This is my In depth paint review of the Premium, Australian made SMS Acrylic Lacquers. watch to see how I got on. www.smspaints.co.uk www.smspaints.com.au www.fromemodelcentre.com www.vmssupplies.com
Thank you for taking the time do so such a thorough review! It's greatly appreciated! With the Brass, yes, you are correct in that the flake size is a little larger than others in our Metallic range. In truth, it is one of our weaker metallics and one we are currently trying to source a finer pigment to make it better. Metallics in our range such as Gunmetal, Silver, Aluminium, Gold etc are much more finer with Super Silver, Stainless, and Steel being very water thin and ultra fine. Remember that with Metallics, Black base coats will result in much, much better coverage due to the way light reflects back with the black underneath the metallic. Looking forward to seeing your build video! - Scott
Thanks for taking the time to comment Scott, I have heard many good things about the paint lately so it was great to test it for myself and have the rumors verified. I'm glad to hear the brass is potentially going to be improved, I know that it's not easy to balance these things when creating a paint, also like I said, I wish I had picked another metallic with this batch for comparison, these were just colours specific to a project I had lined up . Keep up the good work !
@@lpjmodels definitely give some of our other metallics a go, especially Super Silver, Steel, Gunmetal and HyperChrome. And the cap cracking is a rare issue we have come across (I've seen 5 in the past 10,000 or so caps from the batch we are using now). It appears to be a factory error in the cap manufacturing process causing a hairline weakness where overtightening it can cause the plastic to crack. It has been reported to our suppliers and we are changing to a new style of cap soon that should remove this issue from occurring.
I notice you have "normal" acrylics as well in dropper battles - ala Vallejo / Scale75 etc. Given thats what I use mostly (for units of wargaming figures) , will definitely try out the war paint range too. Good stuff.
@@steveoc64 yes, we do a water based range too. It's predominately primary colours but we do also have skin tones and weathering colours available in that range.
Apart from the actual discussion about how the paints perform, I think it’s awesome that the owner himself chimes in and explains stuff and takes note of what customers address. Great way to enhance the products and kudos for doing so! 👍🏼
I found some of these by chance in a model shop in brisbane, and gave them a go. I mostly do napoleonic metal castings, and Im always in the market for good metallic paints. This SMS paint set I found was a set of 4 metal finishes, so I bought a cheapy 1960s soviet jet kit to have a play with them. Some ancient KP SU-9 that looked extremely cold war and very Soviet. It was a pig to build, but came out nicely accurate to my eye. On with the SMS metals - all 4 of them in different panels, and different mixes for burnt effects around the exhausts. Good God ! The most insanely great bare metal finish I have seen ! And I have tried so many metallic paint products over the years. So good. Found them online and started ordering more of their products. Didnt even know they were Australian ! So now, I still do a crazy amount of Napoleonic metal miniatures, but once every couple of months, I open up another cold war jet kit and get into it. Bare Metal or bust ! I want to try out their chrome on a 1/48 Shooting Star next.
I was really eager to see this vid and have finally had a chance, awesome vid and extremely informative. I’ve been using a range of these paints for a little while now and love them, so much so I pretty much gave away al my Vallejo Air paints to a friend! Looking forward to seeing the next vid with these paints in it!
The only SMS Paint I have is the Stainless Steel, and I can say I haven't experienced what you have with the brass, Mine sprays very similiar too the AK Xtreme Metal paints and provides similiar if not better results. Thanks for the thorough testing though, Very good video.
Great review. I'm just starting with airbrushing and like the idea of minimal thinner or straight out of the bottle. Just to clarify your approach to clear coats, with SMS paints you wouldn't put a gloss coat on before applying the decals if using Mirco Sol/Set. Correct? I assume that would also be the case with something like Tamiya panel line accents...just straight onto the paint? Finally, without a gloss coat, I presume it's ok to finish by sealing the paint, decals, weathering etc in with AK-Interactive Ultra Matt? I've heard that matt works on pretty much all kinds of paint. Thanks in advance for your insights. Great review and you'd got a new subscriber. Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve, as a beginner airbrusher, you may want to fall back on the safety of a gloss coat, potentially at least for the time being ,Unless your layers are dead smooth your decals won't go down nicely, I'd recommend some better setting solutions if you do want to go the no gloss route, it is less complicated in the long run, but short term these is a learning curve. I like the VMS ones, set and fix and Softener, the key is the adhesive solution. Micro set is just a mild acetic acid solution, while VMS set and fix OR Mr mark setter, are both adhesives. And the problem with silveing is usually an adhesive issue. My workflow with MRP, which are very similar to SMS is, paint, decals, satin, weathering then seal or leave as I see fit. I haven't used tamiya panel liners, but I have heard they are quite aggressive, so a barrier coat may be a good idea, secondly, decals stain really easily, and it's easier to fix misplaced oils on a painted surface or a varnish than a decal. Paint compatibility, like with the AK Matt is best tested, I reckon it will be fine, but it always good to test anything you plan do do differently on some scrap first to avoid disappointment! I hope that helps and wasn't too incoherent!
