After the (at times) heated discussion regarding Italeri’s new paint line and if it is a Vallejo clone or a twin of ModelMaster acrylic, I ordered my three “free” bottles…postage not included. I chose a WWII O.D., marine/Army Gulf tan, and gunmetal. I called the number and spoke with a very pleasant lady who walked me through the questions and took down the colors I wanted as well as a couple back up colors.
The package, large for these three small items, arrived in a few days. There was good shock protection and the bottles were in a plastic bag sealed with a paper clip.
I let them sit on my desk for a few days since I was busy. I realized the only color I could use for a valid test was gunmetal as I have a bottle of Vallejo’s. I didn’t have a named/FS match for the other two in my Vallejo collection.
The paint comes in a squeezable plastic bottle with a two way top: either squeeze some out onto a palette or unscrew the top and dip you brush into the well. The top is flat, unlike Vallejo and Andrea’s eye dropper style. The screw top will be helpful if the opening clogs since poipping off the eye dropper can be dicey with Vallejo.
I placed a drop of each paint onto a palette. Here was a big difference. New Vallejo paint must be shaken a great deal to mix the carrier fully with the color. Italeri’s initially came out of the bottle like well shaken Vallejo. Perhaps the UPS guys really bounced this around but the box didn’t seem to have been badly handled.
Both paints created a similar blob on the palette and neither spread out. The viscosity appears to be the same. The uncured color out of the bottle also appears to be the same with the same amount of metallic effect in the drop.
Now came the test.
I used the same *** Blick Kolinsky sable brush for each paint. Test subjects were all unprimed and consisted of a white plastic condiment tray, brownish OD 1/35 Ma Deuces and a white metal base.
I added a bit of distilled water to each drop (this part was somewhat unscientific as I did not measure the amount of water…it simply consisted of how much water the brush could transfer.) Both paints accepted the water well, thinning down from the pasty drop. I first applied the paint side by side to the white surface. They thinned paint had a bit of translucence for both. After a couple minutes drying time I applied a second coat. There was a little lifting on both,, but the surface was very smooth and may have had some residual oils. Neither unthinned paint lifted nor did the thinned or unthinned paint show brush marks.
Next, I went to the .50’s. Both paints settled down onto the detailed sided very smoothly adhering well to raised detail, settling into depressions without pooling and showing no brush strokes. Both accepted a second coat with no issues after a couple minutes. I then painted the tops of the receivers with one paint to either side of the center line. There was no visible difference between the two paints. Next, I painted Vallejo over Italeri and Italeri over Vallejo. Again, my Mk I eyeballs could find no difference between the paints, texture, coverage or color.
The final test was on the bottom of an unprimed white metal base. I painted a spot of each adjoining each other and again, saw no differences.
Conclusion: while Italeri may not be manufactured by Vallejo, the two paints tested are virtually identical. The inclusion of FS standard colors to a Vallejo quality paint make for a great addition to the workbench since now vehicles may be painted to more exacting standards.