Introduction

British WWI Uniforms & Equipment set by LifeColor is a new set of 6 paints for modelers of United Kingdom Great War personnel. It is set CS45. Airbrushes.com kindly provided this set and states about Lifecolor paints:

Water soluble acrylic colours for modelling and hobby. LifeColor is excellent for paint brushing or airbrushing on plastic, resin, metal, vinyl, wood, cloth and ceramic.

The First World War ended a century ago although modeling interest in it has only increased. It seems that almost every month, a new figure or figure set is released of a Great War subject. This set should be very popular. I have been enjoyably using LifeColor paints for almost a decade and look forward to this set.

The Set

This set of six 3/4 fl oz (22 ml) screw top bottles is packed in a good-looking flip-top box. There are no instructions other than as printed (in multiple languages) on the back of the box, plus six printed color chips. LifeColor reminds us that these can be mixed with Tensocrom Medium to create washes and glazes. The bottle caps are molded with an internal rim which both provides a small palette cup as well as inhibits paint fouling the bottle and cap threads.

LifeColor uses very fine ground pigments. Their paint has no noticeable odor. Generally, I find them to be thinner than other brands I am used to, almost like a heavy wash.

This set includes:

UA 452 Webbing and Equipment 1
UA 453 Dark Leather
UA 454 Red Leather
UA 455 Uniform Brown
UA 456 Uniform Green
UA 457 Webbing and Equipment 2

I know only the basics of Great War British uniform colors. However, LifeColor developed this set in collaboration with Tommy's War. Thus, I have a high confidence that these are accurate hues.

I have found LifeColor to be enjoyable to tint and shade for highlighting and shadowing effects. They blend well and can be mixed easily, even with other brands.

Most of my LifeColor paints have remained fluid for years. However, these paints have thickened up since I first opened them 48 hours ago. Two of them were thick when first opened, and now have set to the consistency of latex. They are so thick that they do not even draw into a pipette. Fortunately, both water and LifeColor thinner allowed them to flow through my airbrush, although three required almost a 1:1 thinning ratio.

Lighting

As modelers see their work under a variety of lights sources, I made a chip of each by airbrushing and brushing each color on a fresh piece of white styrene. For your color judging pleasure, I present the colors with two (2) light sources, a sunlight-calibrated OttLight, and on a scanner. All six of the colors dried to match the color swatches on the box although a couple looked very different until they dried and cured.

Application

Each styrene chip was unprepared. I stirred each paint and made one pass with a brush on one side, and airbrushed a solid coat on the other side. These paints did not cover as well by brush painting as tests with other LifeColor paints but perhaps that is because the styrene is smooth and slick? (More on that, below.) The next day I brushed on a second coat. Coverage was high.

All six colors were airbrushed through a medium-duty tip at 12-15psi. As mentioned above, some serious thinning was required to make some of the colors spray through my airbrush.

That thinning caused the first layer of paint to bead on the smooth plastic chips. However, I believe that is because of the slickness of the styrene. Notice the photo of two chips side by side - one is the first coat sprayed on styrene, the other is the first coat sprayed onto illustration board. The texture of the illustration board held the paint for an even coat. I believe that extra "bite" of texture is the same reason the second pass of brush-painting covered so well.

Once dry, the colors have a matte finish.

Demonstration

I used four of the six colors to paint my 1/48 RFC pilot. Recall my observation that it requires a slight texture? Applied by brush, the paint covered well with one coat upon a satin primer. Once dry, the colors match the colors on the box.

Instructions

These are printed on the back of the box in English and Italian. The text is very fine and challenging to read.

Conclusion

LifeColor's British WWI Uniforms & Equipment set should be very popular with Great War modelers. I suspect that Tommy's War ensures accurate colors. The six colors provide a good basic spectrum of British uniform colors.

Once thinned, the paint sprayed well through my airbrush. It covered well when applied to a slight texture.

At the time of this writing - only 48 hours after cracking open the bottles - five of the colors have begun to thicken up. Time will tell if they prematurely solidify or otherwise become unusable.

I am otherwise pleased with this set and recommend it.

Please remember to mention to vendors and retailers that you saw these paints here - on Armorama.