airbrushing tamiya acrylics?

[MonoPed]

Picked up some tamiya arylic paint and thinner yesterday, any tips on mixing and airbrushing it? Can testors dullcaot be applied over it? thanx!

[Steve H.]

Dunno about airbrushing it... I'm far from a paint expert. My experience with Testors dullcoat is that it melts the acrylic underneath, but you might experiment with it.

[Zoom Zoom]

I've used Testors dullcote over Tamiya acrylic flats on interiors w/o problems, I don't drown the surface though, it works in very light coats.

As for mixing, Tamiya works best with their own thinner (other thinners will work), and I tend to use much less Tamiya thinner to thin acrylics vs. lacquers or enamels. Probably no more than 30% thinner. Best to mix it up and test it to see what works best for your setup.

[MrObsessive]

Brian, there are a few things I can tell you about Tamiya and there clears since I've used them from time to time on interiors and such.

First, Tamiya makes a very nice dullcoat which you can mix in with their paint. You can make a semi gloss sheen all the way to something totally flat. As Bob mentioned, you can use Testor's dullcoat.......but I would put on very light coats at a time.

You can airbrush Tamiya's clear over their acrylics, but I would highly recommend thoroughly drying their paints in a dehydrator before doing so. (About 8 hours)

Failure to do this will result in cracking of the paint underneath and the clearcoat and you will not be a happy camper!

While some have used plain alcohol in thinning their paint............I have always had trouble with the paint "fisheyeing". I would recommend using their thinner as I've had no problem with it at all.

When using thinner in their clear be careful not to use too much as it can fisheye when airbrushing. (See my Mustang thread)

I have found that using a bit higher pressure with the compressor helps atomize it a bit better.

Hope this helps Brian and post pics of the results!

[MonoPed]

Thanx guys!

What I have in front of me is a bottle of XF-69 Nato Black, X-1 Black, and X-20A thinner, all of which is to be used on the Ferrari 512s tires. I have a few other resin tires to practice on...this should be interesting...

[Lownslow]

Brian, there are a few things I can tell you about Tamiya and there clears since I've used them from time to time on interiors and such.

First, Tamiya makes a very nice dullcoat which you can mix in with their paint. You can make a semi gloss sheen all the way to something totally flat. As Bob mentioned, you can use Testor's dullcoat.......but I would put on very light coats at a time.

You can airbrush Tamiya's clear over their acrylics, but I would highly recommend thoroughly drying their paints in a dehydrator before doing so. (About 8 hours)

Failure to do this will result in cracking of the paint underneath and the clearcoat and you will not be a happy camper!

While some have used plain alcohol in thinning their paint............I have always had trouble with the paint "fisheyeing". I would recommend using their thinner as I've had no problem with it at all.

When using thinner in their clear be careful not to use too much as it can fisheye when airbrushing. (See my Mustang thread)

I have found that using a bit higher pressure with the compressor helps atomize it a bit better.

Hope this helps Brian and post pics of the results!

what PSI do you recomend and what psi do you recomend for future

[MrObsessive]

I'd say at least 20-25 PSI for both.........it'll depend on the type of airbrush you're using and viscosity of the paint.

With Future however I highly recommend when airbrushing, you make fairly quick passes as it tends to run if you're not careful.

[MonoPed]

...Tamiya makes a very nice dullcoat which you can mix in with their paint. You can make a semi gloss sheen all the way to something totally flat. As Bob mentioned, you can use Testor's dullcoat.......but I would put on very light coats at a time.

The dullcoat you mention, is that what they call "flat base"? If so, do you simply mix a few drops in with the clear to get the sheen you want? I'm tellin' ya, this Ferrari project is turning out to be a collection of model-building firsts for me!