irregular tamiya acrylics

[mattsmith]

hey guys

just tryin to get back into the swing o things, now i'm back at uni with a bit o space to do stuff. one thing i'm gettin a bit annoyed by is the inconsistency between the characteristics of my tamiya acrylics. i simply brush paint all but the largest parts of my kits (for the time being), and am finding that most paints go on pretty nice and evenly, with a bit of care. but then i have some, for instance XF-54 Sea Grey, which are like painting with water!? its impossible to get an even coat, and it goes tacky really quickly and sticks to the brush! i know acrylics do this anyway, but being so thin in the first place, its smears the paint even worse! compare this with my X-11, which is like painting tar on my parts, and i'm strugglin! i'm just about managing, but am going to get some humbrol enamel to replace the grey, as its impossible to work with!

anyone else find these irregularities? i must have about 6 different shades in my box which are really random to use. i keep my brushes clean and dry, and mix paints thoroughly and carefully. Any tips on getting such paints to behave a bit more 'normally'?

smithy

[freakray]

If the paint is too thick, add some thinner.

As for paint being too thin, I've not had that problem.

Do you allow the paint to dry between coats?
What temp conditions are you painting in?

[speedphreak]

Tamiya acrylics are like mud. You must thin them a lot before painting the exterior. I use thm on interiors w/out thinning and they work fine...but I dont recommend not thinning for exterior.

-Chris

[mattsmith]

the thicker ones aren't too bad. as mentioned, they can be thinned before application. but that XF-54 is literally like water. every brush stroke just leaves a 'brush stroke' with paint at the edges, and none in the middle. and heavily loading the brush isn't the answer, coz the paint will just pool, and leave the other extreme. ah well, maybe its from a dodgy batch or somethin? enamels here we come.........

smithy

oh yeah, i leave lots of time between coats. way past touch dry. paints are kept in a well ventilated, reasonably cool area. its england, so weather is pretty crappy, and never very warm

[Ferrari TR]

Are you trying to paint un-primed plastic?

I was never very happy with the results I got when brush painting Tamiya.

[Martbee]

No guys... I have the same problems with new Mini-Acrylics ! The acrylics in bigger bottles are and were OK but the mini-Acrylics aren't the same... even if they should ! I have for exemple those 2 bottles of white, they are both mini-Acrylics X-2 and they are not the same at all !! One I can paint with, the other is plain thinner with a bit of white pigment which is a pain to work with. The lack of pigment is incredible and it's was like that when I opened the bottles. At first, I tough it was the hobby shop that sold me an opened bottle and mixed it with thinner but I bought from several place and minis aren't ISO9000... they don't have the same consistency in every bottles.

[mickbench]

Enamels brush paint better. I've never got on well with Tamiya Acrylics and brush painting large surface areas. I did it on my first build for many years for interior parts, and was not happy at all..

Very bad brush marks, and the paint was either too thin or too thick. Airbrushed they are the best.. Use them all the time in my airbrush. I also use them for VERY small details.

If I HAVE to brush paint large areas, due to impossible masking to allow for airbrush work, then I use enamels.

Tamiya Enamels are IMO the BEST. www.modelsforsale.co.uk will hook you up with Tamiya Enamels, and if I'm correct the ONLY place in the UK to supply the UK market with them.

To recap, Tamiya Acrylics and brush painting large surfaces in the X mini Range is hard, for this type of work you might like Enamels. However, and there is always a BUT, enamels take days to dry and weeks to harden. But they do dry down VERY even, almost giving an airbrushed look if applied correctly.