Type/Brand paint used to airbrush

I also really like Testors enamels.  The little square jars do go really fast.  I get them in my local Michaels craft store, and virtually every week they have a 40% off coupon for one item.   So that helps.  The model master variety is in bigger jars and work out to less per ounce, but it means a trip to hobby shop and paying full price.  Since I thin 1:1, the price isn't bad by the time I am done.

I thin Testors enamel with Testors own airbrush thinner.  It is not quite so pricey if you buy it in the half pint cans. I use turpentine or mineral spirits for cleaning (cleaning up uses far more thinner than painting).  I have stopped buying bottles/cans labeled simply "paint thinner" at hardware/building supply stores.  I am finding a variety of stuff, much of it milky/cloudy, and really crummy.  While it is a bit cheaper than mineral spirits or turpentine, it does not work nearly as well.  Since I buy the latter by the gallon it is still pretty cheap.  I know folks who thin Testors enamel with turp or mineral spirits and say it is okay for that, I personally get a better, smoother finish with the Testors thinner.

There is another option I have been trying out lately and it seems to work.  Decant and use your favorite rattle can paint.  Just get an empty jar (I use empty baby food jars), stretch some plastic wrap over the top and poke a small hole in it.   Stick the cans spray head in and spray until the can is dead.  Make sure to try and hold the can as upright as possible so you get as much paint out as you can.  One of the benefits is that the can paint is already thinned to the correct consistency or at least very close, so you usually do not need to thin it further.  I find it cheaper than using the jars unless you need to use some color that doesn't come in a rattle can.

Sparrowhyperion

There is another option I have been trying out lately and it seems to work.  Decant and use your favorite rattle can paint.  Just get an empty jar (I use empty baby food jars), stretch some plastic wrap over the top and poke a small hole in it.   Stick the cans spray head in and spray until the can is dead.  Make sure to try and hold the can as upright as possible so you get as much paint out as you can.  One of the benefits is that the can paint is already thinned to the correct consistency or at least very close, so you usually do not need to thin it further.  I find it cheaper than using the jars unless you need to use some color that doesn't come in a rattle can.

Learn something new everything day. I heard people decant when they cannot find the exact color in bottle. Now, it adds the economic factor.

Take Tamiya paints as an example. Usually, a 3-oz spray can costs $6 plus and a 3/4-oz bottle paint $3 minus.

You get 1.5 oz of paint for about $6 in bottle. You usually thin it to about 3 oz or more for airbrush.

How much paint can you recover from the $6 spray can to justify the trouble and cost of decanting?

There really isn't much cost to decanting.  Empty jars are not hard to find and a small sheet of saran wrap.  Like I said, you don't usually need to thin it at all so the only real cost is the paint.

The thing with rattle cans is that you usually run out of paint before propellant.  So it you can get about 90% or more of the paint into the jar.  A can of enamel is usually a bit less than 2 1.5oz. jars and with the jars you need the extra expense of thinner.  so economically it makes sense.

Rich

keilau

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

There is another option I have been trying out lately and it seems to work.  Decant and use your favorite rattle can paint.  Just get an empty jar (I use empty baby food jars), stretch some plastic wrap over the top and poke a small hole in it.   Stick the cans spray head in and spray until the can is dead.  Make sure to try and hold the can as upright as possible so you get as much paint out as you can.  One of the benefits is that the can paint is already thinned to the correct consistency or at least very close, so you usually do not need to thin it further.  I find it cheaper than using the jars unless you need to use some color that doesn't come in a rattle can.

 

 

Learn something new everything day. I heard people decant when they cannot find the exact color in bottle. Now, it adds the economic factor.

Take Tamiya paints as an example. Usually, a 3-oz spray can costs $6 plus and a 3/4-oz bottle paint $3 minus.

You get 1.5 oz of paint for about $6 in bottle. You usually thin it to about 3 oz or more for airbrush.

How much paint can you recover from the $6 spray can to justify the trouble and cost of decanting?