Tamiya Paint

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

Hello Everyone,

I have been wondering about Tamiya spray paints, and which ones are acrylic and which ones are not. I use Tamiya bottle acrylic paint, and want to decant AS-5 Luftwaffe blue for a Messerschmitt, but I’m having trouble figuring out whether this spray is acrylic or not. Can anyone help by telling me which Tamiya paints are acrylic and which are not?

Thanks!

2

I’m 99% sure that AS is acrylic, TS is not.

3

Actually I"m pretty sure they are synthetic Lacquers. I’m sure all Tamiya sprays are Lacquers.

4

Here’s a link to Tamiya’s paint descriptions. They call both AS and TS “synthetic lacquers.” I’ve used their spray and their acrylic together without adhesion problems, but I’ve never decanted the spray. You may have to copy and paste the link, the FSM window no longer brings up the button to embed the URL. I don’t know what’s going on with that. Barrett http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=72#.VNJJsdjQPIU

5

I’ll second BarrettDuke, I use both the AS and TS rattlecans with good results, mixing them on the same model. I, too, have never decanted them. Too much work, when I can get basically the same colors out from Tamiya in jars.

6

I have decanted Tamiya TS before, they decant fine and spray well through the airbrush; however, be extremely careful as to what you are decanting into. For these paints I would highly recommend a glass container. I used a plastic container that claimed that it could be used with any types of paint. This was definitely not the case, the Tamiya paint softened the plastic container and had welded itself to the top of my desk. When I picked up the container the bottom stayed put and the paint went everywhere!

7

Yes, you also want to be careful with the Tamiya spray cans if you’re using Silly Putty for masking. It softens the Silly Putty and makes it really hard to get it off! Learned the hard way. I don’t know if decanting would solve the problem, but I doubt it. It’s likely the solvent the pigment is suspended in that affects the Silly Putty.

8

TS and AS are both lacquers with an acrylic copolymer (per MSDS sheets). The acrylic is the synthetic part. They have similar, but not identical, formulas. Both have harsh solvents like acetone.