Concrete Texture from Ammo is a relatively new product from their Vignettes Acrylic line. This product is designed for small and medium sized dioramas or vignettes and comes ready to use in a 100ml tub.

Borrowing from Ammo's own description: The application method is remarkably simple. You can use any kind of tool at hand and the CONCRETE TEXTURE can be mixed with other weathering materials such as pigments or acrylic paints to create a full range of authentic concrete effects. It can be used for any scale ranging from 1/16 to 1/72.

The dried surface mimics the look and texture of concrete beautifully. This particular texture can be sanded, after a through drying, to a smoother finish should you so desire. The acrylic base of Concrete Textures allows for easy clean-up and thinning with water as well as being odorless and non-toxic.

History

I found this in a local Dollar Tree Store, and thought that it would certainly be useful for any scale modeler. Other similar type stores did not stock the product. It is a small fine point non-toxic felt marker with silver colored ink, and I have found it much more efficient than using a paintbrush to paint fine line on parts of models. It is very efficient in painting the silver rocker arm covers on radial engines in almost any scale, and would also be useful painting cockpit interior details, including structural members and anything else requiring fine silver lines.

MMP-134 Surf Green, MMP-135 Coral, MMP-136 Aracdian Blue, MMP-137 Lilac, MMP-179 Crocus yellow

Of the paints listed above, I used only the MMP-134 Surf Green on a 1966 Chevelle station wagon. Prior to painting the body was wet sanded with 2009 grit paper, washed and dried and then 2 coats of Duplicolor white primer were applied. After drying overnight, the primer was wet sanded with 2000 grit paper. After drying, a light coat of the white primer was applied.

I let everything dry over night before sending the MMP-134 Surf Green paint through the airbrush. I immediately saw that I was going to have an issue with coverage. I allowed 30 minutes between coats and after 4 coats I decided to quit. The MMP was not coving the raised portions on the fenders, hood and roof. I didn’t feel like stripping the paint off so I just covered everything with Nason 2-part clear and was done.

While Tamiya has long been a producer of acrylic model paints, they have recently entered the market of bottled solvent-based paints with a line of lacquer paints with the new “LP” prefix heading. As of this writing, there are 80 listed “colors” of lacquer paints in the Tamiya catalog, but that total includes such items as Thinner, a Flat Base, 5 Clears plus a Clear Yellow, Clear Orange, Clear Red and Clear Blue, 6 Blacks and 4 Whites. The colors are not labeled with any other specific description, such as US FS (federal stock) number or Luftwaffe RLM number, although the “pearl”, “mica” and metallic colors are primarily directed towards automotive modelers. The complete chart of available colors is available at the Tamiya website, and is being added to regularly. The paints come in 1/3 fl oz (10ml) bottles, the same as their acrylic line, compared to the 1/2 fl oz Model Master and 1/4 fl oz small bottle Testors enamels.

Tamiya has had lacquer paints in their catalogue for a long time, but until recently, at least in the U.S, they were only available in spray cans, which limited how they could be used and incurred a rather steep price. However, Tamiya has now made their lacquer paints available in .33 fl.oz. bottles in the United States. The color range is limited at the moment, and we can only hope that more colors become available in the future. In addition to this, many products from companies in Asia are in short supply for various reasons, so it may take a while.