Jump to content

Converting Tamiya spray colors to bottle colors


jlk2

Recommended Posts

I am trying to match the various colors of Tamiya's TS and AS lines of spray paint to the equivalent Tamiya acrylic bottle line to airbrush airplanes and military vehicles. I do not care to use the spray cans, as they are not only expensive if I need only a small amount of paint for one-time use, but difficult to control to the degree I can get with an airbrush.

 

As an example of what I need, AS-1 Dark Green matches to XF-11 J.N. Green.

 

Tamiya customer service was of no help when I asked them, saying that they have never been given this information by Tamiya in Japan.

 

Does anyone know of such a listing?

 

Thanx.

 

JLK

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why don't you decan just what you need of the TS paint and spray it through your air brush that is what I do and and it last longer not wasting paint in the air. Thin it with Tamiya lacquer thinner and your good to go. And even if you only need small amounts get some of those small Tamiya empty jars at the LHS to store what you you have left over for next time you just might need to add a little more thinner to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanx to all those who replied. To get as many opinions as possible, I posted this question in several forums.

 

Apparently, there is no master cross-reference as I sought for Tamiya.

 

Tamiya, in the kit instructions, gives suggestions as what colors to use. The exterior colors were always recommended in spray cans, possibly for convenience of application.

 

I took Tamiya's recommended color lists and made a master list of what paints I would need for the dozen or so kits I have to make, and ended up with a list of 85 colors, 23 in spray cans and 62 in bottles; apparently, Tamiya is trying to sell me as much paint as possible! <g>

 

So I decided to try and match the spray can with bottles to see if I could avoid buying the cans. After three hours of looking at pictures of paint samples posted on Tamiya's web site --- and knowing full well that the color on the Internet may not match the actual color as painted -- I came up with what I thought might work to eliminate having to buy spray cans at $7.00 a can. Unfortunately, many of the colors in spray cans cannot be directly matched, and since Tamiya does not give the FS numbers for any of their paints, I often had to make a best guess.

 

I am writing a rather nasty letter to Tamiya about their marketing practices, for I hold the opinion that anything available in a spray should be available, under the same name, in a bottle.

 

And, oddly enough, it would appear that the Tamiya spray colors can be very easily matched to Model Masters line of bottled paints, usually by name. I was able to match these in about ten minutes.

 

So I may choose to use Model Masters rather than Tamiya for the exteriors, and mix and match as needed for other parts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...