Paint Set - Urban Camo

Concrete, asphalt and the gray between the houses

Built-up areas are a harder subject for a modeler than woodland or desert, because they mix materials that reflect color onto each other. A concrete wall tends toward yellow, fresh asphalt toward blue, dust from rubble toward beige, and the shadow in an archway is almost black. Anyone who makes do with a single gray gets a scene that looks as if it were poured from one mold. These six are therefore put together around differences in the temperature of the shade, not around covering power.

Overview of the contents

The base is the deep black Atramentum Black. Then come three cool tones, namely the blue-gray Bluegrey Dusk, the more pronounced Mirage Blue and the Deck Grey. They are complemented by Barrel Grey with a neutral character and the beige Dark Beige, which brings the warmth of plaster and dust into the set.

Where the palette comes into its own

Besides urban dioramas it suits modern vehicles with digital camouflage, naval models, where blue-gray tones appear on decks and hulls alike, and figures in civilian clothing. It is thinned with water and suits an airbrush, where the cool tones work as a base under subsequent dusting. The combination of black with beige allows almost any degree of gray to be mixed, so the set can manage a color it does not directly contain. When applying with a brush we recommend thinning more and building the shade up in thin coats, because an opaque black would otherwise fill the fine relief. On brickwork and sidewalks it works well to apply the lightest tone almost dry over edges and joints, so that the texture stands out where a smooth coat would drown it.