Tamiya masking tape (yellow) has been known to modelers for many years and it is still one of my favorite tools in the bench. This tape for curves is made of a different material; it has a plastic feeling to it so it is not the typical Tamiya tape trimmed to a few millimeters.

This tape is designed to mask curves. It easily “bends” for a curve, but it does not stretch as well as it bends. I like that property of the tape actually as it ensures its width is kept as constant as possible.

In this test I used a scrap wing –which I used for some paint tests- and placed both the 2 mm (Stock 87177) and 3 mm versions (Stock 87178) of the tape on the wing, as you can see in the pictures.

I’ve found that the best way to “bend” the tape is to actually anchor it –I use my thumb- where I want to have a bend and with the other hand twist the tape left or right, while burnishing the tape against the plastic.

Tamiya is expanding its line of Textured Paint, this time with two different snow effect paints: Snow Effect and Powder Snow. This particular package also included a third bottle, which is “dark earth”, perfect to show some groundwork underneath the snow.

The first thing I noticed is that the snow bottles weight at least twice as much as the earth one. I suspect a different kind of “pellets” (texture) is being used here.

The Snow Effect paint has small micro-balloons (0.05-0.35mm) and the Powder Snow even smaller ones. I honestly could not see them - in the powder one, but I could feel a bit of the texture when I put a dab of the paint between my fingers. You can certainly hear a bit of a “grinding noise” when you spread the paint on a base. By the way, don’t use a brush as it will damage it. I used a plain wooden stick to spread the paint.

Tamiya acrylics can go down grainy in the right conditions (dry atmosphere, high pressure, big distance) & this retarder helps prevent this, it can also help with airbrush dry tip issues.

You mix it in with the paint or you can mix it with the thinner before thinning the paint. It can be used up to a 1:10 ratio with Tamiya Acrylic Paints.

You must remember that like most other retarders, adding too much retarder causes the paint to not dry.

Also, it is ideal for painting glossy finish surfaces and what I found very useful is using it when brushing Tamiya acrylics. As when brushing the paint starts to cure between brush strokes and using a good mix of paint, Tamiya X-20A thinner and Tamiya's Paint this can help prevent the quick drying that normally occurs.

Summary

This is a fantastic product to add with the use of Tamiya paints and I have found it a great addition to my tool box!

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Tamiya has made available a group of 4 texture paints and this review highlights one of those products, namely Tamiya’s “Soil Effect” texture paint.These paints are water-based and come in powder snow, snow, and “soil effect-dark earth”. Several other colors have been discontinued.

An appropriate description of this paint, describing the texture would be, “ gritty toothpaste”, or “damp salt”. Straight from the bottle, the paint does not look like paint at all, but rather a paste consisting of fine grit.

I chose to apply some of this paint to a diorama base for a dinosaur. The base was already covered with “ground”, “rocks” and “vegetation” but there were areas in which the material had worn off a bit, creating a perfect test bed.