a must for tamiya products?

hi, new to modelling. anyway, is it a must to use tamiya products lik, primer, thinner, polish? or any acrylic polish, plastic primer will do?

STAY AWAY FROM TESTORS!
Tamiya has good quality products.

Welcome to AF!

-Matt

No. Use what is available to you, and more importantly, use what gives you good resultes. You'll find that most of us do use Tamiya products for the most part, because for the most part, most of us find them the easiest to use with the best results. You will also notice that a lot of us have pet products; for me it's the Testors metallic paints in the 99c square glass bottles. I've yet to find a better silver or gold or brass for brushing on.

Tamiya products are good because for many of us, they are readily available, and can be found at our LHSs. Tamiya sprays are particularly good because they are lacquers (which dry quickly and polish well), are formulated for models (smaller pigments and thinner coverage) and are high quality (the cans spray even coats with little spatter, and colors are consistent). However, you may find good resultes with Testors hobby paints, or Duplicolor touch up sprays. Tamiya bottle Acryls are good because they flow well, cover well, and clean up/thin/mix well. However they are expensive, and you may find good results elsewhere again.

I could go on, their primers/polishes/waxes all have their pros, and their cons. You'll find their paints are the best accepted; putties, polishes, waxes, whatever, are less widely accepted (though the Spray Work Stand is awesome!) You'll need to find what works for you - Tamiya products just tend to work for most of us.