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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 2 months ago #17033

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this - but I would still appreciate a sanity check and/or more information, because I certainly don't remember any official explanation ...

If you're not au fait with the "PC" range, they are limited line of brush paints for polycarbonate, codes & colours are (or were):
PC-1 White
PC-2 Red
PC-3 Light Blue
PC-4 Blue
PC-5 Black
PC-6 Yellow
PC-7 Orange
PC-8 Light Green
PC-9 Green
PC-10 Purple
PC-11 Pink
PC-12 Silver
PC-13 Gold
PC-14 Copper
PC-15 Metallic Red
PC-16 Metallic Blue
PC-17 Metallic Green
PC-18 Metallic Purple
PC-21 Park Green
PC-26 Fuel Proof Top Coat

Not all colours were available through the entire production run, but as far as I know that is the total...


Following my return to RC in 2008, I’d just assumed that the occasionally poor supply of PC paints was just due to the usual distributor problems; in the UK at least, supply of any model paints is very patchy – not to mention the 2-year “temporary” withdrawal of most Tamiya aerosols due to “labelling issues”.

However, a couple of months ago I'd suspected that the Tamiya "PC" line of paints had been withdrawn entirely – even eBay, formerly awash with them, had very few.


I'm about to paint a Wild One driver - and to write up the process for an article – so I thought I really ought to confirm their withdrawal before I recommend their use :whistle:


I had a look at the Tamiya catalogues I have (not a complete set, I’ll admit):

1973 - no paints listed
1974, 1975 – no info (I don’t have these years)
1976 - no paints listed
1977 – no info
1978, 1979, 1980 - no paints at all
1981, 1982 – no info
1983 – no PC paints
1984 – 12 “PC” colours introduced, shown in their own chart
1985, 1986, 1987 – same 12 colours in same format
1988 – layout changes, “PC” chart combined with PM charts; no PS paints
1989 – no info
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 layout as 1988
1996 – no paints listed at all
1997 – PS (polycarbonate spray) paints make first appearance, combined chart with PC paints
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 – layout as 1997
2005 – no info
2006, 2007 – layout as 1997
2008 – no info
2009, 2010, 2011 – no PC paints listed
2012, 2013 – no info


So ... thinking that the 2007 catalogue would have been prepared/printed in 2006, that I don’t have the 2008 catalogue, and the 2009 catalogue (which would have been printed in 2008) doesn’t have PC paints in them, can we assume that:

1- these paints were withdrawn sometime in 2007 or 2008;

2- any sales since then have been from existing stocks;

3- those pretty much ran out at the end of 2012; and

4- there’s only a few dregs left

?



To confirm the last, I looked at various sources:

Tamiya.com (the English bits) – no help at all

TamiyaUSA – no mention of PC paints

Banzai, Stella – don’t seem to do paints

Modelsport UK – only PC-9 Green in stock

Time Tunnel – only PC-6 Yellow in stock

Fusion Hobbies – stock mainly of not very useful colours: PC-4 Blue, PC-6 Yellow, PC-8 Light Green, PC-11 Pink, PC-14 Copper, PC-17 Metallic Green, PC-21 Park Green

eBay (worldwide) – PC-1 White, PC-5 Black & PC-7 Orange not available at all, supplies of other colours from a mere handful of sellers – principally in Belgium, Singapore and Germany.


Of course, there are a lot more places I could have looked, but I think that was a representative sample...


So, am I wrong?

If I’m not, what were Tamiya thinking?

And are there any alternatives? In my experience, Faskolor paints not suitable for brushing (ETA, Dec 2022: though probably fine for airbrushing). 



 
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Last edit: by Jonny Retro.
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Re: Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 2 months ago #17035

:angry:
I have the same problem in France.
I think that it is because there are less guys wich paint with pc paint. It is "easier" for theme to use sprays or buy prepainted bodies :(
Personnaly I am desappointed because I like to use my airbrush but I have less paints. I have to use more expensive aqua paints like auto aircolor. And they are not very available in France.
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Re: Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 2 months ago #17048

:angry:
I have the same problem in France.
I think that it is because there are less guys wich paint with pc paint. It is "easier" for theme to use sprays or buy prepainted bodies :(
Personnaly I am desappointed because I like to use my airbrush but I have less paints. I have to use more expensive aqua paints like auto aircolor. And they are not very available in France.


