Italeri Paints questions

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

The LHS just started stocking these. I went and had a look see and low and behold they have the Dark Olive Drab (FS# 34084) in their line up that looks correct for Vietnam era US Army AFVs. I think that I saw two other shades of OD in their line up… this stuff is right up my alley. So I had to buy that color. And did a test bit of work on a radio. The stuff covers nicely in one coat, almost like the old Polly S line, and the brush marks disappeared once dry. Now I understand that this stuff is made by Vallejo. It is a bit more pricey than Tamiya or Model Master Acrylics. But it comes in a nice screw cap/flip top dropper lid jar, that allows me to stir the stuff thoroughly, dip my brush straight in to the bottle, and not have to worry about the dropper top shooting off if I decide to drop paint into my airbrush jars for thinning. I have been very dis satisfied with MM Acryls for the most part and with the demise of the Gunze Aqueous and Polly Scale lines here I am open for a new line of Acrylics. The only downside I see to these right now is cost, but that is minor.

Here come the questions: Has anybody here used the stuff? What Thinners do you suggest? Are there generic thinners (i.e. alcohol, etc.) compatable with this stuff? And hints or tips?

2

Sorry, never used them, but did notice Spruebrothers carries the full line. I’ve read they are ideed alot like Vallejo, so best to stick with the Manuf. thinner or plain old water. I’d say if you can get them local and they are a good quality- consider yourself lucky and give them a try.

3

I haven’t used the Italeri acrylics but I have used Vallejo and they don’t like to play with alcohol. I use demineralised water with Vallejo Modelcolor.

If they behave like Vallejo, then I suggest a primer coat (I use Tamiya acrylic as a primer for Vallejo).

4

They are indeed Vallejo formula paints.

That means they need a primer, and that you have to keep your alcohol away from them. (lol, a beer sitting next to them will probable be okay, though)

I bought three colors to test them out with,all three missed the FS color they were sold as,so, all I did with them is check them out to see how they stick, etc.

You can peel them off the model with your fingernail, the same as Vallejo or LifeColor,but, they adhere well over a coat of that great Vallejo Primer (Polyurethane),thin them with Italeri thinner or the New formula Vallejo Thinner (not the old Vallejo)

When you calculate a “price per ml” amount, they come in okay compared to the other Acrylics, at 20ml per bottle

Rex

ps, for any that considers it pertinent

Italeri 31136 is really 21105

Italeri 12197 is really 22190 (not “Red” enough)

Italeri 33538 is really 23655 (Lemon Yellow instead of Orange Yellow)

5

Good information there guys, thank you. Rex, my work bench tends to attract more hard stuff than beer, so I hope that those spirits will not affect them any worse :wink: I will look into the Vallejo new thinner. Hobby lobby is carrying that paint line now, so hopefully the thinner as well. Can you say 40% off…? :wink:

6

if you get any of this paint

#4763AP Flat Gull Gray 36622,please let me know if it is Flat Light Gull Gray 36440 or Camouflage Gray 36622, lol

I have a sort of bet with a friend that it is neither one,but, it would help him out if he knew which it really is,he likes the Vallejo formula paints

Rex

7

Next time I am at that shop I will have a look at it

8

I’ve got to be honest—if they’re actually MORE expensive than what’s currently available, I won’t use them based on principle alone. I"m genuinely outraged by the price of finishing supplies lately. Cripes, you go to the hobby store these days to pick up a few finishing supplies and you’re paying for what used to be a complete model! The last re-stock I had of any quantity cost me upwards of $90.00! And the bottle are so small these days…I don’t know how these companies are expecting to bring new modelers and kids, especially, into the flock when they can’t even afford to finish a model, much less buy one these days?

(rant over…I feel better now…[:$])

9

I’ve still got some little cans of Humbrol enamels that have lasted over 38 years. I don’t use them but keep them around for nostalgia’s sake. I bought thrm in the days when you could still get Testors enamels for 30 cents(I still have them around, too). The price tag on the bottom of the Humbrol paints reads $1.29. That means the Humbrols cost over four times the price of the Testors I don’t know what to say about that except that Testors didn’t make the colors that Humbrol offered at that time.

10

I am one of the guys totally puzzled by the “cheap modeling” part of this deal.

Except for catching known items on a sale price now and then,everything in the hobby has been fairly expensive.

The Humbrol story that makes Anne just cringe, lol, back in 1969 or so, my family moved to Long Beach, Cal. I walked towards the beach and passed about 4 small hobby shops before seeing a fairly large hobby shop. I went inside and saw my first box of Humbrol paints. Yeah, box. They had 6 tins in each box, each with a theme to their color selection (just like LifeColor and Vallejo do today) But, they didn’t have any set for what I was building right then,but some of the colors were in the Ship Colors boxes,so, I bought three boxes to get 2 colors from each that I needed out of them. (that is very expensive modeling)

When I switched to Acrylics three years ago,I still had two tinlets of that vivid Green from those sets, and 3 bottles of nearly the same Beret Green in the little Testors Squares,they came in so many sets, and had very little use to an aircraft modeler. But, they did help you know how many paint sets you had bought over the years, lol.

