paint transfer and mixing issues - need advice!

I use the glass eye droppers you can buy at drug stores.

They clean easily and although they have no way of measuring correctly I don't think that matters. Squeeze the bulb, stick it in the paint, release the bulb and repeat to the same approximate level on the next eye dropper of paint. If I am mixing a small amount I just count the drops of paint and put about half that many drops with the appropriate thinner. 

Then when I am done I put the eye droppers in a container with some Windex (I use Tamiya acrylics) and squeeze the bulb and release the Windex in and out of the dropper several times.

If I don't feel like doing that I just remove the rubber bulb, put them in my ultrasonic cleaner with some water and Windex in it and run it for a minute or so.....voila! 

I use cheap plastic syringes as found in your local drug store, mainly in the 1ml size or for bigger jobs 5ml.

These cost pennie's (cent's), are accuratley graduated & last for quite a while. I usually measure thinners out, switch straight to the paint & dump them straight into a cup of water when I am finished - a few squirts of plain old water through them cleans all the paint out.

Only thing is, be aware that some brands have piston sealing ring material that will swell when coming into contact with paint &/or thinners, so you may have to try a couple of different brands - this problem will be pretty obvious when you try to get your paint / thinners from the syringe into your mixing container, as the piston will be tight to the press.

It really depends on the type of paint you're using.

If you are using acrylic paints then you could simply use water, windex or denatured alcohol.

However, if you're using enamel paints the thinner may melt/dissolve the plastic cups depending on what they're made of. Simplest way to check would be to put a drop or two of clean thinner directly on the bare plastic in the cup and look for whitening or discoloration. If it turns white, it would be a good indication that the thinner may attack the plastic in the cup.

Another alternative you may wish to consider is to pick up a couple of airbrush jars to mix your paint in.

I use acrylic paints and I picked up a set of steel measuring spoons to mix my paint in.

Also, don't get too hung up on exact mixing ratios for thinning paint. They are only an approximate guide and paint viscosity will vary due to age, batch variations and a whole range of factors. How thin to actually make your paint will also depend on your equipment setup and what effect you are trying to achieve.

nophster wrote:

Those are great ideas fellas, thank you. So can I clean these cups/pipettes with common thinner? What would be most effective and cheap?

The glass eye droppers I mentioned can be cleaned with anything from Windex to lacquer thinner without a problem and being that glass is so smooth it cleans very easy. 

Yeah I should've mentioned that I use acrylics exclusively. Windex is a little hard to come by in my part of the world, the little that I do have (2 bottles picked up on a trip overseas) I intend to use only for airbrush cleaning after use. I guess any ammonia-based cleaner would do, am I right?

I am looking for those glass droppers, so far they elude me.

Thanks for the info guys.

In the absence of Windex, denatured alcohol or your local equivalent) should do the job.

Actually, I had forgotten that you're in Pakistan - I was going to suggest looking in a "dollar store" type place for some cheap shot glasses to use for mixing paint. These can be had as cheaply as $2.00 for 6 around here, but may be difficult to find where you are.

Phil_H wrote:

In the absence of Windex, denatured alcohol or your local equivalent) should do the job. Actually, I had forgotten that you're in Pakistan - I was going to suggest looking in a "dollar store" type place for some cheap shot glasses to use for mixing paint. These can be had as cheaply as $2.00 for 6 around here, but may be difficult to find where you are.

Windex is mostly water (67%), with Isopropyl Alcohol (30%) and Ammonia (3%) added, and a few drops of blue coloring for authenticism.

I wish people would put their location in their profile so we don't offer up advice that is useless!

I have pipettes, eyedroppers, measuring cups, spoons, scales...all of them. Now for the truth, I don't typically use any of them. I do most of my mixing right in my airbrush cup. I use wooden craft sticks to stir the paint in the jars. If I need a drop or two, I just let the paint drip off the stick and into the paint cup. If I need more a tip the paint bottle and pour in a splash or two. Then I stir it up and start spraying. I start the process by squirting in the amount of thinner I think necessary to cover the area I am painting.

The craft sticks are cheap, the others are a bit more expensive and a pain to clean up after using if one expects to reuse them again. I want the process as easy as possible.  My methodology of paint mixing is known as TLAR.

That

Looks

About

Right

I've watched modelers pitch paint which they just attempted at mixing because they added a drop too many or too few of one of the components stating it was unacceptable and wouldn't turn out to be accurate. Then they see me mix paint and once our projects sit side by side are impressed with the results. 

