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Which model paint type or brand brush paints the best?


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There is another way: Premix your retarder with 90% isopropyl alcohol (which you should be doing, anyway). Put a small amount of this solvent blend in a small container. Dip the brush in this before loading it with paint, and periodically as you paint. The technique requires a little practice, but it works.

+1. This is what I have been doing on my Hind's cockpit with touch ups and painting all the tiny cockpit parts. I put about 5 drops of Tamiya paint in a medicine cup, 1 or 2 drops of alcohol, and stir. I preload my brush with straight isopropyl alcohol, a quick tap of the brush on a paper towel, dip the brush in the paint, and go to town. It still dries fairly fast without using retarder, but nowhere near what straight out of the bottle Tamiya dries at.

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Strictly speaking, Tamiya does not make "enamels". (And don't get me started on all the things I hate about enamels!)

Tamiya does offer an absolutely superb line of synthetic lacquer (acrylic pigment) paints in their AS and TS series of rattle cans. These paints are somewhat expensive but second to none, and IMHO, well worth the cost, especially when decanted for use in an airbrush. However, they do not hand-brush very well.

In any case, Tamiya synthetic lacquers should never be used without proper ventilation and safety gear, including a high-quality multi-part respirator. (Frankly, the same goes for spraying acrylics, too.)

cheers

Old Blind Dog

Actually, Tamiya does make enamels, though not widely available in the U.S. Here's a website showing both Tamiya's enamel and acrylic ranges.http://www.gundammodelkits.com/how-to-gundam-model-kits-paints-tutorial.html

Tamiya started out doing a joint venture with Pactra in the early 1970s with a line of rebranded Pactra enamels called "Pactra Tamiya Color." In 1984 Tamiya then switched over to producing its own line of enamels that responded better to Japan's more humid climate. There was also the aforementioned Tamiya Color lacquer series which was very limited in color range compared to now. Tamiya launched a water-based acrylic formula in 1981 and renamed the two lines as "Tamiya Enamel Color" and "Tamiya Acrylic Color" to clearly differentiate the two.

But getting back to the original question, I use Tamiya Enamels I purchased in Japan for much of my brush painting because I find them to streak less than Model Master Enamels and don't go on as "heavy" as Humbrol enamels, though Humbrol covers better. Hard to beat Humbrol enamels especially from the 1970s/80s for brushing. The formula seems different now (no more lead?) and doesn't brush the way I remember them.

Edited by trojansamurai
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Strictly speaking, Tamiya does not make "enamels". (And don't get me started on all the things I hate about enamels!)

Mmmm... Tamiya makes enamels. They're in small square bottles.

IMG_6447_zps68ad50c5.jpg

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Hard to beat Humbrol enamels especially from the 1970s/80s for brushing. The formula seems different now (no more lead?) and doesn't brush the way I remember them.

Absolutely true, but I don't know anything about the lead part.

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Mmmm... Tamiya makes enamels. They're in small square bottles.

Mike,

I would love to try Tamiya Enamels. I use Sprue Brothers, and ScaleHobbyist for my online purchases, but they don't carry them. May I ask where you buy yours?

Thanks,

Joel

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Italeri acrylics also hand brush very well. I just hand brushed some colors on top of the bottle caps, and the colors covered and leveled out very nicely with minimal brush strokes.

italeri_acrylics.jpg

You can get Italeri acrylics in the states from Sprue Brothers and ScaleHobbyist.

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Mike,

I would love to try Tamiya Enamels. I use Sprue Brothers, and ScaleHobbyist for my online purchases, but they don't carry them. May I ask where you buy yours?

Thanks,

Joel

Tamiya enamels are sold pretty much in every hobby shop here in Melbourne, Australia, along with the acrylic range. I use acrylic for all my painting needs. I bought the Tamiya enamel to try out as wash.

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Tamiya enamels are sold pretty much in every hobby shop here in Melbourne, Australia, along with the acrylic range. I use acrylic for all my painting needs. I bought the Tamiya enamel to try out as wash.

Mike,

Thanks for the info. Bu the postage from Australia to New York would be more then the cost of the paints. Will keep on looking for a USA supplier.

Joel

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Mike,

Thanks for the info. Bu the postage from Australia to New York would be more then the cost of the paints. Will keep on looking for a USA supplier.

Joel

Yeah. Same goes with shipping from USA to Australia. The strange thing is, shipping from UK to Australia is not that bad. I mean, distance-wise, Aust-UK and Aust-USA are roughly the same. I've bought a couple of things from online retailers in London.

I just checked Tamiya enamel bottle and noticed that the label is all in Japanese, while the Tamiya acrylic label is in English. So, I guess that's why there's no Tamiya enamel in USA.

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The Tamiya enamels probably don't meet the VOC requirements of the US for import, or use a solvent banned for import, or violate some environmental regulation in the US. "Specialty coatings" have exemptions of various sorts, but the hobby industry doesn't have a sufficiently large lobby graft organization (if any at all) to get hobby paints classified as such, even if it is obvious to anything with the brain of a slug.

I think the lower cost of shipping between Britain and Australia may have something to do with special trade relations between some elements of the former British Empire, or it may simply be that there is more trade between the two generally, thus reducing rates. If you really want to know, check the number of tons moved from each source to the destination country. A significant difference in tonnage usually leads to different shipping rates.

Edited by Triarius
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