Hataka RAF Photo Reconnaissance Units Paint Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Hataka from Poland continues to release a rapidly expanding line of color-matched acrylic paints to fill the voids in color coverage for scale modelers. In this set, we have six new colors that replicate the camouflage colors used by the RAF's reconnaissance aircraft during World War II.

This set contains six 17ml bottles of paint with a set of colors which include:

• A024 PR Pink
• A042 PR Blue
• A034 Medium Sea Gray
• A025 Interior Gray-Green
• A051 Camotint Green
• A055 Royal Blue

There are three factors to consider when chosing your paints: color accuracy, paint performance, and price. How do these colors look against the BSC color standards?

BSC Color	BSC Color	Hataka Color
N/A - PRU Pink	N/A
636 - PRU Blue
637 - Medium Sea Gray
283 - Interior Gray-Green
N/A - Camotint Green	N/A
106 - Royal Blue

As you can see in the chart above, while some paint manufacturers provide their colors with some scale fade applied, these colors are a shade or two darker than the specification. That's okay though since weathering tends to lighten the paint somewhat (depending on the techniques you use) so these should fade accordingly. What's nice about this set in particular is that we have the first (that I've seen) colors for PRU Pink and Camotint Green. Neither color comes out of the British Standard Colors (BSC) 383 specifications used during the war, but that's not uncommon. While I haven't seen an example of PRU Pink in use these days, I have seen the Camotint on aircraft being restored at the Imperial War Museum and this looks right to me.

As previously tested, Hataka paints go on smoothly and without any problem and responds well to the homemade thinner which is similar to Tamiya acrylic thinner. The Hataka acrylics respond just as well with the Tamiya thinner and even using Windex to clean the airbrush.

My sincere thanks to Hataka Hobby for this review sample!