Painting with Tamiya Pearl White - TS 45

[Bill Anderson]

Hi,

I'm building an AMT 1949 Ford Coupe and am almost ready to paint the body.  The object of the model is to have it look like I would have done a prototype back in my late teens - if I had the money/skills.

When I bought the kit, I decided to paint it a pearl white, and picked up a can of Tamiya Pearl White (TS45).  But now I'm wondering if this will look right or not - totally being pearl white.

My reason for writing is to throw out an idea...... The kit is formed in white plastic.   If I painted it a gloss blue (the interior is shades of blue), and then sprayed over it with the Pearl White, what would be the result?  

Would the pearl white just cover up the blue, or would it result in a "pearl blue/white", or would it look like a blue car with white particles spread all over it?

So my question is, have any of you tried using pearl white in a way different from the straight color?   Or ?

Your help and comments are greatly appreciated!

 

 

[stitchdup]

You would probably be better using the clear pearl. The only time i used the white pearl i found it took a lot of paint to get it to cover grey primer and until it was covered it looked blotchy rather than even

[bobss396]

I have used the clear pearl (TS-65) over white primer with success. The effect is the same in the end.

[espo]

I suggest finding some plastic picnic spoons and try different paint applications before starting on the model itself. Having used Tamiya Pearl White, I would also suggest a base coat of White Primer and then the Pearl White paint. The pearl White paint does not cover a darker color well and you end up with several coats of paint and the loss of body details because of that. 

[Bill Anderson]

Hi,

Thank you all for the insight.   I bit the bullet and took the body parts to the garage and sprayed the white plastic model.  As it "dried" pretty fast, I hung out in the garage and managed to get a few light coats on it.  The paint covered nicely (Tamiya never disappoints) and I just brought the pieces into the house, with the body still on the metal parts holder (worthy tool from Micromart).

On close examination, the paint job looks pretty good.  But to my taste, its "blah".  I asked myself, who would paint an old car pearl white?  So I do recall a guy in high school (Lane Tech '62) that had a 51 Ford and it was light beige with a single wide blue racing stripe.  That looked pretty good back then. 

But most cars have two stripes, so I'm thinking I could do that in a dark blue (interior is shades of blue).  The thing is, I've got the tape and the paint, but putting down stripes looks pretty difficult.  Would I be biting off more than I can chew?

Of course if I screwed it up, I could just spray the whole thing a dark blue and forgetaboutit........

Your thoughts???

  

[Dave G.]

4 minutes ago, Bill Anderson said:

Hi,

Thank you all for the insight.   I bit the bullet and took the body parts to the garage and sprayed the white plastic model.  As it "dried" pretty fast, I hung out in the garage and managed to get a few light coats on it.  The paint covered nicely (Tamiya never disappoints) and I just brought the pieces into the house, with the body still on the metal parts holder (worthy tool from Micromart).

On close examination, the paint job looks pretty good.  But to my taste, its "blah".  I asked myself, who would paint an old car pearl white?  So I do recall a guy in high school (Lane Tech '62) that had a 51 Ford and it was light beige with a single wide blue racing stripe.  That looked pretty good back then. 

But most cars have two stripes, so I'm thinking I could do that in a dark blue (interior is shades of blue).  The thing is, I've got the tape and the paint, but putting down stripes looks pretty difficult.  Would I be biting off more than I can chew?

Of course if I screwed it up, I could just spray the whole thing a dark blue and forgetaboutit........

Your thoughts???

  

You gotta bite and chew sometime lol ! Just practice a bit.

Edited April 25 by Dave G.

[stitchdup]

you could do a two tone instead of the stripes. it might suit the car better and there seems to be a fe options

[Bill Anderson]

Never thought of a two tone - something quite common back in the '50s.  Come to think of it, Dad had a '56 Pontiac that was blue/white.

Thank you!

 

[Dave G.]

Common scheme, with whatever colors ( photo says 49 but that's a 50). Anyway:

[James2]

Plastic spoons are your friend...

