Ok, to set the scene.

I am new to modeling armour and have not built anything else in 30 years as it happens. My first go was the Tamiya Cromwell which i completed and painted.

The painting was very frustrating and disapointing but i put that down to it b eing the first model i had ever tried to paint properly.

Now i am building the Academy Grant. I decided to paint as i went to see if that was easier.

The problem i am having is that whenever i paint anything it looks like it has been hand painted!

I am using Tamiya acrylic paints and have bought some Winsor & Newton paint brushes that were advertised as for acrylic paint but i must be doing some thing wrong as it looks aweful.

I prime the portion i am going to paint with Tamiya rattle can primer. That goes well.

I then paint over the primer - after letting it dry - but do not get enough coverage and the coverage looks like it has been applied by brush. When i come to do a second coat - again leaving the first to dry - the first coat starts to lift!!!

I am very frustrated as all the time i am spending building the model is being ruined by my inability to paint the thing!!!!

Any one got some advice?

Nev

Hi Neville,
well....just my 2 cents but tamiya acrylics aren't developed for brush painting.They are more for airbrush painting.
It's clear that a person with skills painting can use them with a brush.I've tried and results were horrible.
If you haven't an airbrush you can change the type of medium and you can go with enamels.
Generally enamels colour have different property respect the acrylic colours.
You've opened a can of worms so you'll get more replies from skilled painters here.....sure better modeler than me.
Cheers
Ciro

Tamyia paint do not brush paint very well, very common problem.

Neville,

Welcome to the wacky world of Tamiya paint! If you look over the topics in the Painting forum you will see a recurring theme of folks with exactly the same issues. The problem is that Tamiya's acrylic paint is alcohol-based and will indeed lift previous coats if you brush it. It goes on well with an airbrush, but I find it difficult to get a good brush coat on anything bigger than a tiny detail like tail-light lenses or tools. (In fairness there are folk who claim to get good results brushing with Tamiya, but I'm not one of them!)

The only solution I can offer is to switch to a different brand of paint. Vallejo does a good line of truly water-based acrylics, or you could go over to enamels such as the dreaded Humbrol. Bear in mind that big flat surfaces like the sides of a tank will always look better spray-painted, because at the scales we model any brush strokes in the real thing would be invisibly small...

Tom

Hi,

First of all welcome to the group ....I understand ur problem very well coz I faced similar problems when I painted my first model...Moreover, I dont have access to Vallejo or Tamiya paints so settled for brands which are available in India. I could've bought the paints from eBay but they cost a bomb
Anyway...after several trial and error I found this technique works somewhat to my satisfaction...once the model is complete I use Bosny grey primer to apply the first coat, then Bosny Acrylic Lacquer spray paints for the base coat (they smell horrible though), once it dries I use Pebeo oil paints (thinned with Turpentine only and I don't use Linseed oil) for the colors that I want...I have found Pebeo oil paints don't throw up wrinkles when second oil paint coats or weathering applied on them, other paints that I have access to like Basic, Camel are simply pathetic...getting an airbrush is a costly affair as you have to buy the compressor, hose, filters etc. I dont have an airbrush and want to stick to hand brushing for some time. You make a criss-cross kind of brush strokes and that eliminates the brush marks to quite an extent...but of course air brush will give u a much finer finish....hand painting is an art in itself...it takes time to master it and a lot of patience....

http://gallery.kitmaker.net/showphoto.php/photo/347820/ppuser/41270

over here is my first model which is completely hand painted with cheap brushes and Pebeo oil paints...being the first model quite a lot of things have gone wrong in this one but next time am sure the painting will come out nice...(fingers crossed)...

