Tamiya weathering powders

subzero · 23-04-2007

Hello oh learned ones..Any one out there used the Tamiya weathering powders...just bought some and wondered if any one has any views of them Good or Bad ?. Never tried them before, but will give them a whirl for my latest project.

alan2525 · 23-04-2007

Not sure about tamiya but I've used the mig weathering powders. The set I purchased contained Light and Dark rust, a urban cement colour dirt and black.

The rust powders are great on parts of models that represent bare metal surfaces such as tracks etc. Because the powders are so fine too they build up in any small panel lines and weld seams between plating on afv's and look very realistic.

I used them with water to apply the powders so they deposit in the various crevices etc and then brushed off the excess when dry - it's hard to believe the items were a resin kit and not a piece of cast iron after the powders were applied. With the various colour available you can easily build up very subtle effects.

As the weathering powders are basically just a very finely ground pigment I'm sure the Tamiya ones are great as Tamiya stuff is allways top notch quality in my experience.

Try them out - experiement and post your results but most of all have fun!

subzero · 23-04-2007

Thanks Alan, looked at the MIG ones and they were about £13, saw the Tamiya and they were a lot cheeper, thought not as much powder I think..I have used drybrushing in the past and Railtech rust and stuff. they worked ok. Will give them a try ... and see. Thanks for your reply.

**Bunkerbarge** · 23-04-2007

I used Mig pigments for the first time on my revel U-boat and found them to be very effective. Have a look at the build thread here:

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2410 (Revell 1/72nd Type VII U-Boat.)

I also mixed them with water and a tiny drop of washing up liquid to break down the surface tension and I couldn't beleive how good it looked when I wiped the excess away with a paper towel. They even gave a good effect for raised panel lines when I always thought that washes were only of use for scribed detail.

I am sure the Tamiya ones will be just as effective and a quality product. I will certainly be using them on all my models from now on.

I did a bit of reading up first and discovered that you can basically mix the powder with just about anything your imagine can come up with to acheive the effect you are after, from clear varnishes to resins to glues and all points in between. The possibilities are endless, as they say!

alan2525 · 23-04-2007

With Weathering powders they often suggest varnishing the model and then applying the powders, that way you could pretty much wash off the weathering effect if it messes up - I found it better to use the powders over the dry acrylic paint, the only problem with that is that it changes the colour of the paint a lot, it all depends what kind of effect you are after. I found the matt surface offered more purchase for the powders to adhere to.