Polymath Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Hi there. Want to get started on a kit with time on my hands. Likely buy a 1/48th Tamiya A6M2 Kit. Gonna be painting with brushes and planned on Vallejo paint, rather than Tamiya which i understand dries too fast while hand brushing...? Was hoping to get equivalents but there doesn't seem to be for these Tamiya paints: XF-24 – Dark Grey XF-56 – Metallic Grey XF-66 – Light Grey (Vellejo 70990?) XF-70 – Dark Green Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltcarBoB Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Vallejo website has colour charts that you can download https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/hobby-color-charts/ Also look for IPMS colour charts. If you're struggling with Tamiya drying too fast you can try an acrylic retarder which slows drying time. I have used Winsor& Newton acrylic flow improver. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 You can delay the drying process of Acrylic colour by adding a small drop of Acrylic Retarder and some thinner (or water). Retarder is available at every stationary store that sells artist products. Works fine with my brush-painting. For authentic IJN colours you better turn to Colourcoats enamels (or - with a little modification - Mr Hobby acrylics). Tamiya colours don't really match. For IJN colour specifics visit the excellent colour instructions by Nick Millman here: http://www.aviationofjapan.com/. His PDFs on the Zero and IJN Greens are highly recommendable and answer all questions that you may have reg. colours. Cheers, Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polymath Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 Hi AltcarBoB Trying to patronize a family owned local hobby shop, they had AKI Acrylic Thinner (lot of stuff in supply chain is out of stock) Will what I bought work okay with most Acrylics? I'm somewhat familiar with W&N art supplies as I painted acrylics on canvas back in the day... I also grabbed the AKI WW2 IJN Real Colors paint set (on sale). My A6M2 is the 2007 Tamiya Boxing. I realize that the colour issue about Zero's is quite a brew up, so for now I will work to do an excellent job with the set colours. It's a training kit anyway. I don't expect to produce a keeper, but just learn from new materials and options that weren't available last time i built a model kit plane back in... the early 90's?! .... And Michael What's the difference between a retarder and a thinner? Way back I painted acrylic and employed washes (thinning with water) but suspect the retarder slows the paint setting? Will look at Aviationofjapan site, though I have no plans to go deep into IJN, or IJA aircraft. Once I get my skills up to snuff; i have the A6M2 (Tamiya) and an; F4F-4 (Tamiya), SBD-2 Midway (Academy), Mustang III (Tamiya) all 1/48th to "work up" on. At that point I'll look at Royal Canadian Navy aircraft to build. Have a few "Moth's" tucked away all in 1/72nd scale; Fox, Hornet, Tiger, but they are for later, when my skills get to the "keeper" phase... Happily, I have lots of tools having been a Model railroader for several years, I imagine a lot will be transferable... hope some of the skills will be... Cheers, Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Hi Jeff, It 's like the names say. The retarder delays the drying process. (Take only very little or you need to wait days until the paint cures.) It makes the paint a bit 'fatter', therefore I add thinner or water. I paint one layer with retarder first - just one stroke with the brush - and after curing I add a second layer thinned down with water 50/50. This usually gives a nice even surface. It works better with Mr Color than with Tamiya (but still good enough). Good luck, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polymath Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 Michael, will an art supply shops Acrylic retarder work ok? Seems to be cheaper than the Model branded stuff like Tamiya etc... I remember reading there are different kinds of acrylics... Acrylic is only the binding agent.... I've bought a 4 oz bottle Luiquitex Acrylic Thinner to try... will pick up shortly. I'm gonna do some testing on some old model train stuff that is way past it's sell by date... -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
303sqn Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 XF-24 Modelcolour 994 Rack No. 166 Modelair 71.053 XF-56 " 864 " 178 " 71.065 XF-66 " 884 " 104 XF-70 None Drying Retarder 70.597 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polymath Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Thanks 303. Had to unscramble but figured it out. For now at least this iteration of the Zero, I'll use the AKI IJN set since it was on sale. -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 19 hours ago, Polymath said: will an art supply shops Acrylic retarder work ok Yes, it will work fine. Commercial products are usually a lot cheaper than our hobby brands, like retarder, pigments, oil washes, decal softener (= water with a few drops of vinegar concentrate)... Those guys know how to draw money from your pocket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polymath Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Indeed Michael. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Hi Jeff, if I may throw in my two penn'orth, may I suggest you head over to Nick Millman's Aviation of Japan blog and have a browse there for colour information. Nick is extremely knowledgeable on all things related to Japanese military aviation and he is very, very helpful with any questions. He has also written a very informative paper entitled "Painting the Early Zero-Sen" which analyses the paints used and gives excellent colour comparison notes on the available hobby paints. Incidentally, the closest hobby paint match to the original Mitsubishi Zero "J3 tending toward Ameiro" seems to be the Mission Models colour MMP-110. Hope that helps, but I'd definitely recommend visiting Aviation of Japan! Kind regards, Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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