Tamiya King George V kit 1:350

[Chris8039]

Ok, so my mum got me this kit for Christmas and I'm just about to start it but as I am a relative newbie I need to ask a couple of questions.

 

1. I'm trying to get better at airbrushing the paint on, I need to buy Tamiya colours can I use the colours straight from the pot or do I need to thin them down? if so what should I thin them with? I need to use Gloss and Matt acrylics.

2. Are Tamiya paints any good or would I be better using Vallejo or MiG Ammo? I realise this is personal preference and therefore subjective but I want to use my airbrush as much as possible so I can get more skilled in using it.

3. Do they make any larger size bottles than 10ml? I was looking to buy them from Hobbies but they only supply 10ml bottles, can anyone reccomend other suppliers? (if that's allowed)

 

Thanks in advance for any help, I will look to post some pictures as I work my way through 

Chris 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

You're doing the right thing by wanting to get some volumes of paint and time through your airbrush. You can't substitute something for experience

 

Depending on how fussy you are, it's probably worth starting by saying Tamiya interpreted the colourscheme as best they felt they could and then named some paints from their good quality but very, very narrow range to use. As a result, the recommended appearance doesn't much resemble the real thing, which would have used British anti-fouling red underneath, unpainted wood decks, G10 dark grey steel decks, G45 overall light grey for the vertical surfaces with B20 blue-grey panels comprising the camouflage rectangular panels on the hull. G10, G45 and B20 were all based on white, ultramarine and black pigments. B20 had an absolutely tiny quantity of green, but it's so small you can pretty much forget about it - I just don't want to be accused of being inaccurate. Tamiya basically assumed it was all shades of neutral grey like end-of-war American ships. In actual fact this camouflage scheme was a well-known one referred to as "Scheme A" in the relevant contemporary documentation.

 

To further complicate matters, most boxed sets claiming to provide Royal Navy model paints all copied the same homework which was based on old, yellowed samples so the G10 is neutral grey and too dark, the G45 coffee-coloured and the B20 is dark teal coloured. Approach this eyes wide open and tread carefully before believing anyones' claims is my advice

 

All that said, whilst quite old now the Tamiya KGV kit is still quite nice and I'm confident you will enjoy it!

[robgizlu]

Hi Chris 

Jamie is in an awkward position in that he's a modeller, historian of Royal Navy paint schemes and proprietor of the business that by wide consensus supply the most accurately matched paints for naval subjects and I think increasingly for Armour and Aviation subjects.

I've Used an airbrush for quite a while now and have used all of the above plus other ranges such as Lifecolor, AK interactive and Hataka.  In fact I've used too many - one piece of advice would be to choose a single range and get to really know the characteristics and quirks.  My single choice now would be Soverign Hobbies Colourcoats run by the Good Mr Jamie Duff.  They spray beautifully, dry remarkably quickly and if I've spent several months on a build and bought a considerable amount of aftermarket goodies - I want to feel that the paint job at the end is a) as accurate as can be reasonably expected and b) does justice to the whole build and is not going to ruin it.  For me that will now be Sovereign and I'm now converting to their paint colours for the small amount of armour that I still do.  Don't be put off by the fact that they are technically enamels.  Using the Colourcoats naptha based thinner, smell is non existent and drying time whilst not quite that of acrylics can be measured in hours only.  You need a stirrer (ironically the Tamiya one is best - I use a glass dropper/pipette bought off Ebay for very little, to decant the thinner and I mix in small plastic cups that happen to come a the end of Thermometer probes, a bit like nespresso cups.  Preparation is similar as for Tamiya though not quite so convenient as acrylic "dropper" bottles. Too bad - the results are superior.

Personally I've never got on with Tamiya, though I appreciate they are very popular, they have a limited number of colours and you can't brush paint with them,  You can with Colourcoats!

I personally like Vallejo but they don't always get good press and even with drying retardants, I frequently have to stop and clean my needle due to drying.  The same goes for Mig Ammo that have a fairly accurate set of colours especially for modern armour.  Lifecolour are under- rated and produce pretty accurate shades.  I failed to get on with Hataka and it's possible I had a dud batch.  AK paints offer little extra either in their water soluble acrylics or their "Real" colour lacquer range.

If you are building naval subjects - my advice is take the plunge and try Colourcoats - I think that once you get to know them - you wont be tempted to change.

Lastly - look at the Work iin progress and Ready for inspection blogs to get an apreciation of the end results.

All the best 

Rob

[beefy66]

I started this kit about 6 years ago and only finished it last April

I started with Tamiya paints but then re-painted using Colourcoats

I have used Tamiya for years but you get much better results with the enamels and they are harder wearing when handling.

if you are insistent on using the acrylics by Tamiya i would recommend using thinners with them I use neat screen wash not the diluted already to use stuff about 60 paint 40 thinner mix to start with and practice on an old kit until you are happy with the results.

 

beefy

[Pinehilljoe]

I'm going to be starting the Tamiya PoW and have decided to go with Tamiya paints.   That said I have found I really like Vallejo paints, I find they spray from the airbrush very well, I like the dropper bottle packaging, it saves a lot of waist in paint.  For Tamiya paints I bought a bag of plastic disposable eye droppers to measure out the paint, but still there is waist.  The other reason I'm currently using Tamiya is Vallejo paints are all but gone from the shelf in my local shop, the owner said its another victim of the pandemic, paints are not shipping to the US as often. 

 

You should thin the paints, and the only way to get a sense of how much thinning is needed is to just start mixing, thinning and spraying.  Try buying an inexpensive airplane kit and start spraying and getting a feel of your air brush.  I have a higher end gravity feed Iwata and a cheap $10 US siphon brush.  I use the cheap siphon brush for spraying lacquer enamels, so if I can't clean it well, I won't feel bad and can just toss it.   I usually start at about 50/50 thinning for both.  IMHO airbrushing is all about practice. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Pinehilljoe

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On 3/1/2021 at 10:03 PM, Pinehilljoe said:

I'm going to be starting the Tamiya PoW

 

That's another subject which needs the kit paint guide screwed up and tossed into the fire. Despite lots of illustrations and graphics to the contrary, HMS Prince of Wales was not painted in greenish-blues