Painting with Tamiya X gloss on large areas?

New member and new airbrush user.
Want to paint larger model rockets, boats and cars using Tamiya X and XF series paints. Have a Sparmax TC-620X compressor with filter regulator and using Infinity airbrush with .2 and .4 size needle sets.

Mostly concerned about using gloss paint. What I have read says to paint close-up to get the gloss to work correctly but that doesn’t seem practical on large objects. Watched some videos and they all show painting close and only covering narrow strips. Would take forever it would seem and result in striping? Any recommendations on application or should I stick to rattle cans?
Thanks! Pete

There is no quick and magical answer. The most important factors in airbrushing paint is knowing your paint and knowing your airbush – and 90% of that comes with experience/usage.

That said, Tamiya Gloss paints (X) will go down very well when thinned with Gunze Mr Color Leveling Thinner (roughly 50% paint to thinner).
I would also recommend the .4mm nozzle. I use a .5mm.
Try misting on light coats then slow down ant put on heavier ones.
You can practice on Plastic Spoons from the dollar store (may need to prime them first depending on the plastic).

HTH

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I have the Mr Color leveling thinner and am planning to practice first. Got a pile of spoons that I am going to prime with Tamiya fine primer.
Appreciate the advice on using the larger needle set.
Last time I was really in to model building was 50 years ago and I never heard of air brushing back then. :wink:

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Like cbaltrin said, there really isn’t a single answer to this. But I can offer up some information.

First, I would not worry about how glossy the paint turns out. Just focus on even application of paint. You should apply a clearcoat to protect your paint and that is where you can make sure the finish is glossy.

If what you are painting is more than about a square foot, I would just use spray cans. Spray cans will have a wider spray pattern and they flow more paint than those small airbrushes you have. I think your air brushes are too small to evenly apply paint to a large area.

The clearcoat is the same. If the area is more than a square foot, I would use gloss clear in spray cans. Allpy 2-3 light coats, then a heavier coat and you should have a nice glossy surface.

And then distance.

You have to experiment here, but if you get too far away the paint will dry before it hits the surface, and it will have a dull appearance. With an airbrush I have found that about 4" or so is a good place to start. Adjust from there. With your smaller airbrush needles, you can probably get a little closer. But you have to test it.

With a spray can you can try 6" away or so. And you have to keep it moving so you apply light and even coats.

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I will second the clear coat answer, you can always put a gloss on something after putting down a color coat.

That said, depending on the type of paint used, there are different additives that can help, such as a retarder, which will slow down the paint drying. In fact, using retarders can sometimes cause flat paints to finish semi-gloss! Tamiya makes a paint retarder that I have not used yet, so I cannot necessarily recommend it. (I bought it to try to help level out brush marks, haven’t painted in a while…)