Tamiya paint compatibility & questions

[Weaver]

I've just bought the following Tamiya paints, with which I have zero experience:

LP-40 Metallic Black lacquer paint
LP-49 Pearl Clear lacquer paint
Lacquer thinner
TS-40 Metallic Black spray can
TS-65 Pearl Clear spray can

Are the lacquer paints in pots compatible with the spray cans?

How about compatibility with gloss/matt/satin clear coat products?

Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks in advance.

[zenrat]

Don't know about the compatibility of the TS rattle cans with the Lacquer in the pots but I do know that if put over nice shiny smooth enamel they'll turn it into crackle finish.
You can prolly work out HOW I know this.
TS rattle can clears should work OK over car touch up paint but you should test everything first as Tamiya spray paint has a reputation for not playing well with other brands and for eating decals.

[Old Wombat]

Enamels can be the bane of most lacquer top coats, as the stuff takes forever to properly out-gas while the lacquer out-gases quickly, thus doing nasty things to the dry enamel floating on the "damp" enamel underneath (this is especially prevalent with gloss enamels, where the top layer of dry paint pretty well seals the gases in the underlying layer).

From reading &, in part, experience it seems the best order of painting is acrylic/lacquer/enamel, whatever brand you're using.

Had a number of issues with TS paints effecting the paint on my builds (but, as I tend to mix various types of acrylics & enamels when detail painting & weathering, that's not really surprising). However, I've never had any problems with Tamiya TS paints ruining decals.

I did have one bad experience with an inadvertently purchased & used can of PS clear, which pretty much stripped the paint & destroyed the model by eating into the styrene, let-alone the decals.

[NARSES2]

I've had one problem with Tamiya spray matt varnish over Xtracrylic, it completely cracked up.

Only had the one problem as I've not used that spray varnish again.

[chrisonord]

I don't use enamels  because of the fumes  and the need for  solvents to  clean the brushes, but I have had one  problem with  spraying  humbrol mat clear aerosol  on to a 1/72nd scale  tunguska, I  painted the  model in tamiya  paint  and the clear coat  made it look like it had been in the freezer.  One for a possible winter  scene  perhaps.
Chris

[Weaver]

Thanks chaps.

The plan is to use the pearl clear spray over the metallic black spray with the pots available for touch-up, hence the compatibility question.

Given these horror stories, I shall definitely be testing everything first, including some old decals.

[Old Wombat]

I don't use enamels  because of the fumes  and the need for  solvents to  clean the brushes, but I have had one  problem with  spraying  humbrol mat clear aerosol  on to a 1/72nd scale  tunguska, I  painted the  model in tamiya  paint  and the clear coat  made it look like it had been in the freezer.  One for a possible winter  scene  perhaps.
Chris

I have the Humbrol "water-based" lacquer clears & they're all terrible! They soften & lift any paint type, they make clear paints run (Don't use it on vehicle lights!) & both the semi-gloss/satin & matt clears look like you've filtered everything with chalk dust!

[jcf]

The Tamiya TS & AS sprays are all synthetic acrylic lacquers and as such contain a fairly
hot solvent mix. They are compatible with their own lacquers, Mr. Color lacquers and the
majority of other similar types of lacquer. BTW "cellulose" lacquer paints are no longer as
common as in the past, acrylic lacquers started dominating the market decades ago, and
are the standard in the auto refinishing world.

Tamiya clear sprays work over their own "water-based" acrylic paints due to the mix of
alcohol and glycol solvents that make up the carrier mix in those paints, which can also
be thinned and sprayed with lacquer thinner, ditto the Gunze acrylics. They generally
don't play well with the acrylics that have a carrier mix that primarily contains water.

The issue with enamels is that the oil-based resin, the oil is derived from plant sources,
cures by exposure to the air, it undergoes polymerization, rather than drying from
solvent evaporation like lacquer.
Fully curing can take days to months depending on numerous factors like paint formula,
application method and environmental conditions. The curing process results in a situation
where the paint is dry to the touch but not cured and the rapidly drying lacquer clear coat
adheres to the skin of the enamel paint and as it drys into a film it shrinks, thus pulling
on the paint skin and causing the cracking. Thick coats of enamel will take longer to cure
than thin coats exacerbating the problem.

[zenrat]

The time I put Tamiya TS clear over gloss black enamel it was instant crackle effect.  Mind you, the black had only been on there few days.  It was a stupid mistake - I had enamel clear available but completely forgot the black was enamel and used Tamiya.  The worst part was i'd decaled the body (it was a car - Monogram Hurst Hairy Olds) with transfers I have since been unable to replace.  The transfers were not affected by the clear but by the crackling of the underlying paint.

Which brings me to the issue of transfers.  While Tamiya TS clear has a reputation for eating them IME it doesn't if they are sneaked up on with mist coats of clear.

[Weaver]

Thanks Jon.

Which brings me to the issue of transfers.  While Tamiya TS clear has a reputation for eating them IME it doesn't if they are sneaked up on with mist coats of clear.

Do you put those mist coats on with an airbrush using bottled clear or using the cans?

[zenrat]

Which brings me to the issue of transfers.  While Tamiya TS clear has a reputation for eating them IME it doesn't if they are sneaked up on with mist coats of clear.

Do you put those mist coats on with an airbrush using bottled clear or using the cans?

Rattle cans.  I've not used Tamiya TS paint from a bottle.
Of course, this only holds true for those transfers i've used with Tamiya TS clear.  There will be many other brands of which I have no experience that could react.