Tamiya 1/12 Yamaha YZF-R1

[lachontrack]

After returning from Hobby Craft, this is my first haul! I’m planning on hand painting the smaller parts with a brush. Do I need to prime the smaller parts too? Has anyone got any advice on hand painting parts? I bought 5 brushes as pictured, any help would be appreciated!

[AlanG]

I very very rarely prime anything. The only time i do it when painting yellows, reds and whites. For hand painting parts. Just take your time. Not to much paint on the brush and do it in a couple of coats if need be. But i'm sure others with more experience ( spanner570 ) will come along to give you more tips.

[lachontrack]

Thanks, Alan! Do I thin the Tamiya acrylic paint before applying?

[Jim R]

Hand painting is always better with multiple, thin coats. Dilute the paint. The first couple of coats will look horrible but additional coats will make it right. Tamiya acrylics do not hand paint readily. It helps if you work fairly quickly and avoid going over the same area while the paint is still tacky.
Jim

[AlanG]

I only thin acrylic paints that i intend to spray. So my answer would be no. But there again i hand paint so little i cannot be used as a judgement for painting motorbikes. My hand painted items are normally restricted to cockpits of aircraft lol

[lachontrack]

Thanks for the replies! This is tonight’s efforts so far, engine parts painted and fairings sanded and primed!

[tigersteve]

Going for the glory of the fairing before the unseen hard work below !
Hard to resist , I know ......
Good luck , will be watching your build !

[lachontrack]

Going for the glory of the fairing before the unseen hard work below !
Hard to resist , I know ......
Good luck , will be watching your build !

It had to be done! Thanks a lot, I’ll keep the thread updated!

[Dave Ward]

Lachlan,
This is my Tamiya Suzuki Katana - I made a mess of the silver paint on the tank, redid it several times, but it still doesn't look very good ( in real life! )
At least the alloy wheels are a LOT better than the old wire wheels!
Sorry for jumping into your thread..............
Dave

[lachontrack]

Lachlan,
This is my Tamiya Suzuki Katana - I made a mess of the silver paint on the tank, redid it several times, but it still doesn't look very good ( in real life! )[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1109925[/ATTACH]
At least the alloy wheels are a LOT better than the old wire wheels!
Sorry for jumping into your thread..............
Dave

Looks fantastic, Dave! And not at all, I’m always interested to see other builds!

[lachontrack]

Got the first bit of painting done. I used Tamiya XF-16 + Humbrol Met 11. (I have just realised it’s enamel as opposed to acrylic - oops) The black is okay, needs another coat to tidy some bits up. I used Humbrol Black Gloss acrylic paint. Any tips or feedback welcomed!

[lachontrack]

a wee update on the r1. finished painting part of the engine block and assembled it. applied a coat of gloss varnish to the nose cons, but it hasn’t seemed to have done much. i sprayed the front so you can see the comparison to the back. maybe it just needs a couple
more coats to attain the gloss affect?

[simontie]

Looking good will keep an eye on this build i use a mixture of hand and air brush painting.
Rearly thin the tamiya paints if painting by hand but you need to watch and not to over brush, (acrilic) enamel thin coats, but masking and air brush preferred

[lachontrack]

Looking good will keep an eye on this build i use a mixture of hand and air brush painting.
Rearly thin the tamiya paints if painting by hand but you need to watch and not to over brush, (acrilic) enamel thin coats, but masking and air brush preferred

Thanks, Simon! Update to follow below.

[lachontrack]

Big improvements over the past few days! Airbrush and compressor acquired (pictured) and a whole bunch of Tamiya paint, detail wash, gloss varnish, and a bunch of other goodies. On the downside, I think Humbrol packaged my spray can wrong, It’s gone a weird matte. Hoping to rectify it with the airbrush and Tamiya Red. Fingers crossed