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Tamiya 23ml bottles


Avgas

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I've only recently become aware of the fact Tamiya do their acrylics in 23ml bottles as well as the 10ml that appear to be the norm in the UK. Prices abroad indicate better value for money with the bigger bottles but I can't find any UK stockists. 

 

Does anybody know of a UK supplier? Seems a no brainer to buy a few better value bottles of the more frequently used colours. 

 

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I was aware of this but to this day I have never seen the larger 23ml bottles in any of the hobby stores I ever visited although do occasionally see them in online stores where they are usually "out of stock".

 

cheers, Graham 

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6 hours ago, Avgas said:

I've only recently become aware of the fact Tamiya do their acrylics in 23ml bottles as well as the 10ml that appear to be the norm in the UK. Prices abroad indicate better value for money with the bigger bottles but I can't find any UK stockists. 

 

Does anybody know of a UK supplier? Seems a no brainer to buy a few better value bottles of the more frequently used colours. 

 

23 ml were the standard size, when I first encountered Tamiya  paint in the 80's you only got that size,  but have since been replaced by the 10ml size.   If you find an 23 ml it's likely old stock.   Does seem to keep well though.

Possibly still available in Japan?  

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The Hobby Company, based in Milton Keynes, are the UK importers of tamiya products. You could always drop them a line and ask if there are any UK suppliers.

www.hobbyco.net

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The Germany official reseller lists both sizes on the site and apparently both are available for purchase. 

I purchased some 23ml bottles about a week ago from a Romanian reseller and the label seems to be rather new, not the older one (I still have some 10ml old bottles).

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Tamiya USA seem to still stock them too. I've found a couple of threads from 2012-2014 discussing the discontinuation of the 23ml bottles and the fact they were still available then. 

 

As I type, I can feel the cynic in me stirring, so I'll send Hobbyco an email to find out what the deal is before I conclude it's local unavailability is profit driven  🙊

 

Thanks for the input everyone. 

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For anybody who's interested, I've received a reply - 

 

"Dear XXXX,

 

Thank you for your email and I would advise as follows.

 

1)      Many resellers have limited shelf space and will therefore not stock both sizes, especially when they are stocking paints from a number of manufacturers

2)      Each bottle of paint/colour has to undergo testing before distribution in the UK and this is an expensive exercise

 

I trust that this information answers your question.

 

Best regards"

 

There you have it, shelf space and testing apparently. 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Avgas said:

2)      Each bottle of paint/colour has to undergo testing before distribution in the UK and this is an expensive exercise

Fascinating.  It never occurred to me that the distributors check each bottle before they ship them to stockists...you learn something new every day.  I would expect some sort of random batch testing when they get a shipment in but not every bottle.

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As to 2), I call it BS. The wording is bogus, and that type of packaging was certified in the UK probably even before UK entered the Common Market. Why would re-certification be needed?

 

Smaller bottles mean more profit. All else is evasion.

 

Vedran

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Actually they're referring to the labeling I think. It became a big deal in 2019 (not totally sure) when Tamiya (and I think Gunze) were forced to relabel the bottles. Also I think it was a UK only issue, not the entire EU. If that's the case it might explain why Tamiya is sending over the 10ml bottles, but not both.

I did notice extra labeling on the 10ml bottles for both Tamiya and Gunze this year in Romania too. A whole bunch of extra warnings, especially on the Gunze bottles. If any of the UK resellers are around they might shed some light. I remember Phil Flory talking about it in some older shows as his shop is a reseller for Tamiya and Gunze.

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I still got a few of my 80's 23ml bottles, all are fine and I still use them.  

 

The latter statement, I feel is a large clue as to why they're no longer (I've not seen any UK stockist carry them for years) sold in the UK.  They last longer and they'd sell less, there's also the other side of the coin, buying a 23ml bottle of paint for a kit/job that perhaps you will use no more than a few drops!

 

That said and as mentioned 23ml are better value and the 10ml are priced higher than 23ml and there is the answer, they make more money.  Like just about everything today it's all about money!   

 

  

Edited by Kev The Modeller
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It is like a lot of stuff made by Tamiya that does not come into the country i.e. Tamiya putty, Tamiya Polishing Compound. Why these are not allowed when more flammable stuff can is beyond me i.e. Lacquer based products. Also surely if they import larger bottles of paint, there is more space for labelling ?

 

Regards

Robert

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8 hours ago, Robert said:

It is like a lot of stuff made by Tamiya that does not come into the country i.e. Tamiya putty, Tamiya Polishing Compound. Why these are not allowed when more flammable stuff can is beyond me i.e. Lacquer based products. Also surely if they import larger bottles of paint, there is more space for labelling ?

 

Regards

Robert

I've got both Tamiya putty and all their polishing compounds all bought in the UK.  

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@Avgas Just done a quick google search for Tamiya 23ml uk resellers and a few have come up that stock the larger bottles (including amazon) 

 

https://www.super-hobby.co.uk/catalog/Acrylic-paints-23ml-Series.html

 

https://www.rcjaz.co.uk/tamiya-paints-spray-acrylic-xf-c-4472_146_4382_292.html?applyFilter=1&currency=GBP&pfrom=0.00&pto=4.92&plskw=23ml

 

Hope this info helps

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The above companies are from Poland and Hong Kong respectively, even though they have .co.uk URLs so you maybe liable for VAT.

 

Regards

Robert

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On 4/1/2021 at 7:12 PM, Troy Smith said:

23 ml were the standard size, when I first encountered Tamiya  paint in the 80's you only got that size,  but have since been replaced by the 10ml size.   If you find an 23 ml it's likely old stock.   Does seem to keep well though.

Possibly still available in Japan?  

Still available in the U.S. as well. 

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1 minute ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Still available in the U.S. as well. 

Even my old stomping ground at the southern tip of Africa has them. 

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1 hour ago, Robert said:

The above companies are from Poland and Hong Kong respectively, even though they have .co.uk URLs so you maybe liable for VAT.

 

Regards

Robert

That's the problem when doing a google search and specify (using the tools options) country as UK only - these popped up as being UK based with having .co.uk domains. Google views them as being UK websites!

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  • 2 months later...

They are still available in Asia. The way the modelling business works (probably worldwide) is that there are one or two importers in each country. Those importers decide what will be available for hobby shops to stock. The excuses for no 23ml bottles in Aus has been usually "they were too expensive, and nobody wanted to buy them". I used to be able to still get them from Hong Kong model shops, but they have started refusing to ship them since the pandemic hit. If you want to see the range, go and have a look at the Tamiya online catalogue. It shows the complete range of paints included in the 23ml range, which does not include many of the new colours.

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