Beginner Problem #4 (using acrylics with brushes)

The best tip one can give you about using Tamiya acrylics with a brush is simple - don't. They are awful for brush painting. Until thoroughly dry, they will do as you say, and lift themselves up, and cover poorly. One thing you can do is use a palette, and add some Tamiya retarder to the paint on the pallete. https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/finishing/paint-retarder-acrylic-40ml/ This slows the drying time, and makes the paint go on smoother. But in general, unless it involves small parts, I would not recommend Tamiya for brush painting. It is a recipe for tears, especially on large areas. It just doesn't work well. 

Despite what one may think, Tamiya's acrylics are not water based. They are actually alcohol base. The term acrylic refers to the binder used in the paint, not the solvent. While it is commonly thought of that acrylics are water based, that is not necessarily so, as shown by the Tamiya paints, an acrylic binder with alcohol solvents. 

Some of your 'mistakes' would likely be mitigated by using a more ordinary paint rather than Tamiya. Vallejo, LifeColor, MiG, Humbrol, etc. Just a cold hard reality on Tamiya - it may be common and easy to find in hobby shops. But that doesn't make it best for how you're using the paint. Tamiya airbrushes great. Hand brushed, it blows. 

To brush paint Tamiya acrylic paint all you need is retarder and thin it out a little to where it flows off your brush nice. Do lapping strokes not overlapping. Done deal, it brushes very nice. I use Liquitex retarder, most who do this method use Tamiya retarder. But I've had 0 issues. Way better than any thinner I've tried for hand brushing Tamiya acrylic, the difference is like night and day..

oldermodelguy

To brush paint Tamiya acrylic paint all you need is retarder and thin it out a little....

I purchased some Tamiya acrylic retarder at Magic Box Hobbies in Vancover. Great suggestion -- easiest acrylic brush painting ever. Thank you! (I also bought some Vallejo acrylic to try when I run out Tamiya.) 

Bob

While gloss enamels do dry slow (I built a homemade drying box for them), flat enamels dry to a working/handling surface in a couple of hours.  I very seldom use gloss paints on ships, except for private small craft and liners.

Bobstamp

 

 

oldermodelguy

To brush paint Tamiya acrylic paint all you need is retarder and thin it out a little....

 

 

 

I purchased some Tamiya acrylic retarder at Magic Box Hobbies in Vancover. Great suggestion -- easiest acrylic brush painting ever. Thank you! (I also bought some Vallejo acrylic to try when I run out Tamiya.) 

Bob

 

Good news, very glad to hear it works for you. It pulled me out of the "ditch Tamiya for hand brushing" camp for sure. I got the idea here at the forums from another member, just to be clear on that..

Hello There.

      First and foremost I think one of my methods for rails would work for you, Ladders too. The method I mentioned in one of my posts will work for you. It's a shame you are so far along. The method is simple. So please contact me on messages and I will lay it out for you.

    Now that said. Here's a method I started using back in the day When I got my first X-Acto Knife! When you paint the decks don't worry about paint on the deckhouses. Take the X-Acto and a number 11 blade. Now, putting the point in the corner between deck and deckhouse.Blade almost parallel to the deckhouse and resting slightly on the deckhouse surface .Gently scrape a line on the deck while removing the paint on the deckhouse.

    After doing this, If you are careful and don't overload your brush you get a nice straight and clean line between deck and deckhouse. This applies to all the deck hardware molded on too! If you are spraying It requires you to be X-Tra careful But that line idea will allow a burnish point for the tape or Other masking medium.

I have to disagree, respectfully, with Mike.  You absolutely can apply Tamiya acrylics by hand.  I do agree with his tips for doing so, though.

Through trial and error, and after reading somewhere that Tamiya's acrylics are formulated primarily for airbrushing, I realized that they need to be thinned.  And again, trial and error led me to use Tamiya's own proprietary thinner.

As Mike pointed out, "acrylic" does not mean "water-based", and Tamiya's acrylics are alcohol-based.  Some have written that they use isopropyl to thin Tamiya acrylics, but I had no luck with that; I got the same results as if I had used water.

But using Tamiya's thinner, I can paint figures with their acrylics, with no problems, and I don't use a retarder, either.  I don't find it necessary.  I can lay down color coats as thin as if I had airbrushed them.

I use a palette, as Mike suggests, with some of the thinner in a well.  Or I'll use a small jar of the thinner.  I dip my brush in the color, or pick it up from the lid, then dip it in the thinner.  It goes on smoothly, and successive coats do not pull up previous coats.

So if you have them, don't chuck them, just use their thinner.

If you are keen on using acrylic paints, though, you might consider Andrea, or Vallejo Model Color, which are both water-based and formulated for hand-painting.  Lifecolor is another good model brand of water-based acrylics.  And if you look at the gaming world, you'll find a couple of lines of very good water-based acrylics.

Even craft store brands work well-Apple Barrel, Americana, or Folk Art.

With water-based acrylics, you can use a wet palette-an air- and water-tight container, containing a sponge, and a piece of permeable paper as the actual palette.  Figure painters use them, because they can blend their colors on the palette, and store the paint across multiple sessions.

I made one out of a takeout container, a kitchen sponge, and brown packaging paper.  I used that to get used to working with the wet palette.  Then I upgraded to a commercial palette, from Green Grass Games.  But Masterson and Sta-Wet are popular brands, and you can find them at places like Michael's or HobbyLobby, or at "richard" Blick (have to do that to get around the nannybot).