Squadron Scale Colors Paint

The paints themselves come in dropper bottles that'll be familiar to anyone that's used Vallejo or AK acrylic paints. The bottles have been updated from the original ones used when I picked them up at the Chattanooga IPMS Nationals in 2019; the original bottles were very rigid and difficult to squeeze, while these new bottles are much more pliable. Each bottle has a stainless steel ball bearing within, to aid with mixing via shaking. As these paints are pre-thinned for airbrushing, they'll separate more in the bottle than a non-thinned paint, so thorough mixing (shaking) before each use is required. I have an electric beaker agitator that I use to shake paints, and a few moments on it before spraying was all that was needed.

As stated, the paints are pre-thinned for airbrushing. Of the dozen bottles I used while testing, they're all roughly of the same consistency, but with a few a little thicker (20-B Deck Blue) and some a little thinner (5-L Light Gray). For testing, I used my Sotar 20/20 airbrush with a .3mm nozzle at 30 psi. (approximate pressure, I set the gauge at 30 psi on my compressor and then fine tune it with the air regulator on my airbrush connector, mostly judging by sound and feel).

All sprayed well out of the bottle using full air pressure, and gave good coverage. Some of the photos here show a spare stack and bridge components left over from a Blue Water Navy Benham class DD kit I built in the last century, which I use for just such testing. At full pressure, the 5-S Sea Blue sprayed well, with great coverage. The paints dry to the touch fairly quickly, skinning over within a minute or two, and are ready to touch (lightly) within 10 minutes or so. They dry to a semi-gloss sheen, as designed. 

As I like to play around with pre and post shading while painting, as well as spraying highlights, color modulation, etc. I found the paints a bit thick for that. A quick test, using the Scale Colors' thinner, thinned 1:1, resulted in very fine spray and translucent coverage. One of the photos shows a circle of primed plastic that I sponge-stamped with some random patterns of black then lightly went over with the thinned mix. I was able to get nice smooth transition of color and gradual build up of the paint. 

As far as color accuracy, the ones I sprayed compare very well with the Snyder and Short paint samples (people are still using those, right?) I added a few photos of those, but remember, you're looking at colors on an un-calibrated monitor, and I didn't go nuts with correcting the color of the photos on my end. In person the color matches are closer than they appear in the photos, due to the sheen on the paints, and the dead-flat finish of the paint samples. The 5-H is a dead-on match, while the 20-B has just a little more blue than the sample, which makes the paints more accurate than the sample, in my opinion. Side note: I spent time in the US Navy and have picked up paint from the bosun's locker, and watched a hungover Bosun's Mate mix paint; it wasn't an exacting science, as one might guess, so I'm not a huge stickler for exact color matches.

I also sprayed samples of the Anti-Fouling Red, Mountbatten Pink, and "1942 Blue Gray" (which I assume is the US Navy aircraft color M-485). I don't have any paint samples to compare them to, but they all look good.

After allowing the paints to dry overnight, I tested masking and sanding. They sand well, feathering at the edges and not clumping or balling up like some acrylics. Masking tape didn't pull the paint at all; it adheres well -- this is over primed plastic, remember.

I was able to clean my airbrush with either plain water, diluted Simple Green, or 90% IPA with good results. The paint in the color cup would skin very slightly, but then break down enough to flush out. However, the Scale Colors thinner did a MUCH better job of breaking down the paint into pure liquid, which then flushed out of the airbrush with no clumping or skinning.

While thinned for airbrushing, I had decent luck with brush painting as well. The paint skins quickly, so one has to work fast, but it brushes smoothly and with good coverage, so using it for touch-ups will work well. I didn't get a chance to try it with any slow-dry/retarder, but I suspect that would allow them to remain brushable on the palette much longer.

Highly recommended. You can find the Scale Colors line at Squadron.com, which you can get to by clicking on the logo to the right. At the time of this review, the 17ml bottles sell for $3.25 each, with some items such as the thinner and primer also available in larger bottles. They also offer many of the paints grouped into specific sets if one so desires. Thank you to Squadron.com for the review samples.