I am copying my review of the Regia Marina Lifecolor paints on the Forumini.
I received my set of Lifecolor 'Italian Navy WWII' colors today and made some paint matching 'chips.' I must say I am disappointed in the set. It comes with six colors, but only three of the colors are in the Snyder & Short Italian navy reference color chip set. And only those three same colors are among the colors mentioned in the book 'Italian Battleships 1928-1957.'
The three colors that are the same are Grigio Cenerino Chiaro "Light Grey Heron", Grigio Scuro "Dark Grey", and Rosso Mattone "Brick Red.' Of those three the dark grey and the brick red match the Snyder and Short reference paint chips. The Light Grey is too light according to Snyder and Short. The other three colors are Grigio Piombo Ponte "Lead grey bridge", Verde Scuro Antivegetativo "Anti-fouling dark green", and Legno Chiaro Teack "Light teak wood." The "Lead grey" is a medium gray that is not on the Snyder & Short reference card, nor is it mentioned in the book. Anti-fouling green is also not on the S & S reference card, but the book says the Italian navy used two forumulations of anti-fouling paint on their hull bottoms. One formulation used traditional copper that was the usual hull red. The other formulation used copper oxide that was dark green. So I assume this color is correct. The last color is light teak wood (light tan). I actually like this color a lot. But I can create it in Vallejo by mixing Iraqi Sand and white.
So of the six colors only three are really useful (dark grey, brick red, and the teak if you like it). The light gray will look just fine on a mini which should used lightened colors anyway so I wouldn't hesitate to use it. So make that three-and-a-half. The dark green for the hull bottom is of no use to us, and I don't know what the medium 'lead gray' would be used for.
However, my BIG disappointment is they did not include Giallo Verde (light yellow-green). This was the very common color used for the 'Fish Spine' camouflage patterns.
I didn't do a lot of brush painting except to create the 'chips.' The paint is a little on the thin side, but brushes easily. It will take a couple of coats to cover though. As mentioned in other on-line reviews the formulation seems to be optimized for air brushing.
If the set included the light yellow-green instead of the apparently useless lead grey I would recommend this to anyone that wants a set of pre-formulated colors for painting their Regia Marina miniatures. But the set has at least two colors you will be paying for that are of no use (medium grey and antifouling green) and is missing one of the critical and common camouflage colors (light yellow-green.) I personally think using Vallejo and my matching chart is a better option. Plus the LifeColor paints are considerably more expensive than Vallejo. I paid $29.70 for the six-color kit at "Internet Hobbies" which works out to $4.95 a bottle. I buy Vallejo Paints at Miniature Market for $2.45 a bottle. Half the price. And Vallejo paints are thick and need to be thinned with a little water (as Vallejo recommends) so that paint goes further too.
I am not sure if I will buy the Kreigsmarine or USN sets given the cost and my experience with the Regia Marina set. Plus I still have a good stock of the Testor's acrylic "marine" colors for the USN and Kreigsmarine that were matched to the Snyder and Short reference chips. I was hoping this LifeColor set would be an easy way for people to get the Regia Marina colors. But I don't think they fit the need.
