Tamiya spray paints in CANADA?

[dino246gt]

Tamiya, CANADA

[dino246gt]

Any news on when we can buy Tamiya spray paint again in CANADA?

 

[Mark C.]

Haven’t seen anything about it recently (did an internet search a few weeks ago), but I wish that whatever nitpicky regulation caused this would be dropped.  Japan typically has really stringent regulations for their products, so I can’t help but think whatever happened here was some minor technicality that some bureaucrat fell upon but isn’t really a practical problem.  Nobody is dropping like flies from using Tamiya paints, so hopefully common sense comes into play at some point.

[ColonelKrypton]

Still no word on when Tamiya spray paints will be available in Canada. You can still find old stock on some hobby store shelves but even that is disappearing.

More recently Mr. Hobby products are running afoul of the same legislation as did the Tamiya spray paints.  I received this from Angelo in his latest news email from Sunwardhobbies.com

 

Quote

Mr Hobby Restricted Products

We are getting information from distributors that some Mr Hobby products have a higher  concentration of a chemical that is allowed by law. Distributors will not ship any more product to stores. What ever we have is all we will be getting. 

 

The initial list:

• B501, B502, B503, B526, B527, B529 spray cans
• B6601, B602, B603, B604, B611, B612, B613 spray cans
• some GH and GX lines
• Most if not all H Aqueous paint bottles
• HCD, HCR, HMS, HS, HUG, XHUG series
• SF288, SF289, SF291, SF292 Surfacer
• S5 spray can
• T101, T102, T103, T104, T117 thinners

As we get more information, we will pass it on. We have not been told there is a recall, yet.

The chemical referred to in " higher  concentration of a chemical" is 2-Butoxyethanol  CAS number 111-76-2

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Butoxyethanol

It is not so much a complete ban as it is about controlling and limiting exposure.  Depending on the intended use of a product which contains 2-Butoxyethanol or any other toxic substance for that matter, there are often limits set based on those intended uses.

The overview document found in the following link lists product type uses and the specified limits of concentration on a by use basis in %w/w from as high as 22% to as low as 0.1%

https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2023/eccc/En14-510-2023-eng.pdf

Aerosol paints and coatings for non-industrial use are unfortunately at the very low end of that scale. SDS's I have for the Tamiya aerosols indicate a concentration of 2-Butoxyethanol from 1% to 5%. The Mr Hobby products will likely have similar levels.

cheers, Graham

 

 

 

[iamsuperdan]

Don't hold your breath.

Doesn't look like Tamiya is doing anything to address the situation, and now it appears that Mr Hobby is in the same boat.

Although my local suppliers here in Edmonton are still carrying Mr Hobby, the shelves are pretty empty.

The Revell paints are on shelves now though, so I grabbed a couple just to try them.

 

Most of my painting will now be done with an airbrush though. I had been contemplating it for quote a while, but the Tamiya ban kind of tipped me over the edge.

And now I'm hooked. Will not go back to spray cans. At least on bodies anyway.

 

[niteowl7710]

2 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Don't hold your breath.

Doesn't look like Tamiya is doing anything to address the situation, and now it appears that Mr Hobby is in the same boat.

Although my local suppliers here in Edmonton are still carrying Mr Hobby, the shelves are pretty empty.

The Revell paints are on shelves now though, so I grabbed a couple just to try them.

 

Most of my painting will now be done with an airbrush though. I had been contemplating it for quote a while, but the Tamiya ban kind of tipped me over the edge.

And now I'm hooked. Will not go back to spray cans. At least on bodies anyway.

 

Yall are going to be crushing plants to make your own pigments pretty soon.  The one thing I saw from Sunward about the GSI/Creos ban was it took out the entire GX line and Acrysion line with it, both of which are bottled paint.  The Acrysion line is the equivalent of Tamiya's X/XF line - alcohol based acrylics.  

[ColonelKrypton]

28 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

The one thing I saw from Sunward about the GSI/Creos ban was it took out the entire GX line and Acrysion line with it, both of which are bottled paint.

 

Not quite, this is a snippet from Angelo at Sunwardhobbies.com email

Quote

The initial list:

• B501, B502, B503, B526, B527, B529 spray cans
• B6601, B602, B603, B604, B611, B612, B613 spray cans
• some GH and GX lines
• Most if not all H Aqueous paint bottles
• HCD, HCR, HMS, HS, HUG, XHUG series
• SF288, SF289, SF291, SF292 Surfacer
• S5 spray can
• T101, T102, T103, T104, T117 thinners

The Acrysion line was not mentioned but most of the Aqueous paints - bottles and spray are.

The Acrysion paints are not that common. I know of only a few hobby store which stock them and they cater mostly to the Gunpla/Gundam crowd. They are good paints but the range is rather limited. It will be interesting to see where Mr Hobby/Creso goes with line paints.

34 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

The Acrysion line is the equivalent of Tamiya's X/XF line - alcohol based acrylics.

Not so.

I did a lot of research digging up whatever safety data sheets I could find on the Mr Color, Aqueous, and Acrysion products. 

The Aqueous paints and thinner, contrary to that implied by their name, are more the equivalent of the Tamiya X/XF acrylic paints. The Aqueous thinner is similar in composition to the Tamiya X-20A thinner and contains around 50% Isopropyl alcohol. You should not use alcohol based thinners and reducers with true water based acrylic paints.

The Acrysion paints are closer to being a water based acrylic but their chemistry still differs from the true water based acrylics like Vallejo or AK 3G

I compiled this short list from studying the safety data sheets: 2-BE is a common abbreviation for 2-butoxethanol which is the chemical in question. 2-BE is a solvent and has a secondary benefit as a surfactant:

Mr Color Aqueous products - bottled paints and aerosols all contain 2-BE up to 10%

Mr Color thinner contain 2-BE up to 10%

Tamiya Lacquer thinner product 87077 contains 2-BE up to 10%

Tamiya spray paints contain 2-BE up to 10%

Mission Model Paints MMA thinner contain 2-BE up to 15%

 

Tamiya lacquer thinner retarder type and Mr Color levelling thinner DO NOT contain 2-BE

Tamiya X/XF acrylics DO NOT contain 2-BE

Tamiya X-20A thinner DOES NOT contain 2-BE

Mr Color Aqueous thinner DOES NOT contain 2-BE

Mr Color paints - bottled and aerosols DO NOT contain 2-BE

Remember, this is not a ban. It is a restriction on products that contain 2-BE that exceed prescribed limits.  

Legislation around 2-BE and other VOCS is a world wide issue. It is or may likely effect these products in the US.  I have been told that Mr Hobby / Creso products are imported into the Canada through the US and if the US suppliers are being effect for exports to Canada it may not be long until the effect is felt in the US as well.

cheers, Graham

 

[niteowl7710]

8 hours ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Legislation around 2-BE and other VOCS is a world wide issue. It is or may likely effect these products in the US.  I have been told that Mr Hobby / Creso products are imported into the Canada through the US and if the US suppliers are being effect for exports to Canada it may not be long until the effect is felt in the US as well.

Well without turning this into a political thing that gets the thread locked, currently we don't have an environment to worry about down here, all those cares went away towards the end of January...🙄