Thanks to ICM Holdings for the paint set for review!

ICM has broadened its paint sets into WWII naval colors. Item 3070 is for US Navy WWII, a set of six (6) acrylic matte paints, 12 ml each. The colors are pulled from their extensive line of acrylic paints. Colors are: Black (1002), Wine Red (1048), Dark Blue (1077), Dark Sea Grey (1034), Warm Grey (1031), and Sky Grey (1033). Pricing is around $10 for the set, which is reasonable.

These paints are designed for brush application, but can be thinned 40-60% with water or thinner for airbrushing. The colors can also be mixed with each other to achieve different colors if desired.

They all are matte (flat), and brush on easily to plastic and paper, and are more opaque than other paints, meaning one coat should be sufficient for brushing (see HMS Glorious aircraft carrier photo), even without a primer coat.

I have spent years amassing documentation on US Navy WWII camouflage colors and have built over 30 1/700 USN warships, about half with updated paints that were matched with US Navy color chips for accuracy, and used several lines of paints.

Unfortunately, ICM 3030 greys and blue do not match any of the US Navy paint colors (see attached Comparison Chart, which compared Model Master Acrylic paints). Dark Blue is very bright and blue, and does not match any US Navy blue color - it will look gaudy on a USN WWII warship and is virtually unusable. The Grey colors are not much better - the Warm Grey appears almost tan, and is not a match for any of the USN greys, which are actually blue-grays. Sky Grey and Dark Sea Grey are decent grey colors, but they also do not match the usual USN Haze, Light, Ocean or Dark Greys. ICM Dark Sea Grey is a medium grey and not dark enough. However, the ICM greys might look fine on other navies, but not WWII USN warships.

Now for the good news! I love their 1002 Black paint - it flows well, covers well, and is a decent to-scale black for 1/700 scale. It's the best black acrylic I have found (see photo of unfinished HMS Glorious over Royal Navy 507C Light Gray.

Also, the IMC Wine Red 1048 is a better hull red color, in my opinion, although I detest full-hull models (I only have one built). Compared to a matched Hull Red, Wine Red is deeper and covers better (see Comparison Chart). These two paints are excellent and very useful. I wish the bottle sizes were 20 ml, not 12 ml - I will use those up fast.

In summary, overall I was disappointed with the set for USN warships, but the paints cover well and clean up easily. Black 1002 is the best Black I have found and used. Wine Red is an excellent hull red for full-hull scale models. The three greys might be useful for other navies. Particularly, the Dark Sea Grey is close to the IJN grey (Kure especially), and would be suitable for 1/700 scale IJN warships, which look better with slightly lighter shades of grey than matched greys from each of the four shipyards.

Bottom line: ICM 3070 is a useful line of paints for WWII warships, especially for brush painting, just not accurate enough for USN warships. Overall, the pricing is worthwhile to have these colors for many uses.

Figures

1. ICM 3070 WWII United States Navy paint set Front
2. ICM 3070 WWII United States Navy paint set Back illustration of USN 1943 BB
3. ICM 3070 Side panel Instructions and barcode
4. ICM 3070 Side panel showing bottles included
5. ICM 3070 end caps
6. ICM 3070 paint bottles
7. Paint Comparison Chart of ICM 3070 US Navy paints with other paints matched to US Navy color chips
8. ICM Black 1002 on an unfinished model of HMS Glorious over Royal Navy 507C Light Grey

Thank you to ICM for providing the paints for review and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review the product.