Touch up paint to match Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Light Gray

[Hayden Northcott]

Hi,

I'm wanting to source a jar of paint (preferable Tamiya) to suit touching up surfaces that have Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Light Gray as the final colour.
I'd previously read, and chosen to use this primer, as its colour is close to Boeings BAC707 Gray.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[KevinK]

What I do, when in this situation, is to spray a short burst of the paint into the inside of the cap and then use it as a temporary paint pot. A suitable brush can be used for quick final touches.

 

It works well, with some practice, as the sprayed paint is initially quite thin for brushing and evaporates quickly.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Kevin

Edited July 30, 2020 by KevinK
typo

[Steve Noble]

Why not just spray another coat on from the can? Or you mean it's chipped and you want to touch it up? As above, spray some into a pot and use a fine brush for touch-up purposes..

[Space Ranger]

Decant some into a jar, let it de-gas, and save it for future use. It can be airbrushed.

[Hayden Northcott]

Thanks everyone.
I've considered spraying it into something.
Interesting that it evaporates.
I'm not able to respray, as I am using the colour as a final coat.
I was hoping to purchase a pot of paint that is the correct colour.

[Steve Noble]

17 minutes ago, Hayden Northcott said:

I was hoping to purchase a pot of paint that is the correct colour.

You could just wash out an old glass Tamiya jar and spray some into there. You'd have a pot of the exact grey then?

[Hayden Northcott]

Yes, that would work.
I was just hoping that there would be an off the shelf product available.
It's odd that Tamiya don't match the names of their spray paints with the potted paints.

[MrProd]

The spray nozzle on the can projects out and is circular so a bit of rubbery tube can fit over the end making decanting a much less messy affair.

[Jamiec360]

They do sell bottles of undercoat in similar glass bottles to the panel lining enamels and decal solutions search for Tamiya liquid surface primer. They do the grey and white (I have the white) not sure if there are others. I've never seen it in the UK and I actually got mine in Cape Town on holiday (clowns models is great if you are visiting). Also these primers are, as far as I can tell, lacquer rather than acrylic so depends what is available and legal where you are although it does appear to be available on ebay from Asia I'm assuming it can be shipped to where you are.

 

In general there are a lot of Tamiya sprays that annoyingly have no direct "pot" equivalent or worse appear to have then they turn out to be completely different e.g. AS-12,TS-83 and X-11 which are all different but still "silver".

 

[Hayden Northcott]

The other week I went to my local hobby shop, and the guy there suggested using Tamiya liquid surface primer gray.
This paint did the trick. However, I found out the hard way that it isn't water based....! So I need to get some thinners to clean my brush in the future!

[Onetruescale]

Interesting that I have the same question and no-one can answer it: what color is Tamiya gray primer? Not interested in hints and tips about decanting. Just want to know what color it is. 

[Dave Swindell]

12 hours ago, Onetruescale said:

Interesting that I have the same question and no-one can answer it: what color is Tamiya gray primer? Not interested in hints and tips about decanting. Just want to know what color it is. 

The OP suggests it is close to BAC707 Grey AKA Voodoo Grey or FS16515

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I’ve read it is discussions and chat’s along with seeing it with my own eyes. So I will say and agree with what I’ve read that it’s very close to Light Gull grey FS-16440.

[Jochen Barett]

On 08/05/2025 at 04:54, Onetruescale said:

Interesting that I have the same question and no-one can answer it: what color is Tamiya gray primer? Not interested in hints and tips about decanting. Just want to know what color it is. 

I fear it is RLM 99. (Tamiya might not care about the color and it may shift from batch to batch)

[szeregowy]

On 08/05/2025 at 03:54, Onetruescale said:

Interesting that I have the same question and no-one can answer it: what color is Tamiya gray primer? Not interested in hints and tips about decanting. Just want to know what color it is. 

A long shot option would be to send an email to Tamiya and ask them if they based it on any colour from their range or which one would be the closest match.

 

https://www.tamiyausa.com/contact/

[Casey]

I just bought one and will give you an answer, if it is anywhere between xf1 and xf60, still have no more paints measured than those for fast comparison... but it will take a couple of days for the primer to get to me before I can put it under spectrophotometer.  I hope you can wait

Edited Friday at 06:33 PM by Casey