[Bill Anderson]

Well, I got my striping tape and laid out two racing stripes and painted them dark blue.  Ending up looking good, but I've got a couple spots where the paint "leaked", which bugs me as I went to extra effort to assure the tape was pressed down to give a nice seal.  Anyway, I ordered a bottle of the pearl white and will use that for touch up.

IMO, the stripes are the right size and the color is good, but the ol Ford just doesn't meet my expectations with that pearl white paint.  I'm sure (?) that when its completed it will look better,  but I don't think I'll mess with any version of white in the future.

I will show a pic or two, but not until its complete.

Thanks for your help!

[Bill Anderson]

Well, it wasn't easy, but I decided to do the racing stripes and finally got it finished to my satisfaction.  I did learn a couple of things in the process:

-  painting a vehicle pearl white (or any white) just doesn't look all that great to me.  That really surprised me, and of course its all a matter of taste.

-  not all model masking tape is created equal.  I started out using a black 1/4 inch tape and it leaked, causing me to repaint the white.  I found a roll of orange tape (also 1/4 inch wide but just a hair wider than the black tape, and it was perfect with zero leaks.  I cannot tell its brand or where I got it from (Hobby Lobby, Micro Mart ?) but it really works.

Here is the painted shell, and if you look close you will see a couple places that had to be "fixed", but for my first attempt I'll let that go.

 

[peteski]

Looks good.

Never seen orange or black tape.. For masking models Tamiya tape can't be beat. It is basically "washi tape" which nowadays you can likely find cheaper than the Tamiya brand if you look for it in arts/crafts stores.

[Bill Anderson]

Thanks for the tip!  The results with the black tape really was upsetting, almost to the point of dumping the project.  Thankfully, the orange tape saved my bacon.

[bobss396]

I recently started using Tamiya tape, with the dispenser which keeps the edge crisp and clean. 

[Bill Anderson]

Alright, you sold me.......Ebay here I come!

[Speedpro]

I recently did a test to see if I could paint a body in one hour from start to finish using tamiya paints. The paint I chose to use was TS-45 Pearl White over tamiya white primer. As stated, all painting was done in a 1 hours' time giving 15 min between coats. Body was first cleaned up removing all parting lines and flaws. It was thoroughly washed with joy dishwash soap. First light coat of white primer was laid down Waited 15 min. Sprayed the next coat of primer with a good cover coat. Waited 15 min. Sprayed the first light coat of pearl white. Waited 15 min. Sprayed the second and last coat of pearl white. Let it sit overnight. You can handle it all you want at this point. The results of my test were very pleasing. Here are a couple pics of the outcome of my test. I could have put down the clear coats, but decals were in the future. Next time I will put down the clear and do the hole paint job in 1.5 hrs and see how it turns out. I waited 5 day's and put some decals down. No clear has been applied yet. As you can see, the paint job came out almost just as good as if I spent a week doing it waiting for paints to dry and sanding between coats of primer and color. I don't use spray cans much anymore as airbrushing is now my norm. This was just a test and your results may vary. As a side note, I feel tamiya spray paints are the best paints to use if you are using spray cans.

[Bill Anderson]

Now that is NICE !!!

[espo]

2 hours ago, Speedpro said:

I recently did a test to see if I could paint a body in one hour from start to finish using tamiya paints. The paint I chose to use was TS-45 Pearl White over tamiya white primer. As stated, all painting was done in a 1 hours' time giving 15 min between coats. Body was first cleaned up removing all parting lines and flaws. It was thoroughly washed with joy dishwash soap. First light coat of white primer was laid down Waited 15 min. Sprayed the next coat of primer with a good cover coat. Waited 15 min. Sprayed the first light coat of pearl white. Waited 15 min. Sprayed the second and last coat of pearl white. Let it sit overnight. You can handle it all you want at this point. The results of my test were very pleasing. Here are a couple pics of the outcome of my test. I could have put down the clear coats, but decals were in the future. Next time I will put down the clear and do the hole paint job in 1.5 hrs and see how it turns out. I waited 5 day's and put some decals down. No clear has been applied yet. As you can see, the paint job came out almost just as good as if I spent a week doing it waiting for paints to dry and sanding between coats of primer and color. I don't use spray cans much anymore as airbrushing is now my norm. This was just a test and your results may vary. As a side note, I feel tamiya spray paints are the best paints to use if you are using spray cans.

