Tamiya Paint not mixing well

Blaster - The only thing that I can think of, is what brand of thinner are you using? I spray my Tamiya very thin, sometimes as much as 60/70% thinner, I use Tamiya X-20A for thinning. Have never felt the need for retarders or other surfactants, and rarely have build up on the tip. I do keep a jar of lacquer thinner and some Q-tips handy, for a quick swipe of the needle once in a while, just to be cautious.

Mostly Badger and Iwata airbrushes, I generally average about 14-18psi. Hopefully Don Wheeler will drop by to give his thoughts.

Hi thanks for the reply.

I use X-20A thinner. I will try making it thinner and add no retardant

I‘m an enamel user and hate using acrylics but Tamiya sprays very close to an enamel so I also use them Now and then.  I also use the x20 thinner or Mr Paint Leveling Thinner. You don’t need to add any thing else.

Timing is interesting. I just ran Tamiya X32 metallic for the first time and used X20A 50/50, per advice on the net. Total mess. It ended up working best strasight out of the jar, with careful low pressure application.

GMorrison

Timing is interesting. I just ran Tamiya X32 metallic for the first time and used X20A 50/50, per advice on the net. Total mess. It ended up working best strasight out of the jar, with careful low pressure application. 

Very good point. Thinning and airbrushing Tamiya metallics can be a little tricky.

Too thin and the metallic pigments settle quickly in your airbrush cup. You pull the trigger and nothing comes out. Pull back a little more and "blat", a wonderful blob of shiny metallic base particles without much of the colour pigments gets projected onto your model.

No solid recommendation for thinning ratios with the metallics, as it will vary depending on your airbrush and the nozzle size. 

That’s interesting indeed. Can’t comment on the Tamiya metallic paints but love using Alclad and AK metallics.

PJ, if you hate acrylics, then you haven't tried Mission Models acrylics. There's been tons of positive reviews on them.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

PJ, if you hate acrylics, then you haven't tried Mission Models acrylics. There's been tons of positive reviews on them.

 

Yes Sheep I’ve heard great things about it and plan to test a couple of bottles soon.

patrick206

Blaster - The only thing that I can think of, is what brand of thinner are you using? I spray my Tamiya very thin, sometimes as much as 60/70% thinner, I use Tamiya X-20A for thinning. Have never felt the need for retarders or other surfactants, and rarely have build up on the tip. I do keep a jar of lacquer thinner and some Q-tips handy, for a quick swipe of the needle once in a while, just to be cautious.

Mostly Badger and Iwata airbrushes, I generally average about 14-18psi. Hopefully Don Wheeler will drop by to give his thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

I have been using Tamiya acrylics on my last three builds and this was about the only ratio was found to be useful. 50/50 doesn't work and the retarder on flats turns into a huge mess.  Spraying the flat dark Kure gray on my Akagi, I had to thin as high as 80% on my shading to prevent flakes and blots that would really show on a 1/700 scale model. 

But once I found the sweet spot, the paint goes on really nice, especially on a low psi with a fine tip and painting in really tight spots.

I run both a Badger 200 and a Pashe VL on a Iwata compressor between 12 to 18 psi.

As far as best acrylic, I became partial to Vallejo over the past two years.  It works right out of the bottle or really flows well with thinned with a little saline solution.

ScottRC -

My most recent build was finished in camo with Tamiya greys, using the Badger 100G gravity cup and the smallest needle size. I thinned it with X-20A, at a ratio of 70% thinner. I am careful to first stir the paint well a small metal paddle, then use the Badger paint mixer for a complete blending of all of the ingredients in the jar.

I sprayed at about 12 psi. I found the freehand spraying of the camo to be so easy, the color seperation lines were just like the real aircraft, just a slight blending of the two colors, with a very soft edge. The best part is no tendency to run, and no little spidery leg lines, as can often happen with highly thinned paint.

For all of my years at this, I wish I had learned about the benefit of highly thinned paint when it's needed. It's made a real improvement for my builds and decreases the time involved, by not having to keep going back over it to correct flaws along the way.

I tried Vallejo Model Air for a while, either straight from the bottle, or thinned with their product. I just gave up when I couldn't get past the clogging issue. I think now I may have given up too quickly, I'll try again using more highly thinned paint. I did get some really nice finishes with it, when spraying larger, single color areas.

Could you please describe your saline solution and how you prepare it? Thanks in advance.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

I happened upon using Saline on Vallejo flats by accident. I was painting a 3D printed part with their flat dark sea blue, which is a real bugger to airbrush without getting boogers and clogging.  I was thinning with ammonia and water, but it still seemed to dry too fast and clog.  Since I wear contacts, I though that the hey and mixed a batch using a ratio 50/50 saline to paint and it worked flawlessly.  I think because the saline solution contains a small amount boric acid, which is also used to thin and remove paint, and then the sodiums acts like some sort of stabilizer.  I'm not a chemists, just my thought.

With saline, I also have been able to airbrush with the Americana brand acrylics that are found at all the craft stores with better success.  

In my experiments, saline did not work on Tamiya or Testors acrylics.  I still had to use their thinners.  

Best of luck,

Scott

Add a coupl of drops of future/pledge to the mix.

Silver

Add a coupl of drops of future/pledge to the mix.

 

Future/Pledge is an acrylic varnish, not a thinning agent. Just saying. 

Although, I’ve seen stranger things work...

It might work as a catalyst if the paint is too thin.  Hmmm, could give it a try.