ICM continues to come out with interesting paint sets for their kits, and this one is no exception. As with all of the ICM acrylic paints that I’ve tested so far, I’ve found these to be smooth and creamy with no pigment separation in the bottle. They have excellent opacity and cover nicely with one coat, and are clearly intended for hand painting rather than airbrushing. I’m finally overcoming my reluctance to paint figures with acrylics because of the excellent quality of these paints.

This set is a bit different from others in that it includes paints representing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for figures that can be found in several of their Chernobyl series, rather than just the latest Brave Divers set. However, I had already assembled the Brave Divers set for another review so decided to test the entire range on these figures.

Here are the paints supplied in the set:

• Medium Orange: This color is usually seen in rubber gloves as well as caution vests.
• Grey Green: This is typically associated with Russian-style PPE, and was the predominant color on the figures I painted for this review. Western PPE tends to use a more blue or turquoise tone.
• Clear Red: Once again, this can be used to paint rubber gloves or straps or other high-visibility clothing. I didn’t find this color to be transparent at all, which came as something of a surprise, although it thinned down easily into a suitable glaze with a little water.
• Rubber Black: A very nice off-black color appropriate for rubber hoses or other similar items.
• Clear Yellow: Again, suitable for PPE gloves or strapping, as I used it on the test figures. Again, this was far more opaque than I expected it to be, and covered nicely in one coat – something that’s a bit rare with yellow.
• Silver: Suitable for buckles, air tanks and other metallic surfaces. Very good coverage, but one again not up to the quality metallic colors I’ve come to expect from enamels, leaving a slightly grainy metallic surface on drying.

As can be seen from the test figures, overall coverage is excellent with a real ease of mixing to shade and highlight. Just to use all the colors, I employed the red as an undercoat for the orange on one set of gloves with good results.

As I am continuing to discover, these paints by ICM are really exceptionally suited to figure painting. They dry dead flat, which permits me to bypass my usual flatter coat before finishing, which is a major plus. The coverage is outstanding and they’re remarkably easy to work with. Highly recommended.

My thanks to ICM for continuing this excellent range of paints, and to IPMS/USA for a chance to try them out on my new Divers set. Happy modeling, everyone, and keep up the good work!