Tamiya vs Testors

[Renegade]

Use Testors exclusively as its the only brand in my neighborhood. Unhappy with Gloss Black, white and yellow. All other colors do fine. What is your experience with Tamiya spray paints in these colors or all colors and if you do mail order, who do you use and why. Thinking about using Tamiya but have no experience with them. Interested in spray cans.

[cobraman]

I find the Tamiya to be better than Testors. I also believe it sprays better but I do use both.

[martinfan5]

Tamiya is a step above Testors .

[BigTallDad]

I agree with the previous comments that stated Tamiya is better than Testors. I've found that, straight out of the rattle can, the Tamiya products produce an incredible gloss...putting a coat of TS-13 (Tamiya clear), also right out of the rattle can, will knock your socks off.

[espo]

I have switched to Tamiya paints for everything, spray and brush both. I have a few Testors for special applications and for OEM colors that they offer.

[DiscoRover007]

Tamiya is drastically better. Especially in ease of use. 

However Testors still does have some use. Their acrylic line is quite decent. If you are good at mixing enamels with lacquer thinner you can get great paint jobs out of them. And their enamel line has a wide range of in scale flakes for metallics. IF you include Model Master Paints I would say Aluminum non buffin, buffing, and other various metalizers are essential to a model builders arsenal.

I pretty much use Vallejo Air and brush paints exclusively for interior and detail painting. They are the best without a doubt in  my mind. Spray painting bodies is Tamiya all day. Just wish they would come out with a Dark Green or Emerald Pearl spray to the TS line. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by DiscoRover007

[Renegade]

Looks like I will be ordering Tamiya, at least in the colors I have problems with in Testors.

[Fat Brian]

The one thing I've noticed about Tamiya rattle can paint is that it is less forgiving of surface imperfections like sanding marks. Things Testors paint will hide show right through Tamiya paint.

[Miatatom]

3 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

The one thing I've noticed about Tamiya rattle can paint is that it is less forgiving of surface imperfections like sanding marks. Things Testors paint will hide show right through Tamiya paint.

I agree with the other posters, Tamiya is better than Testors. Testors hides imperfections because it goes on thicker. Thicker paint = loss of detail.

[Fat Brian]

1 hour ago, Miatatom said:

I agree with the other posters, Tamiya is better than Testors. Testors hides imperfections because it goes on thicker. Thicker paint = loss of detail.

I'm not saying it's bad, just that you have to step up your surface prep game. Especially since it's hard to strip it's good to know going in that it's different. I would have saved myself some hassle if i would have known going in that i needed to do better to use it.

[John Pol]

I use Tamiya  all the time threw my airbrush and I don`t thin it ever 

[Renegade]

1 hour ago, John Pol said:

I use Tamiya  all the time threw my airbrush and I don`t thin it ever 

So you are saying to use Tamiya bottle paints without thinner straight through an airbrush?

[High octane]

I use both Tamiya and Testors paints, as some have different colors than others. I do think that most of the time the Tamiya paints go on nicer than Testors as I'm a "rattle can" man. My bottled paints for hand painting engine blocks, parts, detailing, etc. are mostly Testors both enamel and acrylics.

[John Pol]

3 hours ago, Renegade said:

So you are saying to use Tamiya bottle paints without thinner straight through an airbrush?

Yes that is what I did got a tip off someone ran PSI at 30 and spray away

 

[bluenote]

My default is always tamiya rattle cans and tamiya enamel for brush painting.  (yes, enamel.  I order them on eBay from overseas and I receive them every time.  Usually takes 6 weeks).  I use model master lacquer sprays for colours I can't get from tamiya, such as 70s muscle car colours.

in fact, almost all of my tools and supplies are tamiya.  The quality is so good I don't bother with anything else.

[Modeldude428]

I kind of agree with both sides of this I love Tamiya as far as airbrushing with their paints though I have never attempted to airbrush their colors without thinning them I have only use the acrylics on the other hand I think Tamiya paint sucks as far as using them for brushing which leads me to my next question what other paints are there that I could use to hand brush with because it seems to me to Tamiya paint to dry really really fast when your hand painting with them which in turn leaves streaks any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[Miatatom]

For brushing small parts, I prefer acrylic, particularly craft acrylics. I never liked craft acrylics until I started thinning them with Liquitex Flow Aid. Makes them much easier to work with, whether hand or air brushing. Hand brushing lacquers is not easy. Lacquer dries too fast.

Edited April 15, 2018 by Miatatom

[peteski]

On 4/14/2018 at 8:06 AM, Renegade said:

So you are saying to use Tamiya bottle paints without thinner straight through an airbrush?

Um, I think this needs to be clarified. In USA, Tamiya Spray cans (TS) are lacquers which use mild (usually styrene-safe) organic solvent (they have very strong odor).  Then there are Tamiya brushable paints which come in small glass jars. Those are what hobbyists call "acrylics" - they are much thicker than the spray paint and they seem to use isopropyl alcohol as solvent. Those are designed to be brushed out-of-the-bottle, and should be thinned for airbrushing. The glass bottle paints are totally different than the spray can paints.

[MikeRousseau]

My experience with Tamiya spray can? great. For some reason I can lay down a beautiful paint job with Tamiya...with testors I always have to strip and redo...which is why I now decant if i'm going to use testors for a body.

[youpey]

i get orange peel with testors paint. i dont get it with tamiya. 

 

for the longest time i only used tamiya, but the problem is the colors are limited. 

[Steve Osbourne]

I use Tamiya TS colors from a can exclusively. They are a synthetic lacquer and are very forgiving. Problems with the finer colors showing scratches, you may want to use the Tamiya Gray primer (regular - not fine). It is much thicker than the Fine White or Fine Gray.

Check out my big scale Corvette in the Big Boyz section. This was done with TS11 Maroon and no clear coat. I don't go higher than 600 grit sandpaper between coats. Instead, I try to avoid dust on the final coat and use Meguiars #7 Show Car Wax to smooth things out. Not perfect but works fine for me.

If you let the cans sit in hot (not boiling) water prior to using you will have minimal issues. And shake, shake, shake between passes.

I hope this helps.

[Skip Perrine]

On 4/13/2018 at 4:13 PM, BigTallDad said:

I agree with the previous comments that stated Tamiya is better than Testors. I've found that, straight out of the rattle can, the Tamiya products produce an incredible gloss...putting a coat of TS-13 (Tamiya clear), also right out of the rattle can, will knock your socks off.

I had a friend who was the owner of a hobby shop tell me about 20 years ago that Tamiya acrylic paint is the equivalent of a airbrush in a can, and that’s when I started using it and I never went back to Testors! Tamiya dries hard and ready to be ready for final assembly, I swear by it! And their cement is top of the line!