Tamiya Acrylic Paint Mini XF-85 Rubber Black

XF-85 Rubber Black is a slightly warm, off-black matt tuned specifically for rubber — tyres, tracks, seals and hoses all read far more convincingly in it than in a stark true black, which tends to look flat and toylike under scale light. It's a subtle colour but a genuinely useful one to have in the rack.

Best for

• Tyres, tracks and rubber detail on vehicles
• Seals, hoses and mudflaps
• Brush or airbrush application, thinned with Tamiya X-20A

Swap it in wherever a kit calls for "black" on anything rubber and the difference is immediate — suddenly the tyres look like tyres, not painted plastic.

10ml glass jar, water-soluble. Works nicely alongside XF-86 Flat Clear for sealing the whole model down to a consistent, glare-free finish.