Lifecolor paints

[mossieramm]

In my quest to find an alternative paint source I've orded a few Lifecolor paints, mainly to airbrush, but maybe a bit of detail work aswell, but mainly airbrushing.

Has anyone else used them and what are your experiances ?? Do I need to use their thinner? Any other tips on using this paint? Do I need to add anything to it in order to airbrush it?

Thanks,

David.

[RichardL]

They are great for hand brushing but can be very finicky when thinned for airbrushing. You need to get the thinning ratio just right, and this depends on the color. I get the best results from using their own thinner. Why not try Gunze, Tamiya, or Vallejo Model Air?

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Airbrushing is tricky at first but once mastered they're great paints. You can use their own thinner but it's pricey and you get better results if you make your own thinner. Mix distilled water and windex 50:50. Heck of a lot cheaper and in my opinion gives a better result. Your airbrush will clog at the tip every now and then so just wipe the tip when it does and it's good to go again. This happens with all water based acrylics. The tricky bit is the amount to thin and the pressure settings on your airbrush. As mentioned above it seems to vary by colour. Experiment a bit and you should get it right pretty quickly. Lifecolor are great in that they have a massive range and their colours (for me at least) are very accurate. All the best.

[RichardL]

their colours (for me at least) are very accurate.

Both their Light Ghost Grey and Dark Ghost Grey are too blue, and their Intermediate Blue (FS 35164) is too green when compared against FS color chips. I have not checked the other colors.

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Both their Light Ghost Grey and Dark Ghost Grey are too blue, and their Intermediate Blue (FS 35164) is too green when compared against FS color chips. I have not checked the other colors.

Richard,

I've never used these colours in LifeColor form, but good to know! Thanks. I've used FS35237 FS36251 FS36307 to do the Aegean Ghost scheme for HAF birds and they came out spot on and their SEA colours are very good as well.

[Rex]

I have about 50 "common US" colors from Lifecolor,,,,,about 90% match the FS 595A(1968) colors that I need for my model collection

A few of them are the "right color but lightened" I presume for scale effect.

There are a few colors that seem "off", but, those usually are the Non-US colors when they attempted to give an FS equivalent

As for the thinner, I have been using their house thinner,,,,,,but, I just received Ak Interactives Acrylic thinner (# AK-712) that is supposed to be useable with AK, Vallejo, and Lifecolor paint ranges and formulas. I don't know if it works as claimed, yet. Be aware that the AK thinner is Not cheap,,,,,but, if it works, that is what counts to me.

[Mike C]

Has anyone else used them and what are your experiances ?? Do I need to use their thinner? Any other tips on using this paint? Do I need to add anything to it in order to airbrush it?

Thanks,

David.

No, you don't need to use their thinner. I've experimented with both their thinner and distilled water, and found absolutely no difference. From my experiment and experience, best way to thin LifeColor is pre-mixing Windex and distilled water @ 50:50 ratio. While paint-to-thinner ratio that I use is normally 3 parts paint and 2 parts thinner.

A few other things to note:

- Leave thinned paint overnight before airbrushing, to allow the thinner to properly penetrate the paint pigment

- Airbrush at low pressure (around 12 psi for gravity-fed)

- Spray very light misty coat - will need to slowly build up the layer (4-5 layers)

- Once the final coat is fully cured, buff lightly with cotton rag

HTH.

[Mike C]

Both their Light Ghost Grey and Dark Ghost Grey are too blue, and their Intermediate Blue (FS 35164) is too green when compared against FS color chips. I have not checked the other colors.

Agreed. Their LGG actually looks very similar to Tamiya spray can version of LGG. Here's a comparison of LifeColor's FS36375 vs. Gunze Aqueous'. The one in the middle was sprayed with LifeColor, the other two on either side were sprayed with Gunze Aqueous.

[RichardL]

Both Gunze Light Ghost Gray and Dark Ghost Gray are too dark and too purple. MM Acryl has the closest match for those two colors.

[mossieramm]

I bought a couple to try on my Finnish DC-2 as they had accurate Finnish airforce colours. Accurate ?? At least according to a review on another website, which sounded plausible.

here

David.

Edited May 15, 2014 by mossieramm

[piper19]

I've used them for "US interior green" so far. Very impressed! Airbrushing needs some delicate spraying as told by others, but I managed to find a balance by spraying at lower PSI. Thinning is by a few drops of water from the tap. In the end I can spray finer lines with Lifecolor than with Tamiya.

Now, the best use for Lifecolor is when you need to touch up with a brush: just leave a small drop on the place that needs paint, and it will dry up uniformly and blend in with the sprayork without traces.

Edited May 15, 2014 by piper19

[mossieramm]

I received the paints yesterday, and first impressions are good, colours looked good and were in a nice paintjar which was easily opened.

Ok, to the spraybooth !! Well the first session didn't go to well. I thought for the first time I'd try the "official" way, using their thinner to airbrush. A few tests on a piece of paper went well, with a lot of fiddling with the air pressure mind you. Then on to plastic. I had a piece which had a layer of WEM paint on. That did not go well. The paint beaded up like I was trying to spray on an bare plastic. Maybe I had thinned it a bit to much. Then I remembered a trick I learnt with Vallejo paints which had the same problem. I added a few drops of washing-up liquid to the mix and that seemed to give the paint a bit of bite. After several coats I finally got a decent covering. I noticed if I tried to spray too much paint (opening the throttle on the airbrush too far), the paint would hit the plastic so hard it separated from the thinner and form a "puddle". It would dry ok, except the paint would be at the edge of the "puddle" and hardly any in the middle.

This morning I checked the model, and the paint looks great. Paint is dry to the touch. A nice even covering. As the paint was a bit to thin, so it will need another coat. But I'm quite satisfied with the result so far. I'll be curious/anxious to see how strong/tough the paint is and how it will react to Tamiya masking tape.

The one thing that concerns me the most is the way it beaded up. I hope thats because the WEM paint has a satin finish. Next time I'll try a different primer and see what happens.

[Mike C]

Subsequent spray would be much better. Also try mixing a bit of Windex in the thinner. And try not to thin the paint too much. Initially, I used the same ratio between paint and thinner, resulting in the paint being too runny. I then reduced the ratio to 3 parts paint and 2 parts thinner, producing better results.