I have a chance to get allot of tamiya paint for a $1.00 a bottle but not sure about quality. Because I have used Testors MM and tamiya both but only for base coats. But the tamiya paint I am going to use them for is for non-base coat stuff like seats, front & back light's stuff like that small detailed stuff.Also for inside colors of trucks dashboards ; Black Hawk cocpit stuff; M1's inside detail; M2A2's inside coat; M113's inside coat.

I have never gone that far with a model for armour to really have a feel for it like so me of the wonderful experts here have. Or is it your own style how you feel because I think testors has allot more colors than tamiya.But a $1.00 a bottle is pretty cheap.


Happy Modeling
(++) 1:35

I use MM, Tamiya, Games Workshop and Vallejo paints. If I had a chance to get alot of Tamiya paints for $1...I'd jump on it, great deal.


:-)

Depends on what you prefer. I only use MM enamels. I like the way they are easily thinned for airbrushing and also work great or brushing as well. The enamel tends to adhere to the plastic better too. I don't like acrylics at all. My oprinions, but I have no use for acrylics. Tried them a few times and had nothing but poor results.

I use both Model Master enamals and Tamiya acrylics.


I use mostly Model Master enamals and I almost always choose them for brush painting over tamiya's. To Me they mostly brush better than the tamiya paints esp over anything bigger than say a seat back..

anything larger than a seat that I want to use tamiya for I airbrush.

but for $1 they are worth getting... last month I ticked off they wife by buying about 50 bottles of Model Master enamal I didn't really need just because they were about .95 cents a bottle..

I am not loyal by brand only. I use whichever brand has the color I need. I do, however, really like the way Tamiya paints cover. Easy to thin with alcohol for airbrushing. The stuff is usually $2.80 and up. For $1.00 a bottle, I don't think you can go wrong.

Patrick

I'm a hard-core MM enamel guy, but at a buck a bottle I'ld pick up a bunch of Tamiya and learn to use it. If nothing else, I'ld get black, white , red and yellow.

Tamiya and Humbrol is mainly who i swear by. If i could buy Tamiya paints for $1 each, i would definitely have a full rack of it on my wall by now.

I use Tamiya but only in an airbrush. I find it terrible to brush with no matter how much i thin it. even after letting it dry a while. Ever time I put the second coat with a brush it drags up the first coat.

I think it is style and how you learn to use what you choose. I've been building models professionally since 1985. Must be dating myself I guess, 20 years sounds like a really long time to do something...

Anyway - I have absolutely little-to-no-use for enamels or lacquers other than a clear or gloss coat. I've used Tamiya's acrylics for most of this time, but have in recent years begun to add ModelMaster's Acryl line of acrylics, along with Polly Scale and Vallejo colors. I use these colors in conjunction with each other easily and have been commended for a long time on quality of finishes.

I think the medium you chose should complement your style - what I find wonderful and easy to work with is not the same as the next modeler. Tamiya acrylic for a buck a bottle is a good deal indeed - but Tamiya acrylics are challenging if you're not acquainted with them. Especially so if you're desiring to handpaint with them - which is why I use Vallejo's line. No one-stop shopping here with Tamiya's acrylics.

However, Polly Scale and MM's Acryl line offers greater color ranges and better performance as compared to Tamiya's line of acrylics. I'd recommend them higher. If you're a brush-painter - you'll like them. If you're an airbrusher - you'll like them too.

Just my experience - your mileage will vary...

Gunnie

I prefer Humbrol enamels to Model Master as i get a much better coverage when brush painting.

As to Tamiya acrylics, the seceret in using it in brush painting is to thin the acrylic a bit ( I use wind shield washer fluid with a dot of Liquid dish soap) and then flood the model with paint. do not try to level the acrylic or go back to hit a missed spot. Tamiya's acrylic will level out by it's self, but if you try to level with a brush, it will drag the paint. I let it dry overnight and then go back and hit he spots I missed in the first pass.

For a buck a bottle, buy it!

In some of my more wild, conspiracy-theory moments (after too much Iced Tea, usually), I sometimes think that in the distant future when enamel and lacquer model paints are outlawed or made prohibitively expensive because they, along with millions of other chemicals fall under a sweeping environmental regulation, I'll be happy I taught myself to use acrylics. If a spouse or significant-other thinks you're nuts for buying that much paint, give them that explanation. The emphasis is on delivering it with a straight face, and then surviving the counter-battery disbelieving sigh.

I still use Tamiya acrylics for washes etc but found that in the heat of Queensland they dried too quickly so I switched to Humbrol enamels for the bulk of my painting but I still use my Tamiya acrylics where I can.

cheers
Cliff

You'd have to pay me a dollar a botle to take Tamiya off your hands.
While others may love it, life's too short and modeling time more so to be bothered with adding dish washing soap, windshield washer fluid and/or a myriad of other things to get something to do what it's supposed to out of the bottle. Further, the range of colors is outrageously limited and not matched to anything which then means you have to mix colors to get the right color. Heaven help you if you need to do a touch up!
That said, the clear shades I still have aren't that bad, but they may go back to the original formula and are certainy in the original size bottles.
Sad thing is, 20 years ago, I'd have jumped at the chance...the first formula was that good.

Tamiya paints is great, it is acrylic so it dries faster, mm is a great enamul, but whatever paint you use, be careful of humbrol, don't get me wrong, it is a great paint, but the metal containers do not seal after 2 or 3 uses, causing the paint to dry out, no matter how careful you are. Tamiya paints might not have such a vast colour variety like humbrol and mm, but I like their containers, mm also has glass containers, but the metal lid is my problem with it, Tamiya has a plastic lid. Then lastly, Tamiya's containers are 23ml, Humbrol 14ml and mm 15ml, purely on size I think that you should go with Tamiya.

(PS: All points I mentioned is my personal opinion)

I use 3 brands of Acrylics. Modelmaster, Polyscale and Tamiya.

Polyscale being the first choice because of it's self levelling property. Model master second and Tamiya third.

The reason being is I can brush paint with the first 2, but I cannot brush paint Tamiya Acrylics no matter what I try to save my life.

If the majority of the painting you are going to do is with an airbrush. I will say the Tamiya is darn good out of an airbrush. Almost as good as the Polyscale. IMHO

At a buck a bottle though I might jump on it and get an airbrush with the money I would save.