I am painting wheels using Tamiya NATO black (acrylic). I stirred it well and shook and stirred. When I paint the wheel the paint barely sticks . I use the paint on the underside of the paint cap and it works like paint should. When I take it from the bottle it sees like its almost thinned. How much do I have to stir? There is no pigment at the bottom. I hope I don't have to prime everything I paint.

I can't think of why that is happening. I don't have that color of tamiya, but I don't have any trouble with the ones I do have. I especially like it when air brushing but like I said have no trouble when brush painting. It sounds like your doing everything right to me. Maybe its old or something. I guess if I where to suggest one thing it would be to wash the plastic before painting.

It seems to me it´s also about the type of plastic. I tried to paint Dragon´s ski troops and the darn paint (Tamiya) didn´t attach. I almost thought about glueing the paint in the surface
But with Tamiya figure and the same paint as before, no problem.
I had both washed but not primed. Now I´m thinking about minimizing the effort and putting on a base coat with an airbrush over whole thing while parts are still in the sprue...
I´m just too lazy to set up and clean up the airbrush every time I have to prime a figure...

Toni

painting dragon figures I aslo got teh same problem. But why on my tamiya model?

If you need good surface to attach, then maybe just a flat clear cote would do as well...
When does a paint get old? Is there any way to know when they´ve been bottled?

Toni

Actually, Padrino, priming first is a good idea. I ran into the same problem using Citadel paints on an Italeri kit. Paint wouldn't stick. So I took all the sprues outside and lightly sprayed with some "brand X" gray primer. The finish color stuck after that. Now I prime everything.
If you are using enamels you can usually get away without priming, which I used to do. But I am gradually switching over to acrylics. I have used Tamiya flat black (XF-1) as a primer and it worked well.
I don't believe model paints get "old" and loose their "stick to it-ness" (?). They just dry up.
I have an old 23ml bottle of Tamiya "Field Gray" (XF-65) that is about 12 years old. It is still good. And the last time I used it, About a year ago, it went on the figure ok.
Your wheels may have a heavy concentration of mold release. wash in warm soapy water, use dish liquid, let air dry and try again. If that doesn't work, prime the puppy!
HTH

Always Prime first, it will save you a lot of trouble while painting. Besides in a way I think it saves paint too, because you are painting on a light surface if you prime the model in light gray or white color.

HEy Padrino,
As I've never primed a piece I cant say if that will solve your problem. I will however say that Tamiya paint can be finiky, which has nothing to do with the age of the paint and everything to do with the cleanliness of the piece your working on. Even out of the box all platic,resin and even white metal parts have oils and mold releases on them. to clean these off soak the pieces in a solution of soapy water(liquid dish detergent will do) and the n wipe them off with paper towel. Now that you have cleaned them off remember the oils you finger produce as well, so depending how you choose to paint your parts(on the sprue or off) those thumb prints ca cause your paint not to adhere. For me the solution was sticking a wood dowel int center hole so I could hold the piece and swivel it as well.

Josh Weingarten
aKa shiryon

Hi,

I do agree with Shiryon's post. However, you can take this one step further : instead of touching the wheel at all, just poke in a toothpick into the center of the wheel, and ensure that it is sitting tightly on the toothpick(not too tight, mind you .

Then, insert the wheel part into the soap solution, turn it around a few times by spinning in the water to remove all oil. Take it out, put under normal running water to drive off any traces of soap. Now, stick the free end of the toothpick into a styrofoam board, or use Blue-Tak to stick the free end to an edge of a table. Allow it to dry, and then you can paint on it.

My guess about the paint is, it's probably too thin. Use a 40/60 ratio of thinner/paint. lemme know if this works !

This is a quote by someone 'claiming" association with the company who fabricates the Tamiya paint.

Take it for what it's worth.

I can say Adam that I have the same problem. But, taking the same paint and doing nothing but adding some Windex for the airbrush, the very same paint adhears perfectly, through the airbrush!

Dave