it and it is difficult to convince anyone to move unless there are health implications.
MM’s marketing was quite strong on the health implications. I actually think it is a nice idea for a product and they’d have been better making it so that it plays nice with Mig/Vallejo and AK Acrylic thinners or with Tamiya and AKR3 hybrids etc, and just relied on having better colour accuracy and a competitive price.
Anyway, I am keeping hold of mine but wont be buying any more.
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@SSGToms Thanks for the info! I was about to buy the new MM polymer and thinner from Amazon but after reading your post, I think I’ll just give up on Mission Models paints.
I might try mixing MM with Vallejo Flow Improver and Vallejo thinner. I know MM says to use their own MM thinner and brand, but I don’t want to buy more MM products if they’re so finicky.
I bought Monument Hobbies paints and I intend to try airbrushing with them. The problem with MH paints is that they don’t have any military colors; however, I am going to use them for fantasy figures so that shouldn’t really matter.
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I will add to the above experiences. I used masking on my uses with Mission Models with no adhesion problems. But I did NOT use their poly additive. Never have, never will. If a paint requires more than thinner for airbrushing, I will NOT use it. Stick to the thinner only and you should be fine. At least I have been. But with SO many paint options out there nowadays, find a line that you like and go with that. Personally I have become a true convert to AK Real Color thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner for airbrushing. The paint color selection is excellent in the AK RC line.
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Yeah I was going to get the AK Real Colors line in their box edition but it sold out before I could. I am a fan of Vallejo but I am getting to the point where I would like to try other companies as well. If I do get MM paints I won’t get the poly additive. Thanks for your input, the OD on those tanks looks great, as well as the paint job.
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Yeah, I knew about them being water-soluble, I heard about this brand from Mike Rinaldi’s YouTube channel. He doesn’t use the chipping fluid for that reason, he just uses the paint (I think). But thanks for your input, that’s good that the coverage is good.
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Okay, I won’t get the poly additive and see how they do. Thanks for your input!
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If you like Tamiya you wil enjoy AK-Real,they behave the same.I thin them Mr Leveling Thinner,regular LT works good too.
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