Tamiya Paints Article

How to use and paint with Tamiya Spray paints

Whatever you ride, the body and paintwork of your RC car are the first thing to notice. Some people like their car shiny, some like a patina look, some single colour others multi colours.

Tamiya spray paints are one of the best, and are widely available 

Read further to learn more about Tamiya Spray Paints, how to select and use them correctly

Why Tamiya Paints are so good?

Tamiya are hobby specific - meaning that they are designed with the RC hobby in mind.

Tamiya paints have a higher pigment content than many other brands. This should be kept in mind when comparing to other brands. Especially white tones are especially famous for their high pigment density.

Tamiya is using a special nozzle in their cans that form a very fine and sharp spray for the paint. When this is combined with high inner pressure of the can, paint sprays out nice and equal and the result of the paintwork (when done right and with time) is at the level that is high enough for modelling.

Tamiya spray paints are solvent based and dry and cure very fast. This in mind, always use Tamiya Sprays outdoors or in a very well ventilated painting room or box.

Lexan bodies are painted inside. You can use masking tape or liquid mask to make different designs

Tamiya have 2 types of paint, and its important to choose the correct one for your application

Tamiya PS for Lexan bodies

PS-paints are for flexible, thin polycarbonate (Lexan) bodies only. These type of bodies are most common in Radio Control cars such as Monster Trucks, Buggies and touring cars. This paint grips hard to the plastic and after drying it stays flexible. 

Polycarbonate bodies are most commonly painted from inside. This gives a nice shine and paintwork is also well protected from the scratches and other damage. Remember to remove the protecting film from outside before you add decal stickers!

An easy way to distinguish how to separate these paints is that word "PS" is pretty close to "Polycarbonate", so use PS only for polycarbonate ( lexan ) bodies

TS-paints are for hard plastic only! 

These bodies are strong, often up to 3mm thick and are made usually from strong ABS plastic. This type of body is common on Tamiya trucks, scale crawlers and in many older style Tamiya Nostalgia Kits.

Hard Plastic bodies usually need some preparation work before the paint such as sanding or attaching some body parts. It is very highly recommended to use fine primer paint before the final spray! 

Use high grade masking tape. Something like the Tamiya tapes are good, Cheap brands may let your paint bleed through!

Tips for painting with spray paints:

• Never paint in a hurry! You are going to look at this paintwork for a while so take your time. Total process of finishing paintwork is usually a few days or more from start to finish! Take your time.
• Never paint in too humid air, rain or too cold. Any of these will easily ruin your paintwork. 
• Wash the body with mild soap and let it dry overnight.
• Make a painting plan. What paint and in what order, always darkest colour first on lexan, and darkest last on hard bodies.
• Prepare your body and the painting area. Use masking tape or liquid mask.
• Always double check before starting to paint. Did you mask everything that was supposed to? 
• You can put the cans in warm water (not hot!) to build up more pressure inside the can.
• Shake well. Like really well. Then shake some more.
• Paint slow but steady and keep the can approx 20cm away from the body. Always start and finish the spray outside of the body. Use paint sparingly.
• Let the paint dry for a few minutes between the layers. There is no hurry! Never try to do it "with one shot". Tamiya paints are fine and thin and if you spray too much before the previous layer is dry, there will be runoffs.
• If you make a mistake, stop! Do not try to fix wet paint! Let it dry, you can then  sand out mistakes on hard bodies, or use some paint killer to correct mistakes on lexan bodies

Other painting tips:

• Remember that drying time is different from curing time. Dry paint is dry only from the surface and total cure of the paint (hardening time) can easily be over two weeks, Tamiya paints cure well in a few days.
• Tamiya paints are solvent based and can be painted later with most other paints such as acrylics.
• Use spray paints only for large surfaces. 
• Use modelling paints for details such as panel lines, door handles etc!