Opinions on FS30279

Armor/AFV Painting & Weathering
1

G’day all

Looking around for a suitable pure acrylic (i.e. water based, not lacquer like Tamiya) of Desert Sand FS30279 for RAF Op. Granby. I’m liking Hataka’s blue line lately but their take on Desert Sand looks a lot browner than anything I’ve seen in photos from the period.

Does anyone have a go-to out of the bottle, or is a mix more appropriate?

Cheers

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2

I don’t have an answer to your colour question, but I feel a need to set you straight on “acrylics” :slight_smile: Most modellers think “acrylics” means water-based paints, when in fact it covers a number of different, semi- or incompatible paints.

  • Tamiya sells two different lines of acrylic paint: their X/XF-series is alcohol-based, their LP-series is lacquer-based.
  • Similarly, GSI Creos sells alcohol-based acrylics under the “Mr. Aqueous” name and lacquer-based ones as “Mr. Hobby”, plus a kind of hybrid (I have no idea what it is) as “Acrysion”.
  • MRP is lacquer-based acrylics, but much thinner than Tamiya LP and GSI Mr. Hobby.
  • Vallejo, Ammo/MIG, Hataka red line, Revell Aqua Color, LifeColor, Italeri etc. etc. etc. are water-based acrylics.

These are all acrylic paints, but because they use different solvents, you can’t generally mix them unless they use the same type of solvent.

It’s quite easy, though, to tell which you can mix and which you cannot: smell the paint. If two different makes smell similar, you should have little or no problems mixing them. If they smell different, it’s probably best not to risk it.

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3

Thanks. Didn’t really help me with my question though. I’m already aware of the differences. I have quite the collection of Tamiya acrylics & have never been a fan of their enamels. As I wrote, I am quite the fan of Hataka’s Blue Line acrylics but their Desert Sand looks too brown to me for RAF Op. Granby a)c.

Anyhow….

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4

I reckon mixing as you can then play around with it until you get something you’re happy with.

Can’t vouch for accuracy but this is what I have on my data base:

30279 Desert Sand XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown 9 parts XF2 Flat White 1 part

4 parts Humbrol:121 Pale Stone Matt + 2 parts Humbrol:118 Tan Matt + 1 part Humbrol:110 Natural Wood

Also, Lifecolor UA089 is marked as 30279

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5

That … is not the impression I got from your initial post, which is why I explained :slight_smile:

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