Italeri has prepared six sets of acrylic paints with the basic and most popular colours for different nationalities and time periods.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

I have tried 3 different Italeri Acrylic colors so far and I am rather satisfied with them. Very finely pigmented paint, in composition seems similar to Vallejo Air, however Italeri is thicker, yet not as thick as Model Color. The Vallejo white thinner works with Italeri Acrylic also.

Considering that the Italeri paints are manufactured by Vallejo, I would expect them to be somewhat similar.

I was not sure about that, because the consistency is not exactly the same; anyway it makes sense.

I don't think that it is just Vallejo paint poured into a different bottle and re-labelled Italeri Paint.

Vallejo is a paint manufacturer, they have manufactured paint for other various lines for quite awhile now, and are the ones that manufacture the line for Italeri. That being said, I am pretty sure that the make up of the Italeri paint, while similar, isn't an exact copy of Vallejo's own paint.

Kinda like Coca Cola, they manufacture their own brand of Coke, but also manufacture other name brand and no name cola products, while it is still a cola, it isn't the same "recipe" that their own brand of Coke would be.

The new paints thin well with their own thinner, and won't with Tamiya X-20...

similar to Vallejo, plus their thinner is pretty much the same consistency to that of Vallejo( milky white)

Yes that is the case. Maybe Vallejo produces a line of paint exclusively for Italeri with a little different composition or thickness than Vallejo brand paints. As said the Italeri and Vallejo thinners are interchangeable, and the two paints are also intermixable even for airbrushing.

Anyway the paints are good and I can only recommend them.

Florymodels apparently did a review of them in their free weekly vid last week, quite enlightening..

I'll let the others do the RLM/RAL etc. but this set:

◾431AP Modern USAF/U.S. Navy Aircraft

Does not represent quality work.


Italeri:

Flat Dark Ghost Grey = 35237.

Reality:

Flat Dark Ghost Grey = 36320 (35237 is Medium Blue Grey)


Italeri:

Flat Light Ghost Grey = 36300.

Reality:

Flat Light Ghost Grey = 36375 (363007 is list as 'Light' Grey but is a closer match to BSC381 Camouflage Grey which is an RAF/RN blue-grey color)


Italeri:

Flat Light Gull Grey = 36622.

Reality:

Flat Light Gull Grey = 36440. (36622 is Camouflage Grey)


Now let's do a Sanity Check:

36622 is only really useful on for the SEA and SWA schemes from the 1970s with the Vietnam period F-4E and Iranian F-5E coming to mind as typical examples.

Light Ghost/Dark Ghost are applicable to a range of platforms from early F-15s (ghost) and F-4/F-16s (Hill Grey 1 underside) to USN F-14/18 but in the latter is typically only used in combination with 35237 as a tricolor and in the former is a largely a dated combination from the early 1980s.

Gunship Grey (accurately labeled FS36118) is the base shade for the F-15E and the F-16 upper surface color, it can also be used for markings and false canopies etc.. It is the upper surface color of the modern AV-8B scheme.

Dark Gull Grey is the spec color for the cockpits of most post-1950s aircraft, USN or USAF. It is also a side-color element on modern USCM AV-8Bs

Light Gull Grey is basically only applicable to Vietnam (grey:white) through 1970s (overall grey) USN jets.

I would have included 36270 as the scale-correct color for cockpits as well as the standard upper fuselage 'hood', inlet top and vertical tail and ventrals color for the F-16. Indeed, without this color, it is basically pointless to have the Gunship color for the most numerous USAF teen fighter.

Also missing is the FS36176 for the Mod Eagle as it is now applied to the the F-15 and some F-22s, along with it's countershade: FS36251 Aggressor Grey.

Finally, for those looking to do the new F-35A scheme (and some F-16s/22s), the official FS match is FS36170-

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Lockheed-F-16CJ-Fighting/2145681/L/&sid=352931dc7d298d1682b62e82352ea434

Which, as you can see, is a metallic gunmetal or dulled bronze shade and so may need a combination clear/flake color to get right.


CONCLUSION:
Buy an FS595a color wheel and get your shades straight Italeri. Include Black, Silver and White (landing gear, weapons bays, cockpit side consoles and knobs) in all fast jet packs and make sure you have both the latest shades and the _correct_ colors for the period.

Aluminum, Burnt Iron and/or Jet Exhaust colors are also appropriate for most high temp and exhaust areas as the rear underside of the F-15 and it's featherless nozzles.

With this in mind, you could vary your sets and make more profit from sales of each one:

USAF/USN Vietnam colors.

USN/USMC Modern colors.

USAF Modern colors.

I would also include paper or flash memory stick (jpeg) 3-view drawings of common aircraft types with accurate patterns and color callouts that are compatible with the included colors.

If these were keyed to specific, special, markings you could also open a decal line.

As a company, Italeri needs to distance themselves from a bad past reputation for half-baked research and poor quality control. With all the East Asian startups now flooding the market, Italeri can no longer count on a 'first to market' business model to lock down specific airframes.

Your recent F-104 is a key example of this. Minor mistakes on a very expensive kit add up to an opening for AFV Club to sell theirs as the 'high quality' alternative.