AK Real Colors are so high performance they are almost foolproof. They are lacquers; you can thin them with hardware store lacquer thinner but to get the real magic use Gunze Mr Color Leveling Thinner. Thin 50/50 with Real Color and shoot at 15 PSI. The stuff shoots like a dream, covers instantly, and dries in minutes rock hard. With the Mr Color thinner, it all self levels and you get the perfect paint job, no sags, no drips, runs, or errors. No tip dry. Just airbrushing perfection. AK RC is now my go-to paint and I bought the whole line. Itâs so easy to get outstanding results - if you canât get AK RC to work, hang up your airbrush and take up making potholders for a hobby!
I bought many of them and the hardware store thinner at your recommendation Matt. Dying to try them just got a few other projects in the works right now. Havenât heard a bad word about them yet. Gotta get that gunze mr leveling thinner too.
Only thing Iâve found is that thereâs quite the variety in the consistency of the paints. Iâve got maybe 15 or so colours, some of them are almost ready to spray out of the pot and some of them are like molasses. Not a huge issue, but something to be aware of when youâre mixing up a batch.
Also while they spray great with cheap thinner, I find it separates out faster than Mr. Levelling thinner, so if youâre using it, work in small batches to keep consistency the same in your AB cup.
Ok thanks for the tip Dan.
I have done a dot filter over the turret and hull using oils. May be hard to pick up via the photos (only used my phone camera). The tools on the hull have been painted and the tow cable has been painted. These will all be weathered down the track.
Very sweet nick.
Thanks @petbat . No real updates today. I applied a gloss coat all over for the decals and pin washes and am letting it dry for 24 hrs.
Really nice Cromwell! The paint is fantastic.
I concur AK real colors are fantastic! They do on super smooth and they seem to have really good pigmentation, they cover very well. I do find they need a good shake though or they can do on a tad satin if they thinner and pigment isnât adequately mixed
Thanks @Mead93. Im still waiting on the metal tracks to arrive for this one.
I agree, i did find a really good shake and a thorough mix when thinned definitely helped. I will be buying more AK RC!!s
The postie just dropped these off for me. The snow products will be used to add some weathering to the Cromwell, but it wonât be heavily mudded. I donât want to cover up all the detail Iâve added, so will focus on the lower hull and roadwheels only.
This morning I used Tamiya black panel accent to add some depth and shadow to the hull and turret. I focused on all the panel lines and the indents on the fenders. Its definitely added something to the build.
I am contemplating when to add the decals to the turret and hull. Because the whitewash is only focussed on the amour panels on the turret I was thinking Iâd mask the turret stowage boxes off. I donât want to lay the decals down and then mask over them just in case they come up. So I will practice and experiment with the whitewash on some plasticard before I do any more on the kit, except detail painting and clean up.
If you seal them first you shouldnât have any problem lifting them with the mask.
@Canmedic I was thinking the same thing, so jumped right in and did the decals!! They went down well. I used Mr. Mark Setter and Softer to get them to sit down and hug the model. I am very happy how they have turned out. I will dull them down a bit when I put a sealing coat over. I will add a drop of the olive drab paint to the clear coat.
Hi
Plus the Airfix item HULL is apparently 2mm short.
Plus turret side hatch bolt deficiencies
Academy responsible for it, Iâm told.
Cheers
Now tinitig the clear coat does sound a good idea! Normally I just over-spray. Must try!
Finally got a day to test out the whitewash. I tried Tamiya X20-A on the left and filtered water on the right. The X-20A worked well chipping and sprayed on better, while the water mix sprayed patchy and was hard to remove, more scraping than chipping.
Yeah this sort of just happened. I am quite happy with the result for my 1st proper attempt at a whitewash hairspray chipping. I added some small scratches with a toothpick and wore away around the edges of the turret and bolt heads. Feedback is welcomed.
I will add some streaking and discolouration after a sealing coat.
I returned 24 hours to refine the whitewash. It worked just as effectively and easily 24 hours later using water to chip away the white paint. Very happy. I have also added some subtle streaking from bolt heads and handles.
Once dry, next up will be the flat coat and then chipping around hatches etc.
I have added subtle chipping to the Cromwell, mainly around hatches and fenders. I 1st used a light green colour using a sponge and then used a brush with a dark green colour to add darker chips inside the light green areas.
I then flat coated the whole vehicle with a few drops of the base colour in the airbrush to blend it all together. Next upâŚ(whenever I get a chance) is mud and snow weathering.
All the goodies I need to finish this build arrived today! Just need some bench time nowâŚnot for a few weeks at least
I couldnât resist testing the track fitment. Instead of cutting the wire longer then snipping them back once glued, I am cutting them just shy of the total width and adding a dob of cyano to the ends. I have made a wire depth jig to get a consistent length for the wire, so will cut all the wire pins and put them in a seperate ziplock bag to the track links.