Tamiya Color

I tried to paint my WW2 minis using my GW paints, honestly I did. They looked shite. No the looked ruddy shite. It's just that GW colours look like, well, GW colours. I think it's the finish, you know that flat gloss look that just screams GW paints used here. I think that on any other miniature the paints are the way to go, but for WW2 stuff just don't do it.

So I went down to my local hobby store with a short list of colours I'd need to get my British platoon done: Khaki, Drab Khaki and Khaki Drill. I was torn: I wanted to paint these minis as quickly as possible so I wanted to minimise any mixing of colours. But to buy three pots of paint that were just variations of each other annoyed me.

So I walk into my hobby store and stand in front of the Tamiya paint stand. I grab the colours I need and yeah there's enough difference beween them to justify the purchase. Ok I think 4 colours plus a new brush should come to around $26-27. I sigh, walk to the counter and hand over the card.

It came to $13.30.

$2.70 per pot of Tamiya Colour.

I'm still in shock.

As for the paint itself:

The Good
The paint goes on so easily, even when thinned down it goes on evenly. It dries flat/matt and looks like cloth. You can buy the exact colour you need and usually by name. The paint dries quickly and fresh paint blends well with existing paint, you don't get that overlapping paint ridge you get a lot with GW paints.

The Bad
You have to paint in a well ventilated area. This stuff is acrylic and is water soluble but man it stinks. Paint near a window. The fast paint techniques like drybrushing and washing don't seem to work well with this stuff. Although I've had nice results with only one or two layers of highlights so I don't think it matters much.

I haven't tried mixing it with GW paints and to be honest I don't think I'll try. My gut feeling is the results wouldn't be pretty. I also have a feeling that this stuff will beat up your brush and steal it's lunch. I won't mind this so much as the price of a pot of this stuff and a brush is still under what a GW pot would cost.

The Final Word(s)
I'll be buying a lot more of this range.