HOWTO: Custom Mixed Tamiya PS Paint (DIY COLORS) (NO AIRBRUSH REQUIRED)
A lot of people have been having a hard time jumping on to the airbrush game. Some that own airbrush systems feel it's a lot of prep and cleanup to paint a body.
We have an airbrush system ourselves, but just seems to much of a production to use it. The topic of certain colors like Pastel Grey always comes up, instead of trying some adhesive promoter and some other kinds of plastic friendly spray paints that still don't work as good as regular Tamiya Polycarbonate Paint (PS Line).
We decided to give it a go with this "instant" DIY spray paint system. Not only is it affordable, it's fairly easy to use.
Please visit: https://preval.com for more info
What you need:
1 x PREVAL SPRAY PAINT SYSTEM
(https://www.homedepot.com/p/Preval-Sprayer-2-Pack-0225/203826736)
1 x Acetone 1qt.
(https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-qt-Acetone-QAC18/100144922)
Various Tamiya Spray(PS) Paints to mix with.
The PREVAL paint spray paint system come with glass jar and spray canister. We wanted to get close to the infamous Pastel Gray.
We started with Purple Spray and sprayed a good amount into the glass jar. We started mixing in yellow(Almost a 3:1 Purple:Yellow). We would close the lid and shake it for a minute to ensure an even mixture.
We almost emptied 3/4 of the purple into the glass jar. We kept adding in yellow to get to the correct HUE of GRAY.
We continue to shake and spray(to mix it up). We keep looking at the paint on the bottom of the cap to see what color has been achieved. With some trial and error, we were able to get to a decent gray color. It was a tad on the darker side.
We grabbed our PS1(Tamiya White) and kept adding more and more until the correct shade has been achieved.
One the correct color is mixed, make sure you have 1/3~1/2 of the glass bottle full. You will now splash in a good amount of acetone until the paint has a water like viscosity. IF YOU DO NOT THIN OUT THE TAMIYA PAINT, THE PAINT SYSTEM WILL HAVE A HARD TIME SPRAY IT OUT. If you run out of paint, you'll be doomed(since this is a custom mixed color). We would recommend trying to get the paint 1/2 ~ 2/3 full.
Re-close the jar and keep shaking, try to get the paint inside the glass jar as uniform as you can. Once it's ready to go, attach the spray part and be mindful of the vent hole(look on the cap) so you'll know where the paint can come up. The instructions recommend you use the spray at 45 or 90 degrees, and this seems to be true if you want paint to come out. Make sure you do some testing to figure out how it sprays.
Now on to the car. Just like painting with regular Tamiya cans, it's about the same work. We waited for the paint to dry a little in between coats. After a few light coats, your dream color should take shape!
As you see, we got pretty close to the color we were shooting for(Pastel Gray). You can probably play with the colors to achieve amazing colors. You can lighten or darken the shade of color to(by simply adding white or black).
PRESTO: **THE REVEAL**
We still have a lot more detail to add to this body, but the color did come out pretty nice. It's close to Pastel Gray. We will be making more custom colors for sure! Clean up is easy(Just throw it away). You can also cap the paint and save it for later use. They do offer just the SPRAY portion for a few bucks less.
We are going to play with adding METALLIC BLUE or METALLIC RED to BLACK. It might give us black with red or blue pearl? Who knows!
You can purchase ACETONE and the SPRAY PAINT SYSTEM at Home Depot and any Auto/Home Paint Supplier. We will be adding the spray system to our online store shortly as soon as they approve our account.
We decided to give it a go with this "instant" DIY spray paint system. Not only is it affordable, it's fairly easy to use.
Please visit: https://preval.com for more info
What you need:
1 x PREVAL SPRAY PAINT SYSTEM
(https://www.homedepot.com/p/Preval-Sprayer-2-Pack-0225/203826736)
1 x Acetone 1qt.
(https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-qt-Acetone-QAC18/100144922)
Various Tamiya Spray(PS) Paints to mix with.
The PREVAL paint spray paint system come with glass jar and spray canister. We wanted to get close to the infamous Pastel Gray.
We started with Purple Spray and sprayed a good amount into the glass jar. We started mixing in yellow(Almost a 3:1 Purple:Yellow). We would close the lid and shake it for a minute to ensure an even mixture.
We almost emptied 3/4 of the purple into the glass jar. We kept adding in yellow to get to the correct HUE of GRAY.
We continue to shake and spray(to mix it up). We keep looking at the paint on the bottom of the cap to see what color has been achieved. With some trial and error, we were able to get to a decent gray color. It was a tad on the darker side.
We grabbed our PS1(Tamiya White) and kept adding more and more until the correct shade has been achieved.
One the correct color is mixed, make sure you have 1/3~1/2 of the glass bottle full. You will now splash in a good amount of acetone until the paint has a water like viscosity. IF YOU DO NOT THIN OUT THE TAMIYA PAINT, THE PAINT SYSTEM WILL HAVE A HARD TIME SPRAY IT OUT. If you run out of paint, you'll be doomed(since this is a custom mixed color). We would recommend trying to get the paint 1/2 ~ 2/3 full.
Re-close the jar and keep shaking, try to get the paint inside the glass jar as uniform as you can. Once it's ready to go, attach the spray part and be mindful of the vent hole(look on the cap) so you'll know where the paint can come up. The instructions recommend you use the spray at 45 or 90 degrees, and this seems to be true if you want paint to come out. Make sure you do some testing to figure out how it sprays.
Now on to the car. Just like painting with regular Tamiya cans, it's about the same work. We waited for the paint to dry a little in between coats. After a few light coats, your dream color should take shape!
As you see, we got pretty close to the color we were shooting for(Pastel Gray). You can probably play with the colors to achieve amazing colors. You can lighten or darken the shade of color to(by simply adding white or black).
PRESTO: **THE REVEAL**
We still have a lot more detail to add to this body, but the color did come out pretty nice. It's close to Pastel Gray. We will be making more custom colors for sure! Clean up is easy(Just throw it away). You can also cap the paint and save it for later use. They do offer just the SPRAY portion for a few bucks less.
We are going to play with adding METALLIC BLUE or METALLIC RED to BLACK. It might give us black with red or blue pearl? Who knows!
You can purchase ACETONE and the SPRAY PAINT SYSTEM at Home Depot and any Auto/Home Paint Supplier. We will be adding the spray system to our online store shortly as soon as they approve our account.