Video: White Paint (Hellcat Part 5)

Do as I say, not as I do. Number one, do not stir the paint with the brush. Number two, make good, quality videos that everyone will want to see. Number three–ah, I can’t remember number three. Number four, don’t let your hand get in the way, people. This is a VISUAL medium. What they can’t see–they can’t get. Now go knock ’em dead!!

It’s very important to brush on Tamiya paint with a certain sense of urgency. All the colors demand that you flow them on moshi koshi. You gotta brush it on without going over the same spot more than once. The newer coat has to be put over the older one without disturbing the lower one. I’m hoping this video shows the speed that required. Also– after you finish applying a coat of paint, you MUST NOT go back and try to “fix” anything. Do not touch it until it has dried. Hiring someone to slap your hand may be required, but if this leads to other things don’t blame me.

Tamiya gloss white is even more difficult to apply with a brush (and it’s especially difficult to paint with a brush if you are making a video of the event). In the past I’ve always used an “off white” paint (MM Acryl) to paint the white on the bellies of Navy aircraft like this Hellcat. You mix about ten drops of flat black into a bottle of flat white and you should be ready to paint. The idea is to get a light gray that’s “almost white” and it’s a LOT easier to paint.

This is an attempt to paint a “pure” white using the Tamiya paint. Since I haven’t done this before you get to join me in the thrilling adventure, and possible major fail. I’ve painted yellow paint in this way, and you are not allowed to panic until at least FIVE COATS have dried. This is coat number three being applied in the video…

(I’ll go in later, after the white is finished and cured, and apply a flat coat and then touch up the blue paint.)

Stay tuned for updates and fabulous prizes.

6 Replies to “Video: White Paint (Hellcat Part 5)”

  1. Excellent. I think I am ready for this. And since my local hobby shops only stock two paints (well, I lie, my three local hobby shops stock 3 types of paint. 1 shop stocks citadel for orcs and things, while the other two stock Humbrol enamel and Tamiya acrylic) learning this trade could make things very nice when I am ‘degassing’ from an enamel painting fest (yes, I am still a toxic paintbrushing crusader, and alternate between Enamel and Acrylic. Or even use them together. Slap me).

    So, combining this entry with your other tamiya painting entry;

    Take Tamiya paint. Acrylic that is. They sell the enamel here as well, of which I have a few bottles).

    Place a couple of drops of retarder and flow aid (already have these for other acrylics, but never thought to try them in tamiya, on account of the different solvent business) inside each fresh pot (more I assume for the 23ml jars).

    Stir thoroughly (with non brush object).

    Decant, and mix colour if needed.

    Thin with Windex(tm) of which I have found a local source of the 750ml refill bottles.

    Paint with a sense of urgency, as the saying would go when I was in the army.

    Do not go over painted areas until fully dried for X hours.

    Sound about right? Anything else to add?

    1. You have to have faith. In other words, it pays to see it work once. I remember when I first saw the miracle, some years ago. I bought some Tamiya gloss purple by accident. I wanted purple but not gloss! Then, one day, out of boredom, I brushed a coat of the stuff onto the nose of 1/72 “Nell” (long story) that I used as a “test subject.” I put it down and went upstairs to bed. The next morning I could not believe my eyes. What had been ordinary looking was now so smooth it was uncanny. I think that acrylic paint “haters” often fail to understand that this stuff doesn’t dry, it cures, and it changes as it cures. The gloss purple had become so smooth it looked sprayed. For us brushpainters, a new age had dawned. I really really like MM Acryl, but if I could not get it I would switch over to Tamiya and not miss a beat. The idea that it can’t be brushed must come from some very weird methods. I’d like to see somebody who can’t brush this stuff make a video! Of course, the real challenge with this stuff is PATIENCE. Also, the flow aid and retarder are good, but do not overdo them. One drop, two max. The Windex has certain magical “retarding and flowing” properties that make it work as a thinner.

  2. Thanks for the advice and video, very much appreciated.

    I think I will do a quick test run with it shortly.

    I don’t know if you know this (or care, since the stuff can stink) but my brushes have always gotten clogged badly from tamiya acrylic, and my magic brush cleaner didn’t get it all out, so through testing various methods, I found that Methylated spirit (I think you guys call it denatured alcohol?) cleans every last bit of tamiya acrylic from the brush like magic. I can get this stuff as cheap as water, so I will use it again as my brush cleaner for TA.

    1. I haven’t had the brush clogging problem, but the video shows the duration of a typical painting session, and then I run to the sink and clean the brush with running water. I have used denatured alcohol as a thinner for Tamiya in the past. I don’t remember now why I quit doing that, but I did. I bought a bottle or their thinner as well as some Windex. Windex proved to be the best thinner. It must be something about the ammonia.

    1. I haven’t tried MM gloss white or yellow. They might work well. The flat colors are acceptable but not really good. I put three drops of MM black in a jar of MM white to make an “off white” that brushes much better. I used that on the F4U Corsair that I have posted on here in a few places. If you put black in the MM yellow it brushes better but it will become a bit green. The idea of using the Tamiya gloss paints was to get really “pure” colors.

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