I went and looked at some of these AK Interactive products.
What all are you using of theirs?
This is why I love to follow along so closely with this thread, I would have no clue most of these products even exist!
Mike as you know since you’ve been following along I primarily use Tamiya Arcylics for my base coats and fades. Weathering is done mostly with the Vallejo series of Arcylics paints, Air, Panzer Aces and Model Color.
But I do have and use or used others. Mission Models, Badger, Scalecoat2 come to my immediate thoughts. Abteilung502 oils I use quite often but only for my personal fleet and structures
As for AK Interactive, for Christmas 2022 I asked for one of their 3 bottle kits they sell and the wonderful son is my gifter on weathering supplies, purchased it
They are enamels and are used with oderless Mineral Spirits. They are ok and I use them occasionally. They have seen action in 2024 mainly on 2 bay hoppers and the upcoming 3 bay hoppers that the 2bay client has now moved to. I will definitively note the AK use when I start the 3 bay hoppers most likely the end of April
I use lots of pigments and Pan Pastels. I love the PP and have used the various Abteilung 502’s pigments but shown is my last bottle. I occasionally use the AIM light charcoal powder I purchased to try and I do like it. Before Covid I was going to buy the AIM full line of weathering powders but a former work client just after I found out he also owned AIM and before I could buy sold it to Monroe. That was years ago and while I know they are a great product, I don’t need them as I truly like the PP
For Xmas 2023 I asked for the Ammo by MIG line of paints to try. I am still experimenting on my own stuff. This was a set at the now closed ModelTrainStuff and the son got it for 60% off from the retail price. So far that’s the only reason to have purchased it. They seem to me to be copies of the AK Interactive products
Finally I use weathering Pencils from AK Interactive, Prismacolor colored pencils and lots of different brands of marker pens for graffiti and tags
Basically none of the products I use would I consider to be bad nor are any truly exceptional. The Craftsman paint markers available at Michaels do come close though in the bad category! Some product lines are definitely more expensive than others. Overall though I don’t recommend any one brand over any other.
If I was to offer weathering advice to a new modeler starting out, I would say start with Pan Pastels or the Monroe (fka as AIM) weathering powders. I can pretty much do with the Pan Pastels what I can do with any of the paints. My main issue with PP is when I clear coat them they can dissolve
I know give TomO a simple question and he can answer with way more then u need