Brush painting with Tamiya acrylic paint, My story
Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 9:16 am
Let me start off by saying this, when you look on tamiya.com and look through their product catalog/index and you see all the figures and vehicles painted to perfection, you may not realize that ALL of them are painted using Tamiya's own paint. Whether it's their enamel or acrylic line, I do not know. But, what I do know is that Mr. Tamiya wouldn't want the images of perfectly painted kits, sold under his name, to be done using some other brand of paint.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the main point of this thread. No doubt most modellers on this site and indeed other sites, have used Tamiya acrylic paint in their airbrush and found it works pretty darn good and clean up is a breeze. However, when both others and myself included, have tried to paint figures of even just brush paint a whole kit, the result isn't as good. Now I know there is a complete difference to the 2 methods being described. But, what I experienced when trying to brush paint using Tamiya paint, is that when I went for the second coat, the brush would often pick up the 1st layer of paint and remove it from the surface of the model completely. Well, at first I thought I hadn't let the first coat dry enough, so I washed the figure in Windex to strip the paint and rinsed in water. I let it dry off and came back the next day. I applied a first coat of paint and let it dry for a whole day. I thought to myself well, this isn't working for me. Inevitably, I got impatient and had the same problem happen.
Maybe it's the brushes I thought. I had been using a Model Master #2 and #0 brushes, and for about $5 each, I expected a bit more. So, I purchased a set of 5 Flex-i-File paint brushes and some cheap Tamiya brushes(they are, what I think, bamboo handles). I got both because I wanted free shipping on an order and the cheap Tamiya brushes were just enough to get it, I thought I'd let some younger club members have them. Anyways, I spent a few days regretting that I spent close to $35 on a set of paint brushes, but soon enough they arrived. I ignored the Tamiya brushes and let them sit on my desk, and went to try my new set of tools. First I tried them on some Games Workshop LotR figures, using GW's Citadel paint, which is a great paint, but too expensive. They worked fine and I got a decent result. Then I moved onto a 1/35 Waffen SS infantryman, i wanted to try and kill 2 birds with one stone and paint a figure+paint SS oak leaf camouflage. Tried base coating with Tamiya red brown and same thing as with the sable brushes. My heart sank, I had spent so much on these brushes and none of them could do it. I contemplated switching over to Vallejo Model Color as I had heard good things about it.
Fast forward a few months and you find me at my modelling desk, having just lost the nozzle to my Iwata Neo the day before, and wondering what I could work on. I thought I'd try figure work again, using Tamiya paint as before. I was listening to the latest ISM news report at the time and watched Lee's review of some awesome brushes who's name I could not pronounce nor remember. All I could remember is that they had bamboo handles, or what Lee thought was bamboo. I went through my desk drawers until I found my cheap Tamiya brushes, which had handles that looked of similar wood. I opened them and once wet and then dried to loosen the bristles, it felt too soft and looked like something used for dry brushing. I was skeptical about it working. First I got out my Waffen SS figure and a new bottle of Tamiya red brown. I mixed it thoroughly and dipped the brush in. Like always, I get too much on it,and dabbed it onto paper towel. It went from looking like a dry brushing brush, to a brush used for writing Japanese in ink (used one for an art project once). I applied a base coat, so far so good. I waited about an hour for it to dry and went to apply the second coat. I knew to keep brushing in the same direction and I was trying not to apply too much pressure. It went on without a problem. One thing I learned from wargamers, is to not worry about painting over the details such as belts and stuff, their time will come. After a good solid base coat had been laid down, I felt I knew the secret to painting with Tamiya acrylic paint! I figured out that it wasn't the paint, but the brush! Up until now all the brushes I'd been using were so rigid, that they basically peeled up the previous layers of paint. The key, is not applying too much pressure and using the paint as it is out of the bottle, it's already thin enough for brush painting.
ATTENTION: I will put up pictures to prove this discovery once I am done with my last college final exam! Also, the figure was not primed with anything, only the plastic was washed in warm soapy water. Also, the Flex-i-File and the Model Master brushes are both very fine tools, they are great for paint that works well with brushes that hold their shape. And finally, Tamiya brushes are not the only paint brushes I use, I mainly use Citadel paint brushes for general use and because they are great all around (I bought them after getting involved in Lord of the Rings: Strategy Battle Game and other wargamming).
