Introduction

With pretty much every paint company producing a range of metal paints, and having pretty much always used Alclad II paints for metal finishes, I wasn't really on the lookout for an alternative at a local show I attended, but whilst looking for a tyre black paint I spotted AK's Extreme metal range of paints. Talking too the vendor, he told me "they are enamels, spray straight from the pot, and most importantly don't smell as bad as Alclad", which is a bonus as I am forever getting told off by the Better Half whenever I use it, as "it stinks the flat out" lol.
So as the vendor, M.A.N models, was doing a deal of 5 pots for £20 I took the plunge.

Extreme Metals

Each paint is in a 30ml screw lidded pot, and available in 22 different colours.
The pigments look to be very fine and the range of metals is thinned for use straight from the pot to the airbrush.
Colours available -

• AK-472 Gold
  
• AK-473 Copper
  
• Ak-474 Bronze
  
• AK-475 Brass
  
• AK-476 Steel
  
• AK-477 Chrome
  
• AK-478 White Aluminium
  
• AK-479 Aluminium
  
• AK-480 Dark Aluminium
  
• AK-481 Polished Aluminium
  
• AK-482 Dural Aluminium
  
• AK-483 Gun Metal
  
• AK-484 Burnt Metal
  
• AK-485 Pale Burnt Metal
  
• AK-486 Jet Exhaust
  
• AK-487 Metallic Blue
  
• AK-488 Matte Aluminium
  
• AK-669 Titanium
  
• AK670 Stainless Steel
  
• AK-671 Metallic Smoke
  
• AK-672 Pale Brass
  
• AK-674 Metallic Purple
  

Five other items are available in this range -

• AK-470 Extreme Metal Cleaner
  
• AK-471 Black Base
  
• AK-757 Black primer and microfiller
  
• AK-758 Grey primer and microfiller
  
• AK-759 White primer and microfiller
  

Test spray

So on with the test spray.
Don't ask what pressure I spray at as I couldn't tell you as the dial is knackered on my compressor lol.
I primed a wing of a recent OOB build of a Bf 109 with some Vallejo black primer, mainly for the polished aluminium, as AK do state it works better over a black base. I masked a small section off so I could get some nice straight lines and have a good demarcation for each colour of paint i had. It would also serve as a test bed for masking the Extreme metal paints.
I shook the bottle then decanted a little of the first paint, AK-479 Aluminium into the airbrush, pressed the trigger and 2 seconds later the area was sprayed with a nice even coverage. A few thin layers build up the metal effect well and stops swamping the area with paint.
As with all NMF finishes the paint does show any discrepancies on the model, as you can see dust marks in the first area that I sprayed.
This stuff sprays beautifully, and is a lot user friendly then Alclad which on occasions does clog my airbrush up, no doubt due to the pigment size.
AK's do seem to be a lot smaller, thus stopping my airbrush from clogging.
I left the paint to dry for about 30 minutes, then masked the section of using Tamiya tape, and proceeded to spray the next colour.
Ripping the masking tape off, I was expecting a little loss of paint, but not one part came off. In fact the tape pulled part of the primer off lol.
The Polished Aluminium does dry quite shiny, but additional polishing with some cotton wool will bring the shine up even more.
Each paint was sprayed and masked with very little drama, and the airbrush was run through with some airbrush cleaner after every colour, until it ran clear, which didn't take long, as it cleans up as easily as it sprays.
I tested spraying and masking on another model without priming first and there was still no trouble with paint pulling off, nor was there any reaction to a non primed surface.
The metals sprayed over a black basecoat are a little darker, but not too much.
Each colour can be polished with some cotton wool to give it more of a shine.
AK do state that no barrier coat needs to be applied for weathering and washes afterwards, but a gloss or matt coat can be applied if you wish.

Conclusion

Having now used these paints, I am sold, and they will be my first call for metal finishes on future builds.
AK are onto a winner with these paints, as they are so easy to use.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.