Different brand paint mixing compatibility question.

Not really. Pollyscale uses a predominantly aqueous system, and reacts very poorly to Tamiya's primary solvent, which is alcohol.

That being said, it might work very short term (as in mix and spray) if you are using very small amounts of the Polly Scale. Put a drop of the Polly Scale in five drops of Tamiya on a glass plate. Mix. Flood with 90% isopropyl alcohol (or Tamiya thinner—nearly the same thing) and stir. Any sign of coagulation, stringyness, or clumping means it won't work. Let it sit for five minutes and reinspect. If it looks ugly, it will be ugly.

You can also use a little light gray or yellow if you don't have white. The other method is to apply the paint thinly over a light colored primer/plastic making it somewhat opaque instead of solid.

 

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

The other method is to apply the paint thinly over a light colored primer/plastic making it somewhat opaque instead of solid.

This is a much better idea than trying to mix the two and hoping it works. 

Thanks for the replies guys.   I mixed 60/40 Tam. to the reefer white and it mixed up smooth as silk.  Brushed some and dried "looking" perfect.  Then thinned it about 50/50 with Tamiya thinner and again very smooth.  So does that mean there should be no long term problem and it appears to be "safe"?

Marc,

That's very interesting. The only remaining question is adhesion. After 24 hours, try a tape pull-off test (assuming you got the plastic surface clean before you painted—recall how I keep harping on a clean substrate for acrylics!) Both Tamiya and Polly Scale acrylics have superior adhesion, so they should not come off. Or try scraping with a thumbnail. In fact, when properly applied, they won't scrape off with a metal blade. So if the mixture adheres well, then it worked.

I usually use Polly scale plastic prep to clean and de-static.  I'll let you know what happens.

Shouldn't have a surface problem, then.

"Temporary Tread Head"? 

Triarius wrote:

Shouldn't have a surface problem, then. "Temporary Tread Head"?

Yup... I'm doing tanks now. Well at least a couple.  BTW  paint went down great... good coverage and looks like its gonna be just fine.