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2020/01/23 14:46:33
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
AK - Interactive is releasing a huge new range of paints with quite bold claims about their characteristics. As a paint junkie I'm really excited to see
if the words hold any truth. I already use their line of paints and the quality is there.
Ak Interactive hyped their new line of paints to be something groundbreaking and after getting plenty of positive reviews across the net, I decided to give them a try.
I picked up various tones, mostly those that are missing from my collection.
The paints come in a standard size 17ml dropper bottle which is great because the bottle fit into rack designed for Vallejo/Army Painter/Scale 75 paints.
The bottle has a grove on top of the lid to pour a drop of paint into it, a cool feature. Price vise Ak charges 2,6€ per bottle which is 0,15€ per ml. Very reasonable price.
For comparison Vallejo Model Color and Citadel prices from Wayland games. VMC 0,13€ per ml and Citadel 0,23€ per ml.
The range is huge more than 230 paints to chose from. The line caters to sci-fi, fantasy and also to scale modeling.
Ok, let's jump into testing.
For the review I've tested their claims about super opacity, durability, dilution and so on.
In the first test I've primed a thin cardboard with a medium grey primer and sprayed a black line to see the opacity. They claimed the paints are ready to be used out
of the bottle and they don't separate, so I just squeezed them on the wet palette and dampen the brush with water. I used distilled water and no fancy thinners.
Let's see the results.
I liked how they performed, the finish is matt (not as flat as Scale 75) and smooth even with no dilution. Consistency is slighty thinner than Vallejo Model Color.
The paints have a great self leveling properties but some minimal thinning is required for maximum performance, more about this later in the review.
As you can see the dark green, amethyst blue, wine red and lead grey have great opacity. The usualy poor coverage colors behaved similar here as well.
Pastel yellow and bright green have poor coverage but it was expected. Honestly you would never paints such colors over black, these are highlight colors.
First layer of dark brown covered poorly but I soon noticed on the palette that paint is very thin more than others. Aha separation, yes the paints separates a bit,
but It's very easy to mix, I just shook the bottle for 10 seconds and it was ready to go. A second coat covered nicely.
The paints separates a little but no way near as Army Painter or Scale 75. From that point on I shook the battle for just 20 seconds before each use.
Next, I've tested how paints perform on a bigger surface. I gave the paint a more difficult challenge, using a bright satin base which is harder for a dark color to cover.
Again I only used a moist brush, no dilution.
After first coat some streaks are visible. The dark blue did quite well, Ivory needed more coats to cover.
Second pass and dark blue covered the surface fully, Ivory needed more coats to cover completely.
I did another try and this time I gave the paint a little help.
For this test only, I used my "acrylic" thinner (distilled water, flow improver and slow dry retarder). The thinner augmented the already great properties of the paint, self leveling and slower drying time.
I loaded the brush a bit more heavily and tried again.
The lower window and the back roof window had just one coat, yes one coat only. The paints performed better slightly more diluted.
I left the paint to cure over night so that I could test their durability and I gotta say that are quite tough. Medium pressure with the finger nail didn't damage
the layer only after stronger scraping I ripped through the paint. The paints are durable, definitely more durable than some other brands out there.
Let's see how the paints behave on an actual figure. I painted the mini with just the AK paints, made washes and glazes with them. I don't have Ak black so I had to paint
the rim of the base with a different brand, but that's the only thing that's not AK. Once again, distilled water only with minimal dilution.
The mini looks almost ready to go after one coat of paint. If you go GW style of painting(washes), you could easily get away with just one coat.
After two coats the finish is smooth and uniform. Let's see the figure fully painted and I'll share my experience with the paints.
The mini turned out quite nice for the effort I put into. If I put an hour or two more I could have achieved smoother blends without much hassle, but for the sake of the test It was enough.
I just used normal layering and glazing and I was surprised how easy was to work with the paints. I think this is the biggest strenght of the range.
The paints thin very well and don't break up easily. Also they dry a bit slower meaning you have a longer working time. The paints leave a smooth finish, I haven't noticed any chalkiness.
Dilution is not as critical as with some other brands, dilute too little and you have brush strokes all over the place. All in all very pleased with the paints.
Let's move on...metallics next.
I base coated the model with a Dark Brown and Lead Grey to have a nice foundation for the metallics. Two coats for each color...Lead grey is such a wonderful
color, very nice base coat for NMM steel.
First coat of metallics went down smoothly except on the sword but It was my fault, I manipulated the paint for too long and I ripped the paint off, so ignore the sword.
