TAMXF3 - Tamiya - Flat Yellow Acrylic - 10mL Bottle

XF3 - Tamiya - Flat Yellow Acrylic - 10mL Bottle

Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow is one of the most versatile and widely used colours in the Tamiya acrylic range — a strong, clean, primary flat yellow that appears in more mixing formulas and kit painting instructions than almost any other colour in the line. It serves as the base for RLM 04 Gelb, the standard Luftwaffe identification and theatre marking yellow; as the yellow component in USAAF and USN zinc chromate interior green mixes; as the base for IJA and IJN trainer orange-yellow schemes; and as a fundamental toning agent for producing a wide range of greens, olives, and buff colours across every subject category. As a pure, fully saturated flat yellow with good opacity, it is the starting point for any custom yellow or yellow-derived mix in the Tamiya palette.

Tamiya Acrylic paints are a hybrid acrylic formula built on water-soluble resin — they can be thinned with water, isopropyl alcohol, or lacquer thinner, and clean up easily with water before curing. When thinned with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner, the paint lays down faster, dries harder, and bonds more aggressively to the substrate. The hybrid resin chemistry means the paint film remains slightly soluble after initial drying — subsequent brush strokes can reactivate and lift the layer below if applied without restraint. For this reason, airbrushing is strongly recommended for large surface coverage. Brush painting is workable for detail and touch-up work, but requires a gentle, deliberate stroke and a fully cured base layer. See our Tamiya Acrylic vs. Enamel vs. Lacquer guide for a full breakdown of paint type differences.

• RLM 04 Gelb Luftwaffe theatre markings — the standard yellow used for Luftwaffe theatre identification bands, theatre fronts, and tactical marking colours; Eastern Front aircraft carried yellow theatre bands on cowlings, lower wing tips, and fuselage bands from 1941 onward, applied across all types operating with Luftflotte 1, 4, 5, and 6 on the Eastern Front; also used for North African theatre yellow bands applied to Bf 109 E/F/G, Ju 87 D, and Bf 110 operating with JG 27 and ZG 26 in the Mediterranean and North African campaigns, 1941–43
• Luftwaffe spinner and rudder stripe markings — yellow unit and command identification applied to propeller spinners, rudder stripes, and wing leading edge recognition strips across multiple theatres; the Eastern Front yellow cowling band became one of the most recognisable Luftwaffe identification features of the mid-war period
• USAAF zinc chromate interior green base — mixed 2:1 with XF-5 Flat Green to produce the yellow-green zinc chromate primer colour used as the interior finish in USAAF aircraft from the F4U Corsair and P-38 Lightning to B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator wheel bays, cockpit framing, and internal structural members
• IJA and IJN trainer and prototype orange-yellow — lightened with XF-7 Flat Red and used as a warm yellow for the orange-yellow ou-shoku scheme applied to Imperial Japanese Army and Navy training aircraft and experimental prototypes throughout the Pacific War; a small quantity of red shifts XF-3 toward the correct orange-yellow trainer tone
• RAF training aircraft yellow — overall training yellow on RAF Tiger Moth, Miles Magister, and Airspeed Oxford trainers painted in the standard Empire Air Training Scheme yellow overall finish used at UK and Commonwealth training bases in Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia, 1940–45
• USAAF Insignia Yellow — applied to wing tips and empennage identification surfaces on USAAF training aircraft including the AT-6 Texan/Harvard and BT-13 Valiant operating at stateside training bases, and used for the Insignia Yellow applied to US aircraft in various marking schemes
• Scale effect mixing — XF-3 used as the toning agent added in small quantities to XF-5 Flat Green, XF-58 Olive Green, and XF-62 Olive Drab to introduce a warm, lighter, scale-appropriate shift to camouflage greens; a universal lightening agent for olive and khaki-family colours across AFV, aircraft, and figure subjects
• Decal setting and weathering preparation — heavily thinned XF-3 used as a warm yellow glaze or filter over light-coloured camouflage to simulate sun-bleached, faded yellow-shifted surfaces on desert theatre and tropical aircraft subjects

For full Tamiya paint colour references and modelling compatibility charts, visit our Tamiya Paint Colour Chart — Complete Guide for Scale Modellers.

Thin and airbrush with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner, Mr. Color Thinner, or Mr. Color Leveling Thinner.

• 10ml glass jar
• Part of the Tamiya Acrylic paint range