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Tool Review
Stone Grey
Stone Grey Diorama Set
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by: Frederick Boucher [ JPTRR ]

Introduction
LifeColor created another diorama set, Stone Grey. This set is item CS 40 and contains six plastic 22ml jars. It was kindly provided for review by Airbrushes.com, which narrates on their site:
    Water soluble acrylic colours for modelling and hobby. LifeColor is excellent for paint brushing or airbrushing on plastic, resin, metal, vinyl, wood, cloth and ceramic.

Rendering authentic natural surfaces is one of my modeling and artistic pursuits and this set will be very helpful. These paints can be used on buildings and groundwork on your layouts and dioramas.

Examples of colorful stone can be found via Click here for additional images for this review at the bottom of this review.

Stone Grey Diorama Set
'Don't fix it if it ain't broken' is sagaciously followed by LifeColor as they continue to issues sets of six 22ml screw top bottles, packed in a good looking flip-top box. Multilingual text on the back of the box explains how to use these paints.

The bottle caps continue to be molded with an internal rim which both provides a small palette cup as well as inhibits paint fouling of the bottle cap thread.

I found that these water soluble acrylic paints are made with very fine ground pigments. They are advertised for use on plastic, resin, metal, vinyl, wood, cloth and ceramic. To date, I can attest to all but vinyl. (Application to cloth - a shirt - was not intended.) They have no noticeable odor. I find them to be much thinner than other brands I use, more like a thick wash than a paint. Formulation leans towards airbrushing although brushing works well, too. One-pass brushing did not completely cover the test chips but it is very close. One-pass brushing did cover well on hard foam.

There are no instructions other than examples printed on the box. This set lacks the graphics demonstrating application techniques. Lifecolor reminds us that these can be mixed with their Tensocrom Medium to create washes and glazes.

LifeColor Stone Grey set includes:
    UA 780 Blue Stone
    UA 781 Brown Stone
    UA 782 Dark Sand Stone
    UA 783 Green Stone
    UA 784 Reddish Stone
    UA 785 Light Stone

The six hues span a good range of rocky colors.

Application
I airbrushed and paint brushed each color. None of the colors ran nor puddled. They dry as advertised: lusterless.

Airbrushing
After shaking each jar 20 times, I drew paint and put it into my airbrush color cup. I did not thin any of the paints and all sprayed flawlessly through a medium tip at 12-15 psi.

Bristle Brushing...
...is somewhat different. As noted above these are much thinner than conventional paints. Applied to the satin back of each color chip, only one color mostly covered with one pass. But we don't buy these paints to paint cardstock chips, and the paint worked great over a hard foam cottage.

To demonstrate this set I painted a hard foam cottage by Ziterdes. Application was by good acrylic brushes.

Adhesion
Like many previously tested LifeColors, these stick to the surface and resist scratching away.

Conclusion
LifeColor Stone Grey is another versatile set to simulate stone, whether upon the ground, outcroppings, or structures. The colors match hues I see on structures and exposed cliffs locally.

Whether applied with airbrush or bristle brush these paints provide realistic colors with good consistency. They mix together easily affording a modeler virtually an endless range of colors. Certainly they can be mixed with other LifeColor colors and pigments for even more effects.

I do not have anything meaningful to complain about and happily recommend this set.

Thanks to Airbrushes.com for providing this set. Please remember to mention to them and LifeColor that you saw this paint set here - on Armorama.

Click here for additional images for this review.

SUMMARY
Highs: Application by airbrush or paintbrush is excellent. The colors match hues I see on structures and exposed cliffs locally.
Lows: Nothing meaningful.
Verdict: This is another versatile diorama set for the ground, outcroppings, or structures.
  Scale: N/A
  Mfg. ID: CS 40
  PUBLISHED: Aug 13, 2019
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 87.04%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 89.44%

Our Thanks to Airbrushes.com!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

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About Frederick Boucher (JPTRR)
FROM: TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES

I'm a professional pilot with a degree in art. My first model was an AMT semi dump truck. Then Monogram's Lunar Lander right after the lunar landing. Next, Revell's 1/32 Bf-109G...cried havoc and released the dogs of modeling! My interests--if built before 1900, or after 1955, then I proba...

Copyright ©2021 text by Frederick Boucher [ JPTRR ]. All rights reserved.



Comments

What's a good thinner for LC? I could thin it with Windex, but the AB tends to clog soon enough. From scavenging forums their thinners don't work well either and water was supposed to be the one that works. But I wish there is some stronger thinner that would flush them out of the AB like lacquer for Tamiya.
AUG 12, 2019 - 03:38 PM
Hi Cody, LC has their own thinner and I like it. I also use plain water. To clean I use Medea Airbrush Cleaner Hope this helps.
AUG 12, 2019 - 04:01 PM
i use UMP thinner and work pretty well,i ad also cople of drop of retarder when is to hot here LINK
AUG 12, 2019 - 04:09 PM
Thanks for the tips. I normally avoid these latex based paints like a plague, but it works really well with olive drab lacquer chipping method Rinaldi uses so I'm trying to live with it.
AUG 12, 2019 - 04:16 PM
I used a couple of the black shades last night, one was completely fine, the other one was a nightmare. Something to look out for is the drying paint around the lid and lip of the pot flaking off into the paint, as well as bits thickening up into lumpy blobs in the bottom when the paint gets a bit old. Teabag paper straining would sort it, and I agree on the LC thinner, plus retarder. In the end however I went to Tamiya for the second shade, and it was 100% perfect even though that was an old jar too... Sometimes you wonder if some paints are worth the trouble. There's always a bubble when you open the lid too!!
AUG 12, 2019 - 09:27 PM
Not crazy about LC paints as they tend to gunk up over time, but this set looks pretty valuable for dios. Thanks for the review, Fred.
AUG 13, 2019 - 05:13 AM
Yup, though I just did the teabag paper strain thing into the cup, with LC thinner plus retarder, and last night's nightmare paint performed perfectly this time. I was almost disappointed when I had some left in the cup but had nothing left to paint.
AUG 13, 2019 - 09:04 AM
   
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