My point is that some in the hobby are looking for the cheapest paint they can get at a department store,to paint a $150 model,while others are buying Specific Modeling sets of paint that have unusable colors (wasted) in them to paint a Lindberg P-51B.

Me?,shhhh, let’s not go there,I am buying OOP PollyScale and Aeromaster paints, some of which will paint $50 OOP Wild Weasels, and some of which will paint $2 bargain table Airfix biplanes,all primed with $16 Vallejo primers

haha, this can be one strange hobby, sometimes

Rex

11

I hear you Tarn, and I buy my paints from Hong Kong Cause thats the only place I can get Gunze Aqueous, and I refuse to try something else! They go for under $3 a bottle though…

12

Nathan, that takes some planning ahead on your future projects, doesn’t it.

I had to plan ahead for my paint purchases, also,because they were going Out of Stock everywhere.

But, what I did is probably more than anyone wants to read in a paint thread.

Rex

13

Karl, I hear ya loud and clear about pricing. But these are just about 20 cents or so more expensive than the now departed Polly Scale line was. And they do seem to be making some colors I have not seen in many years or ever before. I saw a light green that lookd perfect for US AFV interiors, and medium olive green that looks like it will work very well for modern US uniforms such as jungle fatigues. They are in 20ml bottles, so who knows how the price comparison goes is debateable. Looking on a metric/US conversion chart, there is more paint in the Italeri jars than in Model Master or Floquil jars, so the higher price makes sense in that case.

Subfixer, if you have any still good tins of French Artillery Olive, Brown Bess, and Track Colour in your old Humbrol paint stock that you are willing to part with, I will have my grandchildren named after you :wink:

Rex, I went by the shop again earlier today after my court appearance overtime. The “Gull Gray 36622” looks a LOT closer to MM Camouflage Gray 36622 than it does to Gull Gray 36440. At least under indoor flourescent lighting. I dont have a FS paint fan to compare it with. Just curious, but when you were living in Long Beach, what street was that where you walked down and ran into all those shops? I am sure that they are all long gone, but I would love to go by and see where they were. Long Beach is just a short drive from me across the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

As for me, yes I like to find the best deal that I can on thngs when I can. But supporting the LHS and trying new things has a cost sometimes.

14

As a SoCal resident,you obviously know where PCH and Ocean Blvd are located in the Long Beach and Signal Hill area

We lived on Redondo, just west of PCH, in the shadow of Signal Hill. My walk to Jr High was down Redondo, past Anaheim blvd, and a few blocks farther west, and a couple of blocks south.

There was a Slot car shop (with track) on Anaheim, with a “regular” hobby shop a bit farther down the street. Then past the school (on 7th or 6th??) there was another shop.

Just before you got to Ocean Blvd, still on Redondo, there was a fairly large shop which when I took Anne to see the “Jarhead’s old stomping grounds” was a Hispanic grocery/light walkaway deli/restaurant (a really cool place if you like Mexican food, which we do) We were out there in 2004, 8 days after the Midway opened as a museum ship.

It was a little farther walk,but, if you turned North on Ocean, and walked towards the round towers downtown LB,there were three more little Mom & Pop hobby stores. There was a hobby shop near the Douglas plant at the one end of Long Beach International, also.

All of this framed by a Squadron shop that was then in the Lakewood Shopping Center (Later on becoming the Lakewood Mall)

I had over a dozen real hobby shops to go to back in 1969 to 1972,then we moved back to Wisconsin so that Dad could take over the farm (an hour and a half from a hobby shop) As a farm kid,I joined the Marines in order to get some sleep at night, lol. (they ordered us to go to bed in San Diego, rofl)

15

oh, I forgot,thanks for looking at that Gray for me,I will pass that along, my friend builds a lot of SEA camo Phantoms and etc

Rex

16

It looks good for that purpose. Especially under a coat of weathering.

17

I’m glad you asked this question. The small shop by where I work has very little Poly S left and started carrying this stuff. The shop owners wife didn’t know much about it other than that it was fairly new. She hadn’t heard any feedback on it.

18

Yes, it is new on the hobby scene. I am curious as how it will far. Will it fizzle like Badger & ProModeler acrylic paints did, or take off like Gunze and Tamiya?

19

Carlos, I agree with you in that I miss the heck out of those old Polly S paints. I don’t think a manufacturer since has matched 'em for ease of painting and coverage! And the colors-spot on, in my memory!

Well…ok, maybe I’ll try them–IF I see them!

20

you know there are about 5 online vendors that still sell PollyScale Military and/or Railroad,plus some Amazon and ebay places? And some of the German colors can replace some sold out US colors?