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Saturday, April 5

Of Paints and colours

Some years ago I discovered Americana acrylic paints. There was a very large range of colours and they came in bigger bottles and were cheaper than the normal modelling paints I had been using. Pluses all round. One of the colours was called 'Desert Sand' - a light beige/grey/sand colour that I used on my bases.

Over a darker yellow brown base layer, I would highlight with successive coats of 'Desert Sand' each mixed with increasing quantities of white. I was very pleased with the results.

I have just ordered some new stocks and to my horror the 'Desert Sand' had changed colour. I don't know if the colour has been changed or I have a mislabelled tube.

Anyway, I needed to base some figures. They were independent of any other project so I could use the 'defective' paint without compromising anything else. However, once the paint was on I was really pleased with the result and think it is actually better than the original. So now I am worried that the next tube of 'Desert Sand' I buy will be back to the original shade!

Continuing on the theme of paint. I have used Howard Hue's Mid East flesh as the basis for all my skin tones for several years but I was running out so I ordered some more from Magister Militum. However for some reason there was a really long delay in getting the order, so I looked at the Vallejo range. They have a wide range of colours so I tried the shadow flesh tone, the basic flesh and the highlight flesh and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Particularly the shadow flesh. I will use these again.