Introduction

British Tanks France, Europe, UK Disruptive Camouflage 1936-45 is the second set for British vehicles in Europe by LifeColor. This set of six (6) acrylic paints is set CS44.

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.

This set expands and compliments Second World War United Kingdom colors including the recent LifeColor release British Tanks Africa & Balkan set 1. I think that set is "set 1" because this review is "set 2," not because there are two (2) each of each set title.

It seems that almost every month, a new vehicle or figure set is released of a British subject. This set should be very popular. I enjoy using LifeColor paints and look forward to trying this set.

The Set

This set continues LifeColor's trend of six 3/4 fl oz (22 ml) screw top bottles 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 their Tensocrom Medium to create washes and glazes. I very much appreciate that 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.

These paints are made with very fine ground pigments. They have no noticeable odor. Generally, I find them to be thinner than other brands I am used to, almost like a heavy wash. These paints seem to be formulated for airbrushing but will need more than one-pass brushing.

The six (6) matt colors of this set are:

UA 270 SCC 15 Olive Drab
UA 271 SCC 14 Blue - Black
UA 272 Light Mud Provisional
UA 273 SCC 2 Brown
UA 274 SCC 1A Very Dark Brown
UA 275 24 Deep Bronze Green

I do not personally have a trustworthy source to match these colors against. They appear to be accurate based on original color photos of WW2 British tanks - considering variations in photo development, digitizing, and computer displays.

I put two (2) links to MAFVA's British Vehicle Camouflage, 1939-45 at the end of this review.

Use

Before use I gave each bottle 20 vigorous shakes to mix it before making each color chip.

Airbrushing
I used an old diaphram compressor that generates 12-15psi and shot the paint through my Aztek with a white tip. None of these six colors required any thinning and all sprayed smooth and covered with one coat. They dried matte.

The paint cleaned out of the airbrush completely with tap water. Just to be certain, I chased it with a cup full of airbrush cleaner.

Brushing
Using a quality synthetic sable flat brush; a single dip into the pot and one or two passes per chip created what you see. Each color cleaned out of the brush with a good swish through water.

After curing 48 hours, I scratched a fingernail across the cured chips. No paint scratched off.

Instructions

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

Conclusion

LifeColor's British Tanks France, Europe, UK Disruptive Camouflage 1936-45 is another good water-based set of paints for modelers of United Kingdom military vehicles deployed to the European continent. All six colors were uniform in viscosity and none require thinning. All six covered well with airbrushing. The paint cured tough enough to resist my fingernail scratching. I like the bottle design.

I wish I had this set when I built my Achilles TD. But I have it now and have some Royal Armoured Corps models calling for it. Especially Deep Bronze Green!

Recommended.

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