The paints will need another coat to cover completely. The pigment is very fine and the paints are reflective, especially natural steel, although this is not so obviously
seen in the picture. Rusty brass is a warm golden color, perfect for a fantasy gold metallic. Natural steel is a bright middle tone steel, has various uses I would say.
Second coat almost covered completely but for a perfect uniform finish another coat was needed. For comparison I painted the lower part of the blade with
Vallejo Model Color Oily Steel. The size in mica particles is huge, very noticeable.
The finish of the AK metallics are similar to Model Air but the coverage is bit weaker, Model Air / Metal Color steel metallics are one coat coverage.
Summury
pros
- big range, huge selection of paints, from highly saturated/vivid to muted tones. Various mediums, primers and inks. A fully complete line of paints
- the paints are high pigmented that offer a smooth finish in few coats
- very easy to work with, not much dilution is needed for max performance
- durable and strong finish
- reasonably priced
- dropper bottles
cons
- the paints still separate a little but It's very easy to mix them
- this is more my preference than a con, the finish is not as flat as some other brands
Final thoughts
Without a doubt these are high quality paints that can easily stand toe to toe with other giants of miniature paints. Are they revolutionary...hard to answer, but they
do combine many important characteristics I seek in paints. Will I buy more...I definitely will. First I'll pick up the tones I lack and then will see.
I couldn't test the paints with an airbrush cause I don't have one, but the word is out that are also nice for airbrushing. Down are links to some other reviews if anyone is interested.
I'm skeptical by nature and I definitely wanna see them in action before saying anything.
My favourite range of paints is Model color (great paints indeed), but is not perfect. The paints separate, some are really thick and need vigurous shaking (agitator is almost needed), this gets little annoying
especially when using 15+ paints for a single model. Not as durable as other ranges. Not as matt as other ranges.
They claim brush ready which means, at least as I understand it, thinner consistency with ultra high coverage which I really like to see it to believe it.
The paints won't separate....I wanna see that as well.
Usually paints ment for brush are thicker than for airbrush. Model Color vs. Model Air...this AK range caters to both applications equally.
More durable than other paints....
My perfect paint.
Slightly thinner consistency.
Excellent coverage
Matt finish
Durable
Wide range
No separation
And of course dropper bottle
Most of these wishes are in this new line of paints (their claims)...will see if any of this is true.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/01/24 12:02:47
2020/05/01 11:27:49
Subject: A revolutionary new range of paints from AK Interactive
Anyone had the opportunity to test these paints yet?
I needed a turquoise color for my color palette and bought Aquatic Turquiose from AK's new paint range. I must say that I am very impressed. Good coverage, matte finish, and it was also pretty thin (as expected for a combo airbrush/regular brush paint?). Also, compared to Vallejo Model Colors (my favourite paint line to date), there was not much need for vigorous shaking. Which made my arm very happy..
It was only one paint sample, so I will hesitate to say that my experience holds true for all their new paints, but I will definately buy some more as I look to replace many of my Vallejo Game Colors (which I find to be very glossy, except for the extra opaque ones). If they perform similar, I can only recommend this new range to anyone needing new paints or looking to replace their old ones.
2020/05/01 12:04:30
Subject: Re:A revolutionary new range of paints from AK Interactive
I've only ever seen one brand of paints be completely and utterly unseperable, it's called kreul, their acrylic matte range. It's marketed as a craft paint rather than a scale moddeler one. It's very cheap, has good coverage, never splits, doesn't come in a dropper bottle, reasonably resistant, medium sized range, isn't pre thinned. It's a real hidden gem usefull for a lot of things, though I've found that some other ranges simply "feel" better when applying it, can't really explain it better than that.
Modock wrote: I've jumped in and bought 20 or so paints from the mentioned new range and I like them. I gonna post a short review and share my thoughts.
Looking forward to your review. Have you had the chance to test their metallic paints from the same range?
2020/05/03 20:16:59
Subject: Re:A revolutionary new range of paints from AK Interactive
Modock wrote: Thanks Galdust and Feltmonkey, I appreciate It. The paints are definitely worth a try.
Have you tested more of their metallics recently? Not much to be found of pictures or videos. I'm in need for some silver/steel colors, but not sure if I should go for AK og Vallejo Model Air, which you mentioned have better coverage.
I got to try AK Rusty Gold, which is a pretty unique color. Much darker than the Rusty Brass you testet. Had good coverage and works great as a basecoat for golden colors.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/15 15:18:21
2020/05/16 20:33:35
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Have you tested more of their metallics recently? Not much to be found of pictures or videos. I'm in need for some silver/steel colors, but not sure if I should go for AK og Vallejo Model Air, which you mentioned have better coverage.
