Decanting Tamiya question

[Ray]

Does it need to be thinned more to properly spray through the airbrush or is it ready to go?

[Len Woodruff]

Ray I don't think so. You just need to let it "gas out" before you use it.

Edited May 4, 2008 by Len Woodruff

[MrObsessive]

It's pretty thinned out as it is for it to come out of the can...........what Len said is very important! Let it gas out before you start to airbrush, otherwise you'll have tiny air bubbles all over your paint job!

That's one of the things that's turned me off to Tamiya's paint for airbrushing-------there's so much propellant in the can. You can see it when it goes into your jar.........kinda like carbonation in your glass of soda with the bubbles popping one by one.

[Zoom Zoom]

I decant Tamiya all the time. Yes, there's propellant in the cup when it's sprayed, but it goes away in a few minutes. My setup likes to have few drops of lacquer thinner (seems that Tamiya lacquer thinner, Mr. Color thinner, and regular old lacquer thinner all work) added for the best flow, but it really depends on your airbrush and the pressure you spray at. You'll know pretty quick if it's flowing well enough or needs a bit of thinner.

I spray into a little plastic mixing cup and swish it around w/some thinner, when it hits the metal paint cup on my airbrush it bubbles/boils a bit, then stops in a few minutes. No problem at all, and don't believe people that say you have to wait X number of hours. For me it's a few minutes. And I save a ton of Tamiya paint running it through the airbrush.

[FactoryStock54]

FWIW: here is an excellent on-line tutorial for decanting Tamiya rattle cans.

http://www.acmenovelties.net/scale_models/decanting.php

I do a lot of decanting; I usually allow the decanted paint to gas off for at least an hour before I spray it through the airbrush. I've had good luck spraying at about 18 PSI with no thinning (I'm using a Badger 360).

I decent the paint into plastic film canisters; it's not a good idea to fill these up all the way, so I'll fill a couple canisters about 1/2 way. After gas-off, I will usually transfer the paint into an old Tamiya (acrylic) 23 ml. glass jar (they clean up real nice!) for permanent storage.

Hope this helps

[Len Woodruff]

Wow Jerry 18 psi? That seems low to me. I use a badger Crescendo and use 30 psi with the MCW & HOK lacquers. Does the 18 psi help in some way?

Edited May 5, 2008 by Len Woodruff

[MR BIGGS]

After reading all that tutorial it gave me a head ache..

What I do is turn the can upside down spray it till all the propelent is gone then you will not have a problem with bubble's, gas's nor any of that other stuff you heard of. make your hole on the side of the can run it through a small strainer and your done in min. But that's just me. Good luck.

Anthony Rios.

[Zoom Zoom]

I should have included a link to my ultra-simple tutorial on decanting Tamiya sprays. I read the other one and it also made my head hurt They take a simple task and make it sound ridiculously overcomplicated. I stir my paint immediately with some thinner. So what if it boils a bit? Don't fill the container, and don't cap it! It doesn't bite. You shouldn't need that much paint to begin with. Wait at least an hour? ME? You have got to be freakin' kidding

Decanting Spray Paint Tutorial

Since that tutorial I've found straws that fit tightly over the Tamiya nozzle, no Fun-Tack required, so a simple task is even simpler. I've done this routine hundreds of times now. I'm addicted to spraying Tamiya (and some Testors) lacquers through my airbrush, colors that aren't available in jars.

I never have the need to store the decanted paint. I never poke holes in cans. I never have disasters from poking holes in cans. I decant enough paint to use for the project at hand (if I need more, I decant more, and only wait a few minutes for the propellant to dissipate; the little residual amount left over atomizes completely when run through the airbrush). All my spray cans are still 100% useable as spray cans until empty. The last dregs from a can that don't spray well will paint an amazing amount of stuff when run through the airbrush. I cannot fathom using any system other than the straw method, it's dead simple, it's dirt cheap, no storage issues, a minimum of mess, and no disasters. The K.I.S.S method at work. I highly recommend it over any other method of decanting that I've ever encountered. And you do not have to wait anything more than a few minutes to spray. You might wait a bit longer if you use a cap and jar system on your airbrush. I use open metal paint cups without a lid (sometimes I'll use the lid on my gravity feed brush if I've filled the cup, but that's not with decanted paint).

