Anyone with development info on Tamiya Sprays?

[DiscoRover007]

Hey guys so this will be hard question to answer but i'll give it a shot. Ive used TS sprays for years and they are by far my method of choice for painting bodies. What I'm curious about is their TS- Mica Silver Paint.  I'm one of the types that puts a lot of value into sticking to the color recommendations of the Tamiya painting instructions. I like sticking to factory body colors for realism. I know that this is just another way for Tamiya to sell their products. However how much research goes into the  matching of Tamiya paints to the actual car paints on new kits?

Reason being is that I love to use their TS-17 Gloss Aluminum as it is a classic german silver.  I also use their Mica Silver. The difference between these paints is that the Mica is a little brighter and has more sparkle to it.  But I have heard rumours that TS-76(Mica Silver) was actually developed to be an improvement on Gloss Aluminum. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Or it simply an addition to the color line?  I know some people find TS-17 more difficult to use and I can see that argument but you can still get a great in scale silver paint job with it. 

What's funny is that I look at some of my favorite kits of the early 90's like the NSX for example. The instructions will tell you that TS-17 is their recommendation for Sebring Silver of the real car. But looking at the photos of these vehicles  I think you could say TS-76 is a better match. However this is an observation in hindsight as some of these model kits were made with the painting guides before new paints developed such as Mica Silver.

 

So I'm being really nit picky and this is a niche question. But does anyone have any insight into how these painting guides are developed and is it true that Mica Silver was meant to replace or upgrade their Gloss Aluminum? 

[niteowl7710]

All of the Tamiya Mica colors are more of a pearl "tint" paint that they anything else and are best when sprayed over a white or silver base. So Mica Silver is effectively a Silver Pearl.

As you pointed out there are a great many 80s/90s Tamiya kits that ask you to mix colors that now exist in the X/XF acrylic line or there are TS Colors 20-30 years later that might be closer matches.

[DiscoRover007]

On 1/22/2019 at 2:44 AM, niteowl7710 said:

All of the Tamiya Mica colors are more of a pearl "tint" paint that they anything else and are best when sprayed over a white or silver base. So Mica Silver is effectively a Silver Pearl.

As you pointed out there are a great many 80s/90s Tamiya kits that ask you to mix colors that now exist in the X/XF acrylic line or there are TS Colors 20-30 years later that might be closer matches.

Interesting insight there. Have you ever tried gloss sluminum as a base and then mica silver on top of that?   Never really though to use the mica paints as more of an overcoat than the first stage of paint.  I typically do use white primer with those paints though.

[fumi]

On 1/22/2019 at 11:57 AM, DiscoRover007 said:

What's funny is that I look at some of my favorite kits of the early 90's like the NSX for example. The instructions will tell you that TS-17 is their recommendation for Sebring Silver of the real car. But looking at the photos of these vehicles  I think you could say TS-76 is a better match. However this is an observation in hindsight as some of these model kits were made with the painting guides before new paints developed such as Mica Silver.

Back in the 80's it was "close enough is good enough".  Tamiya would have you paint every red car in TS-8 Italian Red.

Along with the F-1 kit boom in the late 80's to the mid 90's, Tamiya started to formulate special paint to match the livery of their F-1 kits.  They also made generic popular colours for Japanese cars like Mica Red and Gun Metal.

Specialized colours to go with their regular car lineup started after 2000.  Some of the more specific colours like the Pennzoil yellow, the Aston Martin racing green or the Toyota 86 orange were only offered as a no-number limited release.

[bluenote]

On 2019-01-23 at 10:52 PM, fumi said:

Back in the 80's it was "close enough is good enough".  Tamiya would have you paint every red car in TS-8 Italian Red.

Along with the F-1 kit boom in the late 80's to the mid 90's, Tamiya started to formulate special paint to match the livery of their F-1 kits.  They also made generic popular colours for Japanese cars like Mica Red and Gun Metal.

Specialized colours to go with their regular car lineup started after 2000.  Some of the more specific colours like the Pennzoil yellow, the Aston Martin racing green or the Toyota 86 orange were only offered as a no-number limited release.

Interesting.  I always wondered why Tamiya doesn't release North American car colours in their spray lineup, to match the 70s muscle cars, etc.  I get that all of Tamiya kits are japanese and European cars, but I would imagine that if they released 70s muscle car paints they would be a hot seller, considering how popular their spray paints are.

[fumi]

On 1/25/2019 at 10:53 PM, bluenote said:

Interesting.  I always wondered why Tamiya doesn't release North American car colours in their spray lineup, to match the 70s muscle cars, etc.  I get that all of Tamiya kits are japanese and European cars, but I would imagine that if they released 70s muscle car paints they would be a hot seller, considering how popular their spray paints are.

In general Tamiya makes paint to sell their kits.  It is hard to imagine them making paints that help sell others' kits, and by the same token no other Japanese kit manufacturer would list Tamiya paint code in their instruction.

[Bill Eh?]

59 minutes ago, fumi said:

In general Tamiya makes paint to sell their kits.  It is hard to imagine them making paints that help sell others' kits, and by the same token no other Japanese kit manufacturer would list Tamiya paint code in their instruction.

fumi, I never thought of it this way before...you are so right! LOL