Masking Tests, I used
Tamiya Masking sheet, offcuts from a Russian tank camo scheme, and as such some irregular shapes. I rubbed the edges down firmly, but expected bleed along the trench like panel lines........................
Using the same
airbrush, and same air pressure & tap water, I tried to do darkest over lightest, lighter over darkest, and so on. I took a little more care in mixing ratios, especially the metallics. I had no problem with spraying, no clogging, or other hiccups
I left the model for about an hour, or so, the paint was touch dry..................
This Rubber black over Dark Sand
Dark Sand over Rubber Black
Russian Green over French Blue
French Blue over Russian Green
Tyre Black & Bronze over Natural Steel
Natural Steel over Bronze
You'll have to excuse the oversprays & minor errors....................... obviously I'd take much more care, if it was the model I was testing.
There was no signs of paint lifting at all, there were areas where there was some bleed, but that was expected. All in all pretty successful.
My thoughts on AK 3rd Generation Acrylics:
The paints brushed pretty well, straight from the bottle - apart from the Russian Green, which didn't cover well, both brush &
airbrush.
All airbrushed smoothly, with no tip drying, or clogging, once you get the mixing ratios right, they should be able to do one coat finishes ( apart from the Russian Green! ). The metallics sprayed particularly well, once the mix ratio was sorted ( c. 60/40 ). One thing I did notice, cleaning the
airbrush so many times, was that they didn't seem to leave a lot of residue - cleanup was easy.
No problems in masking - I did leave the primed model for 24hrs to eliminate any primer lift.
So, what about AK 3rd Generation? It's a good paint, and airbrushes well, the metallics were very good. - It'll take a little while to get used to the mixing ratio, which I have to say seems doesn't seem that high. The ratio was 50/50 - If I use Vallejo
Model Color for my
airbrush, I normally mix 25/75, so the AK bottle won't last as long. One thing I do find disappointing is that IPA seemed to cause coagulating problems, luckily tap water worked well, I don't like having to use a bespoke thinner!
I may try some more metallics - Aluminium & Gun Metal, but I'm not going to rush out and buy any of the 3rd. generation standard colours, I don't think they show any massive advance over other brands at the moment. Maybe when I'm more familiar with the characteristics, I may change my mind, but not now.
Many thanks to John for supplying me with the paint samples.
Dave