What a great site!! Glad I round it!

Anyway, I am getting back into modeling after a few years off and decided to try Tamiya paints but now I have seen many negative reviews on using them for figure and detail painting. Any truth to that? I have also heard it is hard to dry brush with them.

I have noticed that they are not that thick and I need two coats on some things. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!

welcome to the site! I usually use model master paints,but I can tell you one thing thier white smells REALLY bad

Welcom to the site and back to the hobby.

When they first came out, the compound was great. A few years ago, this changed. While some people still swear by them, I have all but stopped using them. Among the worst problems is how fast they dry on the palette if you are mixing colors. This stuff would become useless in less time than it takes to get hands and face primed in a 54mm figure. Also, that they develop a "skin" very quickly while you are applying them, so that any touch up start to lift the seemingly dry paint.

I just don't have the timie and patience to deal with that frustration.

This is my experience and opinion of Tamiya paints. Your experince and that of others may be different.

I know I'm among the few here who use and like Tamiya paints...I use them for everything....undercoats....base coats....dry brushing.....washes....detail painting.....I agree they did change a few years ago but all I did was change my approach too.....adaptation for me was better than buying a whole new line of paints!!!

Dioman, what do you do differently?

Drying to quickly...that is a HUGE problem with them.

Are Model Master Acrylics better?

I dont use there acrylics....if they have them.....but they do work very nicley and are reasonably cheap (:-)

I use Tamiya acrylics for painting armor and Vallejo acrylics for all my figures incuding flesh tones.

First of all welcome on board. You will soon recognize how good are the fellas ut here!
I use Tamiya for vehichles in general, enamels for and oils for and drybrushing/weathering.
For buildings I use often Tamiya but very diluted 70 to 80% and I've got no problems. For figures I'm just starting now and I'm experience enamel as basecoat and oils for finishing.
Ciao

I used to use MM but switched over to Tamiya a few months ago and have been pleased. Mentioned above was the 'skin' effect, which is a huge pain in the butt, but if you let stuff dry you'll be golden. I use Tamiya acrylics to drybrush as well, and frankly, they work better than any other type of paint I've ever tried (MM anmels and acrylics, Pollyscale, W&N Oils, and finally Tamiya). When I airbrush I only need one coat for coverage, but brushing by hand usually takes at least two coats and sometimes three.

Thanks for the help guys! I was on the Fine Scale Modeler forums but it would sometimes takes days to get a reply. This is great!

Yeah, feels great to be back in it. I finally have a desk, of sorts, to work at!! I am starting back into it slowly.

The "skin" problem..I have noticed that big time. One other question though....when applying a base coat to, say, the snow camo pants of my figure, should I think the paint with the Tamiya thinner first and if so, how much?

Thanks a bunch!

Sladog,
this is a forum! Compared to Armorama all the other forums look dead!!!
Ciao

I use a variety of types and brands.

I like the Tamiya acrylics but ONLY for spraying. I thin them with alchohol and a really good product called acrylic extender. I found it in the craft paints a Micheal's craft store...it retards the drying time to reduce clogs in the airbrush. I don't use Tam. acrylics for brush painting anything because of the extremely fast drying time. For that I prefer Pollyscale acrylics which I also spray. I got sick of my model master paint drying to a solid chunk in the bottle after only a couple uses.....complete waste of money.

Save the money on the Tamiya thinner to go towards buying paint, models, or food if you can pull yourself from your desk long enough. Just head out to the pharmacy or grocery store and buy a bottle of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). It will save money and gives results that are every bit as good.

Hi sladog, welcome to the site .I use Tamyia for spraying only I foung them useless for hand brushing.Some time back the guys were raving about these craft acrilycs you can get in art shops I tried them and their good cheap and you get a lot inthe bottle Ive been using them on scenery where you need a lot of paint . :-)

Great for airbrushing crap for hand brushing, if you don't let them dry enough your second coat will simply remove the first and make a big mess.