I got to try AK Rusty Gold, which is a pretty unique color. Much darker than the Rusty Brass you testet. Had good coverage and works great as a basecoat for golden colors.
Nope, I just took two for testing purpose, but I'll probably buy gun metal and gold. They also have colored metallics but I haven't seen any reviews yet.
Vallejo model air and especially Metal Color are amazing metallics. Metal Color are probably the best acrylic metallics on the market, plenty of rave reviews out there.
2020/05/17 13:54:31
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Have you tested more of their metallics recently? Not much to be found of pictures or videos. I'm in need for some silver/steel colors, but not sure if I should go for AK og Vallejo Model Air, which you mentioned have better coverage.
I got to try AK Rusty Gold, which is a pretty unique color. Much darker than the Rusty Brass you testet. Had good coverage and works great as a basecoat for golden colors.
Nope, I just took two for testing purpose, but I'll probably buy gun metal and gold. They also have colored metallics but I haven't seen any reviews yet.
Vallejo model air and especially Metal Color are amazing metallics. Metal Color are probably the best acrylic metallics on the market, plenty of rave reviews out there.
Yeah, I have one bottle of Vallejo Metal Color gold. A very greenish gold, more like brass I would say, but I like it, and the coverage is excellent. Is great coverage a property of the silvers in that range as well?
I went and bought AK's Oily Steel, Natural Steel, and Gold. I tested them over a light beige primer. Oily Steel and Natural Steel are very similar, with the latter being more blueish, and the former more brownish.I can only compare them to the silver colors from Citadel (an old bottle of Boltgun metal, and the newer Ironbreaker and Runefang steel). Coverage was a bit weaker than the Citadel metallics and required at least two layers to cover the light beige primer, which is not the easiest of primers to cover with silver metallics.. I'm currently painting plate armour on some Roman legionnairies, and mixing Oily Steel with a grey paint as a basecoat helped to cover much better before applying a second layer of Oily Steel alone. AK Gold was a classic orange/yellow gold.
Of the four metallics I've tried from the new AK range, Rusty Gold stands out for having by far the better coverage.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/17 13:56:58
2020/05/17 17:52:21
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Have you tested more of their metallics recently? Not much to be found of pictures or videos. I'm in need for some silver/steel colors, but not sure if I should go for AK og Vallejo Model Air, which you mentioned have better coverage.
I got to try AK Rusty Gold, which is a pretty unique color. Much darker than the Rusty Brass you testet. Had good coverage and works great as a basecoat for golden colors.
Nope, I just took two for testing purpose, but I'll probably buy gun metal and gold. They also have colored metallics but I haven't seen any reviews yet.
Vallejo model air and especially Metal Color are amazing metallics. Metal Color are probably the best acrylic metallics on the market, plenty of rave reviews out there.
Yeah, I have one bottle of Vallejo Metal Color gold. A very greenish gold, more like brass I would say, but I like it, and the coverage is excellent. Is great coverage a property of the silvers in that range as well?
I went and bought AK's Oily Steel, Natural Steel, and Gold. I tested them over a light beige primer. Oily Steel and Natural Steel are very similar, with the latter being more blueish, and the former more brownish.I can only compare them to the silver colors from Citadel (an old bottle of Boltgun metal, and the newer Ironbreaker and Runefang steel). Coverage was a bit weaker than the Citadel metallics and required at least two layers to cover the light beige primer, which is not the easiest of primers to cover with silver metallics.. I'm currently painting plate armour on some Roman legionnairies, and mixing Oily Steel with a grey paint as a basecoat helped to cover much better before applying a second layer of Oily Steel alone. AK Gold was a classic orange/yellow gold.
Of the four metallics I've tried from the new AK range, Rusty Gold stands out for having by far the better coverage.
Oh cool, thanks for the info, I might pick up Rusty Gold as well.
2020/05/20 14:09:40
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
These paints piqued my interest, and having researched a bit online, they really seem very promising. I'm ordering a batch of em along with their metallics, primers and thinners.
(I don't know if their PDF uses JPG image compression.. If it does, the colours will not be 100% accurate)
Oddly enough, there is very little similarity in colours vs Citadel, for example. These colours might not go all that well with your earlier stuff. I will know soon enough.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/20 14:11:19
"The larger point though, is that as players, we have more control over what the game looks and feels like than most of us are willing to use in order to solve our own problems"
2020/05/20 15:23:51
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
tauist wrote: These paints piqued my interest, and having researched a bit online, they really seem very promising. I'm ordering a batch of em along with their metallics, primers and thinners.