Hmmmm... I might give lacquers a go then, but will need to sort out a mask and spray booth first if I understand you correctly. Good video as always, the scientific approach always works for me.
I acquired an unwanted kitchen rangehood, and hooked that up as a spray booth - industrial fan, filter, and great lighting too. Not a bad alternative for $0
Top quality comparison James 👍 Would like to know what other thinners the manufacturer and your own experiences recommend. From the post test, assuming the alcohol based thinners?
I spray SMS almost exclusively and I use hardware store lacquer thinners for cleaning and thinning. Great video. Definitely try the super silver over jet black.
@@firefox3187 yes, our paints are slightly thicker so you can in fact thin them down more and get more value for money by stretching your paint further.
Thank you for taking the time do so such a thorough review! It's greatly appreciated!
With the Brass, yes, you are correct in that the flake size is a little larger than others in our Metallic range. In truth, it is one of our weaker metallics and one we are currently trying to source a finer pigment to make it better.
Metallics in our range such as Gunmetal, Silver, Aluminium, Gold etc are much more finer with Super Silver, Stainless, and Steel being very water thin and ultra fine.
Remember that with Metallics, Black base coats will result in much, much better coverage due to the way light reflects back with the black underneath the metallic.
Looking forward to seeing your build video!
- Scott
Thanks for taking the time to comment Scott, I have heard many good things about the paint lately so it was great to test it for myself and have the rumors verified.
I'm glad to hear the brass is potentially going to be improved, I know that it's not easy to balance these things when creating a paint, also like I said, I wish I had picked another metallic with this batch for comparison, these were just colours specific to a project I had lined up .
Keep up the good work !
@@lpjmodels definitely give some of our other metallics a go, especially Super Silver, Steel, Gunmetal and HyperChrome.
And the cap cracking is a rare issue we have come across (I've seen 5 in the past 10,000 or so caps from the batch we are using now). It appears to be a factory error in the cap manufacturing process causing a hairline weakness where overtightening it can cause the plastic to crack. It has been reported to our suppliers and we are changing to a new style of cap soon that should remove this issue from occurring.
@@lpjmodels
I notice you have "normal" acrylics as well in dropper battles - ala Vallejo / Scale75 etc. Given thats what I use mostly (for units of wargaming figures) , will definitely try out the war paint range too. Good stuff.
@@steveoc64 yes, we do a water based range too. It's predominately primary colours but we do also have skin tones and weathering colours available in that range.
Apart from the actual discussion about how the paints perform, I think it’s awesome that the owner himself chimes in and explains stuff and takes note of what customers address. Great way to enhance the products and kudos for doing so! 👍🏼
Thank you Patrick! :)
Ian here, they are by far my favorite paints, along with Gunze. They are just so easy and Scott is an amazing owner!
I absolutely love my SMS paints, if I need good coverage with no issues I always use them.
The coverage is great !
Great test. That's some pretty impressive paint. 😎
I found some of these by chance in a model shop in brisbane, and gave them a go. I mostly do napoleonic metal castings, and Im always in the market for good metallic paints.
This SMS paint set I found was a set of 4 metal finishes, so I bought a cheapy 1960s soviet jet kit to have a play with them. Some ancient KP SU-9 that looked extremely cold war and very Soviet. It was a pig to build, but came out nicely accurate to my eye.
On with the SMS metals - all 4 of them in different panels, and different mixes for burnt effects around the exhausts.
Good God ! The most insanely great bare metal finish I have seen ! And I have tried so many metallic paint products over the years. So good. Found them online and started ordering more of their products. Didnt even know they were Australian !
So now, I still do a crazy amount of Napoleonic metal miniatures, but once every couple of months, I open up another cold war jet kit and get into it. Bare Metal or bust !
I want to try out their chrome on a 1/48 Shooting Star next.
I was really eager to see this vid and have finally had a chance, awesome vid and extremely informative. I’ve been using a range of these paints for a little while now and love them, so much so I pretty much gave away al my Vallejo Air paints to a friend! Looking forward to seeing the next vid with these paints in it!
