Jim asked if I could give the some of the new Real Colors a try and rather than a straight review thought I would do something a bit different. I could have just shot some of the paint through the airbrush on some white cards to compare it to other colors (still may do that) but he thought it might be more valuable to actually paint up a project with them. It sounded good to me and I had a Tasca Jumbo Sherman in the build queue so when I got the US Army set from Real Colors I moved it up a couple of rungs in order to have a suitable subject.

Here is the kit as well as the little box that the Real Color set comes in as well as the smaller bottle of the thinner. The only thing that I will be adding to the painting will be a bit of Tamiya Flat White which is supposed to be compatible with the Real Color stuff. I imagine that I will add a bit of weathering afterwards but we should get a good look at things before that.
As far as the kit goes I am not planning on adding any aftermarket goodies other than some Formations pioneer tools (if I can dig them up!)
Cheers,
Rick Cooper

My favorite Sherman type

Hello,
That kit is in my stash too and I'm curious about RealColors so your topic is "followed" from now on
Cheers,
Zsolt

Thanks for checking in James and Zsolt!

Here is an update on the Jumbo. Like all Tasca kits that I am familiar with this one is a beauty. No problems so far although the bogies are a bit tricky to keep everything in place while trying to 'capture' everything between the main assembly. It is moving along fairly quickly, hope to be able to start with some paint sometime this weekend depending on family obligations!


Cheers,
Rick

I managed to grab a bunch of the tasca kits as well...this one is a nice kit...I added the long metal 76mm gun. Like to watch your build,let me know how the lower hull goes together...I came upon a problem with my last tasca build..concerning the front rounded piece.
So these real colors are suppose to be authentic???

The part you are referring to is called a "final drive assembly (FDA)," which is the armored cover for the transmission (FYI, not trying to be snarky). What problems did you encounter exactly? Sometimes the bolt strips on the bottom of the hull do not line up properly, but a little bending, or removing the strip altogether, fixes that issue.

As for the Real Colors, they are advertised as being +/- 1% accurate to the surviving color chips from the period. They look pretty good to me, but I have not seen all of their colors yet.

Short update...Ok, Thanksgiving and family obligations took a bigger chunk of time than I had anticipated, but it's all good!
Was going to use a Formations tool set, but alas, not able to locate it. Oh, I'm sure it will turn up right about the time I put the final coat on this; not my first rodeo! So, I have used the kit supplied tools and will try to make the straps out of some thin strip. Haven't ever tried that method but no time like the present to give it a try.
Looking forward to getting the bulk of the build done so I can crack open these Real Colors and see how they spray.
Cheers,
Rick

Jumbo has reached the finish line; well, the build finish line anyway. Going to leave well enough alone until tomorrow to make sure that everything is nice and dry. If you see any glaring error or omission please let me know before it is to late. I know the Jumbo is a Fischer vehicle and shouldn't have any foundry symbols, right??

Cheers,
Rick

Finally got to start with the painting of this Jumbo. I have been a bit anxious to try out the new Real Colors but I held off from just painting some test shots hanging around on the bench.
So, here is my assessment after spraying the initial Flat Black RC001. I used this for the shadow areas up underneath the hull and the pre-shading.
I thought I would set it up just like the photos you see in the magazines and on the web sites, just to be a bit snarky!

And the reality...

Anyway, enough of that...
When I first loaded it in my airbrush I had it with a mixture of about 80-20% paint to the thinner. That was a bit to thick for my old worn out brush, an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS, and my even older compressor. All I was getting was a spitting splatter type spray that was clearly not what anyone would want.
I thinned it down even more to about a 50-50% mix and it started to spray quite a bit better. I pushed it even further until I had approximately, a very unscientific approximately by the way, about 25-75% and it really hit it's stride. With the very thin mixture it sprayed as well as anything I have sprayed in a long time. Here you can see the results...
You can see the splatter on the hull sides from my first attempt with the paint to thick. After I adjusted the mix it went MUCH smoother. I was impressed that the paint left no tide marks even when I got a bit thick in places. It dried on the model very quickly but never clogged the tip by drying in the middle of spraying. I did wipe the tip one time after about 20-25 minutes of spraying with a Q-tip and a little of the thinner as a precautionary move. Here is the other photo I took of the other side I sprayed the side of the turret just to even out the undertone of the Mr. Surfacer that I used to add the cast surface after losing some of it with the sanding of the join between the bottom of the turret shell and the top.
Later today I will lay down some of the RC023 Olive Drab and the RC024 Faded Olive Drab and see how it goes. I will try to start with about a 40-60% paint to thinner mixture. I'll let you know how it goes but the wife does want to put up the Christmas decorations and the 2 year old grandson is coming over to "help"!
Cheers,
Rick

Nice .... how are they going with the brush?

Good question about the brush; I didn't actually use a brush other than to mix the paint and thinner. I will give it a try later tonight or tomorrow and let you know.
Cheers,
Rick

Thanks....if you can would be awesome because usually the acrylics lacquer are the best with AB but worst with the hairy stick and I am curious to see if they improve the formula for this task

Here we go with the basic Olive Drab RC023. This first photo is closer to what I am actually seeing in front of me.

This photo is much lighter in tone than what I actually have on my bench; almost certainly due to my phone camera which is what I am using.

