AAARRGGGHH! Frustrated with Tamiya colors!

[racer93]

Hey all,

I'm just sick and d**n tired of Tamiya's colors being off. On the Kawasaki ZX-RR, TS22 is not even close to a match of the decals. I probably should have bought the TS lime green, but the instructions specifically said TS22. Poop! Now I have to start all the way freakin' over.

Sorry for the vent, I'm just sick and tired of it. Jeez.

Daniel

[Marfalow]

Well dang......that's lame. I was hoping that TS-22 would go with their decals ok, since it is the color that they cleary indicated in their instructions. And what's with making TS lime green only a limited run only? It's like they almost wanted to only sell enough kits for the number of cans of paint they sold.

Looks like I'll really have to hunt down a can of TS lime green.

[racer93]

Originally Posted by Marfalow

Well dang......that's lame. I was hoping that TS-22 would go with their decals ok, since it is the color that they cleary indicated in their instructions. And what's with making TS lime green only a limited run only? It's like they almost wanted to only sell enough kits for the number of cans of paint they sold.

Looks like I'll really have to hunt down a can of TS lime green.

They're on ebay...I bought one today. Why would they even say 22 is a good paint? Nowhere close. About as close as orange is to red...

Daniel

[Veyron]

Could be that batch of decals was off, not the paint. Just sayin'.

[racer93]

Originally Posted by Veyron

Could be that batch of decals was off, not the paint. Just sayin'.

Yeah, maybe so, but I still have to buy a limited paint and wait a week...

[MidMazar]

I don't know why they don't add it to their line, as they have many kawi kits. Even the earlier ones.

[935k3]

Another thing to think about is Tamiya's paints do not have strong pigments and are greatly effected by the basecoat or primer color. As an example on the Xanavi Nissans you cannot paint the car silver and then mask and paint the red over the silver, you need a basecoat of white for the red to match the decals. And I have had multiple decal sets from the same kit and there is some slight differences in color although this seems to be less of a problem on newer kits.

[Didymus]

There's also a problem with Tamiya greens. Their British Racing Green is very strong, much more saturated and yellowy than the traditional, understated BRG that Lotus and others used. Tam's Dark Green is more like it, but why the discrepancy?

Not only are they off, but some standard colors are MIA from Tamiya's TS and AS catalogs. Even though one of their colors is called "Light Blue," it is greenish, more like swimming-pool aqua or robins egg blue. It seems strange that they do not sell a true light blue, or even a light blue-grey like Gulf blue.

Of course, you can always mix one of their dark blues with white. But I still haven't figured out how to mix spray-can colors without decanting them. Maybe something will pop, but so far, nothing comes to mind.

[racer93]

Originally Posted by 935k3

Another thing to think about is Tamiya's paints do not have strong pigments and are greatly effected by the basecoat or primer color. As an example on the Xanavi Nissans you cannot paint the car silver and then mask and paint the red over the silver, you need a basecoat of white for the red to match the decals. And I have had multiple decal sets from the same kit and there is some slight differences in color although this seems to be less of a problem on newer kits.

This was over two coats of white primer sanded smooth but still very pure white. No problem there.

The decals are much more of a "flourescent" nature vs the almost pea green of the TS22. There are definite differences between the two. Not just a small diff or a coincidence.

[Didymus]

Originally Posted by 935k3

Another thing to think about is Tamiya's paints do not have strong pigments and are greatly effected by the basecoat or primer color.

True so. You can use up a lot of light-colored Tamiya paint trying to cover a darker color.

The good news is that Tamiya primers cover exceptionally well. I always use white primer under reds, yellows and light colors. That even applies to small colored parts, which I usually paint with enamels. A white undercoat really makes the color pop.

DDMS