Decanting Tamiya Spray

Decanting aerosol rattle cans is worthwhile if you want to airbrush the high quality and readily available Tamiya synthetic lacquers such as found in the TS- series of spray cans. By decanting and airbrushing you gain the advantages of airbrushes which include finer control of paint flow and air flow and consistent operation.

Advantage of Decanting:

1. Readily available supply of quality paint;
2. Absolute control over the delivery of that paint to your subject;
3. Paint covers much more area because of less overspray and more precise delivery.

The easiest and cleanest way to decant spray paints is to fit a tube to the protruding tip of the spray nozzle and spray into a new container. Do not fill the bottle past 70% full.

Place the bottle with freshly decanted paint down gently and do not touch for at least one hour. Do not put the cap on the bottle. Leave the lid off the jar of freshly decanted paint and let propellant boil off for at least one hour.

Don't try to stir the paint or add anything like thinner or ball bearings; the slight temperature rise caused by these activities will cause the paint to boil vigorously, overflowing the bottle onto the floor and sputtering into the air. Just touching the bottle with your fingers and cause an eruption.

I usually wait overnight. I have forgotten about an open bottle of decanted paint for an entire weekend with no noticeable loss of sprayability.