Thinning

That depends on the type/brand of paint your looking for, as well as the effect you want. But, a rule of thumb is to thin for consistency of milk.

Keep in mind that some paints are thin enough to airbrush right out of the bottle, some need a little thinner, some need more.

What type of paint are you using?

QUOTE: Originally posted by thevinman That depends on the type/brand of paint your looking for, as well as the effect you want. But, a rule of thumb is to thin for consistency of milk. Keep in mind that some paints are thin enough to airbrush right out of the bottle, some need a little thinner, some need more. What type of paint are you using?

I have always used the consistency of milk guideline and so far its worked well for me. As Vinman pointed out some can be shot right from the jar, just depends on what your using and what your doing with it.

Testors acrylics and some Model Masters acryl are the paint I am currently working with, maybe someday I'll change my mind about enamel.
John

Well Im converting from Enamels to Acrylics slowly but surely...so Im re-learning some things all over again!

Some of the older Testors Acrylics dont brush or spray worth a flip no matter what you try, matter fact they put me off to acrylics some time back. However there are a lot of options available today with most having equally good results.

Some of the best Acrylics IMHO are Vallejo....they spray great and brush on like a dream....I have yet to get brushstrokes using them out of the bottle!

it depends on the kind of airbrush, pressure, and paint your using. and remember, its not a sin to have more thinner to paint in your ratio. i have a omni 5000 (gravity feed brush) and its not unusual for me to thin at 75% thinner and 25% paint ( i use tamiya acrylic exclusively, very high quality paint in experience). my little omni just loves this ratio. the result i get is excellent. the draw back of course is that it takes longer and more coats to cover your subject. i only use tamiya thinner as well. yeah, its almost 8 bucks but the 250ml jug thins a lot of paint. where the rubber meets the road for you my pal is trial and error. you have got to be committed to finding that "sweet" concoction that fits your specific needs. i gleaned a lot of useful information from this forum, ive put some of it to good use, and some of it is false advertisement that didnt help me, but at some point youve got to stop typing, go buy some cheap plastic, and get to mixing, tweaking, wasting, wishing, hoping, praying, and whatever else it takes to get the desired results. hope this helps bubba. see ya.

Good advice Saltydog what you said is 100% correct.
Cheers ...Snowy.

I agree too Saltydog. There is no substitute for time in the trenches with the airbrush to find what works best with your particular paint, thinner, pressure, distance from model, etc.

Mike

Thank you Gentlemen... I guess I just have to get to it.
John