Airbrushing Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum

[TenSeven]

I'm having the worst time trying to get Tamiya's XF-16 Flat Aluminum to spray smoothly and am hoping for some suggestions from the experts here. 

 

I've tried 2 different airbrushes at various pressures. 

 

I thinned the paint with:

• 91% Iso Alcohol
• Tamiya X-20A Thinner
• Mr. Color Leveling Thinner

No matter what I've tried, the results always end up with an uneven, grainy, and overall poor appearance. 

 

Is it my poor technique? Is it just that is what XF-16 looks like? Are bottles of Alclad Dull Aluminum in my future?

[LSP_Kevin]

While I can't offer any help or advice with the XF-16, I'm going to give my stock answer to all silver paint problems here: AS-12.

 

Kev

[TenSeven]

I've read that AS-12 is borderline magical as an aluminum finish and am going to try it. It was sold out at the best LHS when I was there a couple days ago (of course it was!). 

 

Decant the AS-12 from the spray can and thin it with _____ for airbrushing?

[LSP_Kevin]

I've read that AS-12 is borderline magical as an aluminum finish and am going to try it. It was sold out at the best LHS when I was there a couple days ago (of course it was!). 

 

Decant the AS-12 from the spray can and thin it with _____ for airbrushing?

 

Well, magical is probably putting it a bit strongly, especially if you're looking to achieve a highly-polished natural metal finish (there are better options for that). But, it's great for giving a more restrained finish, either as weathered aluminium, or to represent painted aluminium lacquer (RAF High Speed Silver, for example), or even silver dope finishes. It's also very easy to apply right out of the can, and as you mentioned, it can be decanted for airbrushing. It dries fast and tough, and can be masked over with ease.

 

For thinning, I use Mr. Color Thinner, but the levelling variety is just as applicable, as is Tamiya's own lacquer thinner (they're quite similar I believe). I find generic hardware-store lacquer thinner too harsh for this usage, but they vary so much that you might still find some value in testing it.

 

Here's my HK Models Meteor done using AS-12 to represent a fairly new aluminium lacquer finish:

 

 

A similar goal here on the wings of this 1/48 Hasegawa Mustang:

 

 

Even RoboCop copped some:

 

 

These were all done using AS-12 decanted for airbrushing.

 

I know all this is not really answering your original question, so my apologies for that. But if you're looking for an alternative as a workhorse silver paint, I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Kev

[Guest Peterpools]

I shoot it all the time and always smooth as can be:

Mix: 6 parts Tamiya Yellow Cap Thinner to 4 parts Tamiya flat Aluminum

Working air pressure: 12-15 PSI ( pressure on gauge when actually painting)

Numerous, thin light layers

Keep the airbrush 1- 1.5 inches from the model surface

I normally use an Iwata Eclipse with a .35 tip.

Shoot with an air brush with a tip size .3-.35

It's a process and all the parts work together

Peter

[BloorwestSiR]

XF-16 is probably the grainiest metallic paint that Tamiya makes so it's probably more the paint than your technique. 

 

I've found that it is very difficult to get a completly smooth finish with it even if you thin it more than 50%. I will usually just use X-11 Chrome Silver instead. It's not very chrome like at all and the metallic flakes are a bit finer.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Carl

[Zero77]

I cant answer to your question as i've never tried to spray XF-16 (but i'm interested as i have several between the war aircraft in project which might need some XF-16 in the paint mix).

 

But regarding the Alclad dull aluminium, all i can say is that it's VERY dull. Actually it's perfect to paint engines as it really looks like cast aluminium, but for an airframe i doubt it would really match a nice "silver" finish, even if you want something matt. I think a "standard" aluminium finish coated with matt varnish would be better.

I'm still looking for some metallic cool grey, like most cars are painted with today, as i think it would be the better choice for the Golden Era silver finish.

[TenSeven]

I know all this is not really answering your original question, so my apologies for that. But if you're looking for an alternative as a workhorse silver paint, I can't recommend it highly enough.

 

Kev

 

No, you added valuable info that I appreciate. I've been back to making models for about 6 months after not buying a kit in over 3 decades and the learning curve is near vertical!

 

Love the Meteor!

[TenSeven]

I shoot it all the time and always smooth as can be:

Mix: 6 parts Tamiya Yellow Cap Thinner to 4 parts Tamiya flat Aluminum

Working air pressure: 12-15 PSI ( pressure on gauge when actually painting)

Numerous, thin light layers

Keep the airbrush 1- 1.5 inches from the model surface

I normally use an Iwata Eclipse with a .35 tip.

Shoot with an air brush with a tip size .3-.35

It's a process and all the parts work together

Peter

 

An Iwata Eclipse .35 is my main-use brush.

 

I experimented with this process today with much-improved results. 

 

My two main errors were probably: 

1. Thinner amount and type - I wasn't thinning the XF-19 enough. Your 4:6 paint to thinner ratio contained much more thinner (and I hadn't tried the Tamiya yellow-top stuff, I forgot all  about it) than I had been using. 

    

2. Air Pressure - I was using too much. I am spraying off a large garage compressor with an "in the ball park" PSI gauge. This comp's regulator I have set to about 20-21 PSI for general spraying. Using an adjustable valve on my brush, I was able to back the pressure down. 

These two modifications greatly improved the XF-19's finish. It's probably not a paint I'd use on a large external panel, but for general parts that I need to paint silver, it's an acceptable option.

 

Thanks for the advice! 

[TenSeven]

I thank everyone for their replies, they all helped me out. 

[Guest Peterpools]

Glad we were able to help. I've found that when shooting acrylics, thinner is so much better and working with low air pressure helps a tremendous amount.

Peter

[Big Texan]

Pardon my ignorance, is AS-12 Tamiya spray laquer?

[Zero77]

Pardon my ignorance, is AS-12 Tamiya spray laquer?

yes.

[Chek]

I've found with some Tamiya paints that adding 10% distilled water, mixing it, and then adding isoprop alcohol works better than adding alcohol/thinner alone.