29 gloss and metallic colors, the shiny half of Tamiya's acrylic pair.
Tamiya Color X, the gloss line
Tamiya Color X is the gloss half of Tamiya's famous acrylic lineup, a compact 29-color range where the finish is the whole identity. These paints dry to a shine, which makes them the right choice for anything meant to look wet, polished, or lacquered: car bodies, canopies, gloss coats before decals, and bright accents. Tamiya acrylics are prized for how smoothly they spray, and the X range airbrushes beautifully.
Because it is a small range, X covers the essentials rather than every hue: the primary and secondary colors, a black and white, plus the metallics and a set of clear colors that are among the most useful paints Tamiya makes. The clears are transparent tints for tail lights, tinted glass, and glazing over metallics, jobs an opaque paint simply cannot do.
The one thing to know going in is that Tamiya acrylics are alcohol-based rather than water-based like most miniature paints, so they thin and behave a little differently, and they are usually paired with Tamiya's own thinner. For gloss and metallic effects on models, though, the range is a long-standing favorite for good reason.
Colors worth knowing
- The Clear rangeClear Red, Blue, and Yellow for tinting lights and glass
- Chrome Silvera bright metallic for polished metal
- Gun Metala dark metallic for weapons and machinery