69.054 Yellow Fluorescent Matt

A signal yellow that works with light

Fluorescent pigments differ from ordinary ones in that they turn part of the incoming ultraviolet radiation into visible light. The result is a paint that in daylight looks as though it were glowing by itself, and under a UV lamp it lights up in full. Vallejo introduced such pigments into the Mecha Color line as well under the numbers 69.054 to 69.057; this shade is the yellow one among them.

Where modelers use it

On robotic machines and vehicles from gaming worlds, yellow fills the role of warning markings: hatched stripes around hatches, the outlines of walkways, the marks of a dangerous area at joints and hydraulics. It also serves well on glowing features such as indicator lights, cockpit vision ports or light strips along a hull. A smaller area has a stronger effect than a large one, so it pays to be sparing.

How to handle it

A fluorescent pigment has a lower covering power than a classic one by its very nature. It is therefore applied over a light, ideally white ground; over dark plastic or over a gray primer the tone comes out muddy and loses the very thing it is bought for. The proven procedure is a white base coat, two or three thin coats of the fluorescent paint onto it, and a matte varnish at the end, because the fluorescent film on its own is more vulnerable than an ordinary acrylic layer.

The package format

The volume amounts to 17 milliliters. The paint thins with water and takes an airbrush and a brush alike; the manufacturer supplies it in a bottle from which it is measured out drop by drop. Before work the contents need to be stirred thoroughly, because the pigment settles.