ATOM Dunkelgrau Modulation Set

Four tones for a graded German gray

Modulation is a way of painting in which the surface of a vehicle is not covered with a single tone: the lower areas stay suppressed, the horizontal surfaces and the edges are lightened instead, and a finished model then looks larger than it really is. For that the set gives four bottles of the ATOM range, namely Nato Black, Dunkelgrau RAL 7021, Shadow Grey and Blue Gray.

Why exactly these four

The shade Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 covered German armored vehicles from the end of the 1930s until 1943, before dark yellow replaced it in the factory finish. The remaining three tones wrap this center from both sides: the darkest belongs under the fenders, into the running gear and by the exhausts, and the pair of lighter ones on the upper armor of the turret, on the engine decks and on the edges that would reflect the sky in daylight.

The qualities of the paints

The ATOM range from AMMO of Mig Jimenez is built on a water-thinnable acrylic binder and is mixed so that it can be sprayed practically without further thinning. It is applied in thin, partly translucent coats and the transition between light and shadow is built up by repeated passes, not by one heavy spray. The set serves a brush as well, and suits touching up rivets and the edges of hatches above all. Shake the contents of a bottle thoroughly before work, because the pigment settles in it.

The order of the steps

It works well to begin with an overall base of the middle tone, carry on with a narrowed cone into the middle of the large areas and only at the end darken the joints and the lower edges. The whole is calmed with a thin glaze of the original shade, which binds the individual differences together and takes the unnatural sharpness off them. Anyone who is unsure should try the procedure on a piece of plastic from a sprue before touching a finished model.