TOPIC:

I didn't find any thread specifically about Tamiya's line of grease, so to get to the bottom of it, I'm too lazy experimenting these days, here is one.
There are several types of grease that Tamiya includes in their kits, sometimes just one tube, other times two kinds of grease are included in a kit. How do they differ? And is #1 and #6 same?

1. Tamiya Grease
2. Anti-Wear
3. Molybdenium Grease
4. Ball-diff Grease
5. Ceramic Grease
6. Tamiya Grease

uncletom wrote:

...
1. Tamiya Grease
2. Anti-Wear
3. Molybdenium Grease
4. Ball-diff Grease
5. Ceramic Grease
6. Tamiya Grease

I think that's pretty much the full perm of Tamiya kit included greases, though the larger #5 I think would have purchased separately(?), and not counting the AG threadlock which comes in the same type of micro pot as the AW grease (I suspect someone will have confused them at some point). There's also one meant for MSCs (Switch Lubricant), though I'm not sure which (if any) kits it came in?
I think the basic grease also came in smaller metal tubes (let’s call them “6A”), and also plastic tubes (1A?) with crimped/heatsealed ends? I would have thought Tamiya would get through a lot of this (same as “silvercan” 540 motors) so a lot of variation is to be expected?

#1 & #6 (Tamiya Grease in plastic tube and ditto in the metal tubes) I think we can say are intended to be seen as functionally equivalent, although they can be quite different ...

#1 Tamiya Grease (Plastic tube). General purpose grease, if you only get one tube in a kit it will be this, intended for everything including bearings, gears, MSCs, basic dampers etc but doesn’t do any of these jobs particularly well IMO as way too viscous. Colour & viscosity are pretty consistent – generally a semi opaque colourless. IIRC this format is found in “mid period” kits (90/00s?-) but not genuinely vintage, current or re-re kits?

#6 Tamiya Grease (metal tube). Current/re-release kits. As #1 but much wider range of colours & viscosities, anything from as #1, but generally thinner & with some colour, pale yellow all the way to amber (even on sealed tubes, so it’s not oxidation). Vintage kits IIRC had a smaller tube with a different label (#6A), some (late vintage) in semi-transparent plastic tube with a crimped/heatsealed end (1A). Grease for these sub types as #6 apart from the thick, colourless variety

#2 Anti-Wear – first saw this in re-re Frog & Brat kits for use on the front “dampers”, though probably not the first outing? Also makes diff. gears a lot more sticky, though not quite LSD…

#3 Molybdenum Grease. Much more slippery than the general purpose grease, but gets flung around a lot & stains … probably best kept in closed gearboxes.
#4 Ball-diff Grease. Never owned a Tamiya car with a ball diff, IIRC. My guess would be that it would need to be very low wear (so no particulate matter) and quite viscous … part of official blurb “it helps prolong component life while still maintaining the proper tansmission (sic) torque” would seem to confirm.
#5 Ceramic Grease. Current & modern + re-re kits, I don’t recall seeing it in early kits? More slippery than general purpose, cleaner than moly. My preference (in tiny quantities) for most applications. Replaced by “Cera Grease HG” which sounds more expensive.

Happy to be corrected on any of this

Perfect jonny. Thx

Thanks Jonny for your input. Yes, I think I got that larger Ceramic Grease tube on ebay as spare. It is strange that Tamiya are allowed to supply all those various greases without any specifications about them whatsoever.

I'm thinking if the AW-grease could be used in gears-diffs, to limit them a bit.

Hi Tom, I saw this on another site. I hope it helps.

uncletom wrote:

.... strange that Tamiya are allowed to supply all those various greases without any specifications about them whatsoever.

....

I'm sure it conforms to a particular specification - although possibly quite a loose one

Probably, Jonny.

And thanks Al, it confirms that at least some people are using it in gear diffs. Though I can't find Tamiya ever recommending it for that particular use.

I'd like to get a larger can of AW-grease or something similar. It needs to be synthetic and non-destructive to rubber and plastic.

Not sure what kit this came in, something "modern" but still with an MSC when I bought it? Maybe OG Wild Willy 2 or early Super Clod?

First ww2, tl01 and first tt01