AK Interactive Luftwaffe Camouflages

AK Interactive of  Spain has produced a line of weathering and acrylic paint products that should be of interest to modelers. This is a paint set for early to mid-war Luftwaffe planes. It includes eight colors, RLM 02, RLM 65, RLM 66, RLM 70, RLM 71, RLM 74, RLM 75 and RLM 76. This is sufficient to paint pretty much any Luftwaffe fighter or bomber through 1943. Two of the colors included, RLM 02 was also used as an interior color until 1941 when it was replaced with RLM 66. Even then, RLM 02 was a standard primer and seen in wheel wells and inner gear doors and struts.

The back of the box provides some standard color combinations for various aircraft, though most Luftwaffe modelers know what goes with what color on which specific aircraft. As a small test, I shook up the bottle of RLM 65 and brush painted it on the inside of a part of a Kitty Hawk kit I'm currently building. The paint was dry to the touch in just a couple of minutes. I put a strip of Tamiya tape over it and it did not pull up, even though the paint had only been applied a few minutes earlier.

A note on the box states 'Color Reduction Factor' which seems to me to imply that these have been lightened for scale effect. Not sure what scale they have been lighted for as it is different depending on the scale, but I'm going to assume it is 1/48. These will need to be thinned for air brushing as in standard form, the paint is too thick. It will be interesting to see how these hold up when air brushed. I'm looking forward to giving these a go with my next Luftwaffe build.

June 2014

Thanks to www.ak-interactive.com for supplying the review sets. Visit their web site for more information and to buy your set.