Hobby color - hnědá

A brown shade from the Hobby Color acrylic range

Ten milliliters of water-thinnable paint, that is the classic water-soluble acrylic material of Japanese manufacture. The jar belongs to the Hobby Color range, where brown carries the number seven and stands right beside basic tones such as red, green or blue.

Brown gets used up faster in modeling work than most other shades. It serves as a base under wood, as the tone of leather seats and straps, as the base of muddy wheel wells and as an ingredient in mixes for earth and rust. It mixes well with other paints in the same range, so a whole scale can be graded from it, from light earth all the way to dark dried grime.

Before opening, the contents have to be stirred thoroughly, because the pigment settles to the bottom and unmixed paint dries unevenly. For airbrushing it is thinned with water or with the manufacturer's own thinner; with a brush it can be applied almost unthinned, only in thinner coats laid one over another.

The dried coat resists water and takes further work. Once dry it can be overcoated with varnish, and a wash and pigments can be applied over it without harming the surface. It is a good idea to close the jar tightly and to wipe paint residue off the thread, otherwise the lid eventually dries shut and can only be opened with difficulty.

Storage at room temperature is fine; frost, on the other hand, does a water-based paint no good and can damage its structure. If the shade thickens all the same, a few drops of water and honest stirring will save it. Only material that has dried into a hard cake at the bottom is beyond help.