Tamiya 23ml Bottles Discontinued What Year?

Phil_H

Tamiya acrylics are near unbeatable for longevity. I have some dating back to around 1982 which are still good.

That is amazing!

Tamiya acrylics are near unbeatable for longevity. I have some dating back to around 1982 which are still good.

stikpusher

Yes, they will seal up just fine as long as your bottle and cap threads do not get paint on them. I have had most of my 23ml jars for many years. Of course some colors such as Flat Black, Dark Yellow, Flat White, etc. dont last as long due to high usage. I have never had a bottle of Tamiya paint dry out on me. Even those that got a bit thick were revived with distilled water. Overall quality control has never been a problem there.

Good to hear about paint longivity !

Yes, they will seal up just fine as long as your bottle and cap threads do not get paint on them. I have had most of my 23ml jars for many years. Of course some colors such as Flat Black, Dark Yellow, Flat White, etc. dont last as long due to high usage. I have never had a bottle of Tamiya paint dry out on me. Even those that got a bit thick were revived with distilled water. Overall quality control has never been a problem there.

Per what has been said, if I really need the 23ml size for very large projects, I should be able to obtain them via mail order.

Hopefully, the large paint jars will re-seal properly and not dry out before I can use all the paint.

I will echo Milairijunkie, i have only seen the smaller pots over here the last few years. I assumed the larger ones had been stopped completly. I still have a lot of the larger size and from what i can see the paint is exactly the same.

Tamiya USA list both the 10 & 23ml sizes - the lack of 23ml's might be down to the decision of individual stores or possibly stock availability.

On this side of the pond you get 10ml & 10ml, the only way suppliers can get 23ml bottles is to grey import....

I'm wondering now why more hobby shops in the Chicago area haven't stocked the 23mm.

Lombard Hobby is the only area shop I have visited which had that size in stock.

I have been told by two area shops they can't order some brands because their supplier doesn't stock it ( example: Aber photo etch )

Would be interesting to know if some regions of the USA are basically dominated by one supplier and shops are locked into buying only from that suppler by contract.

The 23ml bottles are alive and well here in So Cal at all the hobby shops which I frequent. The 10ml bottles are less common. But I know of one shop that stocks the full lines of both, and at least one of the other shops carries the 23ml line plus10ml bottles of the colors that are not available in the 23ml line (most of the newer colors released such as the JSDF, RAF, RN and new IJN  ship colors).

When Tamiya introduced their paint line in the early 80's they used the 23ml jars only. I think the 10ml jars came in some time after they introduced the (10ml) enamel line, so I believe that would have been in the early 90's.

They appear to be still producing both sizes, I think it depends on the importer. As I said in the post quoted earlier, here in Australia, they downsized the bottles but not the pricetags. I can recall picking up a couple of leftover 23ml jars at a shop (in 2006 or so) which had changed over to the 10ml jars and being charged the shelf price for the 10ml size. On another occasion, I picked up a couple of 23ml jars at a different shop and was charged about $1.50 over the 10ml price..

Tamiya America still has listings of 23ml bottles on this page: http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/category.php?sub-id=59000

Sifting through my FSM 'zine publications uncovered an FSM 2007 Airbrushing Acrylics paint comparison flyer ( 618188 ) by Aaron which , oddly,  mentions only the Tamiya 10ml bottles.

No mention of the 23ml size.

I didnt realize there was anything other than a 23ml until I got a 10ml shipment last week from Megahobby.

I paid 2.10 at Mega. Local shop has the 23ml for 3.49.

Cadet Chuck

 If you look at the selection at Squadron, you'll find mostly 10 ml and only a few 23 ml size.  I don't know if the big one has been discontinued or not.  With Tamiya paints, you never know what's going on!

Interesting!

I've never had a reason to do a paint search on the Squadron site because I buy locally.

I see the very, very few 23ml sizes

( X-1 Black Gloss, X-3 Royal Blue, X-22 Clear )

listed at $2.79 and $3.10.

I see Sprue Brothers also sells the 23 ml size but only Gloss.

I must presume the 23ml size may yet be readily available via mail order in the USA, just not stocked in the Chicago area.

Good to know.

Thanks to all for your input !

I may add Tamiya paint  to a future mail order kit purchase.

I've seen 10 ml and 23 ml, but not 17 ml.  If you look at the selection at Squadron, you'll find mostly 10 ml and only a few 23 ml size.  I don't know if the big one has been discontinued or not.  With Tamiya paints, you never know what's going on!

The 12 for $10 was due to getting rid of old stock.

Oddly, a very few 10ml Tamiya bottles were still in the display rack ( at presumably  the MSRP ).

I agree, the price is a bargain.

The 10ml bottles sell in Chicago area hobby stores for $2.30 plus roughly 8 to 10 percent sales tax.

The store also had some of the old Floquil Lacquer paint ( but no Dio-Sol )  and a lot of Monogram Pro-Modeler Acrylic paint for the same 12 for $10 price .

I don't know where they had the Monogram paint stored as I don't recall seeing it on their shelves during my last visit.

I didn't buy the Monogram Paint because I don't yet know what to thin it with.

I've never heard nor seen any other size than the 10mL for Tamiya Acrylic paints.

Wish we got those sizes down here.

PS: that's a bargain price - no matter what size you're getting!  Where i am, Tamiya Acrylic sells for $4.50 per 10mL bottle - no discounts either

I ordered some IJN Green 2 and I think Copper from someone online and to my surprise they came in the larger container. They should last me a lifetime considering how little I actually use after thinning and how slow I build

I was just surprised by the size as I had only known of the 10ml.

Anyone else have a local hobby shop that carries both 23ml and 10ml sizes ?

Ive always seen two different sizes from the 3 stores I go to. 

I was always under the impression that there is simply two differnent sizes available. Of the two LHS I visit, one only has the 23ml size, and one only the 17ml.  The paint appears to be the same, and nothing is available only in one size, so I never gave it much thought.