Paul Tests AK Interactive Real Color Markers VS Playmarkers

Transcript*

Intro

AK Interactive Markers are they worth the hype? Let’s find out.

Real Color Markers

So let’s talk about the first one to come out roughly 6 months ago maybe even longer than that this is the Real Color Markers they came out the exact same time. Actually part of the line of the real color, a kind of rebranding that they did uh by AK uh but unlike the rebranding which focused more on the lacquer side of things this at least the markers are pure acrylic paints water-based acrylics.

So if you’re afraid to use them because you think that maybe they’re enamel or lacquer based like a lot of hobby markers in the Gundam kind of department nope these are water based paints and in terms of the color schemes they’re targeted for more of the traditional hobbyist so lots of more realistic colors uh geared towards World War II Cold War era um maybe just basic weathering and such right um a lot more muted right and these are the colors that you can be uh that can be found on this line for example they have a German tank set as you can see right here.

Playmarkers

And then on the other side of things we have the Playmarkers the newest kid on the block when it comes to AK markers these again like its cousin is acrylic paints as well uh but this focuses more on vibrancy because they are targeting a wargaming audience so if you do DND Warhammer bolt action uh battle tech right you know this is right up your alley it It’s incredible and as you can see from its aforementioned cousin um it’s a lot more poppy very much reminiscent of game color from.
Vallejo.

Comparing it to its uh maybe more realistic cousin model color right this would be game color if you’re not taking the hint so yes uh two different audiences but again you can mix and match them they are both water based acrylics before we get started on the deeper comparisons between the two I’d just like to give a quick shout out to the YouTube channel we’re about to hit 10K or we’re 3,300 subs away so uh make sure to like and subscribe and hit that bell icon cuz you guys aren’t getting notified when we upload .

Closer Look at the Markers

Now aside from the colors and the selections and whatnot there is actually quite a big difference between these two markers um and it’s got to do with the tips and I’ll show you so the real color marker when you open it has a tip like this is basically a Sharpie tip a fine point but it is one entity it is just that single tip.

So again if you like Sharpies you’re going to love this then if you look at the play markers you initially be like well it’s also a Sharpie tip not quite this is individual bristles forming the tip you can kind of see it right there yeah see that all the ridges yeah these are individual bristles this for all intents and purposes is a brush in pen form forming an extremely fine point and it is incredibly soft this is come on focus quite rigid and hard like a Sharpie tip.

So um it just I guess depends on the person you are cuz there’s actually quite a big difference right not just in terms of their color selection but also the delivery system right and to go even further beyond that the real markers the one with the realistic colors doesn’t have a button and what do you mean by that it means that it is always active um so it does run the danger of drying out first whereas the play markers has this protective cap right here you’re like what’s this for it’s kind of useless right uh because it doesn’t really go not for the tip. It’s to protect the button at the end here so you don’t press it accidentally every single time.

And what it does is it releases ink or I guess in this case paint not ink press it come on yeah there we go see and see how it just loaded up and you can actually see it at the tip it looks kind of thick but it’s actually quite thin so be warned it kind of does drip actually if you over press it so I pressed it twice i should have pressed it once and just to further emphasize my point this is a new marker that I just opened from the Playmarkers Clothes and Ornament set so it is unsullied untouched let us. You can actually see the paint right there so let’s press the button oh see look at that and then it just slowly but surely or you can even speed it up a little bit oh see it dripped there we go for the demo we will be.

Styrene Plastic Demo

trying them out on different swatches so we have styrene plastic here from Evergreen uh that I cut up into sheets like that and then we have a plastic spoon and then finally we may even use a B&D mini which are preprimed they are preprimed so it’s going to be two unprimed things and then one primed mini just to see how they both react.

I have a bad feeling about the unprimed ones these two specifically but we’ll see how they go hopefully they kind of stick cuz they are both water-based up first we have the play marker turquoise let’s see how it reacts oh it’s actually sticking and you see the tip quite soft and the bristles are more apparent here and it glides it’s so smooth oh yeah come on focus please thank you it’s gliding it feels so nice a little streaky but that is normal it is the first layer and it doesn’t have a primer so keep that in mind it will be naturally just streakier not bad and it hasn’t even dried yet so I can’t really judge it.

If it’s streaky or not so I went back and forth with this let’s do a patch here that I just go one across oh why is that shaking there we go there we go up next for the demo we have this color specifically from Real Color Markers here we go okay it does feel rougher it’s not as smooth of an experience but it is smooth kind of like um a Sharpie actually that is the closest comparison it’s very apt and as you can see it isn’t bending as much though you can be flat with it and you can be more precise see I’ve heard comp aints that the real color ones even with prime plastic is streak uh streaky um but I’m not seeing that here so far you know what not bad again this is unprimed plastic so naturally it will be streakier than normal compared to when it is primed uh but yeah it’s not bad uh now this is flat though so that is the only thing um that’s why I grabbed the spoon because what I wanted to see was the difference in it delivery systems.