Now that that's out of the way, on to the main point of this thread. No doubt most modellers on this site and indeed other sites, have used Tamiya acrylic paint in their airbrush and found it works pretty darn good and clean up is a breeze. However, when both others and myself included, have tried to paint figures of even just brush paint a whole kit, the result isn't as good. Now I know there is a complete difference to the 2 methods being described. But, what I experienced when trying to brush paint using Tamiya paint, is that when I went for the second coat, the brush would often pick up the 1st layer of paint and remove it from the surface of the model completely. Well, at first I thought I hadn't let the first coat dry enough, so I washed the figure in Windex to strip the paint and rinsed in water. I let it dry off and came back the next day. I applied a first coat of paint and let it dry for a whole day. I thought to myself well, this isn't working for me. Inevitably, I got impatient and had the same problem happen.
Maybe it's the brushes I thought. I had been using a Model Master #2 and #0 brushes, and for about $5 each, I expected a bit more. So, I purchased a set of 5 Flex-i-File paint brushes and some cheap Tamiya brushes(they are, what I think, bamboo handles). I got both because I wanted free shipping on an order and the cheap Tamiya brushes were just enough to get it, I thought I'd let some younger club members have them. Anyways, I spent a few days regretting that I spent close to $35 on a set of paint brushes, but soon enough they arrived. I ignored the Tamiya brushes and let them sit on my desk, and went to try my new set of tools. First I tried them on some Games Workshop LotR figures, using GW's Citadel paint, which is a great paint, but too expensive. They worked fine and I got a decent result. Then I moved onto a 1/35 Waffen SS infantryman, i wanted to try and kill 2 birds with one stone and paint a figure+paint SS oak leaf camouflage. Tried base coating with Tamiya red brown and same thing as with the sable brushes. My heart sank, I had spent so much on these brushes and none of them could do it. I contemplated switching over to Vallejo Model Color as I had heard good things about it.
Fast forward a few months and you find me at my modelling desk, having just lost the nozzle to my Iwata Neo the day before, and wondering what I could work on. I thought I'd try figure work again, using Tamiya paint as before. I was listening to the latest ISM news report at the time and watched Lee's review of some awesome brushes who's name I could not pronounce nor remember. All I could remember is that they had bamboo handles, or what Lee thought was bamboo. I went through my desk drawers until I found my cheap Tamiya brushes, which had handles that looked of similar wood. I opened them and once wet and then dried to loosen the bristles, it felt too soft and looked like something used for dry brushing. I was skeptical about it working. First I got out my Waffen SS figure and a new bottle of Tamiya red brown. I mixed it thoroughly and dipped the brush in. Like always, I get too much on it,and dabbed it onto paper towel. It went from looking like a dry brushing brush, to a brush used for writing Japanese in ink (used one for an art project once). I applied a base coat, so far so good. I waited about an hour for it to dry and went to apply the second coat. I knew to keep brushing in the same direction and I was trying not to apply too much pressure. It went on without a problem. One thing I learned from wargamers, is to not worry about painting over the details such as belts and stuff, their time will come. After a good solid base coat had been laid down, I felt I knew the secret to painting with Tamiya acrylic paint! I figured out that it wasn't the paint, but the brush! Up until now all the brushes I'd been using were so rigid, that they basically peeled up the previous layers of paint. The key, is not applying too much pressure and using the paint as it is out of the bottle, it's already thin enough for brush painting.
ATTENTION: I will put up pictures to prove this discovery once I am done with my last college final exam! Also, the figure was not primed with anything, only the plastic was washed in warm soapy water. Also, the Flex-i-File and the Model Master brushes are both very fine tools, they are great for paint that works well with brushes that hold their shape. And finally, Tamiya brushes are not the only paint brushes I use, I mainly use Citadel paint brushes for general use and because they are great all around (I bought them after getting involved in Lord of the Rings: Strategy Battle Game and other wargamming).
