A while back I bought 12 RLM colors to try after reading glowing reviews. I just went to try one and found that the nozzle was split. I opened them all up to take a look to find that there are 2 more bottles with split nozzles. Has anyone experienced this with brand new bottles of their paint?
All are brand new, never opened and different colors. Needles to say this made a mess when I opened the bottle after shaking it and the paint was kind of thick which resulted in a crappy finish, even after upping the air pressure.
The split tops was something that happened during the filling process. AK is aware of the problem and sent replacement tips to wholesalers. You might want to check with whoever you bought the paints from. I had it happen on one bottle that I’ve purchased so far. Makes quite a mess and wastes plenty of paint on the inside of the cap during the mixing process.
This was my first time ever using this stuff. I’ve been busy with lots of other things. I’m hoping the thickness is just from the split tips letting the solvent gassing out. 3 out of 12 is a 25% failure rate.
Now I have to figure where I purchased this from since it was about a year ago.
I only have two bottles of it, but one of them does have a split nozzle. It’s barely noticeable and I had to put my #11 blade into to make sure it just wasn’t a line on the plastic.
No, the AK Real Colors airbrush best when thinned. They have a dedicated proprietary thinner. They are not like Vallejo Model Air or MRP paints and ready to go as is for airbrushing straight from the container.
Yes they do. Or plain old lacquer thinner. I was told originally by some hobby shop staff that they will thin with and work well with basic original Tamiya X-20A thinner, but I think he was thinking their lacquer thinner. They will thin with Tamiya X-20A but come out very gritty. Won’t do that again. Yes it works, but it’s not recommended.
I’ve switched to AK Real Colors since MM was discontinued. I’ve tried using different thinners, and they work. The results are acceptable. I mostly thin with big box home improvement store lacquer thinners. That’s the combo for my general paint jobs. However, I have found that the AK paints thin exceptionally well with their proprietary thinner and spray beautifully. No clogging, no spitting, no grain or grit. When thinned correctly and sprayed at the right pressure, there is almost no overspray when using a .2 needle.
As an example, this is all freehand:
Unfortunately, I’ve had the same split-tip problem that you’ve had. Interestingly, I’ve only found the problem on bottles I’ve ordered online. I haven’t had the issue with any bottles I’ve picked up from my local brick and mortar stores. Granted, I check each bottle before purchase, but I haven’t even run across the problem while checking.
My experience matches what others have said regarding thinning these paints. It comes out of the bottle quite thick, so there’s no way I’d put that in any of my airbrushes given all the difficulties I’ve had with all of my brushes in the last year or so. I typically thin paints with their proprietary thinner - AK Real with AK’s thinner intended for them, Tamiya Acrylic with X-20A thinner, but will use garden variety hardware store lacquer thinner or Mr. Hobby self-leveling thinner for Tamiya lacquers.