(I don't know if their PDF uses JPG image compression.. If it does, the colours will not be 100% accurate)
Oddly enough, there is very little similarity in colours vs Citadel, for example. These colours might not go all that well with your earlier stuff. I will know soon enough.
The range is more comparable to Model Color than to Citadel although there are quite a few additional tones which Model Color is missing and could be similar to citadel's. What I've learned buying paints
over the net that digital swatches are a lot of times inaccurate. When I search for tones I look them in videos and painting guides.
Well the range is huge I'd say plenty of citadel paints have equivalent colors in 3rd gen line.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/05/20 15:38:18
2020/05/23 08:21:22
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
You turn to painting videos for evaluating colour shades? I'd personslly never trust the white balance settings on most youtubers' videos, but YMMV I guess
Its a given that paint colour swatches dont give a perfect representation either, but there at least I know what to expect (larger, flat surface always tends to look different than a smaller, more angular one for example). Working both with graphic design and broadcasting has made me painfully aware of many colour pitfalls, so I might be overthinking things a bit tho!
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2020/05/23 08:26:26
"The larger point though, is that as players, we have more control over what the game looks and feels like than most of us are willing to use in order to solve our own problems"
2020/05/24 12:25:45
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
tauist wrote: You turn to painting videos for evaluating colour shades? I'd personslly never trust the white balance settings on most youtubers' videos, but YMMV I guess
Its a given that paint colour swatches dont give a perfect representation either, but there at least I know what to expect (larger, flat surface always tends to look different than a smaller, more angular one for example). Working both with graphic design and broadcasting has made me painfully aware of many colour pitfalls, so I might be overthinking things a bit tho!
Depends on the YouTuber. Some of the more "home made" type of videos, often filmed in poor lightning, are useless if you're interested in knowing the precise colors, but videos in yt channels like Angel GiraldeZ and Dr Faust's Painting Clinic give a much better impression of the actual paint color than the color swatches.
I'm lucky enough to live nearby a store that sells all of the AK and Vallejo ranges, so I usually decide on which paint to buy by looking at the underside of the paint bottles. Quite often, the difference between the actual paint and the color swatch is pretty significant.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/24 12:26:19
2020/05/27 03:25:14
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2020/05/27 06:59:35
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
tauist wrote: You turn to painting videos for evaluating colour shades? I'd personslly never trust the white balance settings on most youtubers' videos, but YMMV I guess
Its a given that paint colour swatches dont give a perfect representation either, but there at least I know what to expect (larger, flat surface always tends to look different than a smaller, more angular one for example). Working both with graphic design and broadcasting has made me painfully aware of many colour pitfalls, so I might be overthinking things a bit tho!
Depends on the YouTuber. Some of the more "home made" type of videos, often filmed in poor lightning, are useless if you're interested in knowing the precise colors, but videos in yt channels like Angel GiraldeZ and Dr Faust's Painting Clinic give a much better impression of the actual paint color than the color swatches.
I'm lucky enough to live nearby a store that sells all of the AK and Vallejo ranges, so I usually decide on which paint to buy by looking at the underside of the paint bottles. Quite often, the difference between the actual paint and the color swatch is pretty significant.
Exactly, I get the most accurate color matches from high quality Ytube videos and painting guides. I had many hard mismatches when relying on the color chart.
Ghaz wrote:A review from Pete the Wargamer...
I've seen the review, too bad he didn't use many regular colors, he tested just three, otherwise a nice and informative review.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/27 07:04:41
2020/05/29 12:18:38
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Finally got my order shipped. I'd say, to my old eye, the colour shades look almost exactly like on the PDF colour chart. Very impressed with the chart shade accuracy so far!
Only colours that were way off the charts were the metallics, but that's understandable considering how poor RGB or CMYK is at trying to depict a metallic shade.
My deep yellow (from the intense colours) is a bit weird, a bit patchy and the first drops of colour werent consistent, but other than that, everything seems promising. Time for some painting tests! I am hoping these shades will give me a perfect BA colourscheme for airbrushing. Will let you know how it goes.
FWIW rubber black and white grey are brilliant shades for off white / off black (not a fan of pure white and I need a highlight colour for pure black so both bases covered!)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/05/29 17:42:10
"The larger point though, is that as players, we have more control over what the game looks and feels like than most of us are willing to use in order to solve our own problems"
2020/05/29 18:27:50
Subject: Re:Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
For those who tried, how close are these colors to their equivalent in vallejo? I might change some of my vallejo paint for their equivalent in this range.
