Tamiya Paint Cure Time - Help Needed

[lcorinth]

Question for you airbrushers out there:

How long does it take for Tamiya lacquers to cure? I've been working on a D Region Tomahawk, and painted all the parts separately with Tamiya paints in an airbrush.

The paints went on beautifully, but everything I do seems to remove some paint! After applying a white base coat, I went do do the red and brown details on the nose cone. I used Tamiya masking tape (which I reserve for special occasions). Despite being low-tack, and by the same company, I found that when I pulled up the mask, the tape had taken off some of the gloss and the white underneath had been roughed up.

Then, when handling the fins, I found I removed some paint on the edges when trying to glue them into place.

Finally, I got a smudge of something on the nose cone, so I took a dab of rubbing alcohol to clean it off, and it took the color off down to the primer.

Are these paints just more fragile than other paints (like your rattle can enamels, which I'm most used to using), or do I need to give them a lot more time to cure? It's already been several days.

Thanks!

 

[modeltrains]

Finally, I got a smudge of something on the nose cone, so I took a dab of rubbing alcohol to clean it off, and it took the color off down to the primer.

Yep, that has been an observed behavior since I began using Tamiya acrylic paints when they became available where I lived in mid 1980s. Works great as a paint remover, just drop parts in a jar of alcohol wait 15 minutes or so, paint gone.
Tamiya lacquer paints are just about as sensitive to alcohol.

In my experience alcohol will also damage Testors spray lacquer dullcoat and glosscoat.

--> Question, what did you thin paint with when airbrushing it?

My experience is that Tamiya's paints have a more durable finish when thinned with their own thinners.
And a really fragile finish when thinned with alcohol.

 

[Cape Byron]

+1. The only thing you should thin Tamiya acrylics with is Tamiya's X-20A acrylic thinner.

Thin the paint until it is 'the consistency of milk'.

Curing time is widely variable and dependent on humidity. I can usually pull masking tape after about 10 minutes, but we're in a hot place.

Your primer is very important too.

 

[lcorinth]

Yep, that has been an observed behavior since I began using Tamiya acrylic paints when they became available where I lived in mid 1980s. Works great as a paint remover, just drop parts in a jar of alcohol wait 15 minutes or so, paint gone.
Tamiya lacquer paints are just about as sensitive to alcohol.

In my experience alcohol will also damage Testors spray lacquer dullcoat and glosscoat.

--> Question, what did you thin paint with when airbrushing it?

My experience is that Tamiya's paints have a more durable finish when thinned with their own thinners.
And a really fragile finish when thinned with alcohol.

I'm using the Tamiya X-20 thinner, as recommended. I have seen people online saying you can use other stuff, but I don't want to mess around too much until I get to know airbrushing better, and these paints in particular.

Overall, this rocket doesn't look terrible, but there are a lot of little detail screw-ups and paint flaws. Luckily, I have a few of them, so I guess this isn't a bad way to learn what works and what doesn't. I'm wondering if I should try different paints next time. I've just seen Tamiya so highly recommended, but it seems like it's pretty easily damaged, and I don't know what to use to clean up a flaw.

I was just using the alcohol to clean up a smudge of some kind. I thought it would be okay, since plastic modelers always seem to recommend it for removing fingerprints.

Oh, I also have some fingerprints on the rocket that I'd like to remove, and now I don't know what to use, if alcohol is going to damage the color. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Cape Byron]

I'm using the Tamiya X-20 thinner, as recommended.

X-20 or X-20A? Different beasties.

X-20 is a petroleum based thinner for enamel. X-20A is an alcohol based thinner for acrylics.

You could try a little X-20A in a cotton bud (Q-Tip) with fingerprints, but I don't have any real experience with that.

 

[David Schwantz]

If I were to guess on the tape pulling up paint, it would be your surface prep and hoow you pulled off the tape. You want to pull tape off on top of itself, NOT at 90 degrees to the surface. You need to make sure there are no shiny spots on the surface you are painting. needs to be scuffed and cleaned.

 

[Bill S]

When I am going to be masking Tamiya lacquer paints, I let the basecoat sit at least a week - until I can't smell paint anymore - just to be on the safe side. I've had only one tiny bit of paint pull-up, and that was totally my fault, leaving the masking tape (Tamiya as well) sit far too long.

 

[neil_w]

Painting is the bane of my existence. Even when I do a good job of it (which happens occasionally), the fear of unforeseen and/or unexplained disaster hangs over me like a dark cloud. I greatly envy those who truly understand and master it.

 

[Philip Tiberius D.]

Yikes ! I’ve been doing research on moving from rattle cans to air-brush. Tamiya lacquer rattle cans are fab... Not sure which paint and air-brush / compressor to go with now - wanted something higher end to buy once and not continually upgrade. House of Color maybe?

 

[Jay Rairigh]

Clean fingerprints off the painted surface with a damp cloth of soap and water.
Be careful. Take pictures. Fly till she dies.