Finishing up a F4F paint job using Tamiya Acrylics. Used their TS-13 as a gloss coat before deals and such. Light spray just about dissolved parts of the finish coat to the primer. What gives! Done this before with no problem. Only change I’ve made recently was moving to Mr Color thinner. But not had this problem in the last jobs.
I found TS-13 to be extremely hot and had a similar experience - you’d think Tamiya over Tamiya would be safe… Same thing, the clear coat ate thru the blue down to the primer. Haven’t used it since
I keep this as a reference
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Oh man, I feel your pain… This very same issue was what brought me to the FSM Forums in the first place! There are some useful responses in there which hopefully speak to your issue
The long and the short of it is that the lacquer-based TS-13 is pretty aggressive and needs to be applied in very light “dusting” coats before you can commit for full coverage. I was at the end of the can when I clear-coated that Tiger, which is probably why I pushed it a bit harder than I should have. I’ve since derisked myself by airbrushing with X-22 Clear as a decal / pinwash substrate.
X-22 Huh. What do you thin it with? Somebody suggested the Mr. Color was the problem, But it’s worked great since I moved to it. Nicer finish.
What should I do? Can I just repaint the acrylics over the TS-13? P*** off! The paint job was one of my best/s
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I thin it at 2:1 X-20A:X-22, like I usually do my airbrush paints.
If you’ve used the thinner intended for the C-series Mr. Colour Paints you’ll find that it is lacquer based like TS-13 and is potentially weakening your paint structure and making it more vulnerable to damage from a TS-13 overcoat.
There is also the H-series Mr. Hobby Aqeous Colour which is an alcohol-based acrylic like Tamiya, so It’s thinner should be functionally similar if not identical.
The good news is that you can paint your acrylics over the top of the TS-13 (see my tiger post above) but you want to give it some time to “gas out”, at least 24hrs, but a couple of days might be better in this case before adding more top coats to the TS-13
I’ve switched from TS-13 to Vallejo Acrylic Gloss Varnish Spray. So far I’m liking it and haven’t had problems with anything getting dissolved or damaged.
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Thank! I wait a couple of days just to cool down, my temper I mean. I started to use Mr. Color because of the built in retarder. Tamiya seems to have stopped making their retarder
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I would strip it and start over. That’s what I did with my rail
Tamiya seems to have stopped making their retarder
Very interesting - It looks like Tamiya is facing a few issues with different countries banning their products, some of it being a minor packaging issue due to an absence of childsafe caps, but other bans such as the one in Canada are due to the VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) in spray formulations.
So I may need to retract my previous comment re: Tamiya Acrylics and Lacquers. It looks like a guy on YouTube has tested Mr. Colour Surfacer 400 as a thinner for Tamiya Paints, and come out with a satisfactory result so no need to rush out and buy X-20A. In fact, once I’m done with my current bottle, I’m tempted to join your in Lacquertown.
I feel like this is a dangerous move for Tamiya - I don’t know how much of their business model depends on the consumables (glue / paint) versus the plastic crack, but once you decide to give up a critical part of your product lineup to a competitor what’s to stop the Tamiya-pot fanatic from switching to Mr. Colour completely?
A bit drastic. But if attempted, how would one go about such a journey?
Very odd… I have never had an issue like this with TS-13. I have only heard that it can affect your decals and that one should apply a light mist coat an let it dry before subsequent coats. I occasionally have had issues with TS-13 over decals but have never had an issue with it over tamiya Acrylics.
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How long did you wait for the primer and then thr base layers to dry and cure? Ive been using TS13 for years as the only gloss coat I really ever use. My takeaways from it is that its as strong as anything, but if you dont let the under layers properly dry and then cure, you risk these types of issues popping up even several days later sometimes. Trapped moisuture or even laqcuer fumes from a primer than got trapped under the acrylic layer. There is a lot that can happen when painting, but unless everything was left to cure for the appropriate amount of time, it would happen with any clear coat
Holy crap, this Mr Colour Leveling Thinner 400 s
is magical! Thanks for putting me onto it! Feels like I can brush-paint Tamiya like my old Warhammer paints…
It definitely needs time between coats though. After seeing how it reactivated dried session-applications on my palette, you definitely want to give it a good 24-48hrs before putting more lacquer over your Tamiya acrylic
I’ve always waited 48-72 hours between coats of any type of paint. Makes for a long build. Never could understand the term "Weekend build’.
I’m trying Tamiya X-22 as a pre-decal coat today after a re-coat of the primary colors over the weekend. So Far So Good.
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X22 is definitely a lot less intense and Ive got good results from it too. Ive switched over to the mr hobby super matte clear coat that I pick up at hobby lobby as my coat after decals. Its proved as tough as TS80 and i think does a better job integrating the decals. You could give that a try if you can find some. That way you dont give up on the strong pre weathering barrier.
Weekend builds are possible, but I bet if you look back at them weeks later theyd start to have some issues with the paunt jobs and everything.
I do recall seeing something on a Tamiya can of clear that said don’t overspray over decals or something like that. I had a little accident when I bumped a freshly clear coated part, and a dime sized “plug” of softened paint stuck to my arm. The clear had softened all the way down to the Mr. Primer, leaving exposed bare plastic.