Spraying today went much better than yesterday after diagnosing my airbrush issues as a leaky compressor. Had my old compressor still hanging around, hooked up to that and most of the splatter issues were resolved.
The Olive Drab went down very easy, nice and smooth, with a beautiful matt finish. For my money the paint is superb, as a bonus the cleanup was a breeze, much easier than most any other paint I have used. Tomorrow we will hit the RC024, Olive Drab Faded, for the top surfaces. I expect it will go down with out any issues.
Cheers,
Rick

Forgot to add one other item of interest; if you are interested in what these paints look like with a German subject check out my good friend, Jon Moy's thread with the Real Colors on a Pz.kpfw. IV B.
https://archive.kitmaker.net/forums/264211&page=1
Should be a good one!
Cheers,
Rick

Wow, they look nice on the model! Especially on your latter pictures (knowing, that they are quite light) but the overall appearance is just nice an brings the hull and turret structures to some real life. Even though I'm not totally in for yet another line of color on my bench I start to like what I see so far...

This is an odd concept for some but since the beginning of camera light meters the meter compares (averages) what it sees to to what is known as a Kodak 18% grey (exactly halfway between solid black and solid white.)

So when you get extremely close up, most all the lens is seeing is the dark tank body so it sets an exposure close to the 18% gray (sort of battleship grey.) However when you take a longer shot (like the tank overall photo) the camera also sees the lightness of the white background and that shifts the exposure to produce a darker image.

Try shooting the photos on a mid-value grey background. All the photos should then come out that medium light grey. This tone would be best for showing detail in the build but not so good for showing the color of the paint.

To show the paint at it's best, try taking the model outside in natural light but still do not use a white background. Perhaps try a dark brown or dark green bath towel to simulate the darker ground work.

Did the periscope covers come in the kit?

Michael,
Thanks for the info, I am definitely NOT a photo guy. Was at our local club Christmas party last night and asked a few questions about this very issue; everyone seems to be way ahead of me. Thanks for the tips; I'll give it a try. It will take a few days however, when I get home the daylight has already left town!
Greg,
Yes, the periscope covers come with the kit. I probably should have added a few more in progress photos for those that have not yet built the kit. I ended up with a completely out of the box build. The photo-etch is limited but very nice. It is a much heavier (thicker) PE than most other manufacturers which helps to give it a bit of added heft. Very nice. If you are wondering about the kit my advice is simple; buy it, you will love it. Goes together easily with no real fit issues anywhere.

Cheers,
Rick

lol been looking all over for good periscope cover solutions and they are in the kits I own.
Great looking build.

Greg,
Isn't that the way it always is!! LOL, done that too many times myself, must be an age thing.
Cheers,
Rick

Just looked through all 4 of my Tasca Sherman kits. and there it was. lol

Well couldn't leave well enough alone could I? Even though the finish was nice and smooth thought that a shot of future wouldn't hurt so fired up a little and sprayed the areas where the decals would be placed. After waiting over night I put the decals on and hit them with a few drops of Mr. Mark Softer. Well that was the wrong way to go as the decal solution started fogging up the Future in seconds. Thankfully I did not put on the turret stars, only the reg numbers. Hoped that it would go away as it dried but no such luck. Argh!
Re-wet them and peeled them off, applied the turret stars WITHOUT any decal solution at all, it went much better, thank you.

So, now I am without proper reg codes which I can live with unless someone has a set for this vehicle that they are not using?? Help??? US ARMY 3082929 (the second marking option from the Tasca kit.
Here we are with the turret stars added.

You can see how well they laid down, real nice look to them with just the Future and no decal solution. Resealed with Future then used AK Ultra Matt Varnish (still the nicest matt varnish that I have used) to give a nice flat finish to the paint and decal.
After that I put a bit of the RC024 Olive Drab Faded in the airbrush to hit a few of the upper surfaces and add a bit of streaking. You should be able to see that here.

And here
A few more things to do now; will try brush painting the wooden handles of the tools next. I am going to use RC030 Earth Yellow as the base coat before I add some oils to simulate some wood grain and a bit of a deeper, richer color. All of these colors I have used are out of the WWII US Army Basic Colors (#13) set.
So far I couldn't be happier with the Real Color paints; very nice finish, they spray and clean up easily and mix very well with both the Real Color thinner as well as distilled water.
Cheers,
Rick

Based on my experience using Future you are making things much harder on yourself than they need to be on your decaling.

I put the first coat of Future on wet with a brush. Then apply the wet decal. After that I lightly blot the decal to settle it onto the surface and finish with a wet coat of more Future dabbed on with a brush. (no more blotting now - just let it air dry.)

Let all that dry over night and then hit it with your favorite brand of matte clear and you are done. (I use Tamiya Matte Clear right out of a rattle can for my final coat.)


Recent successes using this technique:





The Cat Bulldozer hood has been heavily weathered using pastels but the other two models have not been weathered at all.

Michael,
Those examples all look great. Yes, I think it was overkill to use the Mr. Mark Softer; painful lesson learned. I normally only use it when I don't use Future. The turret stars were applied just as you laid out, Future, water, Future, matt varnish, and I really like the way they turned out. Appreciate all the tips you share.
Cheers,
Rick