Plastic Spoon Demo

One with the solid fine point and uh this one which uh which is the play marker that coalesces is individual bristles that coalesces into a fine point and as you can see with the curved surface the turquoise play marker does spread around more so it is a little streakier and if you’ve used a Sharpie on a curved surface it won’t really matter uh so yeah so you can see it is finer in that sense in that regard both still kind of streaking but at the same time because it is unprimed at the same time though uh for curved surfaces the real color markers delivery system is better as naturally it should be.

Miniature Demo

We’re bringing back the classic the Marut um for this demo poor poor Marut so we’re going to be trying out the play markers first so there we go and this is primed plastic and I am going back and forth with this one first coat Ii’m only doing a first coat judgment and then I’ll do a second coat later.

But overall at least on the initial inspection very good but really no streaking I could have painted it finer get into more crevices right but honestly no streaks and you can kind of see it on the turquoise too it’s not finely painted there are gaps there so this one is lighter than the rest because I didn’t paint it only the first coat but otherwise yeah no streaks all right Mr Marut this is.

This is the same color right the Midori Not bad not bad at all you know what that’s about even um I’m not really noticing any sort of hardcore differences even if you compare the green with the purple yeah granted the purple is like almost two coats but it’s mostly just one uh retouches here and there but still uh yeah first coat to first coat not too bad now let’s compare it with the second coat yes I did paint the bottom halves of both bottom halves of this with a second coat.

Full Coverage Demo

Now before we wrap up this video, for the final challenge let’s actually uh test the limits of the both of them uh we’re going to be using two curved spoons obviously they’re curved they’re spoons.

Two spoons unprimed and we’re going to see which um color kind of has an easier time covering the whole back of the spoon or sorry which system not color so yeah we’re going to be using uh we’re going to switch it up a little bit we’re going to be using purple play marker and then we’re going to be using uh this one right here this is RLM79 from Real Colors all right let’s do RLM 79 first I’m not applying any skill here i’m just making sure that we cover the whole surfaces.

The whole surface not surfaces but yeah so don’t comment on look lacking skill I’m just doing it as fast as possible while covering the whole surface or as much of it as possible but as you can tell again it is uh unprimed plastic but it does have a harder time with larger surfaces it is better for curved surfaces but a curved surface that is large or just any large surfaces in general uh the real color marker will suffer all right play marker time and actually I’ll demonstrate to you the advantage of the play marker.

Just lightly tap this button and it starts dripping onto the paint oh the paint the spoon there we go so it is better for larger surfaces the brush undoubtedly so um I guess when you’re doing something pinpoint on a curved surface it’s worse but a large curved surface like this it’s better cuz it did it in no time flat.

I even stalled there for a sec to adjust the camera and it’s done there are some streaks because again it is unprimed but that’s quite smooth so now that they’re both dried what do I think well as you can tell one is just way streakier than the other now again keep in mind this is unprimed for the 15th time uh but you know one clearly suffered more with the large and curved surface um and that would be the real marker on the left here uh yeah it isn’t even close really it definitely struggled because of its point kind of precision nature and by default that is the nature of the pen.

I could have maybe gone flatter with it but there’s only so much because it it’s kind of such a drastic point change it goes from precise to flat so you’d have to weirdly angle the pen whereas you don’t have to do that with the play marker because it is a brush in pen form now would I go and rush to stores to replace my paints fully i don’t think so there’s only 36 paints per kind of delivery system here um so yeah it’s not fully complete just yet they will be expanding this in future.

I’m sure both incredibly popular but for now I would just take one or two of the real uh not the real colors but maybe the play markers if you’re doing the hobby um on a more broad strokes kind of level and I mean that literally like big surfaces i would use the real markers h sorry the the play markers over the real markers the real markers more precision jobs i think they’re better for that but they will suffer with big surfaces and it is very apparent so keep that in mind when you purchase.

Paul’s Conclusion

So as you can tell by the tone of my voice and just the way I was talking about these two products uh yeah I do like the Play Markers more but that just might be my Warhammer biases talking so for me personally if it was a tier list I would place them uh well the play markers on S uh sorry A tier and then the real markers at B like high B.

It’s not too far apart uh so you know they’re both really good both have their strengths and weaknesses right um but the fact that this might dry faster and you can’t really control the flow uh as much uh is I guess the prevalent downside to it uh but it is more popular significantly so so I will say that people like it so thank you guys so much for watching uh thank you for stopping by hopefully you like that little demonstration review overall they’re both really good products um and yeah just depends on your preference so like and subscribe follow us for more on not just our YouTube but socials and I’ll see you guys next time.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano