Darren Baker reviews the Lifecolor acrylic paint set CS-16 of 6 colors for recreating Middle East British camo schemes for WW2 vehicles.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi,

Thanks for the review. Would it be possible to get "lids off" shots of all the colours or perhaps see the colours painted onto some plain card/paper? Would be interested to see all the shades.

All the best,

Jon

Good to know about the qualities of the paint Darren. I just picked up the US Olive Drab set.

I will add the pictures of the other paints open tomorrow, I am afraid I didn't think of taking a picture of the plasticard and as it is now a part of my RammTiger build no longer viewable. Sorry

Hi Darren,

Much appreciated.

All the best,

Jon

Hi Darren -

I've been anticipating this review for a few days now but (please don't take this the wrong way) I was really hoping for a review of the actual colors and how accurate they are in comparison to some of the more contemporary ref. source such as those produced by Mike Starmer. What the colors look like off your camera and thru my monitor may be a little misleading, hopefully not, so please share that when you can.

I agree with you on the paint qualities (used them for a quite a while now) as your comments are applicable to the entire line of paints. I was just hoping for more in depth review of the colors within this set. I have multiple resin and plastic kits that this paint set is directly applicable to so any further help or info is much appreciated.

Best,

Mike

Hi Guys,
I am just finishing a review of the Life colour Italian Colours Acylic paints & I will include some 'tops off' pictures & also how airbrush friendly they are.
Mark

Michael I am sorry my review does not answer your question, if I understand your question correctly you are asking how they directly compare to another manufacturers paints, or a specific set of prints. I do not own any of Mike Starmer’s work that I am aware of, so I can’t at this time help from that angle. I compared the dry paint colours against prints in “WAR MACHINE” and a few other books and apart from one print (which appeared washed out) they were very good matches to my eye. I hope this answers your question to some degree.

the 5 other colors have been added.

Hi Darren,

Thanks for the extra pics The colours certainly vary from the box art (I was worried they were a bit light especially the Slate and Silver Grey) and now look more "in the ball park" of Mike Starmers paint chips.

Thanks for taking the time to review and post, I have just ordered a set for myself.

All the best,

Jon

Thanks Darren for the additional photos, they do help to get a better idea. I would caution against matching to artwork and try whenever possible to match to a paint chip samples such as those in the Mike Starmer Caunter Scheme book. This isn't a complaint by any means, as I understand not everyone has access to these books since many are rather new to the stores or hard to find. I still don't have all of the new books myself, and am rebuilding my library on UK armor slowly and steadily because of their recent availability.

Another note of cost info that may be of help to some guys is the fact these Lifecolor sets are not priced economically. You're not getting a deal, if you know what I mean. Individual bottles run in the $2.75-3.50 USD range (Great Models sells them for $3.25 each) and these sets of 6 paints are priced at $25-28.95 each (Internet Hobbies is selling the previous sets for $24.99 currently) so you will pay more per bottle when buying the whole set (approx. $1-2 more per bottle or about $9 more in total give or take with tax and shipping if applicable). That also plays into the color accuracy question a little. However, I will say I love the Lifecolor range--have them all--and will continue to add their sets to my collections, so this isn't intended as a negative, more of an FYI for those modelers on a tight budget. They do eventually sell the bottles from these sets individually, but how soon after the release of the main set I don't know. Depends on how much of a hurry one is to paint I guess.

Lastly, Lifecolor paints thin nicely with tap water meaning brush painting and airbrushing happens very quickly and easily. Saves a lot on thinner costs as well. I still clean my airbrush thoroughly afterwards, (Vallejo's Airbrush Cleaner works great after spraying Lifecolor paints), but their day-to-day use is pleasantly simple, odor and toxic free. Maybe the "greenest" line of dedicated hobby paints?

British paint colors, camo schemes and markings are some of the most complicated subjects out there and we are very fortunate that websites like MAFVA and authors such as Mike Starmer are getting to the heart of the matter. New UK armor kits are coming fast from Bronco, AFV Club, etc. and this will be a great time to model WWII UK/Commonwealth subjects, armed with this better level and depth of information and dedicated products.

Best,

Mike