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Revell Paints


lawman56

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To those of us here in the US, (at least from the discussions I've read on multiple model forums), Revell paint has been nearly impossible to obtain. Well I just picked up 5 containers at my LHS two days ago and have to say I'm quite impressed. In an effort to experiment, I picked up 3 acrylics and 3 enamels.

 

This isn't really a review per se, but rather your average model builder of both armor and aircraft who does both brush and airbrush work of most any subject. 

 

I was an exclusive user of Model Master from the time I first discovered them in the early 1980s, until they were bought up and started producing a thin muck of horrible quality. I still have jars of "pre-buyout" that works as well as it always has, and tossed every jar of the nasty new elixir away. Meanwhile I've been toying with other brands to see what I like. Tamiya is a front-runner, but certain colors, (especially Germany's 4 billion shades of green and grey :frantic:), require a bit of mixing work to get right. I'm a historian by trade, so "close enough" sends my OCD through the roof!

 

Enter Revell....My LHS recently acquired a plethora of Revell supplies. My assumption being that they are becoming a dealer considering the number of Revell racks they've put in. I decided to give them a go, so picked up various German shades (which have the RAL # on them) for an Afrika Corps diorama I'm working on. There's a few reviews out there on the paints, so I won't go in to that, but instead focus on my person opinion. The most obvious being that the acrylics are in a square, tall pot. I actually like them. They seem to be as stable, if not more so, than the short fat Tamiya jars, but with a unique lid that can be used as a small palette and can be locked into the front of the block. They appear to be a bit on the thick side, similar to the old Polly S line, but (supposedly) can be thinned with water. Haven't tried that yet, as I stuck strictly to brush painting for now. They dried rapidly and left no brush marks. They really are self leveling, as I deliberately left a few thicker lines to see and the whole surface is uniform. One thing I will suggest. On the lid are 2 locating pins to keep the lid locked in place during shipping. Snip them off to make closing them up simpler and more airtight. 

 

The enamels come in a tin almost identical to Humbrol, however the lip of the lid is quite thin and bent a bit too easily as I tried to pry them open. I know with my Humbrol tins, they tend to be more rigid and can be pried from one, sometimes two, locations. These Revell tins need to be pried evenly all around or they become a wee bit "wavy" (oops!) Mine seemed to be a bit too thin, as they have required 3 coats so far, and probably need a 4th. FYI-I used a tan enamel over a sand yellow acrylic, so there's no reason it should not have covered better. That being said, they do appear to be almost airbrush ready. I'll find out eventually.

 

In a nutshell; for me, the Revell acrylics may just become my new primary paint while (depending on future tests), the enamels will be my base coats. This is one of those rare instances where find something new that is actually better than the old! 

 

Hope my babbling has helped in some way.

 

Joe

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  • 1 month later...

Yes, I like those paints as well -they're IMHO one of the most durable acrylics, even on bare plastic. They airbrush well (but as with most water-based acrylics you can't overthin them, they break down) with Tamiya X-20A.

Thinned with water, my kids will paint very neat finishes with them, even if it's put on very sloppy!

 

 

Their flat white (05) is one of the most well covering whites I know.

 

Their enamels are somewhat thick, but are a lot better than the newer Humbrol ones. I've stopped buying Humbrol.

 

I really wish they would improve their colour selection though, some are poor matches (Steingrau 75 for light gull grey is way to dark) and need mixing.

 

Happy Revell-ling,

 

Jeroen

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  • 1 month later...

small update, found a photo of one of my kid's models :)

I sure wish mine looked like that when I was 9!

I just helped by putting the paint from the cube into an egg holder and adding a bit of thinner and some vocal help -all painting done by my son.  The only area I helped him actually paint with was using a thin brush to mark out the demarcation for the olive drab. Gloss was from a rattle can, btw.

https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/cache/ba/9a/ba9a562f31186c929f01ab1293267d77.jpg

 

It's fun doing things like this with the kids while they still enjoy it, especially if the paint helps make it looks nice, which is quite motivational for them. :)

 

Jeroen

 

 

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