Retarder for Tamiya paints?

[GazzaS]

Is there such a beast?

[Bill_S]

Indeed there is, Gaz. They have retarder for their acrylic line as well as for lacquers.

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/87198/index.htm

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/finishing/paint-retarder-acrylic-40ml/

You can get them from BNA...

https://www.bnamodelworld.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=tamiya+retarder

[DocRob]

For Tamiya Acrylics I work with Mr. Levelling Thinner in my airbrush, a dream combo. I have reduced clogging and finer spray and a longer drying time of course. Thanks to Ernies persistence, I tried this combination, after I had no luck at all using the levelling thinner with colours of other brands, like AK and Lifecolour, which dosen't mix well in the best case or went lump in the worst.

Cheers Rob

[Bill_S]

12 minutes ago, DocRob said:

For Tamiya Acrylics I work with Mr. Levelling Thinner in my airbrush, a dream combo. I have reduced clogging and finer spray and a longer drying time of course. Thanks to Ernies persistence, I tried this combination, after I had no luck at all using the levelling thinner with colours of other brands, like AK and Lifecolour, which dosen't mix well in the best case or went lump in the worst.

Cheers Rob

Rob, I concur on the Tamiya acrylic/Mr. Leveling thinner mixture; it sprays unbelievably well. I use the retarder when brush painting - it slows the drying time, and works very well. The only down side to it is the lack of any dispensing mechanism. Even a brush in the cap would be a plus.

[BlrwestSiR]

The retarders are indeed great if you're using their paints for brush painting.

Tamiya also has their own version of Mr Color Levelling thinner which is premixed with their retarder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GazzaS]

9 hours ago, DocRob said:

For Tamiya Acrylics I work with Mr. Levelling Thinner in my airbrush, a dream combo. I have reduced clogging and finer spray and a longer drying time of course. Thanks to Ernies persistence, I tried this combination, after I had no luck at all using the levelling thinner with colours of other brands, like AK and Lifecolour, which dosen't mix well in the best case or went lump in the worst.

Cheers Rob

Thanks Rob,

    I actually use this with Tamiya all of the time.  I must not be using enough.

[GazzaS]

5 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

The retarders are indeed great if you're using their paints for brush painting.

Tamiya also has their own version of Mr Color Levelling thinner which is premixed with their retarder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you!  I actually had this and didn't realize it was a retarder!  This saves me from making another purchase.

[BlrwestSiR]

14 minutes ago, GazzaS said:

Thank you!  I actually had this and didn't realize it was a retarder!  This saves me from making another purchase.

Actually, that's all Mr Color Levelling thinner is. It's regular Mr Color lacquer thinner premixed with their retarder. There's an article on the Gunze website about it and how they don't recommend it for a flat finish. The longer drying time is great for gloss coats but not so much for a flat one. 

[belugawhaleman]

I purchased some of the tamiya retarder for acrylic paints but haven't used it yet. I was

wondering how much was added to the paint to improve brushing.

[GazzaS]

30 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Actually, that's all Mr Color Levelling thinner is. It's regular Mr Color lacquer thinner premixed with their retarder. There's an article on the Gunze website about it and how they don't recommend it for a flat finish. The longer drying time is great for gloss coats but not so much for a flat one. 

Thank you!  One of my biggest air brushing problems is when I have to do larger areas.  I tend to back away to get a slightly wider spray and end up with rough texture.  I really need a airbrush for wider coverage.

[BlrwestSiR]

34 minutes ago, GazzaS said:

Thank you!  One of my biggest air brushing problems is when I have to do larger areas.  I tend to back away to get a slightly wider spray and end up with rough texture.  I really need a airbrush for wider coverage.

Same here. Doing large scale car bodies and even bigger RC car bodies are the challenge for me. RC car bodies have the added challenge of painting them from the inside so you have to reverse your colour order.  

[1to1scale]

I have the small bottle of retarder, you can use it to brush paint.

[BlrwestSiR]

5 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

I purchased some of the tamiya retarder for acrylic paints but haven't used it yet. I was

wondering how much was added to the paint to improve brushing.

Maybe start with 5:1 paint to retarder.  It does thin the paint at the same time so you don't want to add too much. 

[biggtim]

The only retarder I use with my paints is me. I can retard anything I touch.

[Bill_S]

For large areas, I use my very first airbrush - the Badger 350. Single action, external mix - as long as you thin the paint well, I've never had a problem with surface finish with it.

[Clunkmeister]

Mr. Leveling Thinner is a retarder. I use it in everything, and it’s a magic combination.  Use through your airbrush and it’ll take your finishing from great to World Class.

[belugawhaleman]

13 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Maybe start with 5:1 paint to retarder.  It does thin the paint at the same time so you don't want to add too much. 

Thanks I'll give that a try.

[Clunkmeister]

13 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

Thanks I'll give that a try.

If you’re going to use Leveling Thinner , add Thinner u til a paint splashwith nicely move down the side of your Dixie cup.  Not so thin that it just splashes down, and not so thick that it barely moves. That consistency works great for me. 

[TJTX]

Mr Leveling Thinner is the biggest game changer for my building I've ever come across.   I only pray we can keep getting it here in the US.

[Bomber_County]

Is Mr Levelling Thinners compatible with Vallejo. I seldom use Tamiya .......

[GusMac]

3 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Is Mr Levelling Thinners compatible with Vallejo. I seldom use Tamiya .......

I've only tried it with Vallejo once Phil and it didn't go well. The paint just turned to sludge in the airbrush cup and was followed by an hour long cursing session as I dismantled and cleaned the airbrush.

However it may have just been bad luck as I've had the same thing happen with Tamiya, although only with Titanium Gold which seems to have a very high pigment concentration.

[BlrwestSiR]

5 minutes ago, GusMac said:

I've only tried it with Vallejo once Phil and it didn't go well. The paint just turned to sludge in the airbrush cup

You get the same reaction if you use any of the Gunze or Tamiya thinners with Xtracrylix.

 

[HubertB]

Vallejo is TOTALLY incompatible with Mr Levelling Thinner. The only viable thinner with Vallejo is ... water. Ask me how I know  ( cleaning black goo in an airbrush for a few hours is not fun, believe me  )

Hubert

[DocRob]

Hubert is absolutely right, Vallejo Air thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner is a nightmare except, If you are an airbrush cleaning fetishist . I learned it the hard way, trying to clean my airbrush from a tar like paste. Since then, I do a little pre mix on a lid of an old yogurt tub and wait for some minutes, lesson learned .

Cheers Rob

[GusMac]

17 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Hubert is absolutely right, Vallejo Air thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner is a nightmare except, If you are an airbrush cleaning fetishist . I learned it the hard way, trying to clean my airbrush from a tar like paste. Since then, I do a little pre mix on a lid of an old yogurt tub and wait for some minutes, lesson learned .

Cheers Rob

Ah well, at least I'm not the only one who's found this out the hard way. 

It's funny as the Mr Levelling works quite well with Ammo paints and superficially they seem quite a similar formulation to the Vallejo ones. Must be some differences though.