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Tamiya panel line accent color question


jcorley

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I picked these up at my LHS and I've tried it on bare plastic and it looks great.

 

The directions say:

Do not apply onto enamel paint. Shake well or stir with paint stirrer before using. If paint is too thick, thin with X-20 Enamel Thinner. To remove excess, wait until it has completely dried, then use a cotton swab dipped in X-20 Enamel Thinner to wipe off.

 

My question is this: as this is thinned using X-20, can it be used on Tamiya paint? Wouldn't the cleanup procedure also work to damage the paint?

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Normally you can put an enamel on top of another enamel, assuming the same type of enamel is used for both coats. Tamiya's 'acrylics' are technically enamels, but are alcohol based, so if Tamiya's enamels and enamel thinner use a different solvent, it's possible they might damage a coat of Tamiya 'acrylic.' The only way is know is to try it on an old model. Spray a coat of 'acrylic' and allow it to fully dry/cure, then try the enamel stain on top of it.

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Yep. I guess I've got to find an old scribed junker and paint different types on different parts and begin testing since nobody else has really used these yet.

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Discovery #1

The bottle lied. If one waits just 20 minutes the stuff will be not only completely dried but almost impossible to remove with a cotton swab. Hard pressure with a t-shirt was required and that also took of the very thin coat of paint.

Wing repainted with a thicker coat and waiting for it to dry for try #2

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I just published Pable Bauleo's review of the panel line wash.

 

http://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/tamiya-panel-line-accent-color

 

Pablo put the panel line wash on over Future, and it worked pretty well

Then he used Mig's wash thinner and it worked nicely.

 

Jim Pearsall

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In his review, Pablo Bauleo stated, "They are an enamel-based wash, so it is smelly and it could attack bare plastic, so test it on a scrap piece (a runner or extra part) first." I've been building models for approximately 60 of my 70 years on this planet, and while I cannot attest to the smell of this product as I have not tried it, I've NEVER known an enamel that would "attack bare plastic."

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Yes, but in his next paragraph Pablo tried the wash on a bare Eduard part, and it worked fine. He says it COULD attack bare plastic, but the "experiment" showed that it didn't. At least not Eduard plastic.

And you're so right, I've never seen an enamel that attacked plastic.

 

Jim

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not that its the same thing, but I'm really liking the Model Master Acrylic washes. They haven't attacked any of the paints I use, and you just use a cotton swab dipped in water to wipe away the excess. Something I wasn't expecting is that they give the paint kind of a streaked, uneven look, which really makes any naval aircraft like the F-14A I'm back to building again look more like its been at sea for a while. Their instructions also lie about time before removing excess. You should do small patches, and start the excess removal as soon as you finish washing a patch. It doesn't attack or soften the original paint layer though, which is a huge plus.

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Yes, Nick

 

I have now tried the Tamiya on PollyScale. I went front to back on an old F-84G fuselage half. After I got to the back (30sec?) I went to begin to remove it from the front. It was dried already and had to rub so hard that it started to rub thru the PS to the primer underneath.

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  • 2 years later...

I've used the panel line accent stuff over Tamiya's gloss clear without any issues.  What I've found works is to apply it over the gloss coat and let it dry (12+ hours).  Then I'd use a cotton swab dipped into enamel thinner, squeeze out most of the excess onto a paper towel so the cotton is barely damp, and then go over the model slowly removing any overwash.  I don't spend a lot of time in one place.  Instead, for those stubborn spots, I'll let the model sit for an hour and then go over it again with a new swab.

Note that Tamiya's paints (including their gloss clear) are acrylics and I've found enamel thinners generally don't affect it.  Tamiya paints are thinned with X-20A thinner, which is alcohol based, from the smell.  It's not the same as X-20, which is their enamel thinner.  A lot of people get these two mixed up; X-20A is for their acrylics, X-20 is for their enamel paints. The paints that Tamiya exports to the US are all acrylics and should be thinned with X-20A.  I don't believe Tamiya exports any of their enamel paints to the US, including the enamel thinner X-20.  You can find it for sale at shops that import Japanese stuff, but not on Tamiya's USA website (tamiyausa.com).

The panel line washes are enamel based, that's why Tamiya tells you to use X-20 to clean up.  I don't think X-20A will work at all; what it would do is melt the Tamiya paint under the wash and remove the wash that way, along with the paint, making a big mess.

The instructions for the panel line washes state explicitly to use X-20 to clean up, but they don't even export that to the USA.  What I've used is Testors Enamel Thinner; it cleans the wash off Tamiya's gloss clear coat easily, without affecting the clear coat.

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