I did use an easier method before, not using a straw and just spraying the paint into the cup. It's messy but fast. Once I heard about the straw method I thought "wow, why didn't I think of that before?!" I tried it, and I'm hooked.

[FactoryStock54]

Wow Jerry 18 psi? That seems low to me. I use a badger Crescendo and use 30 psi with the MCW & HOK lacquers. Does the 18 psi help in some way?

For hobby-specific paints with their ultra-fine pigments, I'm a firm believer in lower PSIs; gives you greater control with less overspray and allows you to get in closer to the work. Spraying the Tamiya synthetic lacquers at about 18 PSI from aprox. 6 inches, I get a smooth glassy finish with very little graininess. That's been my experience; others' may vary.

I can't speak to the pressures required for "full-size" automotive lacquers, but I'd guess you'd need a lot more to push those out effectively.

[Ray]

Thanks everyone. All helpful info, but I think I'm going to go with Bob's method. Thanks again everyone for their input.

[FactoryStock54]

I should have included a link to my ultra-simple tutorial on decanting Tamiya sprays. I read the other one and it also made my head hurt They take a simple task and make it sound ridiculously overcomplicated. I stir my paint immediately with some thinner. So what if it boils a bit? Don't fill the container, and don't cap it! It doesn't bite. You shouldn't need that much paint to begin with. Wait at least an hour? ME? You have got to be freakin' kidding

Decanting Spray Paint Tutorial

Since that tutorial I've found straws that fit tightly over the Tamiya nozzle, no Fun-Tack required, so a simple task is even simpler. I've done this routine hundreds of times now. I'm addicted to spraying Tamiya (and some Testors) lacquers through my airbrush, colors that aren't available in jars.

I never have the need to store the decanted paint. I never poke holes in cans. I never have disasters from poking holes in cans. I decant enough paint to use for the project at hand (if I need more, I decant more, and only wait a few minutes for the propellant to dissipate; the little residual amount left over atomizes completely when run through the airbrush). All my spray cans are still 100% useable as spray cans until empty. The last dregs from a can that don't spray well will paint an amazing amount of stuff when run through the airbrush. I cannot fathom using any system other than the straw method, it's dead simple, it's dirt cheap, no storage issues, a minimum of mess, and no disasters. The K.I.S.S method at work. I highly recommend it over any other method of decanting that I've ever encountered. And you do not have to wait anything more than a few minutes to spray. You might wait a bit longer if you use a cap and jar system on your airbrush. I use open metal paint cups without a lid (sometimes I'll use the lid on my gravity feed brush if I've filled the cup, but that's not with decanted paint).

I did use an easier method before, not using a straw and just spraying the paint into the cup. It's messy but fast. Once I heard about the straw method I thought "wow, why didn't I think of that before?!" I tried it, and I'm hooked.

I like using the cut-down pipette; it fits snugly and securely over the blue regulator on the spray button without requiring poster putty, allows for ultra-fast decanting with next to no mess, and the pipette can be cleaned and re-used. It works for me. There are some colors (like TS 14 Gloss Black) I tend to use all the time in great quanitities, and it's much easier to decant an entire rattle can and store the paint than to do it by tiny increments--again, that's my experience and my preference.

One needs to strike a balance between carelessness and over-cautiousness; over on another modeling board a guy who claimed to be a chemical engineer was livid at the idea of decanting from rattle cans at all, claiming that doing so would almost certainly result in a deadly explosion. I don't know of ANY incident of such an accident, and (fortunately) I've yet to meet anybody stupid enough to chain smoke while decanting or spraying. The linked tutorial points out some potential dangers to the process but does not conclude that you can't or shouldn't try to decant the paint. I like to be well-informed about these sorts of things so I can decide for myself the level of risk to which I'm willing to expose myself; a healthy fear and some grown-up patience keeps one focused and safe and ultimately makes for a happy, trouble-free shop.

Basically it boils down to this (no pun intended!): your shop, your rules; my shop, my rules; whatever works for you based on experience and informed opinion.