At one comptetition my homemade mixture beat out an entry by a guy who was a paint experten who wanted to know who's paint line I was using to get such accurate and realistic colors. He blew his stack when I told him what and how I came up with the color...defeated by an uncivilized modeler!

For large projects I will use the same process, but mix the paint in an empty jar. Mixing up more than enough to the project and any touch ups I might need later.

I keep my craft (mixing) stick in a bin. One bin (top) is located on my workbench the other handy to the paintbooth.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

I start the process by squirting in the amount of thinner I think necessary to cover the area I am painting. My methodology of paint mixing is known as TLAR. That Looks About Right

I don't doubdt what you are saying, but it might be worth pointing out that your approach is not the best for a newbie. One needs a considerable amount of experience before one can make educated guesses about what amount of thinner is 'necessary' or what looks 'right' for a certain job.

Before one obtains that experience - or if one wants to mix exact recipes - one needs to know how to measure these tiny amounts of paint we are talking about here.

DoC  

Not to start an arguement but when one makes a task too complex, requiring special equipment this is partly what makes the process frustrating and difficult for the newbie.

Many modelers don't have access to (nor may they be able to afford) the supplies many of us "advanced" modelers have. Modelers are also a frugal bunch...cheap. We try to accomplish tasks in the simplist way possible with as few resources as necessary, including time.

A drop is a drop. Regardless of the vessel or apparatus from which it is delivered...pipette or wooden stick. There is a scientific explaination about surface tension...   The only way a novice/newbie can develop advance skills is through practice and experimentation. Hopefully the novice you descibe is confident enough to take on mixing paints, rather than just working from a premixed and ready to spray bottle of a given color.

That is why I suggest experiment before committing to the actual project. Such as the techniques of painting with an airbrush. Don't use those expensive model paints when cheaper products are available to learn techniques. Practice using solvents to assemble a model such as a 21st Century Toys versus a Trumpeter. Learn the basics first then as skills improve move up and onward.

What I am saying is you don't have to have all of those gizmos to accomplish the task. Just a little common sense, patience and practice. It also helps to have a eye for color, mine is fair but I do have a color wheel handly too.

A recipe is a guide, well thats what my grandmother taught me. She was old school, a pinch of this and handful of that...never used a measuring cup in her life. I love to cook, yet hate the clean up afterwards. Same holds true for modeling. When it takes longer to mix and clean up from the process than it does to build and paint the model...I'll find a way to streamline the process to achieve the same results with less effort and keep the process as enjoyable as possible and clean up minimal.

Note on Color Reference Charts: There are many resources online to view and print color charts. They should be used as a guide not as an exact. Typically, your printer will not print the colors exactly as the original color chart itself. Also the colors on your monitor will not match the actual paint chips either. Close but not the same. 

Hi Gerald,

I recall reading some time ago, perhaps even in this forum somewhere, someone suggesting a paint thinning ratio of (I think) 7 parts paint to 4 parts thinner. To me, this is just over the top.

Personally, I might scoop a drop or three out of a jar of paint using one of those funny little Tamiya stirrer/spoon things into my aforementioned measuring spoon and then drizzle a little thinner into it from a squeeze bottle. BTW: I just use the measuring spoon as a vessel, not a measure.

I often use very small quantities, in the range of 1-3 drops, so it's difficult to mix that sort of amount in the airbrush cup as it tends to go straight down into the guts of the brush. I guess it might be possible to use a blowback to mix the paint though - I haven't tried it because I prefer not to wear the paint

I am the ultimate cheap frugal modeler. I use left over bits of sprue to mix and also to transfer tiny amounts of paint. Otherwise I pour straight into the cup after adding the thinner first.

And I trust my Mark I eyeball to guage paint to thinner ratios. I'm looking for that 2% consistancy rather than trying to base the mix on a ratio.

Airbrushing is a mix of paint, thinner and air pressure and you can adjust one to make up for the others. At least to a point, one that I haven't found yet!

I'm also part of the "Looks about right crowd" As long as you mix a little at a time you will be fine.

Nophster, keep in mind, it doesn't have to be Windex. Any glass cleaner with amonia will work. I have a Windex bottle but it has long since been refilled with whatever cheapo brand Wal-Mart sells. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Jeff

Thanks guys, that is incredibly helpful advice. I must admit that newbie or not, I myself use the TLAR method for determining the consistency of paint, more so for the lack of a better technique. So far it has been a non-issue, but I did find it difficult at first because the paint mix was always too thin, I had runs all over the fuselage. I got over that pretty quickly.

I am learning a lot from you guys, so thanks again!