I’m coming back to modeling after a 17 year hiatus. I airbrushed with enamels in the old days, thinned 50/50 and that always worked pretty well.
However, I’m now considering Tamiya acrylic paints to airbrush me some Panzers. I’ve never used acrylics and have no idea how to thin them prior to airbrushing, etc. Can anybody out there clue me in?
Also, I just got my new AZTEK 470, inteneded for same projects. Any tips or things to watch out for?
Welcome to the forum family!
Check out the post on using lacquer thinner for Tamiya acrylics. It looks promising. Also, try using the manufacturer’s thinner for their product first. In lieu of that, you might try isopropyl alcohol (70% rubbing alcohol that you can get at the drug or grocery store). There are a number of thinner combinations that may work well with your acrylic paints. You’ll probably get several more suggestions on this thread. Try a few of them to see what works best for you and your set-up, and go with it!
Welcome again
Gip Winecoff
Welcome to the Asylum.
Make sure that the thinner you use has an extender/retarder added in, if not you can most likely buy one suited for your colours at the LHS and add it yourself.
Thanks, styrene! I grabbed some isopropyl at the store the other day, so I’ll give it a shot. What proportion of paint to thinner is customary.
Thanks to you too, “Model Museum”. Would the extender/retarder you mention be available seperately?
I live in a remote area, no hobby shops close by, so I’ll be buying a lot of stuff over the internet. Was my choice of Tamiya acrylics a good one for WW2 armor?
I’m really excited that there are such great folks out there willing to help!
Yes, they are often sold seperately too, if you can’t find anything online or at the LHS visit your local Arts Supply store.
I tend to get a LOT of my materials from the Arts supply store, often cheaper and the same stuff as sold at the LHS.
I believe Gunze makes an extender also, probally cheaper to go the Art supply route though. I also use Tamiya and the Aztek 470. My advise is to use the 2 Acrylic tips, I find the other tips tends to clog up easily with acrylic if you stop painting for a few minutes. Tamiya makes their own thinner which I use, I usually add just a few drops into 1/4 of their gravity feed cups. The idea is consistency of milk. Its hard to give porportions since it depends on how well mixed the paint is to begin with. You can test out the consistency by testing shooting onto some spare sprue. Doing on cardboard or paper towel will NOT give you a good indication if its too thin, as the material will simply absorb it.
I also noticed that despite Testor claim you don’t have ot disassemble the tip to clean it, I have had a few problems where I cleaned just be shooting cleaner (a big bottle of Acrylic paint 'brush cleaner from the Art store) thru the brush until clear (“the recommended method”) didn’t do good enough of a job. Its good enough when switching paints but not good enough when you are done with a painting session. Next time back, dried paint was stuck inside the tip. The tip does come off easily enough into 3 pieces, I believe FSM had an aritlce back with pics on it. Once apart, I dunk everything into the clearning fluid to soak for a few minutes before drying & reassembling.
Good luck.
I would definitely recommend using the Tamiya thinner with the Tamiya acrylics. It is overly expensive, but it is an alcohol formulation with retarder already in there, and it is custom formulated to Tamiya colors. Later on as you experiment more, you can use your own formulation for different applications/paint brands etc.
Steve
I have had this problem with thinning acrylics as well. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bunch of acrylics…44 cents each. But I am forced to use enamels because I can’t thin the acrylics! I have even heard distilled water works. It always makes the paint too…I don’t know…watery. I need to try the alcohol.
Thanks!
Mike
Oh yeah, dood-dood, welcome to armor modeling. They are so much better than those wingy thingy’s!
Mike
Thanks for the advice, everybody. Gygaxx, I see you’re in Vegas. I’m in Mesquite. Coming to town Saturday to get some paint, etc. Where’s a good Hobby store in Vegas?
Hiya, welcome to the hobby.
I usually thin my tamiya acrylics with distilled water, but to be honest, you’ll see better results if you use their thinner.
As for the airbrush, the one solid piece of advice I can give you is this: clean it well and quick after each use. As for the tips, there is no need to disassemble them. Just pull the outside casing off, and throw both parts of the tip into a small jar filled with windex (do this if you are using acrylics). Leave it there overnight, and rinse the next day. THe tip will be like new.
Dood-Dood,
Fine Scale Modeler magazine lists two hobby stores in Nevada.
Hobbytown USA in Las Vegas
5085 W Sahara, Ste 134
(702) 889-9554
also:
High Sierra Models in Reno
4020 Kietzke Lane
(775) 825-5557
I’m sure there’s other hobby stores in Nevada but this is what the magazine lists.
Good Luck[8D]
Dave
Roger that, Dave! Sahara Boulevard… hmm… Kind of reminds me of the Afrika Korps… PERFECT!!!
Let’s hope Field Marshall Montgomery won’t be running the cash register, though. Could be more disastrous for me than El Alamein…
Thanks,
Steve…I use Tamiya exclusively for all my model painting. I thin with 93% alcohol and have yet to use a retarder since the 1/35th scale armour does not require a lot of time for airbrushing. Those here recommending a retarder are probably vastly more experienced than I am, so I think I’ll start using some. I have a B-25 to paint which will take longer. I haven’t tried Tamiya’s thinner but will also give it a try. It’s just that winter here in the NE of the US makes hobbyshop visits difficult. I have learned more about this hobby that I’ve been doing for over 60 years, right here with the pros in less than a year.
Welcome to the funny farm, Bud
I use alcohol with Tamiya paints throuth my Aztec all the time with no problems. I also use the acrylic tip.
I’ve used both Dood… alcohol and Tamiya thinner… if it is your first shot with Tamiya maybe try the thinner first… it’s a little expensive… actually cheaper if you buy the 750ml bottle (I use it with all my acrylics except for Vallejo) for about $6.00 … the tiny 30ml bottle is like 4 dollars so it’s a bargain! Plus it’ll last forever! I’ve had the same bottle for about 5 months and through about the same amount of models. Once you get used to the paint, try experimenting (not on a model, just sprue and extra parts) and using alchohol etc… depending on what I am building I use alcohol sometimes… but for larger aircraft or one with a lot of detail I still prefer my Tamiya thinner, settles down nicely into all the panel lines and dries nice and flat!
good luck to you!
Makes sense… Thanks. Since this will be my first Acrylic job, I’m thinking I should put the 1/16 King Tiger on hold… I have some 10-20 year old Tamiya 1/35 kits laying around… A PZIV H, a STGIV, a T-34/76 and a T-34/85. Sounds like smaller is better until I get the hang of acrylics…
Thanks again, comrades!
good luck! let us know how it goes! Also there’s nothing wrong with mixing enamels and acrylics as long as you let the respective paint have time to dry good first… like 24 - 48 hrs between coats. I do it all the time… some colors/paints I prefer in one or the other…
tamiya’s own thinner works really well, and I suspect it has a retarder in it. good luck wiith the aztek.[:-,][;)]. And the build.
Dood Dood,
There used to be a bunch of shops here, but now there are only two of note. Hobbytown is on Sahara and Decatur right behind Black Angus.
Across the street, oddly enough, is Hobby People next to the Gold’s Gym.
Hobbytown is MUCH better for military models. Hobby People is mostly die cast and rockets.
Cheers!
Mike