Airbrushing Tamiya paints

[Faceplate]

Hey all...

 

Just a quick question. How does one airbrush Tamiya acrylic paints? I've been an enamel painter for years and have never airbrushed acrylics. I have Tamiya thinner for the paint but haven't attempted a/b'ing them for fear of gumming up the works...airbrush or otherwise.

Any and all input on this would be great. Thanks for reading.

 

D

[Darth Vader]

Im an enamels sort of guy really and love humbroll and xtracolor , tried xtracrylix but kept clogging and spitting so tossed the lot and vowed never again.  

But tamiya acrylics are great and work for me if i use standard celulose thinners ( a bit smelly ) or tamiya lacquer thinners (not so smelly) just mix to a milk like consistency and away you go.The best bit is they dry really quickly.

[colin]

They spray fine with their thinner, X-20A but also spray (imho) even better with Mr Levelling thinner

One problem I find with their X-20A thinner is they dry very very matt even for matt paint

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

Acrylic paint tends to dry super quickly, so it needs a retarder or flow improver (for vallejo, citadel and army painter at least...never done Tamiya).

[Dads203]

I use Tamiya acrylics for 70 % of my projects and have never had an issue with them, never had to use the retarder with an airbrush but I do use Mr Hobby rapid or self levelling thinners rather than the Tamiya own thinners. I found the retarder great for when you need to brush paint Tamiya acrylics but never needed it for airbrushing.  I use an Iwata TR1 0.3 needle for most of my airbrush work, you shouldn’t have an issue with Tamiya’s own thinners btw.

 

I’ve moved onto the the new Tamiya lacquer paints recently and they are one of the best I’ve used, just to throw that into the mix 

 

 

HTH

 

Dan 

 

 

[Julien]

really should be in the paint section eh? !

[Mike]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned before is to scrupulously clean your airbrush to ensure there's no enamel debris lying round.  I'd second the comments about Mr Leveling Thinner, as it has the nicest smell of any cellulose thinner that @Dads203 has ever drunk.  It's also not very hot, so is kinder to your model if you spray it a bit thick or have an oopsie moment and drip.  Sure it's expensive at £10-12 a bottle, but it lasts for ages if you use cheapo stuff or liquid reamer to clean your brush.  It also gives the best finish and it appears more robust than with their own thinners, although that's just anecdotal from yours truly

[Tbolt]

17 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Im an enamels sort of guy really and love humbroll and xtracolor , tried xtracrylix but kept clogging and spitting so tossed the lot and vowed never again.  

But tamiya acrylics are great and work for me if i use standard celulose thinners ( a bit smelly ) or tamiya lacquer thinners (not so smelly) just mix to a milk like consistency and away you go.The best bit is they dry really quickly.

I love spraying Xtracrylix. I thin it with Vallejo thinners and sometimes their slow dry and I've been able to do very fine work with it, with minimal tip build up.

[BlueNosers352nd]

Like Dads said above, I solely use Mr Color Thinner or Mr Color Leveling thinner.  Sprays super easy outta the airbrush.   Clean airbrush with lacquer thinner.

[Matthew1974]

If there is an acrylic paint that is easy to spray and not temperamental, I would agree with others above that it is Tamiya cut with their X-20A thinner.  It is extremely user friendly and I've never had any issues with tip clogging.  I've read of people using Tamiya's Lacquer Thinner to thin the paint with excellent results - you just have to put up with lacquer fumes and make sure you ventilate well.  Tamiya does make a retarder (87114) but this is for brush painting as using the hairy stick with Tamiya acrylics was often difficult.  The only thing that Tamiya acrylics have going against them in my opinion is the limited number of colors, which is the main reason I have switched to more delicate Vallejo.

[Bear Paw]

I have tried enamels and acrylics. Enamels of various kinds are good but smell and cleaning is messy with spirit.  They take an age to dry.  I have not been able to get on with vellejo acrylics as they dry at the tip of my air brush.  I am not sure that Tamiya acrylics are real acrylics but I use nothing else as I can get excellent results every time. They dry well and produce an excellent finish. I thin with Mr Color levelling thinners, usually  50/50 with the paint and use the least number of layers I can get away with.   

