Packaging and Initial Impression

The paints are contained in 20 ml plastic poly bottles with flip caps. The clear gloss is contained in a 35 ml plastic bottle with a flip cap. The bottles are clearly labeled with simple instructions of “shake well” and “for airbrush dilute properly”.

My sample bottles tended to spit paint a bit when “flipping” the cap open, but that may be a simple consequence of opening them at 7500 ft where I live. The dropper in the cap and a squeezable bottle provide a nice controlled dispensing of the paints and clear coat.

Product/Stock #:

1. Flat insignia red 4714AP
2. Flat insignia yellow 4721AP
3. Gloss clear 4638AP

MSRP:

1. red/yellow € 2.80 20 ml bottle ($3.50 USD)
2. gloss € 3.15 35 ml bottle ($3.95 USD)

Colors Comparison and Coverage

The paints seem to be a little bright compared to the FS samples in my fan deck. When diluted 25%, the colors stayed the same and showed good density. A white primer appears to be best for these paints, although silver tones down the brightness some. The clear coat is initially milky, but dries to a high gloss. The paints leveled well, but the gloss coat seemed to level better with a very slight dilution of water. This slight dilution was done with a very wet brush.

Ease of Application

Hand-brushing the paints and clear coat with a damp brush seemed to work best. Airbrushing with 25% dilution with water was acceptable, but I am not an expert on airbrushing with acrylics. There is no easily-found information on Italeri’s website about airbrushing with their acrylics, what dilution ratios to use, and so on. There is a thinner available (5049AP, 60 ml bottle) and this may work better.

Durability

The paints appear to stick well. Lightly-burnished blue painter’s tape did not tear up any of the paints and clear coat. Heavily-burnished tape did tear up some paint, but not as much as I expected. Flexing the plastic test card that the paints were applied to did not cause flaking or cracking. I really hope this isn’t something to be considered in construction, but it does speak well for the durability!

Recommendation

The Italeri paints I tried were very easy to hand-brush, and will likely airbrush well, with a little more experimentation on my part. I suspect that the dilution ratios and using specific Italeri thinner may make a difference. Overall, the Italeri line has a very similar feel to Vallejo paints. I really appreciate new acrylic paint lines for many reasons. I am trying to reduce the number of unhealthy materials in my shop.

I recommend these paints for hand-brushing and suggest considering how important color matching is to your project. I am also certain that I can airbrush effectively with a bit more practice and refinement.

Thank you to Akiko Kimura of MRC and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me the opportunity to try out a new product! I hope you find my opinions helpful.

Image Captions

1. Typical bottles and labeling.
2. Comparison of flat insignia red paint to a 31136 paint chip from FS 595B (JUL 94). The left side is hand-brushed straight out of the bottle. The right side is also hand-brushed, and is coated with clear gloss. The middle red paint “square” is diluted 25% with distilled water.
3. Comparison of flat insignia yellow paint to a 33538 paint chip from FS 595B (JUL 94). Both sides are hand-brushed straight out of the bottle on white and silver backgrounds.
4. Comparison of flat insignia red paint, flat insignia yellow, and clear gloss topcoat on white and silver backgrounds. The A-labeled squares are hand-brushed straight out of the bottle. The B-labeled squares are diluted 25% with distilled water.