"This "in box" style review is of LifeColor Acrylic Hobby Colors new dedicated acrylic paint set, this time, focusing on Regia Marina Italiana!"

Introduction

You've spent countless hours researching, cutting, snipping, gluing, sanding, and building your model subject...the painting process is one of the most important phases of the building process, because the painted finish will either make or break any build.

A good paint is crucial to your overall success, and, like most things, there are many different types and makes of paints on the market, but one of my favorite types of paint is the acrylic (water base) paint, not only because of the ease of cleanup, acrylic paints just seem to flow much better for me when brush painting, and are a complete dream in the airbrush...there have been large advancements in formulations of the acrylic paint process, and today's paints are definitely not like the ones we used as kids.

Today's acrylics are mixed to perform very much like enamels (although for extreme durability, you'll never beat them), and the color ranges of the current acrylic manufacturers is quite comparable (and at times, surpassing) to the major enamel paint manufacturers in today’s hobby paint lines. In this review we're going to take a little closer look at the Lifecolor brand of acrylics, focusing on their latest theme set, Regia Marina Italiana (Royal Italian Navy) WWII, set 1.

Lifecolor Acrylic Hobby Colors

Lifecolor paints are manufactured by the Italian company Astromodel, produced in a very wide range of colors, many being matched original paint color scheme specifications or against color chips or samples (where and when available).

Their current line is quite impressive, with colors and sets for Allied and Axis units, and for all modeling genre's... The various colors can be bought separately or in specially packaged themed sets, each containing six bottles of paint, which focus upon the primary colors of the specific subject at hand.

the set...

The subject of this review is set # CS15, "Regia Marina Italiana", set 1 (set 2 is also planned?) which contains six colors of acrylic paints, devoted to the Italian Navy in WWII. The Regia Marina has some of the most colorful ships, with their red/white stripes on the bow. With this set of paints, an accurate representation of these beautiful paint schemes is possible.

The set is packaged in a nice, small cardboard box, top opening and hinged lidded style, with nice box art on the top lid, displaying six color chips of the enclosed paints as well. On the reverse of the box, some basic instructions (in four languages) on how to use Acrylic paints, and how to clean your equipment is found. The six individual bottles inside are secured very well by placing them in six separate cutouts of the card liner inside the box, which when the lid is closed, the bottles are held very securely.

Each plastic bottle holds 22ml. of paint, and are short and stout, wide-mouthed as well, for less chance of a tip over, nicely designed for out of the bottle touch-ups, I might add. The lids are screw on style, and seal very well. Each bottle in the set is labeled with the Lifecolor specific color number and name, and includes these six theme based colors:

1.) UA 613 Grigio Cenerino Chiaro (Light Gray)

2.) UA 614 Grigio scuro (Dark Gray)

3.) UA 615 Grigio Piombo Ponte (Deck or Bridge Gray)

4.) UA 616 Rosso Mattone (Brick Red)

5.) UA 617 Verde Scuro Antvegetativo (Dark Green)

6.) UA 618 Legno Chiaro Teack (Teak Wood)

Lifecolor paints are very easy to work with, have good coverage qualities, and strong adhesion for acrylics. Unlike some Acrylic paints, Lifecolors can be used straight from the bottle to the surface of the model, without the need for a primer, and have very good coverage, as well as adhesion. The consistency of the paint to me is in the medium range, best described as milk-like, I guess...compared to my previous staple acrylic paint, Model Masters, the Lifecolors are definitely heavier based, and have much better coverage, no matter what color paint you are using. Like all Acrylic paints, Lifecolor dries very quick, enabling you to paint over a previous layer within minutes, if necessary...I have painted many smaller parts with a mere one coat in many instances, with total coverage, and great durability. Cleanup is a breeze, washes out of brushes both hair, and air styled, very easily. Care must be taken though in thinning the paint, as some acrylic thinners will behave rather badly...the manufacturer recommends using Lifecolor thinner, or plain water only, personally, my well water works great for me!

color accuracy

The accuracy of paint colors will always be a subject bringing up many arguments and overall grief, but you have to keep something in mind when debating color accuracy... there just simply is no such thing as "one definitive" correct color, mainly because there are many reasons and stipulations as to why one batch of Grigio scuro may differ slightly than another batch of Grigio scuro, such as when, where, and who mixed the base chemicals to make the paint, the time frame that the paint was made in (as countries ran low of cash during wartime, cheaper raw materials had to be used) so are these (and ALL other manufacturers paints) colors 100% accurate?....probably not, but they are as close to the original manufactured specifications as possible, and for our hobbies purposes, will make for an accurate representation on our model subjects. I will say that when comparing the Lifecolors with one of (if not THE) best and most accurate sets of color chips available today, Snyder and Shorts Naval Paint Chips, yes, they do look quite convincing.