Tamiya acrylics applied with a brush

[sbaxter]

I have some of the Tamiya acrylics and their retarder to lengthen the open time and make them more self-leveling. I was hoping to do some detail painting without having to mask -- if I do and I mess up a bit (and I certainly will), will a cotton swab and water let me clean up my mess, or will I have to use alcohol instead of water? I'm concerned alcohol might mar the base coat. Is there a difference in this regard between the 70ish percent IPA and the 91 percent?

Thank!

Qapla'

SSB

[MadScientistModeler]

I use 91% alcohol for the Tamiya acrylics. When I use them the spray, I use the Tamiya thinner. Not the lacquer thinner.

[southwestforests]

I'm concerned alcohol might mar the base coat. Is there a difference in this regard between the 70ish percent IPA and the 91 percent?

No meaningful difference in what each percentage does in my experience using Tamiya's Acrylics since mid 1980s.

--> If that base coat is also the acrylic it will vanish along with the color coat when alcohol is used, at least in my experience.

When painting HO scale model train body castings that is for me an advantage, if some kind of massive mishap happens, put the body to soak in olive jar full of either percentage alcohol and you are back to bare plastic: Tamiya acrylic clear gloss gone, second color gone, first color gone, undercoat gone, bare plastic sees daylight again.

Using something with different paint chemistry as the undercoat/basecoat changes that equation.

[southwestforests]

-- if I do and I mess up a bit (and I certainly will), will a cotton swab and water let me clean up my mess, or will I have to use alcohol instead of water?

You are on a very short time limit for water being useful there, normally less than a minute.
Plan on having a half a minute window.

[sbaxter]

-- if I do and I mess up a bit (and I certainly will), will a cotton swab and water let me clean up my mess, or will I have to use alcohol instead of water?

You are on a very short time limit for water being useful there, normally less than a minute.
Plan on having a half a minute window.

I did some messing around with it last night and discovered the same. Short time cleaning my mistakes with water, but I could remove them even after they were dry with some alcohol. My base coat was a Rustoleum metallic spray ("Champagne," a pale gold), and the alcohol didn't seem to affect it at all. I sprayed the base coat over the weekend and didn't mess with it until yesterday. It might be different if I hadn't given it plenty of time to cure, which included about 12 hours in my dehydrator at 115 degrees.

Qapla'

SSB

[southwestforests]

given it plenty of time to cure, which included about 12 hours in my dehydrator at 115 degrees.

I have occasionally pondered getting one of those.
Any deep dark obscure and arcane secrets I should know about them?

[sbaxter]

given it plenty of time to cure, which included about 12 hours in my dehydrator at 115 degrees.

I have occasionally pondered getting one of those.
Any deep dark obscure and arcane secrets I should know about them?

Not that I'm aware, other than paying attention to the interior dimensions so that you'll know whatever you choose will hold the largest items you'd want to put in it. Mine was actually given to me years ago by a co-worker who no longer used it. It fits my needs pretty well, though if I were buying one myself I might go for one that is taller than the one I have, but I'm not sure how much practical difference it would have made. Some current models have push button controls for selecting temperature, and those may include multi-degree jumps at each setting (i.e. you can set it for, say, 125 degrees, and the next setting down may be 113 degrees). For drying paint, I don't know that this makes much difference. Mine just has a dial, and I have set it at 125 at times with no ill effects but I more commonly set it around 115. It may be effective at higher temperatures to bake paint on metal if you leave it in for an extended time, but I'm not sure because I haven't tried that. Some might allow setting at higher than 125, but I'm not sure.

So the short answer, probably not. I think they do make a real difference in curing paint, especially if you're using a gloss that takes a while to dry and cure at room temperature. Depending on the paint type, it can shorten the time needed by hours or maybe even days.

Qapla'

SSB

[Lt. Z0mBe]

The higher percentage IPA will be “hotter” and thus mire likely to damage undercoats. It depends on the undercoat, but one of three things will happen:

1.) Nothing, on the first time or two.
2.) The undercoat will “frost” like CA does with fingerprints. It can usually be fixed by brushing on some Future.
3.) The undercoat will blister and/or just come off.

When I do small detail work with acrylics, I literally constantly touch my brush to my mouth, keeping it wet. I am talking about 000 brushes, and the like, so the amount of paint is tiny, At any rate, the saliva acts as a bit of a retarder, allowing blending on figures. If I make a mistake, it’s a quick “dip” in the piehole, and then I use the saliva’d brush to quickly fix the mistake. Works like a charm, but I don’t recommend it with any brushes larger than, say, a straight pin tip.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

[sbaxter]

Another advantage I thought of with getting a taller dehydrator is that you could pretty easily rig a method to hang parts or entire sprue sets from the top of the chamber, so they don't touch anything during the drying process. Just something to consider.

Qapla'

SSB

[sbaxter]

The higher percentage IPA will be “hotter” and thus mire likely to damage undercoats.

Okay -- I had wondered about that. I have an Iron Man figure I've been working on which currently has a glossy "candy apple red" top coat. I want to paint the gold, silver, aluminum and gunmetal details by hand without having to mask some of the really convoluted areas; I just want to careful as I can and be able to clean up any (small, I hope) mistakes with alcohol and the little precision cotton swabs from Tamiya. I'm going to put a couple of coats of clear gloss on the red first, and hope that (along with some of the less-hot alcohol) will keep the red from being removed or visibly damaged. A little damage to the gloss coat won't be much of a problem because I plan to apply an additional gloss coat after the detail painting is done, and finish with a semi-gloss clear.

Qapla'

SSB

[zaphod]

I have had fantastic luck when brushing using Tamiya Retarder and Gunze Sangyo Mr. Levelling Thinner.

If using Tamiya Thinner, a little goes a long way. Don't do 50/50, or the paint will get weird.

If you want your Tamiya to be a thin coat, add maybe 10% Tamiya retarder to the mix, and 10%-20% good ol' Isopropyl (91%) from Walgreens or Tamiya acrylic thinner (not the lacquer stuff).
You can use drug store Isopropanol because it is similar enough to the isopropanol/butanol cocktail in the Tamiya Acrylic thinner.

Mr. Levelling Thinner works a little less well than Tamiya Retarder, but it's still really good, and is handy for airbrushing Tamiya as well.
Just be ready for some fumes if you use the levelling stuff.

I found that I enjoy using my Tamiya paints again after trying these.