69.018 Deep Blue Matt

A deep blue for large armor segments

Shade 69.018 comes from the Mecha Color range, which Vallejo put together for models of robots, transport machines and hangar equipment from the world of anime and sci-fi. Deep Blue is a dark blue with a cast toward violet, the sort of tone the chest and shoulder segments of large combat machines tend to wear. Against an ordinary blue it has noticeably lower brightness, so on a large area it does not look toylike and lets the shaping of the part show.

How it behaves under the nozzle

The binder is water-thinnable and the pigment finely ground, so the paint passes through a nozzle from about 0.3 mm upward without clogging. The brand tuned the range so that it can be applied straight from the bottle at a pressure of around 1.5 bar; the consistency can be adjusted with the maker's own thinner from the same family. Once dry the film stays matte and slightly pliable, which benefits models with movable joints.

• The dropper neck allows dosing drop by drop and mixing repeatable ratios.
• The matte finish serves as an excellent base for washes and oil toning.
• It holds on plastic, resin and on photo-etched metal treated with a primer.
• It gets on with the brand's other acrylic families, including the metallic tones.

Where the tone fits

Beyond mecha models, a dark blue suits naval schemes, night camouflage on aircraft and an undercoat beneath blue metal effects. In layering it works as the shadow component: a lighter blue sprayed from above leaves this tone in the seams and grooves, where a natural shadow forms without reaching for black.