But on the plus side, you do get to live in France, a fantastic country.
The following user(s) Liked this: Lemsko
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Re: Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 2 months ago #17051

:huh:
Not very sure Dreadly... I would prefer to live in other countries, like Australia or Germany :whistle:
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 1 month ago #18707

This might seem like a stupid question, but I've never actually used an airbrush...

If you're using an airbrush, does the fact that Tamiya have discontinued jars of polycarbonate paint now mean there is no Tamiya paint in the world that you can use to airbrush a polycarbonate body?


www.rctoymemories.com
www.rctoymemories.com - A nostalgia site about vintage and retro radio controlled cars & other toys, from Tamiya, Nikko, Kyosho, Radio Shack and many more.
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 1 month ago #18708

I think my initial post would make more sense if 2/3rds of it hadn't been lost due to the forum "upgrade" :whistle:



There's still "Faskolor" brush/airbrush paints, but my experience with them has been that they're seriously lacking in pigment content :(
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 1 month ago #18709

I wonder what the guys who paint the pre-painted bodies use? :unsure:
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 11 years 1 month ago #18725

:) I love the "CREATEX" paints but they are expensive and hard to find in France. :cry:
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 5 years 8 months ago #51000

TL;DR - X20A thinner and PC paints + PS paints appear to be compatible :)


Old thread, but it seems the most relevant place ... The short of it is, I want to paint a Lexan body, but don't really want to spend any more than I have to - and I want to avoid the Tamiya PS sprays, as although they are very effective, the smell makes me ill every time I use them.

Since the original post, supplies of Faskolor also seem to have dried up, the only option seems to be getting it from Italy at 17 GBP a bottle :eek:

Fastrax, Absima & Core-RC all make aerosols at similar cost to Tamiya PS paints, but are not widely available, and are in a much narrower variery of colours, many of them only suitable for the most lurid of RC paint schemes, and although I haven't tried them, there's no reason to believe they won't stink just as bad as other aerosols.

The body in question is a Tamiya Gen 1 BMW Mini Cooper, which i want to do in dark metallic green with a white roof. The (relevant) paints I have are:
PC-1 White, PC-5 Black, PC-17 Metallic green (think 90s Honda hairdresser green); and
PS-1 White, PS-12 Silver, plus PS-31 Smoke on order.

I've held off using the PC paints as there's no chance of replacing the more useful colours - but this seems daft, not using them is the same as not having them - but with money and space tied up. There's no chance of getting PC paints in silver and smoke, and the PS option for green are right shade but not metallic, or wrong shade but metallic. I also want to airbrush the PC paints to make them go as far as possible ...

What this adds up to is I need a thinner for the PC paints, and need to be able to overspray them with PS. The only information I could find on either was a 13 year old thread on TB - I wanted to verify it before committing to painting the Mini shell.

Acrylic thinner X20A mixes fine with PC paints*, and 20 parts PC17 mixed with 8 parts PC-5 black dries to a shade that is possibly a bit dark (so I'll reduce the black a little for the "final" colour); and having oversprayed the thinned PC mix (while still tacky, on unprepared polycarbonate) with a heavy, wet coat of PS-7 Orange (tasteful!) I'm confident* that the two are compatible... not mixable, but compatible.

* at least in the short term, i.e. at time of painting and 24 hours later, at the time of writing. Though obviously I don't want to guarantee it long term at the moment, it could turn out to be just like the Hycote acrylic/Tamiya PS lacquer delayed reaction on my Sand Rover all over again.
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Tamiya PC paints - what happened? 5 years 8 months ago #51008

Tamiya actually state in the manual to mix X acrylics with PC paints for some models - notably the 959. They say to combine X-21 Flat Base with PC-5 black, so I'm fairly certain that the thinner will be fine.
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