Tamiya Ferrari F40 Monte Shell

for the shell it calls for TS (which i presume is tamiya spray paint) as i want to airbrush the shell can these colors be made up with X and XF acrylics?

Well, it is basically white and yellow, so I’d guess you could use X2 white and X7 Lemon Yellow.

You can then decal, and then clear with X22 if you wish. If it was me, even though I’ve got an airbrush (and now a compressor woohoo) I’d still use TS paints.

Why? As they dry MUCH faster, and are great for applying decals using solvents, as they are lacquer based, and are harder. But, Acrylics are fine as well; just leave them to dry longer before applying decals. And be careful with decal solvents over acrylics, it will be fine, just don’t leave set to dry on acrylic. I’ve had is etch paint before.

cheers mickbench i will pick some TS sprays up

Yeah, what mickbench sed-

You can use gloss white and lemon yellow without mixing. I would prime the body with flat acrylic white if you don't have Tamiya white TS primer.

Using TS sprays does bear some thought. I never use them anymore, and airbrush everything. But for your first go, spraycans would almost definately be easier. Even if you did the white with TS and the yellow with acrylic, it would be easier than both colors with acrylic.

You're going to learn alot either way you do it. Using arcylics with an airbrush, there's more for you to learn. These skills will be invaluable on every other model you ever build, and you obvously have to learn them sometime- but if you're hoping for a near perfect paint job, you may very well wind up stripping and redoing it several times (yes, Tamiya acrylics strip very easily, and you will learn every time you do it- but is starting over going to drive you crazy with frustration?)

If you want the painting to go quickly and easily, TS spray is an easier medium. You're much more likely to have results you're happy with on the first go (which is good, as TS doesn't strip nearly as easily as acrylic). There's enough information availible, either here in the How-to's or on Tamiya America's site (another excellent how-to) to go into it well prepared. In airbrushing, most of the skills you need you'll have to learn yourself.

So, like so much in modeling, it comes down to a personal choice- what do you want out of this build? If you want the painting quick, easy and relatively painless, TS is a good bet. If you feel you're ready to put the work and learning into mastering your airbrush and the skills of body painting at the same time, then doing the body with acrylics will be an excellent way to do that. But be ready for the fact that to get really good results, you may be at it for a while. And you're certainly not going to master these skills in one build.


Incedently, if you want some good practice with the airbrush without risking a model body, you don't have to learn on model bodies. Get youself a half dozen or so empty plastic soda bottles (or the like). Prime them and paint them. Mask them and do them in multi color schemes. Yes, you will go through paint- but it's an easier and less frustrating way to learn than continually stripping and repainting car bodies.