The instructions call for a 1:1 mix of Flat Earth and Red Brown-- the result looks nothing like Dark Earth. It’s more like… red brown.
I tried lightening it with white and the result is a sort of pink brown. It still looks nothing like Dark Earth, which is more like a sandy brown.
Anybody know a better mix? Or am I just wasting my time with Tamiya paints?
Hmm, adding some white, then mixing the whole thing with 50% with yellow made it a little too… yellow, I think.
But it definitely looks better than it did before. How to make this browner?
Stay tuned for my adding some brown to it… (this is proving to be one of the more complicated paint mixes…).
Next time I’ll just put up the $3 for a jar of pre-mixed…
Hmm… I think I’ve got it! The middle actually looks like Dark Earth.
Well, kinda. Close enough. I’ll publish the recipe when I reverse engineer it.
Well, here’s how much of each kind of paint ended up in the final product (well, I have a big jar of half-mixed precursor and a smaller jar of final product; this how much paint would be required to use all the initially-mixed paint:
7ml brown
18.25ml yellow
6.53ml white
13.49ml flat earth
9.6ml red brown
6.88ml thinner
BTW I think I need to buy some 1/18 RAF planes.
As you have discovered Tamiya’s paint mix suggestions end up looking nothing like the color they are supposed too. You would be much better off to go out and get some Gunze Dark earth as this will mix with Tamiya thinner without a problem.
Cheers
My problem is that I can’t “go out” and get anything. My nearest LHS is two hours away.
I have to admit that I’m surprised that as popular as Tamiya acrylics are, nobody has worked out (or at least nobody has published) good mixes for common colors like dark earth.
BTW the mix I posted ('cause of all the yellow, I guess) is a little too transparent. To get the right color you need to lay down a dark brown undercoat first.