Brushing with Tamiya paint.

[Jim62]

Man I am so happy to have found a way to brush paint with my Tamiya paints. I didn't think it could be done with success, but a simple thinning with water and they brush just fine. Man you gotta love youtube for information. I actually like it better than Vallejo because two coats and I was done. lighten the color and paint the highlights. badabing badaboom done. Vallejo.....paint many many thin coats, then switch to a lighter color and paint highlights with many thin coats. Switch to a lighter color paint more highlights with many thin coats, rinse lather and repeat. Hmmmmm......yep I'm going with Tamiya.

 

[blakeh1]

I found using a good brush is also key. You want a larger brush to avoid the brush strokes along with thinner paint

One thing you have to be careful with is if you use the tamiya thinner to pant, and go over unsealed Tamiya, it can soften the underlying layer

In some cases that actually works in my favor. I find touching up airbrushed stuff where the paint got under the mask for example works nicely if I use the same thinned paint from the airbrush, but brush paint it on. You basically have to work quickly and avoid doing multiple layers at once without letting the previous one dry, but in the end it blends seemlessy as long as it is not large flat areas

I often hand brush paint the off color panels on Star Wars stuff that way instead of having to break out the airbrush for them

 

[the Baron]

Yes, so many people say that Tamiya acrylics can't be brushed by hand successfully, but thinning is the key. The paint is formulated for airbrushing and is meant to be thinned for use. I had no success with water, myself, nor with isopropyl-though isopropyl works to clean my brushes. I eventually worked out to use Tamiya's own proprietary acrylic thinner, and then I got my best results. I can lay down coats as thin as if they were airbrushed.

 

[blakeh1]

Yes, so many people say that Tamiya acrylics can't be brushed by hand successfully, but thinning is the key. The paint is formulated for airbrushing and is meant to be thinned for use. I had no success with water, myself, nor with isopropyl-though isopropyl works to clean my brushes. I eventually worked out to use Tamiya's own proprietary acrylic thinner, and then I got my best results. I can lay down coats as thin as if they were airbrushed.

I would be hesitant with with water as I did not have luck with it. The OP however seems to have had luck

As you mentioned, I prefer Tamiya's own thinner. Just beware that when I have used it, you have to do a once and done coat (at least until it dries) or it can then become difficult to work with and get flat as their thinner can also affect previous coats.

i.e. you can't do two brush blending and multiple coats at once and the like with it

 

[Jim62]

Yes, so many people say that Tamiya acrylics can't be brushed by hand successfully, but thinning is the key. The paint is formulated for airbrushing and is meant to be thinned for use. I had no success with water, myself, nor with isopropyl-though isopropyl works to clean my brushes. I eventually worked out to use Tamiya's own proprietary acrylic thinner, and then I got my best results. I can lay down coats as thin as if they were airbrushed.

I was surprised as could be. I did some with just retarder, worked good but if you rush it does what the thinner does. I tried water and retarder, not bad at all but you can still get some pull up on the second coat if you aren't careful. With just water the paint dries very quickly, not any blending going on. I'm still messing with it to see what I can do with it. If you use retarder your painting will end up with a gloss, at least mine did. Just water and it is dead flat. I will try the next using X20a to thin and take my time and see how that goes. I still like Vallejo for face painting though I suck at it right now LOL.

 

[Jim62]

I found using a good brush is also key. You want a larger brush to avoid the brush strokes along with thinner paint

One thing you have to be careful with is if you use the tamiya thinner to pant, and go over unsealed Tamiya, it can soften the underlying layer

In some cases that actually works in my favor. I find touching up airbrushed stuff where the paint got under the mask for example works nicely if I use the same thinned paint from the airbrush, but brush paint it on. You basically have to work quickly and avoid doing multiple layers at once without letting the previous one dry, but in the end it blends seemlessy as long as it is not large flat areas

I often hand brush paint the off color panels on Star Wars stuff that way instead of having to break out the airbrush for them

Yes the thinner can be harsh on a second coat but I'll give it a whirl with a little water and see what it does, haven't tried that and it may be a disaster but I'll see. One thing for sure 4 drops of paint in a cup with a drop of water dries up on you pretty darned fast so you can't dilly dally around to much.

 

[Jim62]

Well I have this guy almost done and this is my results so far. I have 4 or 5 guys on this dio and they may each get painted a bit differently or not. These are only ipad photos at a fairly good viewing distance to get an idea of how it went with the Tamiya thinned with water and Tamiya with water + Tamiya retarder. The pants were done with the Retarder include and when I was finished they had a gloss to them but I have since given him a flat coat. Before the flat coat I put a gloss coat and used army painter washes. light tone on the jacket and the boot ankle covers, whatever their called LOL and a dark tone on the pants and boots. Face and hands got the Flesh wash. Next guy I'm gonna wash it right on the paint to see if I prefer that staining look on flat paint. It would tend to make it look dirty which it would be. I hope you can see these okay, zooming in on them just gets fuzzy and looking like crap to me. Well off to the porch to relax for now.