A new release from Ammo, the Atom metallic paint set contains 12 bottles (see list below) consisting of nine well-known metallic colors used in virtually all military and civilian scale model subjects, as well as red, green and blue metallic colors. The paints are water-based acrylics, non-toxic and odorless, and can be air brushed or brush painted. Each 20ml plastic bottle has a snap lid and contains a mixing ball. Of note, there are eight different Atom sets on the Ammo website. The Ammo acrylic thinner comes in a 60 ml snap lid plastic bottle.

I started y using the steel, aluminum, and gun metal colors on the Monogram 1941 Lincoln Continental car chassis. The chassis had been previously primed with black enamel spray paint. I brush painted the Atom colors using approx. three drops of the paint to two drops of the thinner, a 3:2 ratio. The colors went on smoothly and with minimal brush marks. They dried quite fast and there were no issues. Steel was used for the tail pipe, aluminum for the muffler, and gun metal for the gas tank. Once dried, I dry brushed the gun metal over the remaining black portions of the chassis. Results were very good, see the photo. Next step was to airbrush the paints.

I used about two to three drops of thinner in my Iwata double action airbrush (Revolution CR), then added three to four drops of paint, mixing them right in the pan. I put my Iwata Ninja Jet air compressor on a medium setting, which I would guess is about 20-25 psi. Using a piece of unprimed white sheet styrene, I started spraying a light mist coat that essentially dried in less than a minute (60 F in my basement, with low 30-40% humidity). I then sprayed heavier wet coats. In each case, the paint went on smoothly, leveled out, and dried in less than 30 minutes.Very impressive, each color was sharp and bright, please see the attached pictures! The colors are advertised by Ammo as lacquer-like I would have to agree, they go on very smoothly in light coats and you can build them up in wetter coats with no worry about running or a long drying time.Using yellow paint tape, I taped each previously sprayed area, and when the tape was removed after airbrushing the next section, no paint was taken off at all. And your clean up is as easy as using water (try hot, almost boiling water stored in a coffee mug until you are ready to use it) or 90% isopropyl alcohol, way better than using toxic lacquer thinners. Ammo does make a airbrush cleaner as well. Finally, I airbrushed four colors on my ‘62 Corvette body which had been primed with Tamiya fine gray primer. I chose the metallic red, Aotake green and blue and the gold/pink colors I misted each initial coat and let it dry by spraying air only through my air brush, then added thicker coats, one at a time until the coverage looked satisfactory. Each section was taped off with the yellow painter tape, and when removed, no paint was taken off. All colors have a smooth surface for another coat or a final clear gloss coat. They look great! Now, I have to choose one of the four to paint the entire body after this test!

In conclusion, the Atom paint line outperforms all other acrylics and is equal to--if not superior to--acquer paints, without the toxicity of lacquer paints and thinners. I would highly recommend their other seven sets (USAF/USN-modern, Russian tanks WW II, German tanks WW II, Luftwaffe WW II, Basic Wargames I & II, Rust and Tracks).

Thanks to Ammo and IPMS USA for the opportunity the Atom metallic paint set.

Colors included in the Atom metallic set:

• ATOM-20164 SILVER
• ATOM-20165 ALUMINUM
• ATOM-20166 STEEL
• ATOM-20167 GUN METAL
• ATOM-20169 BURNT IRON
• ATOM-20170 COPPER
• ATOM-20171 GOLD PINK
• ATOM-20172 GOLD
• ATOM-20173 BRASS
• ATOM-20174 METALLIC RED
• ATOM-20175 AOTAKE GREEN
• ATOM-20176 AOTAKE BLUE