The only SMS Paint I have is the Stainless Steel, and I can say I haven't experienced what you have with the brass, Mine sprays very similiar too the AK Xtreme Metal paints and provides similiar if not better results. Thanks for the thorough testing though, Very good video.
Thanks for the honest review. I'll be buying SMS paints. Thank you
I always try to be unbiased and informative!
Really cool review. 🖌
great effort and amazing video. thank you
Thanks for the review, James. Great insight.
Even so, I can't forgive you using a Tamiya Dinah III as a paint mule.
Sheer heresy 😂
Cheers.
Fantastic review, the paints look great 👍
Looks like a very good paint..................This maybe a stupid question, how can it be ACRYLIC and a LACQUER at the same time.
Great review. I'm just starting with airbrushing and like the idea of minimal thinner or straight out of the bottle. Just to clarify your approach to clear coats, with SMS paints you wouldn't put a gloss coat on before applying the decals if using Mirco Sol/Set. Correct? I assume that would also be the case with something like Tamiya panel line accents...just straight onto the paint? Finally, without a gloss coat, I presume it's ok to finish by sealing the paint, decals, weathering etc in with AK-Interactive Ultra Matt? I've heard that matt works on pretty much all kinds of paint. Thanks in advance for your insights. Great review and you'd got a new subscriber. Cheers, Steve
Hi Steve, as a beginner airbrusher, you may want to fall back on the safety of a gloss coat, potentially at least for the time being ,Unless your layers are dead smooth your decals won't go down nicely, I'd recommend some better setting solutions if you do want to go the no gloss route, it is less complicated in the long run, but short term these is a learning curve.
I like the VMS ones, set and fix and Softener, the key is the adhesive solution. Micro set is just a mild acetic acid solution, while VMS set and fix OR Mr mark setter, are both adhesives. And the problem with silveing is usually an adhesive issue.
My workflow with MRP, which are very similar to SMS is, paint, decals, satin, weathering then seal or leave as I see fit. I haven't used tamiya panel liners, but I have heard they are quite aggressive, so a barrier coat may be a good idea, secondly, decals stain really easily, and it's easier to fix misplaced oils on a painted surface or a varnish than a decal.
Paint compatibility, like with the AK Matt is best tested, I reckon it will be fine, but it always good to test anything you plan do do differently on some scrap first to avoid disappointment!
I hope that helps and wasn't too incoherent!
Really appreciate the comprehensive reply. Wise words. Thank you from New Zealand.
These look great. A bit of thinning and the bottles will last ages I imagine?
Thanks for showing 😉
Thank you very much for your review. I'll stick to my Gunze and Mr Paint stock.
Hi James, they seem to be very close to MRP...
I wonder how did this Dinah get to be relegated to the paint mule duties?....
Crazy testing : D Shouda striped black and yellow. A good matte green skin? a good matte varnish?
Hmmmm... I might give lacquers a go then, but will need to sort out a mask and spray booth first if I understand you correctly. Good video as always, the scientific approach always works for me.
I acquired an unwanted kitchen rangehood, and hooked that up as a spray booth - industrial fan, filter, and great lighting too.
Not a bad alternative for $0
How's the smell with these paints? Is it like tamiya rattle cans?
Top quality comparison James 👍
Would like to know what other thinners the manufacturer and your own experiences recommend. From the post test, assuming the alcohol based thinners?
Thanks mate ! Tamiya thinner and alcohol work fine 🙂
@@lpjmodels that's why you're my hero for today 😜👍🐢
Any solvent based thinner designed for Acrylic Lacquers is fine to use with our paints, including hobby thinners.
I spray SMS almost exclusively and I use hardware store lacquer thinners for cleaning and thinning. Great video. Definitely try the super silver over jet black.
Good review, please tell me that you’re going to stick the decals on the plane and call it finished with that interesting paint finish 😂
Good test👍
Whats your view --SMS verses MRP . JUST your view please
They are very close. MRP edges it slightly .
Also same bottle issues MRP had.
Looks like MRP but slightly thicker ?
@@firefox3187 yes, our paints are slightly thicker so you can in fact thin them down more and get more value for money by stretching your paint further.
In 🇺🇸 $13.00 bottle
Sir can you please give me the web site URL of SMS. Thanks
Our main site is www.scalemodeller.com.au
Is there a USA distributor?
On the video I state that there is a full international list on the SMS Au site. Quite likely yes.
Our paints are available in the US through USA Gundam Store, The Gundam Place Store and Fusion Scale Hobbies currently.