Satin Finish is an AK Interactive range with a satin surface, built around pairs of shades. Every material comes as a light and a dark version, so stone, brick, wood, marble, vegetation and a metal tone can be mixed to any intermediate step without reaching for a second chart. The bottles hold sixty millilitres, which is what terrain and large surfaces actually consume, and a matching thinner completes the line.
The satin surface sits between matt and gloss once dry, so a wall does not look chalky and does not shine like varnish either. How to work the pairs, and what the large bottles are really for, is covered below.
Most paint is sold one shade at a time, leaving the modeller to find a lighter and a darker version somewhere else. Satin Finish takes the other route: each material has a pair marked A and B, a light and a dark version of the same surface. Mixed in varying proportions they give you a full scale that keeps its colour character throughout. The selection covers natural and built surfaces — light and dark stone, brick, wood, marble, vegetation, a blue-toned mineral and a metal shade.
The simplest sequence starts with the dark version as the base over the whole surface, with the light one added only to top edges, protruding stones and the places light falls on. Because both tones come from the same pair, the transition never drifts into a different colour.
A figure takes a drop; a rock face, a wall or a diorama panel takes orders of magnitude more. The large bottle is aimed at scenery rather than detail, and it sits well over base coats and textured surfaces.
The range includes its own thinner, which adjusts body without curdling the paint. If you have something else to hand, try it on an offcut first; other options are in thinners and cleaners.
The same maker's opaque and metallic lines are gathered under AK Interactive model paints.
