Yesterday afternoon I received company while I was working on my models and quickly ran off to the door leaving a half empty bottle of Tamiya gunmetal wide open thinking I would get back to close it later. Well one thing lead to another and I ended up forgetting about it until I sat back down this morning about 19hr after I had opened it.

When I saw it I expected it to have at least gotten relatively thick but amazingly the paint was still fine. Didn’t even have to thin it any before using.

The only time I have had any problems with Tamiya is brush painting. I have never had any dry out or give me problems in the airbrush. I know that plenty of people have alot of problems though. I keep a large stock of flat black to preshade and basecoat with and it works great.

I agree that with airbrushing the paint drying time is good. Maybe it is the thinner?

Paintbrushing on the other hand is quite different. It dries much too fast. I use it for vehicles only as it dries too fast for shadowing any clothing. Any ideas to slow this down without thinning the paint so much it will not cover the item?

Charles

Rodders,

Sounds good, but as you say it does not produce great figures. I used to paint wargame figures in a similar fashion. I'd prime in black, heavy drybrush in white and a watered down coat of acrylics. great for 15 mm but not great for 1/35 and above.

Please post a picture when you try this...

Good luck,

Charles

I think that Tamiya paint seems to be alcohol based. I think the problem comes when it is atomized in your airbrush. Its seems to almost dry instantly when it hits the model surface!. My 2 cents

I have heard all of the horror stories from others about the same thing. I can honestly say that I have not had it happen yet. I will either spray it straight from the bottle or thin with iso alcohol. But I usually only use it for my basecoats.

I must admit they are some what useable. I first got them to try on some figures before I had heard much about there down sides. By hand it takes a few coats and sometime but you can get decent results

ths is the 1'st figure I made after getting back into the hobby and he’s painted almost all by tamiya.
Sorry for the blurry shot. I was also learning to use the camera at the time. He’s in a box under some other boxes at the time so I can’t get a new shot.

Regarding the use in airbrushes, I have been very successful (well, on my one finished vihicle that is) in using Tamiya paint. I thin them with Tamiya X-20A Thinner, about 50-50, sometimes more thinner if I want a very thin coat.

No problems with the paint drying before contact and no problems cleaning my Badger airbrush either. Thinned paints are still fine in the spare jars too.

Hope this helps.

Charles

Tamiya paints are alchohol based, and since alchohol evaporates quickly, well, their paints do tend to dry quickly. In many cases this is a desirable characteristic, but sometimes it sure makes things hard.

You can stop this by adding more thinner to your paint jar, and also adding a retarder. Liquid hand soap or dishwashing soap works well for this, or you can buy acrylic paint retarder in most hobby or craft shops.

Warning: It only takes a LITTLE retarder to work, too much and your paint will never dry or it will have bubbles in it. As with any new technique - try it for yourself.

Hope this helps,

Scott Gentry

you can also used a wet pallete to keep the paint wet and if used properlly, the paint can last 2-3 days....

Sta-Wet Palettes