Kit paint advice | minipainting | Page 1

vast pivot Nov 30, 2025, 12:20 AM

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I've bought 4 Tamiya paints, but I want water based, not solvent based.

This means I should go for Vallejo paints, right?

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The kit had a different paint count on the box:

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And I don't want to put laquer based paints into my airbrush either

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I got the XF variants of 3 paints, and dark ghost gray is the AS-23 variant which I'd have to decant?

vast pivot Nov 30, 2025, 1:31 PM

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I think this would be correct? Think

thick goblet Nov 30, 2025, 1:44 PM

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Don’t get the Air colours just get the normal Game or Model colour ranges.

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And as for actual colours you can check out Antinea’s paint database, or just get an approximation of the colours listed in your kit. Don’t get too fixated on the specific colours.

https://discord.com/channels/236042005929656320/1309548752859561994

or you can ask for help in #military-n-gunpla

vast pivot Nov 30, 2025, 2:04 PM

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thick goblet Don’t get the Air colours just get the normal Game or Model colour ranges.

It's the same water dilutable stuff?

thick goblet Nov 30, 2025, 2:06 PM

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vast pivot It's the same water dilutable stuff?

Yes.

The air is pre-thinned so you have less control over thinning it on your own.

vast pivot Nov 30, 2025, 2:07 PM

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Good to know

vast pivot Nov 30, 2025, 2:55 PM

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New choices

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 9:43 AM

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I would avoid the Orange fluo, Gloss white, Black glaze and the Beasty brown. The old Model fluo are really bad. The new Game color fluo are nice. And the other two have been made obsolete. Best way to get a gloss would be to buy a gloss varnish and apply it after.
Also, make sure you get the new formulation (with a black cap), although you got mostly Model Color and the old formulation is good. Old Game colour is rubbish, though the new formulation is good. The nearest to Beasty brown in the Model colour is Beige brown.

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 9:53 AM

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green bough I would avoid the Orange fluo, Gloss white, Black glaze and the Beasty brown. Th...

I chose Beasty Brown due to it being fairly close to Tamiya's NATO brown

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Would Flat Earth work?

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 9:55 AM

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This one?

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 9:55 AM

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Yes

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green bough Dec 2, 2025, 9:57 AM

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Be very careful with color matching apps. They use Online swatches, and Vallejo swatches are known for not being accurate at all.

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 9:57 AM

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Yeah, I was just about to say, this is just guesstimations

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 10:00 AM

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Based on the swatch you just posted, I would hesitate between Vallejo Beige brown or New wood.

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 10:00 AM

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The shop I'm going to has a limited amount of Tamiya paints, and definetly not all listed in the manual, so matching them there is gonna be impossible too, sadly

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Beige brown seems perfect

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 10:03 AM

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Or if your store has AK interactive paints, they have a Nato Brown (again, AK Interactive swatches are far from accurate). AK 3rd gen is also a very good brand of water-based acrylics.

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 10:06 AM

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I don't think they have AK

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They might have Ammo but I'm not sure

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Yeah, they got Ammo

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But is that water based acrylic?

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 10:48 AM

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Yeah

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 11:17 AM

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Thank you so much SCpray

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 3:34 PM

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green bough I would avoid the Orange fluo, Gloss white, Black glaze and the Beasty brown. Th...

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Only Model Color, most of it old I guess?

thick goblet Dec 2, 2025, 3:36 PM

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vast pivot

Old Model Colour is still a good paint.

Don't get any Old Game Colour though. And don't get Old Model Colour Metallics.

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 3:43 PM

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I second that. Also don't get Old Model Color Fluo

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 4:55 PM

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I got a different orange instead that was plenty bright

heavy trellis Dec 2, 2025, 6:30 PM

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makes me wonder.. at what point should we discourage old model color due to shelve life?

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 6:45 PM

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Solved: #hobby-loot message

green bough Dec 2, 2025, 9:14 PM

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heavy trellis makes me wonder.. at what point should we discourage old model color due to shel...

I used some that were up to 30 years old. Correctly stored, acrylics have a very long shelf life.

vast pivot Dec 2, 2025, 10:31 PM

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thick goblet Old Model Colour is still a good paint. Don't get any Old Game Colour though. A...

I need to swap one bottle then haha

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See the rightmost bottle in the loot pic

#Kit paint advice