Marc33594 | 11 Nov 2019 12:34 p.m. PST |
Seems AK Interactive has a good match for Desert Pink Z.I. in their 17ml dropper bottles, #4073. Trouble is I cant find any US shop that sells it! They do have the 10ml Real Colors version but it is a different color and Real Colors are optimized for airbrushing and dont brush well. Anyone know where to get this illusive paint? I do know it is also part of their Western Desert, Libya & Tunisia set but first dont want to necessarily buy the set and second that set is equally illusive. Failing that anyone have a good, brushable, acrylic Desert Pink Z.I. out of the bottle? As always, thanks. |
Yellow Admiral | 12 Nov 2019 4:28 p.m. PST |
I literally just started looking into this yesterday myself. Neat coincidence. I can't find a good WWII USAAF desert pink color either. I double-checked all my paints at home, and the entire paint section at the local FLGS (with sections for each of Vallejo, AKI, GW, and a couple I've never heard of). Most of the reddish tans look too dark, the pinks look too pink, the tans don't look reddish enough… etc. The closest colors I've seen are "flesh" colors, but none of those look quite right either. Part of my problem is that it's a really hard color to figure out. It's at a weird neutral point between pink, tan and gray that's hard to describe. I'm not even sure what it should look like in the bottle. Right now I have a few ideas: - Primer with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, then use a pinkish wash to tint it toward red slightly.
- Start with a light desert tan paint color (I have a few) and add drops of pink or oxide red to get the right color;
- Start with a flesh color and tint it lighter with ivory, light tan, light gray, etc.
This is a dumb distraction from my projects under way, so I'm not likely to start this until January at least. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 12 Nov 2019 4:28 p.m. PST |
All of my references are on the Internet: link
link
link
And the grand old lady Strawberry B*tch herself:
Some are quite a bit more pink than others, so the color is obviously open to some interpretation. It's hard to tell how accurate Strawberry B*tch is after so many years (and probably repaints). Most of the photos of her are under dim artificial lighting conditions, which doesn't help anything. That first model (top picture, "Lil' De-Icer") was painted with Mr. Color Desert Sand (MRP 144). Not sure where to get that, but at least knowing another brand increases the search options. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 12 Nov 2019 4:40 p.m. PST |
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Yellow Admiral | 12 Nov 2019 4:44 p.m. PST |
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Yellow Admiral | 12 Nov 2019 6:44 p.m. PST |
On a totally separate search I bumped into a few paints that claim to be FS33531 "sand" color. This color server image looks pretty close to a lot of the models and the grand old dame above: link If that's close enough, you might try one of these paints: link A paint conversion chart I just looked at also lists FS10279 and FS30279 as: Humbrol 250 "Desert Pink" Xtracolor RAF Light Stone (BS361) Xtracolor British Gulf Armour Light Stone (BS361) Vallejo Model Color 916 Vallejo Model Color PSC 9 Vallejo Model Color "Sand Yellow" Life Color UA089 and "Desert Sand 49" Polly Scale 505084 "US Sand (ANA616)" - Ix |
Marc33594 | 13 Nov 2019 5:32 a.m. PST |
I wrote AK interactive on availability of separate dropper bottles. Will let you know what I hear. Of interest here is one review of the Real Colors line from them. Scroll down and you will see comments on brush painting. link I too found the MRP line but like you no experience with it and somehow the color looks off, bit too dark and muddy maybe? AK lists the following equivalents but for the Real Color line: Vallejo 71.400 UK Desert Pink Lifecolor UA268 Desert Pink Z.I. Both are meant for airbrushing and both sort of resemble the MRP paint referenced. Maybe looks better on the model? |
Yellow Admiral | 13 Nov 2019 10:47 a.m. PST |
Today I found a few model builders in online discussions saying they used Testors Flat Light Tan (1170) right out of the bottle. In other news, I also found a few people claiming that FS31575 is the true FS 595 "desert pink" color. It sure looks that way on my monitors. It also looks pretty close to the pictures of Testors Flat Light Tan, but of course photos lie, and color chips are worse. I haven't yet found any paints that claim to be FS31575. - Ix |
Marc33594 | 13 Nov 2019 11:07 a.m. PST |
Well for us armored types the good news is Mike Starmer, who has to be considered an expert on these colors, states that even when Desert Pink was introduced Light Stone No 61 continued to be used. I do have that color by AK as part of their Caunter Scheme boxed set and it does look pretty good. I asked about individual bottles of that color, as well as Portland Stone No 64, in my message to AK. I believe AK developed the Caunter Scheme boxed set in coordination with Mr Starmer. Speaking of which here is Mr Starmer's description of Desert Pink: "Description: Earthy pink or warm sandy pink locally produced." |
Marc33594 | 14 Nov 2019 11:00 a.m. PST |
Not to beat a dead horse but UA 423 Pink looks very promising. I have a bottle I got in the US Army uniform Set 1. Several places online sell individual bottles. It looks a bit pinker to me than the color swatches online. They are included in the set if you want to do the "Pink & Greens" dress uniform, the pink being the pinkish hued light brown pants. |
Yellow Admiral | 14 Nov 2019 1:35 p.m. PST |
There's still plenty of meat on this carcass. The online color samples for UA 423 look very brown, not pink at all, but online color samples are almost always useless. Does it actually have any pink overtones in person? I've already turned down a few colors that are described or sampled one way and look totally different in photos of models sprayed with them. I was going over my own paint collection in detail last night and noticed a couple more interesting color choices: - I have one cheap craft store acrylic which is a very light tan with just enough "pink" overtone. Unfortunately, it has poor coverage and would probably fill in details once laid on thick enough to be even, so it's probably nothing more than a matching sample. But it does imply that there might be a useful color in the vast array of cheap acrylics at Michael's, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, etc.
- The FW acrylic ink "Flesh" is an outright pink, but since all FW inks are semi-transparent (even the ones labeled "opaque") and easy to thin, it might be a useful pink tint over a tan or ivory base, or mixed into a custom "desert pink" ink. I'll have to experiment with this.
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Marc33594 | 14 Nov 2019 1:52 p.m. PST |
As mentioned the online color samples dont look like the actual paint to me. I have brush painted several swaths and definitely a pinkish hue to the khaki color. Here is an example of the "Pinks and Greens" for WW II USAAF officer. Scroll down to the 4th photo. That color is pretty close to the what UA 423 looks like. link |
Yellow Admiral | 14 Nov 2019 3:33 p.m. PST |
Bingo! Do Life Color paints thin with water, lacquer thinner, or something else? I don't know anything about them. - Ix |
Marc33594 | 14 Nov 2019 4:32 p.m. PST |
They are an acrylic and while they have their own thinner most of us use water. I suggest distilled water. I have their rust and dust set as well as their two WW II US Army Uniform sets. While optimized for airbrush they also brush paint decently. I know some folks like to add a little flow aide to them. It does dry a tad darker then the pants but still looks pretty right to me. |