Lemon Yellow

Lemon Yellow, an Abteilung 502 oil paint

A lemon yellow in the form of an oil paint in a tube from the Abteilung 502 modeling range of the AK interactive brand. The binder is oil: the paint is thinned with mineral spirits or with an odorless thinner for oils, never with water. Against an ordinary modeling yellow this shade is cool: it leans toward green rather than toward orange. That is a crucial difference with yellows, because it decides which way it will shift every color you mix it into.

Behavior in a thin coat and over a dark base

Yellow pigments are among the least opaque on the palette, and a lemon yellow confirms it. Over a light base it lights an area up at once, but over a dark one it almost disappears in a thin coat and reads more as a greenish veil. Anyone expecting a deep yellow area over a black base will be disappointed; its place is elsewhere, in brightening tones already mixed and in the highest highlights on edges.

Where it is useful

• Lightening green and olive tones without warming them toward ocher.
• The highest highlights on edges and convex surfaces on vehicles in yellow and sand schemes.
• Mixing fresh, spring greens for vegetation on dioramas together with a blue.
• Brightening flesh tones on figures, a very small amount into the light areas.

Who the paint is for

For modelers who work with light and shadow and want both yellows in their palette, the warm one and the cool one. As a general purpose yellow for an area it does not suit; as a tool for modeling it does.

The paint is thinned with solvent based products. Ventilate, protect your hands and give an oil coat enough time, as it dries in hours to days.