The Little World

We all succumb to the lure of the magic lamp occasionally. That moment when you see something exotic in the swirling waters at your feet and reach down and pick it up… The lucky ones drop it but the unfortunate ones rub and the genii comes out.

Well, I avoided rubbing when I visited a new hobby shop and I think the genii is still inside. He is lurking in a new line of acrylic hobby paints in a rack. He’s also encased in the thinners, varnishes, and masking compounds that make up the new range. He may be better or worse than his brothers in the Tamiya and Humbrol bottles but as I am wrestling with them at present I don’t think I have energy for him as well.

The business of putting out a complete range of paint on a national basis must be daunting – particularly as there are multiple giant makers already. And the visual spectrum is still limited to what we can actually see – there is no new frequency that has not been covered. The thing must come down in the end to accuracy of colour, fineness of finish, the ability to stick to various surfaces, and not to clog airbrushes.

There might be a point for model car enthusiasts if a new maker concentrated efforts to provide exact copies of stock colours that match the auto makers’ cards for particular years – likewise airforce colours that match theatres and dates. But I’ll bet the proponents of any particular firm will fall to blows with each other over the simplest Dark Earths or Sea Grays and then the enthusiast is still out in the cold, wondering.

I should be tempted more if all the thinners were identical – but there are four separate streams I can see so far and I would anticipate chemical imbalances and clogged lines.

The final decision was to make a mark on my mental calendar for the future. I’ll ask around – get opinions – then try one bottle to see what it does. And I’ll be prepared to find out that it doesn’t do anything better than what is already in use. Back in your bottle, imp.