2020/05/30 07:42:07
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
MRPYM wrote: For those who tried, how close are these colors to their equivalent in vallejo? I might change some of my vallejo paint for their equivalent in this range.
I specifically took the colors I was missing in my Vallejo range except for Ivory (always useful paint), which matches almost perfecly with Model color equivalent.
Ak Ivory is really tiny bit warmer but the difference is negligible, almost unnoticeable. After inspecting around, I'd say AK paints match pretty closely to Vallejo MC.
2020/05/30 13:31:54
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
I have Scarlet Red and Violet red from both ranges). Bought them because they looked quite different by looking at the bottles in the store. And putting a drop of each on my palette, they do look very different. E.g. Violet Red from AK is more greyish and darker then Violet Red from VMC, which is a much stronger and brighter purple. This is just two colors though, but I wouldn't trust identical names to be more or less identical colors.
2020/05/30 14:33:37
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Galdust wrote: I have Scarlet Red and Violet red from both ranges). Bought them because they looked quite different by looking at the bottles in the store. And putting a drop of each on my palette, they do look very different. E.g. Violet Red from AK is more greyish and darker then Violet Red from VMC, which is a much stronger and brighter purple. This is just two colors though, but I wouldn't trust identical names to be more or less identical colors.
Oh, good to know, especially cause Violet Red is on my to buy list. How different is AK Scarlet red to Vallejo's?
2020/05/30 17:40:47
Subject: Review of the new range of paints from AK Interactive 3rd generation acrylics
Ok, so now have been getting a few hours in with the new paints. Some first impressions:
- These paints need to be thinned down heavily! So far, I have settled to a 3 parts thinner, 1 part paint for brush applications, and still figuring out the sweet spot for airbrush applications. Clogged up my airbrush on the first try, which suggests I didnt thin the paint down enough.. Might also have been some user error, I am still quite a noob with the airbrush, but I really, really recommend thinning alot! Paint coverage seems to hold up well even when thinning heavily. Plus the usual flow improvers etc with the airbrush to help with paint drying.. The AKs dry to a distinct "skin" which can be peeled off, its a bit different paint chemically-wise than my Citadels or Vallejos, thats for sure..
Rubber black is a superb color, loving it! Would make for a great base for building up NMM I reckon (but dont do NMM myself so YMMV). The closest shade to Citadel mechrite red that I got so far seems to be "Dirty Red", but its a more saturated red than the old foundation colour.
Overall, I am really digging the colour saturation of the AK's - colours seem very vivid, even on black primer.. Almost looks like citadels on white primer! If someone is looking for more subdued tones, I am sure some matt varnish will tone things down suitably. Importantly, all colours I've tried so far dry to a matt finish - this is vital for my tastes!
I bought mostly reds, two yellows, two browns, two greys, a bunch of metallics and gray white and rubber black (my BA main colours). And also the new primer, thinner and matt varnish. Haven't used the matt varnish yet. But I am quite pleased with these, and considering they are immune to weathering side-effects (enamel/oil thinner resistant), I will probably be buying more of these in the future. I don't think I can completely switch to using them, as some of my fave citadel colours seem to be missing, but its a bloody good start!
Here's a quick color comparison. The marine on the left was painted with 100% citadel colours, the one on the right is painted with 100% AK 3.0
(Haveamercy, the AK one isnt highlighted and finedetailed yet)
EDIT: Whoopsie! This was bugging me, so rechecked my old notes.. the citadel colour I'm referring to as being "Mephiston Red" is actually the old foundation "Mechrite Red". fix'd
EDIT2: After having had some more time with these paints, some clarifications. First, I'm not convinced anymore that Dirty Red is the best match for Citadel Mechrite/Khorne Red. A closer match would probably be somewhere in the more brownish reds, like Carmine or Bordeaux Red. However, I dont have those shades myself so cannot confirm this. The Dirty Red is only close in terms of monochromatic "brightness", the exact shade is much too saturated. Second, I really love these paints for brushing applications, coverage is good even with considerable thinning, however airbrush use seems to be a bit tricky. Right now I'm sticking to Citadel airs for airbrushing, and using the AKs for brush painting only. I'll soin have access to an airbrush with a bigger nozzle (currently using a 0.35mm which isnt ideal for acrylics), perhaps going to 0.5mm will make airbrushing with the AKs more manageable.
This message was edited 12 times. Last update was at 2020/06/03 06:36:34
"The larger point though, is that as players, we have more control over what the game looks and feels like than most of us are willing to use in order to solve our own problems"