Great looking paint finish and like the decals. The time frame of your coats of paint and I'm sure done in light coats, is how it should be done. My biggest problem is the lack of patience and using to much paint with each application. So today I'm color sanding some runs in the paint I did last night.  

[ncbuckeye67]

On 5/7/2024 at 12:10 AM, peteski said:

Looks good.

Never seen orange or black tape.. For masking models Tamiya tape can't be beat. It is basically "washi tape" which nowadays you can likely find cheaper than the Tamiya brand if you look for it in arts/crafts stores.

I use washi tape a lot in my builds and wouldn't trust it as masking. The adhesive is not very strong, and I'd be afraid of paint leaking under it.

[peteski]

9 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said:

I use washi tape a lot in my builds and wouldn't trust it as masking. The adhesive is not very strong, and I'd be afraid of paint leaking under it.

Do you have any Tamiya tape to compare with washi?  To me they seem identical.  The weaker adhesive is actually a good thing (will not lift the paint).  The benefit is that the tape is thinner any slightly more stretchy than standard masking tapes, and the adhesive layer also seems thinner.

Lots of modelers successfully use Tamiya tape for masking. But we all do have different techniques and preferences.

[Bugatti Fan]

I find Washi masking tape OK to use. Works for me, and as Pete said pretty much identical to Tamiya's. The Tamiya tape of course comes conveniently on rolls of various narrow widths, whereas the Washi tape comes on wider rolls like normal masking tape. I use an old glass lens from a halogen security lamp to cut thin strips from the Washi tape quite successfully using a craft knife and a six inch steel engineers rule.

With Tamiya you pay a bit more for the convenience of pre cut narrow widths, whereas Washi tape is relatively cheap by comparison. Many like myself will probably opt to have both to hand.

Referring back to the Pearl White paint, I have never used it, but logically I would be inclined to go for white primer if I were to consider it.

 

Edited May 9 by Bugatti Fan

[ncbuckeye67]

14 hours ago, peteski said:

Do you have any Tamiya tape to compare with washi?  To me they seem identical.  The weaker adhesive is actually a good thing (will not lift the paint).  The benefit is that the tape is thinner any slightly more stretchy than standard masking tapes, and the adhesive layer also seems thinner.

Lots of modelers successfully use Tamiya tape for masking. But we all do have different techniques and preferences.

I do agree about not wanting an adhesive that's too strong (for obvious reasons), but a lot of times I have to add glue to get the washi tape to stick properly. Yes, I have the orange Tamiya tape, and have had bleed through and poor adhesion with it as well (yes it does seem like it is washi tape- without a design on it).

[ncbuckeye67]

7 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

I find Washi masking tape OK to use. Works for me, and as Pete said pretty much identical to Tamiya's. The Tamiya tape of course comes conveniently on rolls of various narrow widths, whereas the Washi tape comes on wider rolls like normal masking tape. I use an old glass lens from a halogen security lamp to cut thin strips from the Washi tape quite successfully using a craft knife and a six inch steel engineers rule.

With Tamiya you pay a bit more for the convenience of pre cut narrow widths, whereas Washi tape is relatively cheap by comparison. Many like myself will probably opt to have both to hand.

Referring back to the Pearl White paint, I have never used it, but logically I would be inclined to go for white primer if I were to consider it.

 

I love the pearl white, but you're right about a white primer, because the pearl gets "lost" if you use a silver base like I did (it takes 3-4 good coats to look good). The pearl also needs constant shaking to stay properly mixed (yeah ask me how I know this, Lol).

[ncbuckeye67]

Just now, ncbuckeye67 said:

I love the pearl white, but you're right about a white primer, because the pearl gets "lost" if you use a silver base like I did (it takes 3-4 good coats to look good). The pearl also needs constant shaking to stay properly mixed (yeah ask me how I know this, Lol).

There are several different widths of washi tape at Michael's & Hobby Lobby.