Armortek

I am thinking ahead a bit, as still a long way to go until the Tiger is finished. However, I was wondering what make of paint do people generally use to topcoat their kits. I have used rattle cans to put on etch primer and red undercoat so far. I have a small airbrush which I'm hoping to use for the final colour scheme.

Ive painted all mine so far using Tamiya paints through an Iwata Neo TRN2 airbrush.
These are gravity fed single action airbrush with a 0.5mm nozzle and a pistol grip for comfort.
It allows you to really lay down the paint well and are ideal for 1/6 models.

Ensure you operate in a well ventilated space as the fumes from the Tamiya paint are extremely nasty.

Cheers
Tim

Tim Page wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:15 pm

Ive painted all mine so far using Tamiya paints through an Iwata Neo TRN2 airbrush.
These are gravity fed single action airbrush with a 0.5mm nozzle and a pistol grip for comfort.
It allows you to really lay down the paint well and are ideal for 1/6 models.

Ensure you operate in a well ventilated space as the fumes from the Tamiya paint are extremely nasty.

Cheers
Tim

Thanks Tim. I'm going to be painting in a small workshop about 3m x 2.5m so may struggle with fumes. Are Vallejo paints any good? I believe they are water based, so fumes should be a lot less. So many different types though.

Vallejo paints are great paints and have a far bigger range.
Yes, they are water based so fumes less of an issue.
However, i tend to find that the pigments in the Vallejo paints can cause issues with clogging and also the paint tends to dry at the tip which also causes a blocage.
I normally add a little Isopropyl alchohol (IPA) to Vallejo paints to help reduce this.

I do think that the Tamiya paints are a bit more wear resistant as well.

Probably not a great deal in it though.

Cheers
Tim

How many layers of paint do you normally use Tim? Would it be worth finishing with a layer of varnish to give extra wear protection?

Hello
You can use Tamiya X20a with vallejo Model Air. 20% thinners.
Tamiya XF range use about 60% thinners.
I use AK matte Varnish.
On my Tanks there is normally around 36 coats of paints washes filters and pigments.

Lee

Hi Andy, for the German armour i use the normal Halfords Etch primer then a coat of their red oxide primer as that was used on most German vehicles.
I think i did 2 coats of Dunkelgelb on the panther which from memory was a 50/50 mix of Tamiya XF50 and XF60 which I then thinned with some Tamiya thinners. This was mixed up a batch from 6 Jars at a time into a small jam jar.

I found it of benefit to seal the paint with a matt or satin acrylic varnish as i was going to weather using Mig weathering products and a lot of those are enamel based which could react with the acrylic paint.

My Panzer 3 was painted in the same manner with 2 coats of a faded Panzer grey paint and then applied a coat of matt acrylic varnish to seal.

Cheers
Tim

Andy, you might like to have look at my Knowledge Base Topic on painting here:

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=5802

In that topic, there are two further links to the two Topics I've written on Weathering.

Hope they're of use.

Stephen