TAMXF57 - Tamiya - Flat Buff Acrylic - 10mL Bottle

TAMXF57 - Tamiya - Flat Buff Acrylic - 10mL Bottle

Tamiya XF-57 Flat Buff is a very pale, warm yellow-tan designated in Tamiya's original colour guide for two primary purposes: "Camouflage on US tanks" and "Bags, etc." for figures. It sits at the lightest end of the khaki-tan family in the Tamiya range — lighter and more yellow than XF-49 Khaki and XF-55 Deck Tan, and less red-brown than XF-52 Flat Earth. Its primary vehicle application is as a highlight and fade colour on US Army AFVs, approximating the sun-bleached appearance of Olive Drab in strong light and the pale dust accumulations visible on tank running gear and lower hull areas in European and Pacific theatre operations. As a figure colour it covers the wide category of natural undyed canvas, linen, and cotton equipment — webbing, haversacks, ammunition pouches, and rolled equipment — across all WWII nationalities. It is also one of the most useful scale-effect lightening agents in the Tamiya palette, used to introduce warmth and a faded quality into khaki, earth, and olive mixes at all scales.

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.

• US Army AFV Olive Drab highlight and fade — the primary highlight tone for scale-effect Olive Drab on 1/35 US Army M4 Sherman, M10 Wolverine, M36 Jackson, M3 half-track, and M7 Priest subjects; dry-brushed or misted over cured Olive Drab base coats to simulate sun-bleached, faded paint and highlight raised details; Tamiya designates XF-57 directly as "Camouflage on US tanks" in the original colour guide, making it the authoritative companion to XF-62 Olive Drab for US Army armour work
• Dust accumulation and weathering effects — airbrushed thinned over lower hulls, running gear, track links, and mud guards to simulate the pale buff dust accumulations that built up on AFVs operating in European fields and roadsides in 1944–45; particularly effective on M4 Shermans of the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions operating across France, Belgium, and Germany; also used for the pale chalk dust on vehicles operating in the Falaise region and Normandy bocage
• Figure bags, pouches, and canvas equipment — Tamiya's designated colour for "Bags, etc." across all nationalities; covers US M1928 haversack and M1944 pack, British 1937 Pattern valise and small pack, German canvas bread bag (Brotbeutel) and gas mask canister carrier, and Soviet canvas ammunition pouches across figure subjects in 1/35, 1/48, and 54mm scales
• Natural canvas and linen — the undyed or lightly dyed canvas of WWII-era tarpaulins, vehicle hood covers, groundsheets, and tent fabric across all subjects; used for the canvas hood of the German Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen, Allied jeep soft tops, and the pale canvas stowage rolls on tank exteriors across European and Pacific theatre dioramas
• Desert sand highlight colour — paired with XF-59 Desert Yellow and XF-60 Dark Yellow as the lightest highlight tone in German North African vehicle schemes; misted over RAL 8000 Afrika Gelb base coats on Panzer III, Panzer IV, and Sd.Kfz. 251 subjects to simulate sun-bleached paint and sand dust accumulation under the Libyan and Tunisian summer sun, 1941–43
• Scale-effect warm lightening agent — added in small quantities to XF-49 Khaki, XF-51 Khaki Drab, XF-52 Flat Earth, and XF-59 Desert Yellow to introduce a warm, sun-faded quality at 1/35 and smaller scales; at 1/72 scale, a significantly higher proportion of XF-57 is typically required to achieve the correct apparent lightness under normal viewing distances
• MERDC Light Sand mixing — the light tone in US Army MERDC camouflage mixes (1 part XF-57 + 1 part XF-2 Flat White), used on M60 Patton and M113 APC subjects in the 1970s–80s Cold War European MERDC scheme alongside Forest Green, Dark Green, and Brown
• Diorama groundwork base — a warm neutral tan that serves as a dry-mix base for plaster groundwork, fine sand, and natural earth textures in European and desert diorama bases before earth-tone washes and dry-brushing are applied over the raw texture

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