Model Car World is a model company that specializes in resin car bodies and paint finishes matched to automotive colors. MCW was purchased by Wings Wheels and Waves in 2015, and they have since expanded their paint line to include military colors.

This review includes the following paints:

• MIL-1101 Schwarzgrun RLM 70
• MIL-1103 Dunkelgrun RLM 71
• MIL-1106 Hellblau RLM65

MCW Paint Finishes are gloss lacquer paints. The paints come in 1 oz. bottles that have a BB inside to facilitate mixing. The paints are pre-thinned for airbrush and MCW strongly recommends applying the paints over a primer.

The paint should be thoroughly stirred or shaken before spraying. MCW also provides a thinner to be used with their paints, although I didn’t need it for spraying. The paints should be applied in thin wet coats, and the lacquer dries very fast. MCW advises painting several thin coats 5-10 minutes apart. The paints are very thin but resisted running on my tests. These three colors have no discernable grain to the pigments and dried very smooth.

Military modelers are used to working with flat paint finishes, but then need to apply a gloss coat for application of decals or weathering finishes. The MCW gloss lacquers save a step by creating a gloss finish ready for decaling or weathering.

I applied the paints straight from the bottle with my Badger airbrush with a fine .21mm tip. Spraying larger areas like vehicle bodies would benefit from a larger tip producing a broader flow of paint. MCW recommends a single action medium tip airbrush like a Badger 250 for larger surfaces. The paints flowed smoothly using a wet coat and gave nice coverage with a very smooth finish on the first coat. The paint dries to a gloss finish within seconds and loses its odor within a minute or two. I had some problems with dust particles, which are obvious on the gloss finishes. Using a larger tipped airbrush would help reduce the airbrush movements and limit a number of dust particles.

I also tried a sample of the paints without a primer on plastic and didn’t notice any crazing or defects in the plastic.

The airbrush cleaned up very quickly with hardware store lacquer thinner after using the paints.

I compared the color and gloss of the MCW paints samples to the following paints:

• Schwarzgrun Tamiya XF 27 Black Green, AV ModelAir 71.021 Black Green
• Dunkelgrun Tamiya XF 58 Dark Green, AV ModelAir 71.015 Olive Grey
• Hellblau Tamiya XF 23 Light Blue, AV ModelAir 71.008 Pale Blue

Conclusion

MCW’s new line of military paints are easy to apply and will produce a nice glossy finish that dries quickly. The paints are pre-mixed for airbrushing to simplify preparation, and the paint pigments are very fine, allowing a smooth finish. A larger tipped airbrush should be used for large surfaces to avoid overlaps & dust particles.

These paints are a nice option to prepare for decaling or subsequent weathering steps requiring a glossy surface.

Thanks to MCW Finishes for producing these paints and providing review samples to IPMS.