discussion Lifecolor: liquid pigments for ship decks & hulls

[BattleshipBob]

This review is of course 'only' my opinion!

In my quest to weather a wooden deck, I found this

You get 6 pots
Fouling Green
Surface shadower
Wooden deck darkener
Wooden deck shadower
Dried salt
Remover

The instructions are very poor, so nothing like just going for it. So using a cheap wooden deck ( £7.00) I started by just applying the two deck pots on there then started to mix them in different amounts. On its own the deck shadower is to brown and the deck darkener too bluey, but when mixed there's a good change. Hopefully you can see the different tones?


So below is 1st proper bash, so a thin layer of shadower, then picked out individual planks with darkener, dried and used the remover to remove excess. Tad blotchy

Next bash, I think it's a lot better than the one above but one plank needs more remover. Not ideal bit getting there.

Of course more practice needed and it will be time consuming on a battleship with multiple wooden decks. However in my opinion its a very useful product which with practice will produce good and effective results. The size of the pots will do many decks! It's also at about £18.00 good value at £3.00 a pot.

 

[Dave Ward]

Looks good!, but consider that battleships had large crews & navies are obsessed with keeping people busy & things clean - so you'd have to be very careful not overdo it! - Ironic that the picture Lifecolor chose for their boxart is a USN destroyer that had steel decks that were painted dark blue anyway! ( as were all US Navy Pacific warships ). At £18 a set, I think I'd be inclined to experiment with coloured inks first! ( but I always was tight! :smiling4: )
Dave

 

[BattleshipBob]

Looks good!, but consider that battleships had large crews & navies are obsessed with keeping people busy & things clean - so you'd have to be very careful not overdo it! - Ironic that the picture Lifecolor chose for their boxart is a USN destroyer that had steel decks that were painted dark blue anyway! ( as were all US Navy Pacific warships ). At £18 a set, I think I'd be inclined to experiment with coloured inks first! ( but I always was tight! :smiling4: )
Dave

Tight you, never!! On Graf Spee I tried deck wash with excess removed with damp cotton bud, but fibres from the bud got caught on various bits, so took ages to remove and too dark anyway but you learn as you go!

 

[wotan]

That has to be the limit of marketing LIQUID PIGMENT ? What will be next "Air brush ready powder" ? Genuine water based water thinner?

John

 

[Jim R]

Hi Bob
Interesting stuff. I like wooden decks but the finish is often very uniform. Having a remover in the set is a nice touch.
Jim

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Bob. It looks useful on wood, possibly also useful for ageing balsa and other modelling strip woods.
However, a word of caution….. I have a similar set for bringing out panel lines on aircraft. I got absolutely nowhere with it because the ”remover” took off the underlying acrylic paint as well as the excess pigment. Personally, I would use this stuff before you put the deck on the ship. If you don’t, it might damage the paint finish that you’ve already put down….

 

[BattleshipBob]

Hi Bob
Interesting stuff. I like wooden decks but the finish is often very uniform. Having a remover in the set is a nice touch.
Jim

Thanks Jim

Hi Bob. It looks useful on wood, possibly also useful for ageing balsa and other modelling strip woods.
However, a word of caution….. I have a similar set for bringing out panel lines on aircraft. I got absolutely nowhere with it because the ”remover” took off the underlying acrylic paint as well as the excess pigment. Personally, I would use this stuff before you put the deck on the ship. If you don’t, it might damage the paint finish that you’ve already put down….

Good point, they said to varnish first which of course I did and they did say only a damp brush with the Remover and can be removed with water if you are quick

 

[Tim Marlow]

Yep, did all that and it still took the paint off Bob. Personally I think the remover is basically rebottled airbrush cleaner. It smells similar for a start…..

 

[boatman]

HI BOYO well dont over do it but most of all have fun an enjoy the modeling
chris b