What Thinners for Tamiya acrylics?

Weaver · February 13, 2011, 11:04:01 AM

Cheers Chris - is the screenwash used straight from the bottle or diluted?

Gondor - don't worry, EVERYTHING will be tested on scrap first! - It's not my kit!

chrisonord · February 13, 2011, 02:47:06 PM

Hya H,
I use it straight, and get the cheapest stuff you can find, as it works better apparently.
Cheers,
Chris.

The Wooksta! · February 14, 2011, 02:34:47 AM

I've only tried Tamiya paint once but that was enough. Hated it instantly. Horrible stuff - thick and gloopy and the finish was rubbish.

Moral of the story - stick to Xtracrylics. Brushes and sprays nice, dries ultra quick and you can thin it with tap water, although I tend to use screenwash.

beowulf · February 14, 2011, 08:16:17 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on February 14, 2011, 02:34:47 AM
I've only tried Tamiya paint once but that was enough.

glad its not just me, although i have tried airbrushing it about a dozen times

.....never been happy with it.......gonna try again with the screenwash tho sometime

The Wooksta! · February 14, 2011, 08:31:52 AM

It never got as far as the airbrush! It looked far too thick and when I tried thinning it... The smell is something else too.

Stick with Xtracylics. You know it makes sense!

chrisonord · February 14, 2011, 11:19:39 AM

I do all my airbrush work with Tamiya paints, tried a few others and they are a pain to get the right mixture. Tamiya paint can be a bit awkward to hand paint but you have to be very patient with it and make sure you have plenty on your brush when painting a large area. Leave it for a day at least before you recoat or it will eat itself.Same when airbrushing, make sure you give it plenty of coats and plenty of time between them so it won't "fall" off
Chris.

Weaver · February 23, 2011, 06:16:17 PM

Well I tried airbrushing the Tamiya paint with 50/50 screenwash on the bike model I'm doing for my friends. Silver base coat went on okay, but on the first clear red coat, I found out the hard way that if you put the slighest bit too much on, it "beads", and goes blotchy. I havn't got time to play with it, and anyway, the airbrush coat was so much thinner than a brush coat that I reckon I'd need about nine to get the finish I want, so I've given up on it.

I noticed that my roughly brush-painted test sample didn't look at all bad by the time it got to three coats of red, so I'm brush painting it now, hoping that the blotchy airbrush coat was light enough to disappear under three coats of red plus two of smoke. I've found, like Chris says, that it works better if you overload the brush with paint so that it has enough time to self-level out the brush marks before it dries. I've also found that you can do a semi-second coat by going over it again after about five minutes, before the first coat has really set.

The other advantage is that this method is quick, so if it does go pear-shaped, I'll still have time to strip it all off and throw a can of car paint at it if all else fails.

deathjester · February 24, 2011, 04:24:55 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on February 14, 2011, 02:34:47 AM
I've only tried Tamiya paint once but that was enough. Hated it instantly. Horrible stuff - thick and gloopy and the finish was rubbish.

Moral of the story - stick to Xtracrylics. Brushes and sprays nice, dries ultra quick and you can thin it with tap water, although I tend to use screenwash.

I quite agree - I thinned mine down by throwing it away, and buying some decent paints!

mchoo2005 · May 10, 2011, 04:53:26 PM

Thinning Tamiya with windscreen fluid? Interesting... Might be worth a try. I used to use denatured alcohol (called methylated spirit where I live), but recently using more and more Tamiya thinner for both Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous.

Recently, I started using LifeColor, and am slowly transitioning to LifeColor, away from Tamiya and Gunze, for 3 reasons:
1. I get twice as much for the same price
2. Only need to thin with distilled water. I've even thinned it with tap water and got a fairly decent result
3. Very easy clean up. Just shoot a couple cup-ful of water thru the AB, and a couple shots of blow-back.

NARSES2 · May 11, 2011, 02:52:05 AM

Quote from: mchoo2005 on May 10, 2011, 04:53:26 PM
Thinning Tamiya with windscreen fluid? Interesting... Might be worth a try. I used to use denatured alcohol (called methylated spirit where I live),

Yup I use windscreen fluid for Tamiya, got 2 litres for a £1 in the £1 shop, and it works fine. Also use tap water for Lifecolour with no problem but I brush paint.

Ah Meths - that's what denatured alcohol is

mchoo2005 · May 11, 2011, 05:39:17 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on May 11, 2011, 02:52:05 AM

Ah Meths - that's what denatured alcohol is

Aye! Meths works OK for thinning Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous, in general, especially if you're only thinning enough paint for one session. These days, I prefer making up a batch of thinned paint and keep it in spare paint bottle, hence I use Tamiya thinner more nowadays.