[colin]

Thin the enamels with Mr levelling thinner, still smells but will dry much quicker

[fewr9fkr9595]

If you want a non smelly decent acrylic then mission models are very good. Needs their own specific thinner. Very fine work possible too. 
 

A bit pricey bit 30ml bottles so you get alot. Plus it brushes well too and water thinning for that & clean up your paint brushes. 
 

Also have a huge range of shades. 

[Ray_W]

As 

On 2/2/2020 at 12:26 AM, Mike said:

One thing I don't think has been mentioned before is to scrupulously clean your airbrush to ensure there's no enamel debris lying round.  I'd second the comments about Mr Leveling Thinner

For Tamiya acrylics as Mike said. No.1 is that clean airbrush and No 2. Mr Levelling Thinner.

 

For No 3. when you branch out from Tamiya do your research and ensure what type of "acrylic" you're using. Both Mr Aqueous Hobby Color and Tamiya Acrylics wash out in water but have flammable symbols on the jar. They mix well and work extremely well with the lacquer levelling thinner. The, let's say "true acrylics", like Lifecolor, AK and Vallejo are a different beast. I find they airbrush well when using the manufacturers thinner. I no longer use enamels but change amongst most of the other brands - lacquers and acrylics - without trouble, but No.1 is still No.1 that clean airbrush and shoot some of the designed thinners for what your about to spray as a last step. 

 

Another pointer, I also find Tamiya acrylics do hand paint well if I keep the brush clean by regularly dipping in Mr Levelling thinner. I use a mixing cup and have both the Tamiya paint and the thinner going at the same time.

[Rob 1]

Just to add my new experience, not all acrylic thinners are universal - just used Revell acrylic thinner with LifeColor acrylic paint - after a lot of mixing, thinning and frustration, I noticed the paint started to curdle in the airbrush cup, then turned to porridge, had to strip and clean the (new) airbrush quickly before it turned to concrete. I think the lesson if mixing manufacturers acrylic products is check and test before proceeding.

[dromia]

I use enamels almost exclusively in a domestic situation with no problem at all, nowadays there are odourless thinners and white spirit available which remove the smell.

 

All airbrushing gives of fumes and or particles so good ventilation/extraction and a mask are needed regardless of paint type if you have health worries.

 

I use Humbrol, Colour Coats, Xtracolour and Precision enamels all thinned with Colour Coats odourless thinners and cheap DIY shop odourless white spirit for cleaning.

 

I don't mind using lacquer type paint like Tamiya either but the cellulose thinner used for cleaning and thinning has a bit of sharpness to it, but the venting booth takes care of that so that domestic bliss is maintained.

 

Airbrushed enamel is usually touch dry in 30-40 minutes, I wouldn't mask for 24 hrs though pretty similar to most of the acrylics I have tried.

 

The only water based arylic I ever got on with was the Aeromaster range which is sadly amongst the great paints gone to the coverings heaven like Humbrol Authentic Colour.

 

When I was trying out "acrylics" I made my own thinner from Glycol, IPA, distilled water and a touch of glycerine as a retarder/flow improver, adding a touch of glycerine to most of the branded acrylic thinners I have tried helped to keep them flowing postponed tip dry and siezed airbrushes.

 

There are many effective ways of finishing models and they all work, for me however enamels are the easiest, most user friendly of the lot along with having an excellent choice of very good colour matches.

[Rob 1]

I would imagine enamels would be reliable and good to airbrush with, I prefer the clean and easy use of acrylics for general use including brush painting, but they can sometimes be a bit problematic with airbrushing.

 

Anyway, just used the Life Color again but went back to thinning with good old tap water - perfect results 🙂. I guess it comes down to the old saying of 'if it aint broke, don't try to fix it'.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Rob 1