Using Akan Acrylics

[learstang]

A very timely post, Pip, as I've been experimenting the last few days with some of the MM greens.  The one I had high hopes for is the Field Green.  I test painted it on a 1/72nd scale Yak-9, next to some black, and it looks just too dark for my tastes.  MM Green is the correct colour (about the right amount of olive), but it's too light.  Something about halfway between the two would be about right.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on a good MM equivalent for AMT-4.  I know I could darken or lighten the paints, but I am constitutionally unable to do this.  I buy paints in a bottle for a reason - so I can use them straight out of the bottle.  It's enough of a struggle for me to finish my models without remembering how much white or black to add to each colour.

Regards,

Jason

[Seawinder]

A very timely post, Pip, as I've been experimenting the last few days with some of the MM greens.  The one I had high hopes for is the Field Green.  I test painted it on a 1/72nd scale Yak-9, next to some black, and it looks just too dark for my tastes.  MM Green is the correct colour (about the right amount of olive), but it's too light.  Something about halfway between the two would be about right.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on a good MM equivalent for AMT-4.  I know I could darken or lighten the paints, but I am constitutionally unable to do this.  I buy paints in a bottle for a reason - so I can use them straight out of the bottle.  It's enough of a struggle for me to finish my models without remembering how much white or black to add to each colour.

Jason, I agree -- if it's going to involve mixing (which I think is inevitable to get a decent AMT-4 using Model Master enamels), then it wants to be a simple, easy-to-replicate mix like 1-to-1. I've got to go to bed now (church in the morning), but I'll post a couple of possibly worthwhile observations tomorrow. In the meantime, do consider the following: 1 -- based on Konstantin's great photos and FS samples posted to the other thread, it definitely looks as if AMT-4 falls somewhere between 24102 and 24151; 2 -- Model Master's 1713 is not a really accurate representation of FS 24102 (nor for that matter is their 1710 a good representation of FS 34079). 1713 is both lighter and greener than 34102.

More tomorrow.
Pip

[John Thompson]

OTOH, Akan's AMT-4 does not impress me. I think it's a poor match for either of the two most common FS references, 24102 and 24151. Its hue is is browner than 24102, and significantly darker -- very close to 24079. Also, (like a lot of green paints when compared to blues, I think), it is harder to apply, even unthinned: it tends to bead away from the point of application, leaving uncovered areas.

More later.
Pip Moss

That's interesting - I found the same thing when making colour samples, although I was only using a toothpick to apply a heavy drop of paint, not a brush or airbrush. I wonder if Liquitex Flow Aid would be useful - I haven't tried it myself.

John

[learstang]

Pip, you're probably correct about the mixing to get the AMT-4 colour right using MM paints.  But I still haven't given up on finding a reasonably close analogue.  It doesn't have to match AKAN or the Albom Nakrasok exactly (too dark for 1/72nd scale in my opinion, anyway).

Regards,

Jason