Brushing Tamiya acrylic paint

[PR19_Kit]

Being a newcomer to painting with Tamiya acrylics (at least the current stuff that DOESN'T smell like a mortuary!) I'm finding a few oddities with it.

It dries SO fast that any time you brush past a point where you should have stopped you better get it off LIGHTNING fast or it's there for good, a real pain. Anyone got a solution for that? Tamiya Thinners has zero effect on the paint once it's dried.   

Secondly, after brushing on a coat with enamels I usually go back over it again, to smooth it and ensure the coverage is good. I can't do that with Tamiya, the brush 'picks up' the earlier coat and makes a right mess of it. Is this normal with it?

[scooter]

It dries SO fast that any time you brush past a point where you should have stopped you better get it off LIGHTNING fast or it's there for good, a real pain. Anyone got a solution for that? Tamiya Thinners has zero effect on the paint once it's dried.   

I'm not 100% sure about the new formulation, but I used to use whiteboard cleaner dampened paper towel to strip away old dried Tamiya paints.

[PR19_Kit]

Hmm, worth trying, thanks. 

Not sure if I'd be allowed to go and buy any at the moment of course. 

[PR19_Kit]

I'm starting to dislike this Tamiya paint and thinners intensely! 

As I said, it dries so fast that you've no hope of getting it off, even with their own thinners. Not only that, if you get any on your fingers and try to get it off with the thinners it doesn't all come off, a slight trace stays there and so do the thinners. Then, when you pick up your model it leaves traces of the paint and thinners on the model!

Bad enough on any model, but on a WHITE one it's a DISASTER!!!!

I'm now faced with repainting the tailplanes of the Double Pancake for the THIRD time! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

[jcf]

The formulation of Tamiya acrylics hasn't changed, they brush best if slightly thinned using their X-20A acrylic
thinner (X-20 is enamel thinner) with a couple of drops of drying retarder and flow-aid added. Any of the artists
acrylic brands if the latter two work, just follow the directions as to amount. I cheat and have a bottle of thinner
with the appropriate amounts of retarder and flow aid premixed and use it to thin the paint when needed.

The Tamiya acrylics are different in that they aren't actually water-based, the acrylic resin (the same one they
use in their acrylic lacquers) and pigment are in a carrier consisting mostly of glycols and alcohols (which is why you
can use lacquer/cellulose thinners to thin Tamiya acrylics), this is why a second coat will lift the first, unless the first
coast is light and thin, thick coats will always lift. Most importantly prime first in all situations.

Here's a tutorial video, he uses Gunze acrylics which are also primarily alcohol based like Tamiya:
https://youtu.be/s8VGup5b0bA

[Dizzyfugu]

I can confirm all the symptoms you describe, and that' why I rarely use them anymore, esp. for fine details. I found that, when you use a brush, a generous and fast application is a must, and you can only make correction either when the fresh paint is stimm wet, or you have to wait until it dries. Otherwise you rip the paint film apart, messy affair. And the stuff also adheres not very well to enamel surfaces, the glossier the worse. Acrylics are no problem, though, even though the glossy base problem persists.

[Hobbes]

I found the Gunze acrylics much easier to brush-paint than Tamiya, FWIW.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for all your advice gentlemen, I'm glad it's not just me doing something stupid. 

As luck would have it I've got some Gunze acrylics in the way to me now, and I'll be using them on the Barracuda IV, which will be a good comparison.

[rickshaw]

I like Tamiya Acrylics.  I prefer them to almost all other acrylics, except perhaps Vallejo.  I haven't found any problems with them at all.  They brush easily and adhere well.

[Old Wombat]

I use Tamiya for both brush & airbrush applications. I find they airbrush better but are OK brush-painted, you just have to be careful how you use them.

BTW, isopropyl alcohol works a treat getting them off pretty much anything & is a good thinning agent, too.

[chrisonord]

I very rarely used my tamiya paints for doing large areas, but since I got the flow enhancer I can work with it a lot easier. I admit that I am sold on Vallejo paint for both brush and airbrush painting. At one time I would have life colour for brush as it didn't like being airbrushed, and vice versa with the tamiya paint.
Chris

[zenrat]

Try cleaning it up with methylated spirits.

[PR19_Kit]

I tried it with everything I had, but nowt worked.

So I'm just about to re-spray that area..................AGAIN! 

[Old Wombat]

Try cleaning it up with methylated spirits.

Which, also, usually works well.

I tried it with everything I had, but nowt worked.

Weird!

[zenrat]

GP Thinners will shift it.  But it will also very likely melt the plastic...