Here''s a look at Planet Models'' impressive new resin kit of a largely neglected aircraft that one author describes as seeing "an amazing amount of active service in various hands" - the Letov Š.328.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Czech company Agama have authentic Czech Air Force colours in their range of paints, C-1 to C-12. C-13 to C-17 modern.

http://jadar.com.pl/agama/czechy.htm

Cheers Antoni

I'm a big fan of Agama paints myself - I first came across them because of their Polish Air Force colours. If anyone hasn't tried them, the Agama range of paints (both enamels and acrylics) is enormous and, going by the distinctive style of the pots and the smell of the contents(!), Agama produce the excellent Xtracrylix for Hannants.

All the best

Rowan

Snap! I also discovered them because the Jadar shop had Polish Air Force colours. I’d never used acrylic paint before and had a few problems. They seem to be very high quality with lots of pigment that covers well and dries quickly. The problems I’ve had are mostly due to my inexperience. Fortunately I had the good sense to experiment first. I had some spare decals on an Aero Master sheet for a Rumanian P.11 so I built that. I was seduced by the yellow theatre markings but it would have been better to have chosen a simpler scheme to begin with. I wasn’t sure how well acrylic paint would adhere to plastic or enamel paints so I undercoated with Halfords Plastic Primer. Agama have two types of thinner, spirytus (alcohol) and water based. I asked them at the shop why there were two types but they didn’t know so I got both. I chose to use the spirytus first and it wasn’t a good choice. I think I probably thinned the paint too much which didn’t help. When it first went on it formed into small drops and then began to run together into larger ones until all of a sudden it flowed into one flat sheet of paint. I’d masked off the yellow areas and unfortunately the paint was so wet it easily ran under the edges. The other problem was that the airbrush nozzle (Aztek) kept clogging. At one point I had a long thin tube of dry paint on the tip. I think the spirytus thinner is only good for cleaning the airbrush. I then tried the water based thinner (both thinners actually smell of alcohol although they do have a different smell to each other) which was much better. It still clogged a bit and I had to keep cleaning the nozzle with a paint brush soaked in thinner. I also tried Tamiya’s acrylic thinner and that worked well, with just slightly more clogging than with the Agama water based thinner. I’ve not tried thinning with water but that might work. After the first disaster I was worried about the paint creeping under the masking but when I removed it there was only a little bit a touching up to do. The tape did pull off a few bits of paint on the tail plane but maybe that was because I had thinned the first coat of paint too much. Some remedial work was required in places and I then found out the acrylic paint doesn’t sand very well, especially if you use water. It tended to chip away at the edges leaving a ridge so when you spray over it the area is still visible. In the end I carefully chipped away the paint up to the edge of the panel lines and repainted. I used Future/Klear before and after the decals and finally Humbrol’s Matt Cote without any adverse affect on the Agama paint. With all the remedial work I ended up with some very thick layers of paint and the model should only be viewed from six feet away. Don’t let me put you off. I’m sure in more experienced hands the Agama paint is a very high quality product. I’m going to practice first on some smaller models before I attempt anything like a Karaś. Speaking of which, Have you seen the last post I made (before Christmas) on the dual control?

It’s very mucky because I used a lot of pastels to hide the blemishes!

Hi again Antoni

I must admit I'm pretty useless when it comes to thinners - I seldom use manufacturers' own brands and I just experiment with with the usual culprits. For Agama paints I've found Isopropyl Alchohol works well, or good old Windolene as a substitute for water (the detergent helps the paint flow better).

I found your Karaś notes - cheers, they're a huge help and your model is looking great! I've moved the thread to the WW2 forum. Of course, it reminds me that's another stalled build in my pile - I really must get on with my own Karaś this year! 2007 is starting to look busy already! :-)

All the best

Rowan