Tamiya Acrylic - Brush Issues

Tamiya acrylic paint will flow better brushing if you add a few drops of dish soap to it. Dish soap contains glycol which is alone is a paint retarder and dish soap aslo breaks the tension of the paint to allow smoother brush painting with most any brand acrylic hobby paints.

Give it a try,

Are you washing the parts before you attempt to paint? Without a picture I would guess the paint isn't adhering to the plastic well and forming "bare" spots? This is a sign of something on the plastic that is not allowing the paint to adhere.

Will

Acrylic paints, especially Tamiya, surface dry very, very fast. However, they take a fairly long time to cure. Brush painting with Tamiya is almot an art, and adding glycerin or other retarding agent certainly helps. BTW Tamiya brand thinner contains a retarder.

However, what helps the most is to realize that wet brushing onto recently "dried" areas will roll up the paint because it reactivates the paint. My technique is to use speed and short strokes and allow for very little overlap. That way the paint doesn't have time to surface dry before the next brush stroke.

No matter how good you get at brush painting, airbrushing will blow your mind. They're a huge investment in money (airbrush, compressor, respirators, filters, fans and a spray booth can easily set you back $400+), as well as time learning to use them, but the results are very much worth it.

Bgrigg wrote:

Acrylic paints, especially Tamiya, surface dry very, very fast. However, they take a fairly long time to cure. Brush painting with Tamiya is almot an art, and adding glycerin or other retarding agent certainly helps. BTW Tamiya brand thinner contains a retarder.

For this reason I try to limit brush painting with Tamiya acrylics. If you brush paint large surfaces, I recommend ModelMaster Acrylics, they have a much better selection of colors and you don't have that "curdling" problem. Once you try ModelMaster acrylics you won't go back.

It might take two or three coats to get coverage.  Are you expecting to only have to apply one coat?  When I brush paint with Tamiya, it usually takes three coats or maybe more depending on the color.  I also try to keep the coats thin.

I would agree that Model Master Acryl paints brush paint better, but I like Tamiya for airbrushing.

-Jesse

Thanks for the feedback folks. Actually - I did assume it was a one coat job.

Sorry, I should have taken that into account. I will try that next.

 Having said that - adding thinner for me (The more thinner the worse) just seperates pigment from liquid. So mulitiple coats would probably look like multiple coats of uglyness.

Having practiced this week, it appears that my best combination thus far is straight paint, loading the brush heavily, painting lightly and trying not to go over the same section repeatedly. The results are ok for interior, wheel wells, etc. I would not try a complete model this way though.

I have also, commited to going the airbrush route. Not that I wont continue to practice with a brush and working on this issue, but spray canning the exterior is not something I would really really like to continue. The only thing holding me back so far is where to do it. In the garage where its cold/hot/boring(No TV Radio etc) or indoors (Where I would need to worry about SprayBooth and Exaust etc)

So thank you all again. I will continue to try and test your recommendations and get to the bottom of this.I realize this is not an overnight thing and will requiere some dedication. 

It does sound rather strange. Tamiya acrylics (well, apart from white, red and yellow) have rather dense pigment loads and usually take thinning quite well.

I've used Tamiya acrylics for over 25 years and have never experienced "separation" like you have described - it almost sounds like an incompatibility of sorts. Are you using the correct Tamiya thinner (X-20A)?

Yes sir. I am using the tamiya thinner. I am completely convinced its user error and not fault of the product.Poorly stired, wrong brush, bad technique, purchased a bad batch of paint, 100 other things.

Considering my troubles thus far, I am having a great time doing this. I especially like the painting process. I am more intruiged by learning to paint the objects realisticly than by having the model itself if that makes sense.

 So I will continue to move forward. The best part of this is the use of Windex. HA! I can practice, windex and start again. Its awesome. I love it. That in itself is a great reason to love the paint.