Paint colors used by Japan during WWII are elusive and always seem to be up for debate.

ICM has added a set of Imperial Japanese Navy colors to their range of acrylic paint sets.

This set is packaged in a small rectangular box with images of the colors printed on the front. The back of the box features a profile of a Japanese ship with color call outs. This set includes five 12ml bottles of color and 1 17ml bottle of clear gloss. The bottles have twist-off caps and the opening is big enough to allow a Popsicle stick to be used to mix the paint.

The colors in this set are as follows:

• 1049 Medium Rust
• 1036 Neutral Grey
• 1047 Matt Red
• 1038 German Grey
• 2004 Grey Primer
• 2003 Gloss Varnish

Directions printed on the box advise to shake the paint and dilute for airbrushing with water or thinner. No thinner brand is recommended so I used what I had on my workbench, Tamiya X-20A. The paint is thick, especially the darker colors. After vigorously shaking the bottles, I stirred each color with a Popsicle stick. I added thinner to obtain an approximate 2:1 ratio of thinner to paint. The German Grey and Neutral Grey in my sample were extraordinarily thick so I added a few more drops of thinner.

The box indicates a primer is required when applying by airbrush. I did not apply primer as I wanted to see what the colors look like when applied to bare plastic. For my test purposes, I used a piece of sheet styrene that is the approximate color of styrene found in most kits. I had no problems spraying these paints, I mixed in some thinner to the ratio stated above, stirred the paint and sprayed, simple. The matte red was more translucent and needed extra coats to build up the color density, but the other colors covered without any extra effort.I did not try any fine lines or mottling as I was more interested in ease of use, how well the paint covers, and what the colors actually looked like when applied to bare plastic. I did not test bush painting because I never brush paint anything except for tiny details like knobs or levers so I wouldn’t be able to give an accurate review of this technique.

I rarely use acrylic paint so I cannot compare these to another brand, but my experience with these was nothing but pleasant. I feel they are easy to use, and spray great without any extra math skills for thinning ratios. The colors can be mixed to achieve a greater range of shades and while marketed for Imperial Japanese Navy, they could be used for other subjects as well. Thank you to ICM for providing this paint set for review.