Tamiya acrylic wash?? Has anyone had success with it??

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Hi all,

I’m one who likes to base paint with enamels for a variety of reasons. I’ve never had success with Tamiya acrylic washes though. I was wonder if anyone else has had success and if so, how did they do it? The problem I’m having is the wash leaves nasty watermarks that I can’t get rid of. Here’s the process I’ve used:

  1. Enamel base paint
  2. Gloss coat with Model Master Acryl Clear
  3. Mix dish washing soap (Dawn), water, and Tamiya acrylic paint
  4. Apply wash liberally
  5. Wait 5 minutes
  6. Try to wipe off excess

Step 6 is were the wash process fails. I can’t get rid of the watermarks. I’m considering switching to Polly Scale for washes but I still have a bunch of Tamiya acrylics that I don’t want to see wasted. Any help out there?

-Jesse

2

Dilute the Tamiya with 90% isopropyl alcohol, and use a cloth/paper towel lightly dampened with the same to remove the excess after drying. You do not need to add soap (wetting agent)

Tamiya acrylics use an alcohol based solvent system. You can clean them with soap and water, but they should be diluted with alcohol.

3

Is not Step 2 where the trouble originates ?

Wont that finish get re-dissolved by the wash solvents… ?

4

I’m with bspeed on this one. If you maybe tried sealing with Future or maybe the MM Laquer Glosscoat and let it fully cure, you should not see any watermarks. I haven’t played with the MM Acryl Glosscoat (spray can I’m assuming) but that would be where my money is.

5

Oops! I missed that: Acrylic gloss coat.

If you want to use Tamiya as a wash, you are better off using a non-acrylic gloss coat. Future is readily dissolved by 90% isopropyl, even when fully cured.

6

Thanks for the response, guys. I’ll give the lacquer based gloss coat a try.

-Jesse