Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

In the past I have always uses a black base coat and never had any problems.

I primed my wraithguard army in Corax White, then tried to follow the Iyanden scheme on the box art (except with black instead of blue). I attempted to use Yriel yellow as the base coat. On the first wraithguard I applied too many coats and it started to get orangish and thick. I over washed with Seraphim Sepia and it got really dirty and ugly. On the second wraithguard I was more conservative with the yellow, but two light coats didn't cover enough and it looks patchy and uneven. I haven't tried washing that one yet. I think with more practice I could get better, but I'm not completely confident due to my rough start.

I am going to change direction and attempt to spray on the base coat. I did some research and it seemed like people were generally happy with Tamiya. I ended up ordering a small can of Tamiya TS-16 yellow to give it a try, then realized that Citadel makes a yellow spray base Averland Sunset.

I was curious if anyone had tried either of those sprays for yellow base coats, and if you were happy with the results.

Also, even if I get better at washing I'm not sure I like the Seraphim Sepia. Any suggestions on what color wash might look good. How about the edge highlight?

While I haven't used the particular Tamiya spray in question, I can tell you that Tamiya aerosol sprays are some of the best around and you can't really go wrong with them.

I really like the Tamiya sprays. I've used them for 20yrs on my model cars, and have used it on my 40k models recently. Excellent coverage and very controllable.

I would recommend it.

Yep, but be aware many are enamels and plenty of them are gloss --- they may not act quite as well as a primer like some of the basic GW sprays will. I agree though, Tamiya sprays (when used properly) are amongst the best in the business.

 Elbows wrote:
Yep, but be aware many are enamels and plenty of them are gloss --- they may not act quite as well as a primer like some of the basic GW sprays will. I agree though, Tamiya sprays (when used properly) are amongst the best in the business.

If I do use a gloss, will layers that I put on top of it still stick to the glossy surface? I was going to buy some yellow Tamiya at a local hobby store, but the owner told me that it was a lacquer, which made me wary of using it as a base coat.

I found some Montana Gold at at a local hobby store, tried that and it came out very unsmooth (even after shaking for 5 mins). I was bummed because the color was almost the exact yellow I was going for (light shock yellow).

If I can't find a spray yellow that I like I may choose another color scheme. I don't mind the idea of base coating my 10 wraithguard with multiple light coats of yellow, but the the thought of doing all the vehicles and walkers like that scares me.

Tamiya paints or other paints that are designed for aircraft models etc tend to be more solvent based (Hence why you can't wash them with water and a special thinner) and the film they leave behind is extremly hydrophobic. If you use these as a base coat, you would find that using a waterbased paint (INSTAR, GW, Vallejo, Army Painter etc) would streak very badly on the surface, wouldn't adhere very well to the layer and you'd end up having to put layer after layer upon it to get any kind of coating, by that point the model will be very paint heavy and lose a lot of detail.

To put it another way, if you use solvent or enamel based paints first before anything else, you've effectively sealed your model and have to continue using non-waterbased paints to be able to paint them

Matte sealer has worked for me in the past.
Prime gloss, spray matte sealer, paint as normal.
Extra layer is made up by not needing as many cover layers to get the color you want.

 Elbows wrote:
Yep, but be aware many are enamels and plenty of them are gloss --- they may not act quite as well as a primer like some of the basic GW sprays will. I agree though, Tamiya sprays (when used properly) are amongst the best in the business.

Tamiya sprays are lacquers, not enamels.

Some of their bottled paints are enamels, they're the ones in the square glass bottles rather than the round glass bottles. I'm pretty sure they say enamel on them.

I will agree Tamiya coloured sprays don't make brilliant primers, but Tamiya also make a spray primer which is a brilliant base for their spray colours. I just give a light coat of Tamiya primer before laying down a Tamiya colour spray.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Supershandy wrote:
Tamiya paints or other paints that are designed for aircraft models etc tend to be more solvent based (Hence why you can't wash them with water and a special thinner) and the film they leave behind is extremly hydrophobic. If you use these as a base coat, you would find that using a waterbased paint (INSTAR, GW, Vallejo, Army Painter etc) would streak very badly on the surface, wouldn't adhere very well to the layer and you'd end up having to put layer after layer upon it to get any kind of coating, by that point the model will be very paint heavy and lose a lot of detail.

To put it another way, if you use solvent or enamel based paints first before anything else, you've effectively sealed your model and have to continue using non-waterbased paints to be able to paint them

That is so muchly not true.

Tamiya sprays as I said are lacquers. Lacquers in general can be painted over with acrylics not a worry.

Tamiya sprays do tend to be on the slick side, but not because of any film, they just have a very smooth surface. This is because they tend to be designed for spraying model car bodies where you don't want a rough finish because in the end you usually want to gloss coat them.

If you try and brush paint over a sprayed Tamiya surface, it will work fine, my Night Goblin army was basecoated with black Tamiya spray and everything done after it was done with regular gaming acrylics. If the slick surface is creating problems because you use very watered down paints, simple fix, add some flow improver to break the surface tension of your paint.

If you did happen to paint a model with an enamel (which Tamiya sprays aren't), sometimes acrylic washes will want to bead up on them and you'll probably want to paint them with something acrylic first.

As for going back and forth between enamels and acrylics, it's quite a common thing to do. The only thing is to ensure all your enamels are cured before painting over them with an acrylic and all your acrylics are cured before painting over them with an enamel. Curing typically takes several days. The reason for this is because the underlying paint may not cure properly once it's been effectively sealed by a paint of a different type.