Tamiya Spray Paints

How to use and paint with Tamiya Spray paints

Whatever you ride, the body and paintwork of your RC car are the first thing to notice. Some people like their car shiny, some appreciate more rusty look. Or are you fan of post-apocalyptic Rad Rods?

From EuroRC you can now get best hobby spray paints in the market, Tamiya Spray Paints and Painting Accessories that are recommended by most talented RC Car painters worldwide!

Read further to learn more about Tamiya Spray Paints, how to select and use them correctly or check out our selections from link below.

Please note that at the moment we will ship Spray paints only on Mondays! Contact our customer service for more information.

Why Tamiya Paints are so good?

There are many things that separate Tamiya sprays from your local hardware stores selection. It may be tempting to buy a cheap big spray bottle if you look just the volume of the can. It is true that these hobby-spesific paints are smaller in the size but usually the area of painting is not that large either. There are also other features that make these paint cans so special.

First of all Tamiya spray paints have a selection of colors and tones that are spot-on choice for most of your RC Cars. Many of their paints are matching to original paint charts of biggest car manufacturers. All the basic colors can be found along more special and era-accurate tones.

Another things worth of mention are the nozzle and inner pressure of the can. Cheap paint cans from your local store use bulk and not-so-good spraying nozzle in their cans. These nozzles clog easily, the shape of the spray is random and not fine enough for modelling purposes. They often make the paint splatter around and this only can be enough to ruin your delicate paint work. Final result of these cheaper cans is often bumpy and coarse.

Tamiya paints have a higher pigment content than many other brands. This should be kept in mind when comparing to other brands. Especially white tones are famous for their high pigment density.

Tamiya is using a special nozzle in their cans that form a very fine and sharp spray for the paint. When this is combined to high inner pressure of the can, paint sprays out nice and equal and the result of the paintwork (when done right and with time) is at the level that is high enough for modelling.

Tamiya spray paints are solvent based and dry and cure very fast. This in mind, always use Tamiya Sprays in outdoors or very well ventilated painting room or box.

Pro-Tip! Lexan bodies are painted inside. Use liquid mask to create shapes easily.

In our shop at EuroRC we have two different types of Tamiya Spray Paints. Please select the correct one for the right material!

Tamiya PS for Lexan bodies

PS-paints are for flexible, thin polycarbonate (Lexan) bodies only. These type of bodies are most common in Radio Control cars such as Monster Trucks, Buggies and Performance Crawlers. This paint grips hard to the plastic and after drying it stays flexible. 

Polycarbonate bodies are most commonly painted from inside. This gives a nice shine and paintwork is also well protected from the scratches and other damage. Remember to remove the protecting film from outside before you add decal stickers!

Read more about painting Lexan bodies here!

Pro-tip! Use many layers of primer paint for hard bodies. Sand it smooth (150 grit) before the final layer.

TS-paints are for hard plastic only! 

These bodies are strong, often up to 3mm thick and are made usually from strong ABS plastic. This type of body is common on Scale realistic crawlers and in many older style Tamiya Nostalgia Kits.

Hard Plastic bodies usually need some preparing work before the paint such as sanding or attaching some body parts. It is very highly recommended to use fine primer paint before the final spray! 

My rule of thumb how to separate these paints is that word "PS" is pretty close of "Polysarbonate", so use PS only for polycarbonate bodies!

Pro-tip! Use high grade masking tape. Cheap brands may let your paint bleed through!

Tips for painting with spray paints:

• Never paint in hurry! You are going to watch this paintwork many years so reserve time. Total process of fine paintwork is usually few days or more from start to finish! Take your time.
• Never paint in too humid air, rain or too cold. Any of these will easily ruin your paintwork. 
• Wash the body with mild soap and let it dry overnight.
• Make a painting plan. What paint and in what order? No I need to remask?
• Prepare your body and the painting area. Use masking tape or liquid mask.
• Check out everything. Did you mask everything that was supposed to? 
• You can put the cans in warm water (not hot!) to build up more pressure inside the can. Never exceed +35 Celcius degrees here!
• Shake well. Like really well. Then shake some more.
• Paint slow but steady and keep the can approx 20cm away from the body. Always start and finish the spray outside of the body. Use paint sparingly.
• Let the paint dry few minutes between the layers. There is no hurry! Never try to make it "with one shot". Tamiya paints are fine and thin and if you spray too much before previous layer is dry, there will be runoffs.
• If you make a mistake, stop! Do not try to fix wet paint! Let it dry, sand it out and continue again later.

Other painting tips:

• Remember that drying time is different than curing time. Dry paint is dry only from the surface and total cure of the paint (hardening time) can be easily over two weeks, especially if using cheap hardware store paints. My experience is that Tamiya paints cure well in few days.
• Tamiya paints are solvent based and can be painted later with most other paints such as acrylics.
• Use spray paints only for large surfaces. 
• Use modelling paints for details such as panel lines, door handles etc! Use effect paints for weathering, rust..

Tamiya PS paints for polycarbonate here

Tamiya TS paints for hard plastic here

Modelling and Effect paints here

Painting Accessories here