For brush panting, try Vallejo (acrylic) paints. They work well straight from the pot, or diluted. Also try Lifecolor, they're thinner so are great for airbrushing but are also good brushed on top of primer. Finally, it sounds like your brush bristles may be too coarse. Really fine brushes I'd use for acrylics are, for example, Vallejo's flat brushes as shown here .
Don't use too much paint, and try not to spread it around too much, which should prevent it taking off previous coats. And as the guys have said, think about investing in an airbrush, it will make it easier to paint the larger areas well, and with the right model, some smaller parts too.
Hope this helps

Hi Neville,

This sounds like a dejavu to me
Six months ago i had the same problem as you are facing now. Only i had to paint a biplane in /48 scale, large wing sections, in stead of the Grant.
I wanted to switch to acrylics also and bought some Gunze and Tamiya. I also bought a nice set of Winsor and Newton brushes, you are not the only one without an AB, and of i went.......NOT!!!
After several layers of Gunze the result was terrible. At first i thought i just had to get use too acrylics, but the results didn't improve. Only the smaller objects like engine parts were ok.
After this 'knock out' i tried Vallejo. After experimenting with thinning rations i got the hang of it.
Now i only use demiwater to thin and with a nice pair of W&N brushes i get a very satisfying result.
For me Vallejo it is!


Good luck

Thanks every one for your replies and advice.

Seems like i should put my Tamiya paints into storage and get some Vallejo!

I will get some Vallejo and have a go with that instead and i will also try some diferent brushes at the same time. That just leaves me to convert the Tamiya colours into Vallejo colours as most colour mixes for British Armour are listed in Tamiya mixes.

Cheers

Nev

Hi Neville,

Ok, Tamiya acrylics don't paint at all well straight out of the jar.

Painting straight out of the jar, it will be rough and patchy. The paint skins very quickly and appears dry, but when you brush over these areas, it will rip the previously applied paint up in big ugly lumps.

They work considerably better if you thin the paint - add about one part Tamiya X-20A thinner to three parts paint. (Do this on a palette - don't add thinner to the whole bottle) This helps the paint flow much more smoothly and increases the drying time slightly so that you're not brushing over partially dried areas and pulling up paint.

After your first coat, leave it to cure overnight before recoating. This is essential as acrylic paints (and Tamiya and Gunze in particular) dry very quickly but take considerably longer to cure and harden.

When recoating, avoid brushing repeatedly over the same spot or it will "burn through".

I am a brush painter and I use Tamiya paint.
I think i'm getting a satisfactory result. I do not prime the model.
First I paint the model in the desired color. This does not cover the model completely- it leaves brushmarks. When dry I put on a second coat with thinned down paint.
When i paint the first coat with horizontal strokes, i do the second coat with vertical strokes. I do not apply pressure on the brush for this second coat. Just go over it smoothly.
Works well for me.

What about rattlecans?


You could still build a few models with rattles. However, eventually, it would become cost inhibitive to continue using rattles.

Given that, rattles will still give very nice results.

In order to get a better finish from Tamiya paint when hand brushing it, you will need to get some Tamiya thinners and then use as many coats as needed to get a good finish. You cannot usually get a good finish from Tamiya paints when handbrushed any other way.

I have Tamiya thinners along with my paints so i will try thinning the paint down and seeing what happens, i shall also get some Valejo paints and try with them too.

Sooner or later i will get right!

Nev

Try using the Tamiya Laquer thinner, it airbrushes much smoother and also helps retard the paint and brush better. But yeah, go vallejo and be happy. Just make sure to keep those tamiya paints for your (one day) airbrush.
Cheers!

Neville: Just as everyone said here Tamiya paint is not for brushing if you can afford to get your self a good air brush it's well worth the money. I sprayed my Gekko III this afternoon used Tamyia IJA Green came out looking terrific!!!!!! Use the Tamyia thinner ACESES5

I have now tried with Vallejo paints and i am having much better luck.

However, i think i am still making some fundemental technique errors as its not going quite as well as i would have liked! My biggest problem is that even if i mix in some gloss varnish with the paint or put on a gloss varnish after i have painted a surface i find areas that have 'sunk'. These areas are then still very rough and so when i try a pin wash i get more of an 'oil and grease leak' effect, which as it turned out looked ok on the transmission cover i was doing but.........

And i thought building the model would be hard enough!

I dip my brush in water and then the tamiya bottle, and it brushes on great. I put five or so very thin coats, 1 to 3 with the spray primer I'm using right now. If I wet the brush it goes on extremely smooth, with no stripping.