The Little World

So – what are Hataka paints like anyway?

The four bottles of Hataka acrylic paint are the first of their brand I’ve ever encountered. I noted a year or so ago that they were all the rage on the Flory internet model show, but have seen little of them there recently. There was some talk about leaking bottles and the Flory shop may have quietly retired their stocks.

These bottles do not leak, do not seal themselves shut like Tamiya and Gunze glass jars, and have no discernible odour. They are glutinously thick to start with but break free and mix well once you start to spatulate them. They have stayed workable for the last three weeks.

I tried meths and lacquer thinners and got a mud ball – water works fine as a thinning agent. The paints cover well and dry fast enough – even in the lower temperature of winter in the club rooms. I cannot say if they would spray, but they are matched well to the little brush IBG included in the kit.

As an aside, the cement in the white tube that also came with this starter set is perfectly good. I’ve tried it on major and minor seams and it sets up quickly and strongly. There is no name on it, so it may be one of their own packaging.

The tankietka is progressing well – there are a few inadvertencies in the track work caused by mis-reading of the photo instructions, but they are for the most part hidden. The interior is going down so nicely that there is a strong temptation to model it with hatches open. The fit of the parts is exemplary – so little trimming is needed I am inclined to think that when it occurs I have done something wrong myself.

And the fact that a brush paint job is perfectly good looking means I can add parts and paint the layers as they work out from the centre with no awkward splashes later.